Call for C of I financial task force; Deaconess married to killer rapist is on leave; ‘Violent’ preacher refused visa ahead of Portadown talk; Forget Fifty Shades of Grey … try reading Bible instead; Age Action is latest charity to ask staff for unpaid leave
Call for C of I financial task force
Belfast Telegraph – A new task force is needed within the Church of Ireland to produce “imaginative proposals” to generate more money after accounts revealed a drop in its central funds in excess of €12m (£9.5m), an internal document has said.
The report of the Representative Church Body to the General Synod in May highlighted the financial difficulties being faced.
The total value of General Funds fell from a restated value of €152.5m (£120.5m) in 2010 to €140.5m (£110m).
The drop was influenced by a fall of approximately 5.7% in the values of invested assets, and by withdrawals of €5.5m (£4.3m) to support the solvency of the Clergy Pensions Fund (€5m) and the Staff Pension Fund (€0.5m).
In the most recent editorial of the Church of Ireland Gazette, it states the huge financial dip revealed in the report “diminishes the capability of General Funds in future to support the activities of the wider Church”.
But the Gazette, which is editorially and financially independent of the Church, said that, apart from General Funds, the CoI’s Clergy Pensions Fund is also under “immense pressure”.
It adds that “radical proposals” to cope with the Pensions Fund difficulties are expected at the General Synod next year.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/task-force-call-as-church-of-ireland-funds-drop-95m-16200915.html
Deaconess married to killer rapist is on leave
Belfast Telegraph – The deaconess married to a convicted murderer and rapist is on leave as she and her husband “consider their options”, the Presbyterian Church said.
Carole Cathcart married killer Richard O’Hara (59) in 2004.
He raped and strangled south Belfast woman Deborah Robinson (19) in 1980. There was outrage in the Church of Ireland parish the couple attended in Belfast when his past crimes came to light.
The couple live in The Loup, a quiet Co Londonderry village near Lough Neagh. For the past few weeks, Mr and Mrs O’Hara have been renting a sizeable period property called The Old Manse.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/deaconess-married-to-killer-rapist-ohara-is-on-leave-while-weighing-up-her-options-church-says-16200571.html
‘Violent’ preacher refused visa ahead of Portadown talk
Belfast Telegraph – The Presbyterian Church has welcomed a Home Office decision to ban a controversial revivalist healer — who claims he can cure people of illness by attacking them — from preaching in the UK.
Todd Bentley, a US-based healer, had been due to hold an event in Portadown next month as part of a UK tour. He had been invited to preach at The Christian Centre on Tandragee Road in the Co Armagh town.
Local clergy had raised concerns about his unorthodox methods — which include choking people, kicking them in the face and pushing them over.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/violent-preacher-refused-visa-ahead-of-portadown-talk-16200919.html
Forget Fifty Shades of Grey … try reading Bible instead
Belfast Telegraph – Former Presbyterian Moderator slams racy blockbuster as ‘abominably written trash’ and urges readers to turn instead to greatest bestseller of all — the Good Book
It’s the fastest selling book of all time but a Northern Ireland cleric has called for people to toss aside the raunchy Fifty Shades of Grey — and pick up a Bible.
Dr David Clarke — formerly the Presbyterian Church’s Moderator for Ireland — has branded the racy read “rubbish”, adding those forking out for a copy are being “robbed”.
Earlier this month Fifty Shades of Grey became the best-selling book in the UK of all time, having sold more than 5.3 million copies, its publisher claimed.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/forget-fifty-shades-of-grey-try-reading-bible-instead-16200560.html#ixzz24HUmaWQC
Age Action is latest charity to ask staff for unpaid leave
The elderly outreach charity says sustained cuts to statutory funding are making it a struggle to balance its books.
http://www.thejournal.ie/age-action-unpaid-leave-567145-Aug2012/