BBC News
Newspaper headlines: May ‘gets backing’ for Syria action
Friday’s papers say the cabinet supports the PM in joining the US and France in strikes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-43747832
Journal.ie
42 new primary and secondary schools to be built by 2022
17 of the new schools are to be built by September 2019. The vast majority of the new institutions will be located in the Dublin area.
http://www.thejournal.ie/new-schools-bruton-3955593-Apr2018/
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/42-new-schools-to-be-built-over-next-four-years-837150.html
Irish Times
Scouting Ireland’s 1 million state funding to be withheld
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/scouting-ireland-s-1m-in-state-funding-to-be-withheld-1.3460152
Irish Times
Investigation criticised Scouting Ireland handling of rape allegation
During six years leading the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland Ian Elliott investigated the church’s handling of abuse cases in every diocese and many religious orders on the island. In that time he led the reformation of the church’s child-protection policies.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/investigation-criticises-scouting-ireland-handling-of-rape-allegation-1.3458533
Irish Times
Scout leader accused of rape not vetted despite Garda advice
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/scout-leader-accused-of-rape-not-vetted-despite-garda-advice-1.3458578
News Letter
Israel ‘shocked’ over Dublin mayor visit
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/israel-shocked-over-dublin-mayor-visit-1-8456864
Arab News – Israel summons Irish ambassador over Dublin mayor’s visit
Micheal Mac Donncha participated in an Islamic conference about Jerusalem in Ramallah organized by the religious affairs adviser to Palestinian … Jerusalem: Israel’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Ireland’s ambassador to express dismay over Dublin’s mayor attending an “anti-Israel” event in …
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1283666/middle-east
INews
Politics by Post-it: How DUP leader and her Spad governed
https://inews.co.uk/?p=143485
News Letter
DUP leader was put under polite but relentless pressure in her RHI inquiry debut
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/business/dup-leader-was-put-under-polite-but-relentless-pressure-in-her-rhi-inquiry-debut-1-8457035/amp?__twitter_impression=true
BBC News
RHI inquiry: A matter of ‘deep regret’ says Arlene Foster
The DUP leader says she does not think she bears any personal responsibility for the scheme’s collapse.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-43743930
DUP leader Arlene Foster’s enormous witness statement to the public inquiry into the RHI scandal has been published. It runs to 161 pages of questions posed to her & her answers. In it, she reveals that the second whistleblower was called George Gallagher.
https://www.rhiinquiry.org/sites/rhi/files/media-files/WI
Irish Examiner – Man told ‘terrified’ priest he would cut his throat in church grounds
A 37-year old Co Clare man told a parish priest that he would cut his throat in the grounds of a Church last month. … Insp Kennedy said that Fr Hogan went about his business in the porch area of the Church when minutes later, Mr O’Connor ‘bursts through the door of the church and tackles Fr Hogan …
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/man-told-terrified-priest-he-would-cut-his-throat-in-church-grounds-836865.html
The Irish Catholic
Push ethics watchdog ‘to challenge repealers’
Pro-lifers should take advantage of Ireland’s political ethics laws in order to ensure the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment is conducted fairly, a cross-denominational group of Christian leaders has said.‘Is God for the 8th?’, a pamphlet signed by 120 Christian leaders from throughout Ireland, highlights how key organisations in the campaign to repeal Ireland’s constitutional protections for the unborn have been funded by money from overseas, noting how the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) has already compelled the Abortion Rights Campaign to return the funds it had received from the US-based Open Society Foundation.
https://www.irishcatholic.com/push-ethics-watchdog-to-challenge-repealers/
Pope Francis admits ‘serious errors’ in handling of Chilean sex abuse cases
Pope Francis admitted that he had badly misjudged the situation in Chile, or as he put it: “I fell into serious errors in the evaluation and perception of the situation, due especially to the lack of true and balanced information.”
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/04/11/pope-francis-admits-serious-errors-handling-chilean-sex-abuse-cases?utm_
Ind
Report on campaign supported by Dr Wilfred Wood, the first black bishop in the Church of England, for the Government to affirm the rights of Commonwealth citizens who came to the UK as children between 1948 and 1971. The call comes amid reports that Caribbean nationals who arrived in the UK as children but have not yet regularised their residence status are being denied health care and employment and threatened with deportation.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/immigrants-uk-caribbean-immigration-hostile-environment-a8300236.html
Christian Today
Report that the Government has abandoned plans to make Sunday schools register with local authorities and be inspected by Ofsted following widespread opposition. (See also News from the Church of England, above)
https://www.christiantoday.com/uk/ministers-formally-abandon-plans-for-ofsted-to-inspect-sunday-schools/128310.htm
Guard
Report on sexual abuse case (Salvation Army) and convictions last month. Article quotes lawyer Richard Scorer on how faith organisations deal with abuse cases including reference to the CofE and IICSA.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/11/woman-sexually-abused-salvation-army-1970s-justice
Christian Today
Further report on interview with Archbishop of Canterbury by students at Canterbury Christ Church University in which he highlighted the importance of the freedom of the press.
https://www.christiantoday.com/uk/archbishop-of-canterbury-journalists-are-indispensable-to-modern-britain/128312.htm
Sun
Article on Whitsun
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6029276/whitsun-2018-pentecost-story-christian-uk-bank-holiday-may/
Mail/Times (scroll down) Christian Today/Anglican Communion News Service
Reports on findings from research commissioned by the Church of England’s Life Events team showing that millennials still value marriage with almost three quarters of those who are unmarried (72%) intending to tie the knot. Rev Dr Sandra Millar, the Church of England’s Head of Life Events, is quoted. (See also News from the Church of England, above)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5610323/Millennials-value-marriage-Three-quarters-18-35-year-olds-dream-getting-wed.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
https://www.christiantoday.com/uk/finding-the-one-most-millennials-want-to-marry-research-suggests/128349.htm
http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2018/04/young-english-adults-still-value-church-weddings-survey-shows.aspx
Premier
Report on Archbishop of Canterbury’s meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (https://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Justin-Welby-calls-for-action-on-Christian-persecution-during-Nigerian-president-meeting
Times
News article on remarks made at the National Education Union conference on parents who remove their children from religious education lessons. Includes comment from last year by Derek Holloway, the Church of England’s lead on religious education.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/parents-abusing-rights-over-childrens-religious-education-3x7l8wxkd
Pensions Age
Further report on vote by Church of England Pensions Board against Rio Tinto’s report and accounts. Adam Matthews, Head of Engagement for the Church Commissioners and Church of England Pensions Board, is quoted.
http://www.pensionsage.com/pa/Pension-funds-vote-down-Rio-Tinto-accounts-over-climate-change-dispute.php
Christian Today
Report that the Church in Wales has called for a concerted diplomatic approach instead of military intervention in response to the chemical attack in Douma, Syria.
https://www.christiantoday.com/uk/do-not-escalate-violence-in-syria-church-in-wales-warns-uk-government/128354.htm\
Guard/Tel/Mail
Reports that the coffins of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, his wife Sara, his daughter, his son-in-law and his grandson have been discovered in the crypt of St Michael’s Church in Highgate, north London. St Michael’s vicar, Kunle Ayodeji, is quoted.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/12/samuel-taylor-coleridge-poet-remains-rediscovered-wine-cellar
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/final-resting-place-samuel-taylor-coleridge-rediscovered-wine/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5608623/Samuel-Taylor-Coleridges-body-rediscovered-17th-century-wine-cellar.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
BBC3
‘A Tattoo to Change Your Life’ slot with video and profile of Rev Ben Atkins, Vicar at St Matthias, Canning Town, in east London.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0635szw/a-tattoo-to-change-your-life-series-1-7-satanism-selfharm-and-me
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/fd1bf610-2212-46e3-82b0-d2c7d78f0abd
Eve Standard
Interview with artist Martin Barraud on his project There But Not There, to memorialise fallen First World War soldiers across the country. The article describes how he was inspired to create the project after passing the memorial to 50 young men in Penshurst Church, Kent.
https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/artist-martin-barraud-on-his-project-to-memorialise-fallen-first-world-war-soldiers-across-the-a3812606.html