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Gospel of 10 May 2024 John 16:20-23 Jesus said to his disciples: 'I tell you most solemnly, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a man has been born into the world. So it is wi... Read More

Pope Francis called Christians to be builders of hope as he celebrated Vespers after presiding at the ceremony to officially proclaim the Jubilee of 2025. The theme of Christian hope was at the heart of the Pope's homily on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord in St Peter's Basilica, Rome, on 9 May. It followed a ceremony in which he proclaimed the ordinary Jubilee of 2025 with the public re... Read More

Quakers in Britain, CAFOD, SCIAF and Christian Aid have joined around 30 other charities calling on the UK government to take meaningful action to stop any further attacks on Rafah in Southern Gaza by the Israeli military. On Monday, the Israeli military issued relocation orders to people sheltering in parts of Rafah. Israeli tanks have entered the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, blocking comple... Read More

The NW NJPN E Bulletin for May 2024 leads with the current conflict in the Holy Land as the situation appears to be worsening with no immediate end in sight. CAFOD staff in Gaza report "new kind of horror" as Israel attacks Rafah. A joint Rafah statement was issued on 7 May by a wide range of non-governmental organisations - including CAFOD - urging a ceasefire. Heather Kiernan has sent details of... Read More

Following on from her superb Fifty Catholic Churches to See Before You Die, Elena Curti has provided a glorious sequel: Another Fifty Catholic Churches to See Before You Die. These English and Welsh churches are arranged in alphabetical order from Arundel Cathedral to Worth Abbey - a circular part-subterranean spaceship of a church with a powerful sense of the sacred. Written in limpid prose, Curt... Read More

The Jesuit Refugee Service UK has published a new report, 'After Brook House: continued abuse in immigration detention'. It reveals that patterns of mistreatment detailed by a high-profile Independent Inquiry into Brook House Immigration Removal Centre near Gatwick Airport eight months ago remain ongoing throughout UK immigration detention centres. The Brook House Inquiry Report, published in Sept... Read More

The Bar Convent in York is opening a new audio trail on 25 May, celebrating the "trailblazers" of the convent. It focuses on inspirational women from the convent's history. Mary Ward has such international significance that her followers and supporters are building a case to have her officially recognised as a Saint by the Catholic Church. She believed that women were intellectually equal to men, ... Read More

Gospel of 9 May 2024 Mark 16:15-20 Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and said to them: 'Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up sn... Read More

Pope Francis has urged the faithful to pray the Rosary, especially during the month of May, as he entrusted to Our Lady the cause of peace for the wars in the Holy Land, Ukraine, and Myanmar. He made the appeal at his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter's Square. "I invite everyone," he said, "to invoke Mary's intercession, so that the Lord may grant peace to the whole world, especially to the... Read More

The next quarterly meeting and AGM of the National Justice & Peace Network of England and Wales (NJPN) will be held on Saturday 11 May at CAFOD's offices in South London. The theme will be: 'New definition of extremism 2024' and exploring "What will it mean in practice?" and "Climate activism - who are the extremists?" Speakers are Margaret-Ann Fiskin, Consultant Emeritus and formerly Chair of... Read More

The Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) will celebrate a 40th Anniversary Day at Amigo Hall, St George's Cathedral, Southwark, on Saturday 25 May. It will include the launch of a new 'Racial Justice Agenda for Change', which will be the vision for the work of CARJ into the future. It will build on the experiences and learning of the past four decades and put forward a strategy for bring... Read More

The annual Catholics in Fundraising (CiF) Conference is set to take place on Wednesday 25 September 2024 at Stonyhurst College in Clitheroe, Lancashire. The event is designed specifically for Catholics working in diocesan offices, Catholic charities, and related senior leadership roles. The Catholics in Fundraising conference is for professionals working in Catholic fundraising roles. It aims to b... Read More

Countries attending COP28 in the United Arab Emirates last December had wanted an agreement that would include an explicit commitment to phase out or even phase down fossil fuels. Instead, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference reached a consensus that called on countries to contribute to global efforts to transition, "away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just and equitable man... Read More

Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, has released a statement on the Criminal Justice Bill expressing his deep concern about two tabled amendments that seek to liberalise abortion laws. They are set to be debated next week. Bishop Sherrington also voiced his support for two other tabled amendments, one of which would reduce the abor... Read More