Letters

With all the protests taking place outside asylum hostels - it is perhaps worth remembering the following facts: 1) 26% of NHS doctors are foreign-born. The BMA advises that without immigrants "many NHS services would struggle to provide effective care". 2. Almost 5.5 million British people live permanently abroad. 3. Immigrants are 60% less likely to claim benefits than a British-born person. 4. ... Read More

Fr Jarek Pachocki OMI writes: 'I've had the opportunity to join a group of ordinary priests and religious sisters in Poland in signing an open letter written in response to the growing wave of far-right nationalism and anti-immigration sentiment in the country. In a time when fear and division are too often weaponized, this letter is a heartfelt call to return to the core of the Gospel-to stand wi... Read More

Dear Keir Starmer, As you must be aware, dreadful crimes are being committed by Israel in Gaza. I am told that our nation is actively supporting these crimes as an accessory, by providing spares for military equipment and by providing air surveillance and use of Akrotiri airbase. This will bring international shame on our nation and psychologically encourage domestic lawlessness. Moreover governme... Read More

On Tue, May 27, 2025 at 07:40 Sean Mac Niallluis wrote: Dear Jo and Colleagues Your email is usually the first I open every morning. It usually prompts prayer or concern, or gratitude, or some small action, donation or prayer. Today it prompted tears when I read about the 8th Colloquium of Buddhists and Christians in Cambodia. What a marvellous people they are! On the first Tuesday of the month, ... Read More

Fleur Brennan from Pimlico, writes to Rachel Blake, MP for Westminster and the City of London Dear Rachel I am writing to you on behalf of the millions in Gaza, men, women, children and babies, who are now condemned to starve to death because of Israel's inhumane laws blockading all food and water aid into Gaza. People have already starved to death in this famine which flouts human rights laws, a... Read More

Dear Editor, I have just read the latest catechesis by our dear Pope Francis on your news site. ( See: ICN 9 April 2025 - Pope Francis reflects on how to be truly happy - https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/52120 ) Beginning with the words of Jesus from the Gospel of St Mark 10:17-22 in which a man runs up to Jesus and asks, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus reminds hi... Read More

This past week I have had the heartbreaking honour of planning, animating and leading the music for one of the most significant liturgies in my more than 40 years of music ministry: the funeral of my mother, Lenore Boyce-Robinson. Forgive me the more personal nature of this email, but I want to pay tribute to this warrior of a woman, that I was privileged to call my mother. She was one of the so-c... Read More

Re: ICN Viewpoint Ian Linden: Trump's Second Coming: Why and how did he win? Feb 3rd, 2025 Dear ICN, Honestly, Ian Linden's note on Trump's electoral victory is either wilfully blind or ignorantly so. The whole social engineering/identity politics of the Democrats was rejected wholesale by the USA electorate. 56% of Catholics voted for Trump. I am no cheerleader for him or anyone else, but the f... Read More

Dear Friends, I am writing on behalf of the Margaret Beaufort Association [MBA] to extend a personal invitation to you. As you may know, the Association was founded to create an extended community of prayer and support for "current and former students and lecturers, staff, friends, and benefactors who support the work of the Margaret Beaufort Institute." At its founding in 1993, the Institute was ... Read More

Creative Remembering - The nights closing in, and the weather cooling. It's the dying of the year, and we think today not only of the dead but of life just before death We think of those whose names we just read out, and apart from the tragedy of lives cut short, we are often shocked at what it must be like to live through those hours before their deaths, perhaps days, when their hopes die out. We... Read More

The Standing Committee of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), an umbrella organisations representing 900 mainstream Jewish communities throughout Europe, met in the Grand Westin Hotel, Munich, to discuss important matters relating to faith, antisemitism, communal infrastructure, and policy. The Standing Committee include the Chief Rabbis of UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland. Senior rabbis fr... Read More

I strongly oppose assisted suicide. I would like to share my experience of living with a chronic illness. It has been 23 years since I was first diagnosed. The condition is managed well with medication, individuals have a normal life expectancy. However in 2022, I developed reactions to the newer brands because of toxicity levels. I wrote extensively about the newer brands and their side effects. ... Read More

The proposed Assisted Dying Bill to be introduced in Parliament tomorrow will radically change how we care for the sick and elderly. I have accompanied six people at the end of their lives to their deaths. Every death is different, but all valued a caring presence being with them on their final journey to a natural death. It was an immense and valued privilege. At one time people died within the f... Read More

In response to recent enquiries about materials used in the new Lectionary, Pierpaolo Finaldi, Publisher and CEO of the Catholic Truth Society writes: The Introduction to the Lectionary states: "Since, in liturgical celebrations the books too serve as signs and symbols of the sacred, care must be taken to ensure that they truly are worthy and beautiful." This means using the finest materials possi... Read More