News from United Kingdom & Ireland covering parishes, dioceses, religious orders, community groups, homelessness, moral & political issues and pilgrims.
Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, has commented on the tragic illness and circumstances of five-year-old Tafida Raqeeb.
Tafida has been in a coma since 9 February, after she suffered from a brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which resulted in cardiac and respiratory arrest and a traumatic brain injury. Doct...
Bishop Michael Router was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh on Sunday afternoon at St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.
Among those attending the Mass was Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh; Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop Emeritus of Armagh; Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly of Cashel & Emly; Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland; Bishop Leo O'Reilly, Bishop Emeritus o...
The President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, Bishop Hugh Gilbert has written to the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to express his concerns at the attacks launched against the SNP MP Dr Lisa Cameron, following her vote against an amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill that would have lifted the legal protections presently afforded to the unborn child in Northern Ir...
The Irish Catholic Bishops Conference issued the following statement today:
'With the thousands of others who have voiced their concern in recent days, we wish to express our alarm at the unprecedented way in which the Westminster Parliament has used the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill to rush through legislation which will have a devastating impact on the right to li...
A video to promote vocations to the priesthood has been launched by the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The five-minute film was made over the course of several months by Christian Holden of St Anthony Communications and posted on the Vimeo video-sharing website on July 16. It The film features five men who took part in a year from 2018-2019 and who have all decided to enter priestly formation.
The dedication of a permanent memorial for Catenians and their families and friends took place on 13 July at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, in the beautiful and very apt setting of a wildflower meadow in full bloom.
On a day that will be remembered by those present for years to come, David Rowley welcomed guests and gave opening remarks. The memorial dedication was led ...
His Holiness Pope Francis has appointed Father Michael Duignan, a priest of the Diocese of Elphin, as the new Bishop of Clonfert. The news of this announcement is embargoed and will be made public today at 12noon in the Vatican (11am Irish time).
Bishop-elect Bishop-elect will concelebrate Mass at 11am this morning in Saint Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea with His Excellency the Apostolic N...
New figures released by the Trussell Trust reveal a 20 per cent increase in emergency food parcels for children in the UK last summer, Ekklesia reports today.
The Trust is urging the public to donate food to their local food bank, as new figures show 87,496 food parcels went to children in the UK during the summer holidays in 2018, a 20 per cent increase on the same period in 201...
A garden party in the beautiful and historic College Garden of Westminster Abbey will take place on Friday evening, 19 July to support the work of The Passage centre for homeless people in Victoria.
The Passage runs a 40-bed hostel, 16 studio flats and sees up to 200 men and women a day at their centre which offers friendship and support, meals, clothing, healthcare, assessment, employmen...
Lead bishops for the Catholic Church and Church of England have issued the following statement on the final report by the independent review into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office support for persecuted Christians, which was launched in Church House this morning.
We are encouraged that the Final Report by the Independent Review into FCO support for persecuted Christians has grounded its...
Politics
It's not often that we seek to be over political in our updates but the current political discourse in our country is particularly worrying for all who have the interests of asylum seekers and migrants at heart. The race by the current Conservative leadership contenders to do to outdo each other and in turn outdo Nigel Farage does not bode well for an enlightened...
Senior leaders of the Anglican and Catholic churches called on parishes to support Sea Sunday which takes place today.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and Dr John Sentamu, Anglican Archbishop of York praised the work of Liverpool Seafarers Centre and encouraged communities to back seafarers today.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols recently visited the charity's headquarte...
'Next week members of the House of Lords will decide on changes to abortion law in Northern Ireland, despite the fact that people there have not been consulted on such a fundamental change to the law. Last year there were over 200,000 abortions in England and Wales, extending this to Northern Ireland would be a tragedy for lives not yet born.
This impending decision gives us an opportunit...
Seafarers' charity Stella Maris (Apostleship of the Sea) has expressed concern over the effect that piracy continues to have on seafarers' physical and mental wellbeing, ahead of Sea Sunday on July 14. The charity has emphasised that seafarers' safety and pastoral support remains paramount when their ships are targeted or attacked by pirates.
Statistics released by the International Marit...
