News Briefing: Britain and Ireland - The Tablet (original) (raw)

Cambridge history professor and Newmarket deacon John Morrill has been ordained to the Catholic priesthood by Bishop Peter Collins of East Anglia at St John’s Cathedral in Norwich at the age of 78.

Addressing the congregation at his ordination on his journey to the priesthood, Fr John said: “God has sharp elbows, and you can resist, but you know that he is digging you in the ribs.”

He was ordained a deacon in 1996 after being a pastoral guide to Cambridge University students, before embracing his call to the priesthood: “Calling me after the mandatory retirement age of 75 – I am 78 – suggests both that God has a sense of humour and that He thinks outside the box.”

A leading RE teacher is hoping new resources will enhance RE curriculums in both primary and secondary Catholic schools.

Lighting the Way, published by Oxford University Press, is a new primary RE resource for use in all primary school years. The third book of Source to Summit, designed for key stage three, ages 11-14, it is due to be released in February 2025.

Series editor Andy Lewis, deputy headteacher at St Bonaventure’s School, London, told The Tablet: “Oxford University Press have supported an author team to produce resources from Year 1-all the way through primary with _Lighting the Way_-Key Stage 3 with Source to Summit, and GCSE.”

A family conference in Birmingham brought hope to the whole Church, according to its organiser. Almost 1,000 people gathered for the Celebrate Joy weekend from 21-22 September at St Thomas Aquinas school, King’s Norton, for a mixture of sessions for young people, inspirational Masses and input from speakers such as Northampton bishop David Oakley and evangelist Damian Stayne.

Conference organiser Jenny Baker told The Tablet: “Witnessing nearly 1000 people worshipping God with joy and desire for his Church to see renewal gave such hope for the Catholic Church in this country. We saw incredible blessings, with so many young families attending as well as young people.”

Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood opened the ACTA National Conference on Saturday 28 September.

The conference, “Practical Implications of a Synodal Church”, was addressed by Dr Liam Hayes, director of the Centre for Ecclesial Ethics. He spoke of his report Believing Not Belonging which garnered the opinions of those who had left the Catholic church.

Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri, director of research at the Wijngaards Institute, addressed the conference on a proposed constitution for the Catholic Church. The importance of Ignatian spirituality in supporting the work of a missional parish was the theme of the presentation from Dr Catriona Fletcher, director of the Ignatian spirituality centre, Glasgow.

The Bishop of Salford John Arnold has warned that failing to take action on the environment will lead to further ecological problems. Arnold, speaking at the end of September’s Season of Creation, pointed to “floods and droughts” and “wildfires” in the UK and the need to take responsibility for change.

“Caring for our common home is a clear priority,” he said. “There are real implications. But around the world, there have been the most appalling climate change events, really damaging, costing many lives and livelihoods.”

Bishop Arnold will visit the Vatican in October to discuss the Guardians of Creation project in England and Wales with Cardinal Peter Turkson and Sister Alessandra Smerilli.

Organisers of the New Dawn festival are appealing for £37,000 to cover the cost of the event last August.

The annual five-day event features talks, workshops, the celebration of Mass, opportunities for confession, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and prophetic praise. This year, around 2,000 participants venerated a portion of the heart of Blessed Carlo Acutis.

Gary Stephens, leader of the Prince of Peace Community and New Dawn said:“Ultimately, every donation helps the Prince of Peace Community to achieve its vision and mission – the Catholic reversion of England through the new evangelisation.”

The Religion and Belief Literacy Partnership is developing a resource that aims to improve religious literacy in the public sector.

The ReLIT standard builds on recommendations made in the report Does Government need God? More than 21,000 people responded to the public consultation.

Mark Hammond, former chief executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and lead on the ReLIT project said: “There have been too many instances … where in the public sector, the way policies are developed and implemented don’t seem to have properly taken on board the identities and the importance of faiths and beliefs that individuals and communities have.”

Church leaders communicated the ongoing concerns and challenges faced by many sectors and communities in Northern Ireland on a recent visit to European institutions in Brussels.

During the visit, the all-island ecumenical group met key individuals who pledged to build positive relationships between the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union.

The two days saw them hold talks with European Parliament vice president Antonella Sberna, executive vice president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefcovic, the permanent representative of Ireland to the EU, Ambassador Aingeal O’Donoghue and the head of the UK Mission to the EU, Ambassador Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby.

A quarter of all weddings that took place in Ireland last year were broadly New Age in character, while Christian ceremonies accounted for little more than a third of the total, according to a new Iona Institute paper, “The rapid rise of ‘New Age’ weddings in Ireland: How should the Churches respond?” which draws from the latest Central Statistics Office data.

While Catholic church weddings remained the most popular type of ceremony in 2023, accounting for 34.3 per cent of all weddings, this compares to 91.4 per cent in 1994. The paper suggests the Irish Church follow some American dioceses which have allowed marriage ceremonies in venues such as hotels since Covid.

The Irish bishops are to publish a pastoral letter on immigration in Ireland, the chair of the Bishops’ Council for Immigrants has said.

In his message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Bishop of Clonfert Michael Duignan said it is important for the Church at all levels to reflect on Catholic Social Teaching in terms of welcoming the stranger and building a sustainable sense of belonging and integration.

He said the pastoral letter will offer Irish Catholics and all people of goodwill the opportunity to explore what hospitality for migrant people means in contemporary Ireland.

The understanding of mission has changed and the Missionary Sisters of St Columban are “standing in a liminal space, facing new challenges as we try to respond to the many needs and complexities of our broken world and fragile planet”, Sr Anne Carbon said.

Speaking at a Mass to mark the centenary of the profession of the first seven sisters on 29 September 1924, through whom the congregation was established, Sr Carbon said it was “a momentous occasion”. Dublin auxiliary Bishop Donal Roche presided at the concelebrated Mass and paid tribute to the Sisters’ courage and generous history.

A relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis remains missing after it was taken during the National Ploughing Championship in Co Laois in mid-September.

The lock of Blessed Carlo’s hair was in a small box at the Vocations Ireland stand at the festival when it disappeared. It had been brought to the event by Capuchin Fr Bryan Shortall along with a mitten of St Padre Pio.

Appealing for its return, Fr Shortall said someone must have picked it up while he was busy giving blessings. “God’s influencer” is due to be canonised next year. He died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15.

Sr Karol O’Connell OSB has been elected the twentieth Abbess of Kylemore Abbey in Co Galway and begins a twelve-year term of office as the Benedictine community settles into its new monastery.

Sr Karol joined the monastery in 1978. She studied music in the Liszt Academy, Hungary and has over 40 years’ experience of teaching in the classroom and has written eight books on the Kodaly concept of music education. She served as Prioress for 16 years and has also been community organist, choir mistress, cook, gardener and artist.

Founded in the Belgian town of Ypres in 1665, the Benedictines came to Ireland following the bombing of their monastery in the First World War.