Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

Thoughts of suicide 'not from God' say Catholic bishops

This video shows 'Anne', a lay apostle from the Kilmore diocese in Ireland. Anne receives messages direct from Jesus, St Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Virgin Mary on a regular basis. She is a controversial figure, as this blog testifies. I mention this because the Press Association is running a story today saying: 'The Catholic Church in England and Wales said today that suicide should be greeted with “compassion” rather than blame as it launched a campaign aimed at softening its image over the sensitive issue.' The relevant link on the Catholic bishops' website takes you to the Day for Life website...

Papal encyclical a 'duck-billed platypus' says George Weigel

The Pope has published his new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, in which he translates as both charity and love in truth.

It is summarised in our news story here, and Riazat Butt on The Guardian has also done a good piece along with many others. CNS notes that Benedict XVI is calling for a world authority with 'real teeth'.

But some of the early reactions are proving interesting, and few more so than the influential commentator George Weigel in the National Review who calls it, 'with respect', a duck-billed platypus. A commenter at Holy Smoke finds the whole thing 'nonsense'. Cardinal George at the US bishops' conference has welcomed it.

The spiritual battle for the soul of Anglicanism

Update: Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali a 'Jeremiah' whose message serves neither church  nor nation, says leader in The Times.

Greg Venables, primate of the Southern Cone, has just spelled out the issues at stake in the launch at Central Hall of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. See our report on Monday  and the latest today, Tuesday. 'In North America and here, true orthodoxy is being outlawed' warned Bishop Greg who has taken many congregations and even a diocese or two fleeing liberal episcopalianism under his conservative wing. 'We must remember we are not fighting flesh and blood. This is about principalities and powers.'

Newman beatification announced!

Pope Benedict XVI has today promulged the decree that paves the way for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, England’s most significant convert to Roman Catholicism. Read the background to the Cause at Birmingham Oratory's home page devoted to this.

There is more detail in our news story on the front of Times Online, plus a brief outline of how to become a saint, and the original obituary of John Henry Newman as it appeared in The Times on 12 August 1890. The Catholic Church here has issued the Oratory's release.

Latest news is that the most likely date for the rite of beatification is next spring. That would pave the way for a Papal visit to Britain next September, pegged to a Newman theme.

Jews, gays, greens attack SSPX

This video from Gloria TV shows the recent SSPX ordinations, controversial because it was illicit ordinations that got them excommunicated in the first place by Rome, a penalty now lifted amid controversy over the Holocaust-denying views of one of the bishops, England's Richard Williamson. But as Chris Gillibrand reports at Cathcon, these issues are not going to go away. As Reuters reported, the ordinations went ahead, even though the Holy See criticised them as illegitimate.

One in seven Brits are Creationists

Earlier this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams hosted a seminar on science and religion at Lambeth Palace. There was a fascinating discussion which I had to leave early, because at the same time in Central Hall over the river, the British Council was launching its research into belief in Creationism in Britain and other countries worldwide at the World Conference of Science Journalists. You can read the report in The Times here. The research showed that one in seven people in Britain held creationist beliefs, and even more in London, but this was a figure that was lower than previous surveys suggested. Dr Rowan Williams described Creationism as representing a 'hard' and unhelpful reading of the Bible. A full note of the Archbishop of Canterbury's introductory comments at the seminar is below.

Nun and priest 'kissing ad' banned

TheAdvertising Standards Authority has banned this Antonio Federici ice cream advertisement, which showed a nun and priest about to succumb to 'temptation' and exchange a kiss. Read our full story here. The adjudication is here. Sky's story shows a more provocative image than the one here, posted of course with permission from the ASA.

I do think, looking at the Sky story, that the ASA was right to rule the image crossed the boundaries of taste and could cause offence, especially to people with a religious vocation. 

No 'carte blanche' to pray for patients

Caroline Petrie was in the end reinstated after an NHS trust overturned her suspension for offering to pray for a patient. But the case led to an international outcry and the Christian Medical Fellowship has received calls from all over the world demanding to know what is happening in Britain, and why religion is under such attack from secularists. Cancer doctor Bernadette Birtwhistle argued the case for freedom for spiritual care in the NHS at the British Medical Association meeting today but in the end, as the National Secular Society reports, the BMA voted against a carte blanche for prayers for patients, although patients who wish prayers can of course request them. 

In truth, is it 'love' or 'charity'?

As Richard Owen and I report, Pope Benedict XVI has signed his new encyclical, Caritas in veritate, in Rome. General release is delayed, firstly to impact as hard as possible on next week's G8, but also because of difficulties translating the text into Latin. In that vein, can someone please advise whether it should be 'love' or 'charity'? No doubt the English text when released will tell us. In his first encyclical, a passionate document that surely could not fail to inspire all who read it,  caritas was translated as love, so I've been using 'love' in my stories about this one. But Richard disagrees and is filing 'charity'. Maybe I need to adjust my own understanding in the new context of modern economics.

The subs here at The Times, who tend to be pretty good Latin scholars, also believe it should be charity. Alice Fordham finds time while reporting in Baghdad to suggest 'grace' via Facebook. This is because of its roots in the Greek word, charis.

Meanwhile, enjoy this sumptious  photograph of dear Vincent Nichols, our similarly inspiring new Archbishop of Westminster, receving the Pallium from Pope Benedict XVI in Rome this morning. Standing next to him in front of the Pope was the new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, receiving his at the same time.

Read more about the service photographed here at the end of this article filed today by Richard Owen  which is also about the carbon dating of the 'bones of St Paul' to roughly the date he would have been beheaded. The Pope unexpectedly revealed this latest scientific discovery at Vespers last night.

This is the kind of photograph that reminds me of why I love this job, and makes me wish I was in Rome.

Westminster Abbey to be crowned in glory

In one of the most remarkable architectural projects to change the London skyline for centuries, one of the capital's oldest landmarks is to receive a new 21st century addition. In the central part of a £23 million programme, Westminster Abbey is to get a new gilded 'corona' in glass, wood and lead to sit atop the lantern where now squats a 'stubby little tower'. Read our story in The Times today.

These two drawings show former plans for the Abbey which never materialised. There are others, all can be seen for free at the exhibition which opens today at the Abbey Chapter House. The Dean Dr John Hall and chapter have opened a public consultation today.

At the coronations of 1902, 1911 and 1937 a temporary ‘annexe’ had been built onto the west end of the Abbey to provide a suitable space for marshalling processions. In 1942 Edwin Lutyens (designer of the cenotaph in Whitehall) proposed the construction of a permanent ‘narthex’ to contain a domed central hall and two royal robing rooms.

Church 'out of touch' on gays, says Times poll

This photograph shows a gay rights rally in New York in 1969. The Times has commissioned a Populus poll  to mark the Stonewall riots in Greenwich , were sparked when police raided a gay bar. The results show a Church woefully out of touch on the issue, writes social affairs correspondent Rosemary Bennett. Nearly seven out of ten members of the public favour 'full equal rights' for gay men and women, suggesting that 'the Church, the final bastion of formal discrimination, is out of touch with public opinion,' writes Rosie.

Mendelssohn: 'When the Nazis realised he was Jewish'

Tonight, BBC 4 is showing a documentary made by Sheila Hayman, a niece by descent of Felix Mendelssohn, a devout Christian who was born Jewish. The Nazis banned his music of course, including the rather wonderful compositions for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. As the programme reports, this is how he was described in the Nazis' Dictionary of Jews in Music: 'This has shown us that a Jew with such a rich and specific talent has not managed even once to find any kind of depth, heart or soul in any of the art with which he’s being associated.’ The programme will be on the BBC iPlayer for a week and will be repeated around the time of the Proms.

Anglicans in the US: a new Church is born.

Please welcome guest blogger Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream, reporting live from Texas on the first assembly of the Anglican Church in North America. For any readers baffled, bewildered or simply bored by Anglicans, Reuters have very helpfully published a Q&A on where we are and how we got here. For Chris, a member of the General Synod which meets in York soon, where traditionalists in England will continue their battle over women bishops, this group is the 39th province of the Anglican Communion. Although formal recognition awaits, new Archbishop Bob Duncan is in regular contact with the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. Read about his 'I am' statement on VirtueOnline.

Gay exorcism: 'Loose your grip, Lucifer!'

The 16-year-old teenager in this disturbing video from the US was being subject to an exorcism ritual because he was held by his church elders to be 'possessed' by the demon of homosexuality. 'Rip it from his throat!' a woman yells. 'Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!' Msnbc has the full story. Gay rights groups have condemned the ritual, carried out by Manifested Glory Ministries, who have removed the video from their site. I found it at Slate in France and on YouTube.

Pope's new encyclical: Should we go 'frivolous shopping'?

Please welcome to Articles of Faith as guest blogger my colleague Bess Twiston-Davies, who blogs regularly for Times Online over at Faith Central. Bess is also now on Twitter, please follow her!

Bess writes: Pope Benedict's forthcoming encyclical, as Ruth Gledhill reports, will focus on money, and specifically the need for a radically alternative, people-centred world economy. In Caritas in Veritate, he is not likely to denounce capitalism and wealth creation per se, but rather call on those who run the financial markets to consider at all times the pressing needs of the world's poor, and how wealth may be used to their benefit. The key words he will use will probably include "The Common Good", "Solidarity" and "Human Dignity."

'A day of tears': Andrew White on the hostage deaths

The first email from Vicar of Baghdad Andrew White came just after midnight yesterday: 'We have just been informed that the two bodies are indeed our hostages. What we do know, I just do not know.'

Twenty-two and a half hours later, he told us the rest:

' My Dear Friends, Well, today has been awful. For two years we have worked every day on getting the two Jasons back. They were my friends; I ate with them and lived with them. One day when I was ill, one of them cared for me in the hospital; he had been an army medic. These people were not just hostages I was working on, they were my friends. Every day I prayed for them and sought their release. '

Read the rest of his incredibly moving testimony below.

Newman miracle approved

The beatification of former Anglican clergyman John Henry Newman now seems certain after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved on 2 June the miraculous cure of Deacon Jack Sullivan of his spinal disorder. Peter Jennings reports exclusively for Times Online. The next step will be the presentation of a document on the life of Newman to Pope Benedict XVI, now being drawn up by the cardinals on the congregation. The Pope is expected to ratify it, a decree will be published and then a decision will be made on whether the beatification should be done in Rome or London. If the latter, it could be the opportunity for a visit by the Pope to Britain. Just the thought of that - fantastic.

Venerate the foccacia, as Catholics do in Linz

This is clearly the kind of church service that would leave you feeling hungry at the end of it, but whether hungry for the love of God or for a good curry, it is not clear. Compare this video showing the Dean of Urfahr, Helmut Part at the Corpus Christi procession in Linz, with the beauty of the photograph of Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols elevating the host at the Requiem Mass for Cardinal Basil Hume in the last post .Chris Gillibrand at Catholic Church Conservation has the full story, with video from Gloria TV.

'Saint' Basil Hume remembered

Last night's Requiem Mass for the life of the late Cardinal Basil Hume was a memorable and spiritually uplifting service as reported for Times Online. Some photographs have been posted by the Catholic Bishops' Conference staff at their Flickr site.

Father Michael Seed, Cardinal Hume's ecumenical adviser known as the 'catholytic converter' for his success in bringing new Catholics into the fold and who is now in the US, wrote in The Catholic Herald that consideration should be given to opening a cause for the canonisation of Basil Hume. Many do not feel there is a sufficient 'cult' to merit that, but there were certainly plenty of bouquets and evidence of prayers said regularly at his tomb in the cathedral.

To donate or venerate: blood and religious faith

 

Guest blog  by Anna-Marie Julyan 

Blood has symbolic meaning in many faiths, whether represented by wine as part of the Eucharist or avoided in food, while others regard it as sacred. The pressing need for blood donors was highlighted by World Blood Donor Day on Sunday, but how does it equate with religious belief?

International humanitarian organisation United Sikhs launched a campaign to get “the Sikh community to pledge their share of blood” in the UK, Canada and the USA.

Money, Sex and the Anglican Communion

An interesting investigation into the Indaba process has just appeared on the conservative-led American Anglican Council website. I am awaiting comment from the Anglican Communion Office but in the meantime, here are some of the highlights, which appear under the headline: 'Money, sex, indaba: corrupting the Anglican Communion Listening Process.'

Charities Parliament to debate MPs' expenses scandal

In relation to the scandal over MPs' expenses, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who incidentally was 59 years old on Sunday, wrote in The Times that 'the continuing systematic humiliation of politicians itself threatens to carry a heavy price in terms of our ability to salvage some confidence in our democracy.'

He was not criticising or attempting to take away from the brilliance of the scoop obtained by the Telegraph newspapers, or of the reporting and analysis that has kept us all gripped by this unfolding saga ever since.

He went on to castigate the 'what we can get away with' approach, to recommend a religiously-based morality and to call for a culture of virtue to take the place of a culture of regulation in order to bring about a renewal of trust in figures in public life.

And already, his article has had an impact.

For a start, it has inspired the high-profile Baptist minister Steve Chalke to arrange an event at his new Charities Parliament just south of the river from Westminster to hold a Question Time-style debate of the issues raised by Dr Williams and the political crisis in general.

Corpus Christi: 'Post yourself a Host,' says bishop

Thursday was the Feast of Corpus Christi although many Christians celebrate it this Sunday. Pope Benedict XVI, celebrating Mass in Rome yesterday, said in his homily: 'Aware that, because of sin, we are inadequate, yet needing to nourish ourselves from the love the Lord offers us in the Eucharistic Sacrament, this evening we renew our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Such faith must not be taken for granted. Today there is a risk of insidious secularisation, even inside the Church. This could translate into a formal but empty Eucharistic worship, in celebrations lacking that involvement of the heart which finds expression in veneration and respect for the liturgy. There is always a strong temptation to reduce prayer to superficial and hurried moments, allowing ourselves to be overcome by earthly activities and concerns.' Compare this with the latest initiative of the former Church of England cleric Jonathan Blake, now a Bishop of the Open Episcopal Church, and his new Post-the-Host initiative, which appears as a news story on our online faith page today.

Irish child abuse: the particular sufferings of the disabled

Earlier this week, as David Sharrock reports, thousands marched through Dublin in protest at what is turning out to be one of the darkest chapters in the history of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church. Soon after the Ryan report was published, David Sharrock, who writes for The Times in Ireland, wrote a powerful column. He reported the appearance of Michael O’Brien on the RTÉ show Questions and Answers, the Republic’s equivalent of the BBC’s Question Time. Michael listened patiently to the answers given by politicians to his question about whether the assets of religious orders found guilty by a commission report of systemic, endemic child abuse should be frozen. Then he let rip. 'I went to the commission and had seven barristers there questioning me, telling me that I was telling lies when I told them that I got raped of a Saturday, got a merciful beating after it and he then came along the following morning and put Holy Communion in my mouth.

Faith Schools: 'Who but God could be so funny?'

A debate about God and faith schools in the letters page of The Times has become entertaining with the intervention of Brighton's stand-up comic Roisin Mirza.

In a letter published on June 6, Roisin, filmed here at the latest Funny Women awards, wrote: 'My mum was an Irish Catholic, my dad was a Pakistani Muslim and I went to a Church of England primary school. I had to go to Mass on Sunday, mosque on weekdays and once a month go to a Church of England service because I was in the Brownies.

'Confusion? Not many. The result? A catastrophe of careers until I became a stand-up comedian. Do I believe in God? Of course I do. Who else could be so funny? Religious upbringing could only be invented by the same joker who invented humour itself.'

No bed of roses for asylum seekers

The Sanctuary, a garden designed to highlight the plight of asylum seekers in Britain, is among the exhibits at the BBC Gardener's World Live at the NEC in Birmingham this week. Pictured here in prayer next to the Bishop of Birmingham David Urquhart, whose article on the garden is reproduced below, is an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe. This asylum seeker has been here 10 years but still has been given no final decision about his status. He gardens to stay sane and has started growing vegetables but has no idea whether he will even be in the same shared house he is at now, when the food is ready to eat. He was invited to the garden by Solihull Welcome, a church based charity, and describes the church as his sanctuary while his future remains so uncertain.

Terror ruling: 'Even God gave Adam a fair trial.'

'Three men have won a unanimous ruling from Britain’s highest court that strikes a massive blow to the “control orders” regime for detaining terror suspects,' writes The Times legal editor Frances Gibb today.  'A rare panel of nine law lords allowed an appeal by three terror suspects on the grounds that they did not know what they were accused of and secret evidence was used against them.'

Unusually, in their 54-page judgment,  the Law Lords evoke the Bible, in particular the story in Genesis of Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man.

'Cast into the Tiber and told to swim.'

I've been very moved by Sunday's blog posting at De Cura Animarum by Jeffrey Steel, pictured here in Rome at Easter. Father Jeffrey, a friend of the Anglican Bishop of Durham Dr Tom Wright, has resigned from his ministry as a Church of England clergyman in the Durham diocese and is in the process of becoming a Roman Catholic, along with his wife and six children. He writes, 'Sometimes crossing the Tiber looks like an easier swim than it really is. I told my Catholic bishop that I sometimes feel like the Tiber has stretched as wide as the Atlantic and I've been cast into the middle and told to swim. He said, 'Yes, Jeffrey but there are devices out there to keep you above water, grab onto them and do not fear.'

Tony Blair: Religious fundamentalism to 'dominate' 21st century

Former prime minister Tony Blair believes the fundamental issues of the 21st century are more likely to stem from religious than political ideologies. Mr Blair was speaking at the Tony Blair Foundation at the launch of his new Face to Faith education programme, which I've written about in a news story for Times Online. But readers of this blog might be interested to see the answer in full that he gave to my question about the ultimate vision of the schools programme and the foundation itself.

God is Back author: 'They do not see their job as bums on seats.'

Clergy have a lot in common with journalists, which might explain why so many children of the cloth are to be found in my 'profession'. I use that word advisedly, to grace my hackery with a status some might feel it lacks. One of the things we perhaps have in common with clergy is the busyness of lives which stop us writing that best-selling novel, or Bible commentary. How many clergy quietly kick themselves when the Archbishop of Canterbury announces the latest Michael Ramsey prize for theological writing, as he just has to Richard Bauckham, that they haven't found the time to pen the epistle that would get them a nice reception at Lambeth Palace in the company of true grace?

Til death us do not part

Anatomist Gunther von Hagens is on June 23 bringing his controversial copulating corpses over from Berlin, where they have provoked the wrath of church leaders, to the Body Worlds exhibition at the O2 in London. These are two dead people who gave their consent to be plastinated and then joined together in a sexual act. The process of Plastination was invented by Gunther 32 years ago when he was a researcher at the University of Heidelberg teaching anatomy to medical students. Bishop of Manchester Nigel McCulloch is among the church leaders who have protested in the past.

Bishops' expenses in the Lords: First prize goes to Sentamu!

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has one of the longest trips to make, all the way from North Yorkshire, and is among the most active in the House of Lords attending ten days over a 12-month period. But he gets the first prize for bishops' allowances in the Lords from The Times because his expenses were - absolutely null and utterly zero! A bottle of Times champagne is on its way to Bishopthorpe - if I can get it on exes.

Second prize goes to Bill Ind, former Bishop of Truro, who must have had furthest to go and managed the trip five times before he retired in 2007, yet somehow managed to do it all on just £86. The Times religious desk reckons he must have used his free bus pass, which is no doubt how we'll be expecting all our bishops to travel everywhere before too long.

And third prize goes to the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, who attended an impressive 38 days and whose travel costs included £1,751 in air fares, making him the only true 'flying' bishop in the Lords.

Consolation prizes also to the Bishop of Ely Dr Anthony Russell, who claimed £3 worth of stamps, and the Bishop of Southwark Dr Tom Butler, who managed an impressive 83 days in the Lords, notching up a total of £6,743 in subsistence. For an interesting analysis of this, see The Church Mouse.

(|Update: Times house champers on its way now to Bishopthorpe and another also to Lambeth Palace, in equivalent recognition of the Archbishop of Canterbury's frugality.)

'Pro-lifer' chooses death as abortion doc gunned down in church

Yesterday, George Tiller, a doctor against whom a vitriolic media campaign has been waged for performing late abortions, was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas. It is clear the suspect had no formal connections with any pro-life groups, which have condemned the murder. Alpha Mummy at Times Online has a passionate post about this terrible murder, for which a suspect, a man with a history of mental illness, is now being held.

Pakistanis use Facebook to fight Taliban terror

Heartening story in today's Sunday Times about how Pakistanis in Swat are using Facebook to coordinate resistance to the Taliban terrorists.

'As chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif is charged with holding off the insurgents and protecting its 82m people. Staff say he works from 7am to midnight. He looks exhausted.

“There’s no doubt that one of their aims is to penetrate into Punjab as well as to stop the operation in Swat,” he said. “But I think finally the whole nation is behind the concept of not allowing the insurgency to cripple our society.”

In his view Pakistan is paying the price for years of oppression of its poor and needs a social revolution. Pointing out that the Taliban won public support in Swat by demanding an Islamic justice system, he said: “To think in a society thirsting for justice that people will look away from such a movement is fooling ourselves.”

World's 'cutiest' priest becomes an Anglican

Father Alberto Cutié, the Roman Catholic priest who has been a cause of some international scandal since captured on film cuddling his girlfriend, now his fiancé, on a beach, has been accepted into The Episcopal Church in the US. It is likely he will go on to become an Episcopal priest. As The Lead reports, Father Cutié and his fiance were received into the worldwide Anglican Communion by the Bishop of Southeast Florida, the Right Rev Leo Frade, a fellow Cuban. He used his first sermon in an Episcopal Church to preach on forgiveness.

Irish Catholic child abuse: was English rule ultimately to blame?

A senior Spanish government minister has criticised the Spanish cardinal Antonio Canizares who said  'What happened at some schools cannot be compared with the millions of lives that have been destroyed by abortion.' Canizares is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. A full translation of his original remarks is provided by Chris Gillibrand of Cathcon has today written a guest essay for this blog, below, in response to the terrible events in Ireland. He makes clear how truly complex the roots are of institionalised child abuse and offers reassurance that even for the dead abusers, there is judgement at the hands of God. Read also a superb article in The Tablet describing the true horror against humanity of what went on in those institutions. One victim reports: 'They raped me on a Saturday, gave me an unmerciful beating afterwards, and then gave me Communion on Sunday. My God.'

Exodus in reverse, a taste of wilderness

The Israelites were forty years in the wilderness after managing to get out of Egypt. After just four days trying to get in I was starting to wonder if we might be heading the wrong way. Difficulties with passports entirely of my own making combined with the grounding of a Monarch plane saw us on Thursday, four days after our original flight had departed, stranded at Gatwick early in the morning with an entire day to wait before we finally took off. The many who have experienced such a fate in recent years will understand that it is not an exaggeration to describe an airport for a stranded passenger as a modern wilderness, especially if children are involved. The shops, the endless junk food, the sleepless blue chairs, the irritating buzz of the tannoy announcing every flight but your own - Ozymandias could have built these trackless wastes.

Oh Church of Scientology, pray what art thou?

 Scientology in France is currently 'on trial' for alleged fraud. The BBC World Service pegged their latest Have Your Say programme to this and invited me on to discuss the question 'What is Scientology?' with listeners around the world. I've never before spent two hours on air doing a live phone-in without a break. Exhaustion doesn't begin to cover the effect of such a stint. Read the programme's own blog here with more than 100 comments about this issue.

Of moats and beams

'Why are MP's still allowed to sign for someone's passport?  It says on the form that the signature must be someone with high morals and a benefit to society,' asks a reader in our story today on David Cameron and Gordon Brown's attempt to clean up Parliament. This reflects the currently prevailing assumption that a minority of bad apples means the whole barrel is rotten, the assumption I believe the Archbishop of Canterbury was trying to address in his article for us last week. He was adamant in his article of the need to expose and reform. Ekklesia even commissioned a poll which they argue challenges the Archbishop's views. It is likely that Dr Rowan Williams would agree, as would most people, that a clean-out of some MPs and more independents could help rather than harm democracy.

Men-nuns on the run

See this story in today's Sun. These men ended up in court in Crete, for failing to treat religion with due respect. Is it just me, or does the one in the middle look a bit like Gordon Brown? Perhaps they'd have been ok if they had supped with longer skirts.

Archbishop Nichols: Tony Blair 'lacks experience' of Catholic life

Superb interview by Dominic Lawson in today's Sunday Times News Review with the new Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols. It is clear that Archbishop Nichols is going to be a great Catholic leader unafraid to speak his well-considered mind. Lawson begins: 'All things considered, I imagine Archbishop Vincent Nichols would rather a report detailing decades of abuse of Irish children at Catho-lic-run institutions had not been published on the eve of his installation as head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Nichols is the church’s most media-savvy operator, but his sure touch seemed to have deserted him last week, when, after an admirably forthright declaration that the abuse was “a scandal” and that those responsible should be prosecuted, he praised the “courage” of those in the church who had “faced these facts from their past ”'

Archbishops plead: 'Don't vote BNP'

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have today urged voters not to show their anger with MPs at the coming European elections by voting 'in favour of any political party whose core ideology is about sowing division in our communities and hostility on grounds of race, creed or colour.' Robert Piggott this morning did a good report on the BBC.

Kirk stands by gay minister

The unity of the Church of Scotland could be at stake tonight as the General Assembly has upheld the appointment of the openly-gay Scott Rennie election to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen. Pink News reports that Rennie has the backing of ten 'evangelical' groups. Stewart Cutler has precise details. Looks like Thurible was among the first with the news.

To be a pilgrim for a day

The latest Times walks are now being promoted, including one fantastic outing where picture editor Paul Sanders is leading would-be photographers to the spectacular waterfall near Llangollen in Wales. Mine on 25 July is along the North Downs Way, turning off to Aylesford Priory, where the friars have allocated some time to us in the chapel afterwards for prayer, reflection and discussion. (There is also a classic car gathering in the fields around the Priory that weekend to be gloried in, more later on that.)

Archbishop of Canterbury: 'Stop humiliating our MPs.'

The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a stern warning against the 'continuing systematic humiliation of politicians.'

It takes true courage to call for an end to a witch hunt when the dogs are in full cry. Christian Courage is one quality Dr Rowan Williams possesses in full. See our news story with Times video where Danny Finkelstein of Comment Central and I have our say as well. Matthew Parris has also had a go.

Cardinal Cormac: 'Atheism the greatest of evils.'

The outgoing Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, made a contribution at the end of Archbishop Vincent Nichols' installation that was at once touching, funny, serious and extreme. He said, rather controversially perhaps, that a lack of faith is 'the greatest of evils.' He blamed atheism for war and destruction, and implied it was a greater evil even than sin itself. Read the report running as a page lead in today's paper. Bess Twiston-Davies wrote a nice At Your Service for online.

Hacks - 'you're just small beer!'

Update: see our report here, the rather wonderful occasion overshadowed by his remarks on the Irish child abuse report. In his homily, the Archbishop pledged himself to a battle against the advancing tide of secularisation and a defence of faith. 'Faith in God is not, as some would portray it today, a narrowing of the human mind or spirit. It is precisely the opposite. Faith in God is the gift that takes us beyond our limited self, with all its incessant demands,' he said. Citing St Paul, he said that faith was not only compatible with the mind’s capacity for reasoned thought but complemented it. 'Some today propose that faith and reason are crudely opposed, with the fervour of faith replacing good reason. This reduction of both faith and reason inhibits not only our search for truth but also the possibility of real dialogue,' he added.

Rape, torture and beatings: in Ireland, the Roman Catholic cover-up goes on

The new Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols has condemned those responsible for the terrible litany of abuse unveiled a few minutes ago in Ireland and has demanded that they be brought to justice.

His is a lone voice though. Few others in the Church seems to be commenting, from the Vatican down. No perpetrators have been named or shamed. There will be no criminal prosecutions as a result of this report. What an utter, disgusting, unforgivable scandal. No wonder the brother of one of the victims, pictured here, is so upset.

Will the Church survive this revolting saga? Will we ever know the true tally of evil in this unredeemed catalogue of sin?

Read David Sharrock's reports from Ireland here, here and here and prepare to be very, very angry.

If you can get through, the full report is downloadable here.

Education: Archbishop pushes church schools

This video shows the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams speaking up in support of church schools for the Church of England's new resource, Christian Values 4 Schools.

Lombardi in London: 'The Internet is truly blessed!'

The address last night by Papal spokesman Father Frederico Lombardi at Allen Hall, the Westminster seminary in Chelsea, was what I imagine hearing Jesus' own Sermon on the Mount have been like. Read our news story here. Blessed was Regensburg, blessed was the condoms story, blessed was Williamson, blessed might even be the net. We weren't quite all blessed. The truly reviled - press, radio and television - were merely 'paths towards blessedness'. But if we all work a little harder, he made clear, then one day we might all be truly blessed.