RC adoption agency wins anti-gay ruling
CATHOLIC CARE, a Roman Catholic adoption society based in Leeds, has been granted an exemption from considering gay couples as parents by the High Court. Its appeal for exemption had been opposed by the Charities Commission. Mr Justice Briggs allowed the appeal and ordered the Charities Commission to reconsider. The RC Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Arthur Roche, said: “We look forward to producing evidence to the Charity Commission to support the position that we have consistently taken through this process, that without being able to use this exemption, children without families would be seriously disadvantaged.” Full report next week
Church Army marches north
THE Church Army has announced that it is to relocate its offices to the Wilson Carlile Centre in Sheffield from its present base in Sidcup, Kent, where it has been for nine years. Staff will be encouraged to move to the centre after it has been refurbished at a cost of £2 million. The move will bring together all the Church Army’s functions of mission, management, administration, training, and research.
RC Bishops criticise pre-watershed condom ads
CONDOMS can be advertised on television before the 9 p.m. watershed around any programme not designed for children under ten, says the new UK Advertising Code, released on Monday. The Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV has said that greater access to condoms is necessary to lower teenage pregnancy and reduce STDs. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales responded: “It is profoundly inappropriate to advertise condoms to children. Promoting the use of condoms cannot be separated from promoting sex.”
Male-only list for Derby
THERE were no women among the more than 30 priests who applied to be the new Dean of Derby, the MP Robert Key said during Church Commissioners’ questions in the House of Commons on Thursday last week. Mr Key asked the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Sir Stuart Bell, whether the absence of women reflected badly on the recruiting process. Sir Stuart concurred: “There ought not to be a glass ceiling.”