Going over: 65 former members of the congregation of St Michael and All Angels', Croydon, are received into the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, by Mgr John Broadhurst, last week. A further 50 joined at St Anne's, Darlington. PERSONAL ORDINARIATE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM
Canon Bonney to be Dean of Ely
THE Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, Canon Mark Bonney, is to be the next Dean of Ely, it was announced on Wednesday. Canon Bonney, aged 55, has been Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral since 2004. He was a member of General Synod for 15 years, and was a member of the Liturgical Commission. Canon Bonney is married, and has two daughters.
Bishop Welby welcomes Nissan plans
THE Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Justin Welby, welcomed the announcement on Monday that Nissan, the car manufacturers, will be producing its new hatchback at its plant in Sunderland. Bishop Welby said: “This announcement, coming as it does after Easter, a time of renewal, hope, and positiveness in the Christian calendar, is very appropriate and welcomed. The north-east has suffered more than most regions in the economic downturn, with more than 12-per-cent unemployment in some communities.”
Religious people more progressive, says Demos
A report published this week by the political think tank Demos, which has no religious alignment, suggests that religious people are more likely to hold left-of-centre political views. An introduction to the report, Faithful Citizens, which is based on an analysis of the European Values Study, said that religious people “volunteer more, donate more to charity, and are more likely to campaign on political issues”, and are “more likely to be politically progressive. They put a greater value on equality than the non-religious, are more likely to be welcoming of immigrants as neighbours, and, when asked, are more likely to put themselves on the left of the political spectrum.”
Cardinal: Christians should wear cross ‘proudly’
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the RC Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh, said in his Easter Sunday homily that Christians should “wear proudly a symbol of the cross of Christ on their garments”. He continued: “I know that many of you do wear such a cross of Christ, not in any ostentatious way . . . but a simple indication . . . that you are trying to live by Christ’s standards in your own daily life.”
Bideford observes prayer ban, despite new power
BIDEFORD Town Council, which was banned by the High Court from including prayers on the agenda of its meetings (News, 17 February), has not reinstated them, despite an intervention by the Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles MP (News, 24 February). Mr Pickles fast-tracked and signed a Parliamentary Commencement Order, so that a new power contained in the Government’s Localism Act 2011 could be exercised from this month; this would enable councils to hold formal prayers at meetings if they wished to do so. But the Mayor of Bideford, Trevor Johns, told The Daily Telegraph last week that, before reinstating prayers, he wanted “assurance” that Mr Pickles’s intervention did indeed overturn the High Court ruling.
Seasonal picture: a new stained-glass window, The Flowering Tree, designed by Roger Wagner, has been installed at St Mary's, Iffley, Oxford. MARTIN BEEK
Seasonal picture: a new stained-glass window, The Flowering Tree, designed by Roger Wagner, has been installed at St Mary's, Iffley, Oxford. MARTIN BEEK