WCC: South Sudan needs 'a Mandela moment'
THE World Council of Churches (WCC) has urged the people of
South Sudan to emulate Nelson Mandela and embrace
reconconciliation, after reports of an attempted coup. The UN says
that hundreds may have died in fighting in the capital, Juba,
earlier this week. The President, Salva Kiir, has accused his
former deputy, Riek Machar, of attempting to seize power. The WCC
called on all sides to allow "latitude for different voices, given
[South Sudan's] multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious
composition".
RC priest claims unfair dismissal
A SCOTTISH Roman Catholic priest has launched a legal bid to
overturn his dismissal from St Sophia's, Galston, in Ayrshire, in
September. The priest, Fr Patrick Lawson, has been granted legal
aid to take the RC Church to an employment tribunal. He says that
he was sacked for speaking out about a fellow priest who was
allegedly sexually abusing children. If his case is successful, it
could set a significant precedent, but the Church said that the
move was flawed because there was not an employee-employer
relationship. between a priest and his diocese.
Correction. In the comment article "Mandela was a
lifelong believer" last week, part of the text was omitted. It
should have read: "What was needed was for the Calvinist Church
worldwide to pressure its members in the Dutch Reformed Church to
realise that its teachings were, in fact, unchristian. Ultimately
it could be argued that Mandela was faced with a situation that
could have been avoided if all the Christian Churches, Catholic and
Protestant, could have condemned the Dutch Reformed Church . . ."
Our apologies.