New Provost for St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh
THE Rector of St Martin of Tours, Edinburgh, the Revd John Conway, has been appointed as the new Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral. He will take up the post in September. He succeeds the Very Revd Graham Forbes, who is retiring at the end of June, after 26 years in the post.
Sir Cliff Richard wins high court battle against BBC
A HIGH COURT judge has ruled that the BBC must inform Sir Cliff Richard whether its source, who had learned that the singer was being investigated by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) over an allegation of sex assault, and tipped off the BBC, was working on the wider Metropolitan police inquiry into sex abuse, Operation Yewtree, the Press Association reported on Tuesday. The Crown Prosecution Service ruled last year that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against the singer (News, 24 June 2016).
No ‘Hollywood glamour’ in piracy, charity warns
PIRACY is “not a Disney story” but a “harrowing” reality, the Christian maritime charity Sailors’ Society warned this week, as the latest Disney blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was released in UK cinemas. The charity launched a crisis response network of chaplains in Asia earlier this year to help victims of piracy, kidnapping, natural disasters, and other trauma at sea, after eight fishermen were killed by armed men who attacked their boat in a suspected pirate attack off the Southern Philippines. “For the 1.6 million seafarers in the world, the reality of modern day piracy could not be further from the Hollywood glamour,” it said.
New director of research for the Church Army
THE Church Army has appointed the Church of England’s head of ministry development, Dr Tim Ling, as its new director of research. The current director, Canon George Lings, will retire in September after 20 years in the post.
Church of Scotland says sorry to gay people
AN APOLOGY for its history of discrimination towards gay people was approved by the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly last week. The Assembly also approved a report “which could pave the way to allow some ministers to conduct same sex marriages in future”, a statement said. The convener of the Kirk’s theological forum, the Very Revd Professor Iain Torrance, said that he and his colleagues could see “no sufficient theological reason for the Church not to authorise specific ministers to officiate at same-sex weddings”.