*** DEBUG START ***
*** DEBUG END ***

UK news in brief

by
06 September 2019

PA

Aftermath: Shareef Mubashir, caretaker of Ahmadiyya mosque in Galway surveys the damage after a break-in on Sunday. After several incidents in August which targeted Muslims in Ireland, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, wrote to leaders of mosques in the city, urging all citizens to “stand against prejudice directed against minorities in whatever form they find it and in whatever way they feel they can. Friendship and hospitality march hand in hand with justice and compassion”. See gallery for more UK picture stories

Aftermath: Shareef Mubashir, caretaker of Ahmadiyya mosque in Galway surveys the damage after a break-in on Sunday. After several incidents in August ...

 

New Bishop of Derry & Raphoe elected

THE next Bishop of Derry and Raphoe will be the Archdeacon of Ardboe, the Ven. Andrew Forster, the Church of Ireland announced this week. He has been Rector of Drumglass (Dungannon), in the diocese of Armagh, since 2007. Previous posts include Chaplain and Dean of Residence at Queen’s University Belfast (1995-2002).

 

Pensions Board issues lobbying challenge to mining giant

A RESOLUTION requiring the world’s largest mining company, BHP, to suspend membership of trade associations not lobbying in line with the Paris Climate agreement has been co-filed by the Church of England Pensions Board. The director of ethics and engagement for the Board, Adam Matthews, said: “It is essential that lobbying be used as a constructive force and not one designed to delay, divert, and disrupt. We want BHP and other firms to succeed in using positive lobbying to enable and support a regulatory environment, consistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.”

 

Online bullying highlighted by UN poll

ONE third of 170,000 13- to 24-year-olds across 30 countries surveyed for a United Nations report said that they had been victims of online bullying. One in five said that they had skipped school because of it. “Connected classrooms mean school no longer ends once a student leaves class, and, unfortunately, neither does schoolyard bullying,” the executive director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, said. “Improving young people’s education experience means accounting for the environment they encounter online as well as offline.”

 

Commission calls for improvements in Birmingham

A CHARITY COMMISSION investigation into the Birmingham Diocesan Trust, the charity that oversees the RC diocese of Birmingham, has highlighted “serious shortcomings” in the charity’s safeguarding governance in the past, of which the trustees “appeared to be either insufficiently aware” or which they “did not adequately address with the pace or in the way expected”. The diocese was a case study in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which found that it was “driven by a determination to protect the reputation of the Church” (News, 21 June). While “significant action” had been taken to improve safeguarding, further improvements were required, the Commission said. 

Browse Church and Charity jobs on the Church Times jobsite

Forthcoming Events

Women Mystics: Female Theologians through Christian History

13 January - 19 May 2025

An online evening lecture series, run jointly by Sarum College and The Church Times

tickets available

 

Festival of Faith and Literature

28 February - 2 March 2025

tickets available

 

Visit our Events page for upcoming and past events 

Welcome to the Church Times

 

To explore the Church Times website fully, please sign in or subscribe.

Non-subscribers can read four articles for free each month. (You will need to register.)