Scottish priest to run across Iceland
ON 22 AUGUST, the Rector of St Anne’s, Dunbar — which is a joint Scottish Episcopal (SEC) and Methodist church in East Lothian — plans to embark on a 209-mile run across Iceland. The Rector, the Revd Diana Hall, is participating in the event, the Great Norse Run, in aid of the military and emergency-service charity Rock2Recovery. To raise money and awareness, she has participated in her local Parkrun wearing a clerical collar and a kilt. Participants in the Great Norse Run are required to bring an item from home, and she says that she is considering a bottle of Scotch whisky. In an interview on the SEC website, she says that she took up running in adulthood and found that it gave her “space to remember that God was in the midst”.
C of E Director of Faith and Public Life to retire
THE Archbishops’ Council’s Director of Faith and Public Life, Canon Malcolm Brown, is to retire after 17 years working at Church House, Westminster. In 2007, he became the Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Archbishops’ Council, a position that became his current post. The advertisement for his successor (page 36) says that the Faith and Public Life Department, which Canon Brown currently leads, is “responsible for the national-level engagement of the Church of England with public policy, ethics and political life, relations with other churches and faith communities and theological support for the Church’s concerns”.
World Vision gets into African fashion
THE international Christian children’s charity World Vision has entered into partnership with Africa Fashion Week London (AFWL) this October. AFWL is a two-day event, 11-12 October, in central London, highlights fashion designers from across Africa, and features catwalk shows as well as cultural performances and panel discussions. A percentage of ticket sales will go to World Vision to support its work across 27 countries in Africa.
Tributes to Irish bishop and Vatican diplomat
THE Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union, Archbishop Noël Treanor, died after suffering a heart attack on Sunday. A former Bishop of Down & Connor, he was 73, and had been serving as the Vatican’s representative to the EU since 2022. The Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, paid tribute to Archbishop Treanor for his “wisdom and grace” and for his “sustained contribution” to ecumenism over several decades. “Most of all I want to thank God for the opportunity to know a good man,” he said.
Correction: Vicars’ Close, Wells, was built in the mid-14th century, not as incorrectly stated last week. We apologise for the error.