170 church leaders appeal for two child benefit cap to be lifted
More than 170 church leaders from across the UK have urged the Chancellor to scrap the two-child benefits limit, in the budget due on 30 October. In an open letter, the signatories from all main denominations, say the cap is creating a great injustice, punishing children for having more than one brother or sister. The letter says: “The Government’s own statistics show that 1.6 million children in 440,000 households are affected by the sibling restriction, with families missing out on up to £3,455 a year. There is widespread consensus that ending this policy would be the single most effective step the Government could take towards ending poverty, immediately freeing 300,000 children from poverty”. The campaign has been mirrored by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, in an article in the Yorkshire Post.
Lord Carey tells Guardian he supports assisted dying bill
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has spoken out in favour of assisted dying and has urged bishops in the Lords to support the bill when it comes before them from the Commons. In an interview with The Guardian, he said the bill, introduced as a private members motion which is due to be debated on 29 November, is “necessary, compassionate and principled”. He said pain medication and palliative care had made great strides but there were cases where this law would make a difference. To concerns this would be a slippery slope, increasing the categories of people over time, he said there must be a strong law that resists abuse. All 26 bishops in the Lords have consistently voted against assisted dying bills. Lord Carey said: “Church leaders have often shamefully resisted change. Let’s not follow that trend.”
Muslim councillors and 51 MPs call for ban on arms sales to Israel
More than 100 Muslim Labour councillors have written to the prime minister demanding an “immediate and complete suspension of arms sales to Israel”. Middle East Eye reports that the letter, coordinated by the Labour Muslim Network and signed by 114 elected councillors, cited “clear violations of international humanitarian law” by Israel. It says the councillors have come together as Labour and Muslims to call on the government to “meet our moral obligation by suspending all arms sales to Israel until such a time that international humanitarian law is observed and respected.” Signatories include the mayor of Rochdale, Shakil Ahmed, and the mayor of Wellington, Usman Ahmed. Last week, the paper reports, 51 British MPs from seven political parties including independents, backed a parliamentary motion calling for the government to take measures against Israel, ending all military exports, banning imports from settlements and revoking an agreement to deepen UK economic ties to Israel.
Bishop Anne Dyer says there is “no prospect” she will quit
The Scottish Episcopal Church Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, Anne Dyer, has issued a statement saying she will not resign, despite an appeal from four other bishops in Scotland asking her to consider her position. In the statement, quoted in the Church Times, she said the bishops had chosen to threaten her in an unprofessional and un-Christian manner: “I’m at a complete loss to explain what has prompted these four bishops to take such an ill-considered and inflammatory course of action, just days after the proceedings against me were dismissed..For the avoidance of doubt, there is no prospect that I will allow them to pressure me into quitting a role I cherish”. The bishop had faced claims of bullying and in 2022 was suspended on allegations of misconduct, but this month, the church’s senior legal officer ruled that it would no longer be in the public interest to pursue the allegations, despite evidence suggesting a realistic prospect of conviction. The bishop is on holiday at the moment but says she will return to work on Thursday this week.
11 martyrs of Damascus among 14 people created saints
Pope Francis has created 14 saints, including 11 “martyrs of Damascus”, killed in Syria 160 years ago. AFP reports that the eight Franciscan friars and three lay Maronites, all siblings from a monastery, were assassinated by Druze militants in July 1860 in the Syrian capital, then under Ottoman rule. They were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926. The other three individuals, died early in the 20th century, founded religious communities. They are Italian missionary Giuseppe Allamano, Italian nun Elena Guerra and the Canadian Marie-Leonie Paradis. It’s expected that “God’s influencer”, the Italian teenager Carlos Acutis, will be canonised in 2025.
Outrage at Vatican’s handling of women’s ministry at Rome synod
Members of the synod meeting in Rome have expressed outrage at the handling of a session meant to offer feedback on a controversial decision not to debate the ordination of women as deacons. The issue had come up in feedback from Catholics across the globe as one of the key matters to be addressed by the synod, but the debate was closed down on the synod’s opening day by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He announced there was no possibility of a decision to allow women to be deacons. He is the leader of a study group on women’s ministry, but he failed to turn up at a feedback session on Friday where 100 synod members arrived to ask questions. Instead officials from his department took his place and were unable to answer questions on the workings of the group. The National Catholic Reporter published a story headlining “outrage” at this turn of events describing it as a disgrace. And on Friday night, Cardinal Fernández backtracked, apologised and said he would meet people next Thursday.
Bishop appeals for the world to notice humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan
The Catholic bishop of Lancaster, Paul Swarbrick, has appealed for more attention to be paid to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. He lists a set of staggering statistics, saying it is 500 days since the start of the civil war, around 150,000 people have died in the fighting and more than 10 million have fled their homes. The Catholic aid agency CAFOD says 25 million Sudanese are in need of immediate assistance at risk of famine, “threatening to become the worst crisis in living memory”. The bishop, who leads on Africa for the bishops’ conference, says the human tragedy has received less media attention than other conflicts around the world, but the violence and suffering is colossal, creating a humanitarian catastrophe that can no longer be ignored.
Continuing tension in Canada over India’s alleged involvement in Sikh murder
India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, who was recalled in the diplomatic fallout after a Sikh Khalistan separatist sympathiser, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead in British Columbia, has denied any involvement with the murder. Canada had declared Mr Verma and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in connection with the killing and expelled six of them. In retaliation, India withdrew Mr Verma and expelled six Canadian diplomats. In an interview with Canadian TV news as he left for home this weekend, Mr Verma said no evidence of his alleged involvement with the killing had been produced and it was politically motivated to suggest otherwise. On Saturday, Sikhs gathered outside the Indian consulates in Vancouver and Toronto, demonstrating that the expulsion of Indian diplomats from Canada was insufficient. Canada is home to the world’s largest Sikh population outside Punjab.
US breakaway Methodist university dispute goes back to court
The Texas Supreme Court will determine if Southern Methodist University in Dallas, can cut ties with the United Methodist South Central Jurisdictional Conference, in a dispute over same sex relationships. The case centres on the university’s board announcing that the trustees and not the regional conference, were the “the ultimate authority for the university.” This was against the background of a long running dispute within the United Methodist Church over same-sex relationships and the ordination of people in same-sex relationships. The church voted to uphold traditional teaching in February 2019, but the conservatives anticipated the tide turning and many individual churches left in advance of the church’s decision earlier this year to allow same sex relationships. The dispute over authority at the university has gone backwards and forwards in the state’s judicial system and the next hearing is January 2025.
