Christians ‘among hundreds massacred’ in north-west Syria
The Catholic organisation Aid to the Church in Need, says Christians were among hundreds of civilians “indiscriminately” massacred last Friday (7 March) in north-west Syria. It cites a contact in Latakia who described “massacres against many Alawites”, an Islamic sect to which former President Assad belonged, and said it was a “painful day”. The contact said the dead included Christians such as “a father and son from an Evangelical church in Latakia who were stopped in their car and killed, as well as the father of a priest in Baniyas”. Some Christian families took refuge with Sunni families and in one Christian village, the homes of elderly people were ransacked. Patriarch John X of the Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church told of an incident in which an icon of the Virgin Mary was been smashed, trampled upon, and desecrated. The ACN is appealing for prayer to heal a nation which “has suffered too many wounds over the past decade”.
Global council to tackle challenges facing Jewish communities
A new council has gathered in Israel to attempt to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the global Jewish community today. The 150 representatives were recruited from all over the world by an algorithm built to ensure the diversity of the Voice of the People (VoP) council. The initiative, which seeks to unite and empower Jewish communities, is the brainchild of the Israeli president Isaac Herzog. Its aim is to engage a diverse range of Jewish voices to address challenges such as antisemitism, polarisation within the Jewish world, Israel’s relationship with global Jewry, relations between Jews and non-Jews, and Jewish identity and heritage. Read Lianne Kolirin’s report here
Pope stable and out of immediate danger
Pope Francis is stable and no longer in immediate danger but will remain in hospital for several more days, according to the lates medical bulletin from the Vatican. It says: “The Holy Father’s clinical condition remains stable. The improvements recorded in previous days have been further consolidated, as confirmed by both blood tests and clinical findings, as well as by the Pope’s good response to pharmacological therapy. For these reasons, the doctors have decided today to lift their guarded prognosis. However, given the complexity of the Pope’s clinical picture and the severe infection present at the time of hospitalization, it will still be necessary to continue pharmacological treatment in a hospital setting for a period of time”. The bulletin said the Pope joined the Curia’s spiritual exercises, meditations, via a video link and alternated between prayer and rest.
No public inquiry into murder of Catholic MP Sir David Amess
Katie Amess, the daughter of the murdered MP Sir David Amess, a prominent Catholic lay member, has said the Home Office’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into his killing was “extremely upsetting”. Sir David was stabbed to death while holding his constituency surgery, by Ali Harbi Ali, who had been radicalised by Islamic State following the war in Syria. The Home Secretary said nothing further would be added by a public inquiry, to what was already known from the trial and review of the killer’s contact with the Prevent programme, but she and the Prime Minister will meet Sir David’s family on Wednesday to discuss the decision. Sir David is remembered for bringing people together from opposing parties, to work for “the good of the nation in the world”.
US Supreme Court hears case challenging conversion therapy ban
The US Supreme Court is to hear a challenge to a law in Colorado which bans conversion therapy, where LGBTQ+ people undergo “therapy” to change their sexual orientation in order to comply with faith rules against same sex relationships. More than 20 states have similar bans, so the ruling will have wider implications. The case has been brought by a Christian therapist, who says the ban violates her right to free speech and the government has no right to censor private conversations.
Life within the Plymouth Brethren in Hereford
The Telegraph carries a report about the Plymouth Brethren community in Hereford, where reporter Abigail Buchanan was allowed in to witness community life. Their worship centre is a round, windowless assembly hall with circular rows of chairs, no altar, pulpit or adornments, circular on a business estate. Clothes are uniform and austere, there is a Brethren school in Tewksbury and a supermarket without cashiers in the town. The movement now does allow use of the internet, embraced in the schools. The picture is painted of a community living entirely separate lives from the rest of society. The report is here
The story of a ‘godless Jew’ now ‘at home with Anglicanism‘
An article in The Times by columnist Giles Coren, on how he grew up as a “godless Jew and now feels at home with Anglicanism” has struck a nerve on social media. He explains that he wasn’t introduced to his Jewish family tradition in childhood, and his contact with religion was attending chapel at Westminster Abbey as a schoolboy. Of the Church of England, he says; “That’s my language in that prayer book, my tradition, my education, my country, my poetry. And there is a building for it, usually a pretty one, on every street corner, opposite the pub, and any Englishman or woman can go in (to either) and take succour”. He has resolved that this Lent, he will give up atheism. Some responses on social media brought up his tweet from 2021 on the death of Dawn Foster, which he has since described as unforgivable and appalling. Others took his conversion at face value. Author Fergus Butler-Gallie said the story showed he was drawn into the church by “ordinary parish ministry done well”; the Rev Marcus Walker’s verdict was “a lovely article” and Bishop Guli Fracis-Dehqani, welcomed the story as “brave, beautiful and rather wonderful”.
Archbishop of York on ‘Lord Prayer’s Tour’ across the north of England
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has launched “The Lord’s Prayer Tour”, in which events will take place at cathedrals across the north of England, where the Lord’s Prayer will be said, alongside teaching, reflections and music. The aim is to “help enable the growth in church planting and revitalisation hoping to see 3,000 New Worshipping Communities across the North”. The tour will end on 10 October with communities uniting for a live stream event at Blackburn cathedral.
