2024: review of religion news
View our briefing on the religion news headlines of 2024, including the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and turmoil in the Church of England, summer riots and attacks on Muslims, assisted dying, the closure of the Interfaith Network, a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia, a new Faith Minister, how religion featured in US and UK elections and the impact of international conflict on British communities. Our interviewers were Catherine Pepinster and Rosie Dawson; and our guests included Kaya Burgess, Austen Ivereigh, Richard Allen Greene, Maira Butt and Liz Harris. The briefing was recorded and is up on our YouTube channel, and is also made into a podcast – links are here. A timeline of religion stories in 2024 is here
.CofE faces ‘existential crisis’ over safeguarding
The Church of England is facing “one of the biggest existential crises since the Reformation” says the Bishop of Rochester Jonathan Gibbs. Referring to the Makin Review into abuse by John Smyth, Dr Gibbs said the lack of a national, pastoral response to the strength of emotion elicited by the report had been a “significant omission”. Earlier, the Rochester diocese passed an overwhelming motion of no confidence in the Archbishops’ Council’s oversight of safeguarding. Dr Gibbs, the CofE’s lead on safeguarding from 2020 to 2023, said: “In terms of the national life of our church, it does indeed feel like we are sheep without a shepherd.” Church Times report here
Monk on Welsh island abused children in ‘plain sight’
Cistercian monks on a Welsh island failed to act when one of their community abused children, enabling him to carry out his crimes “in plain sight”, a review has concluded. For four decades, Father Thaddeus Kotik assaulted dozens of boys and girls on Caldey Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, but it was years before the abuse was ever reported to the police. The review, by Jan Pickles, a former assistant police and crime commissioner for South Wales, highlights the cases of 20 people abused by Kotik, who joined the Cistercian monastery in 1947 and died in 1992. Catherine Pepinster’s report here.
The Pope: Listen to millions crying for peace
The Pope marked international Human Rights Day yesterday, calling for world peace and saying war deprived millions of people of their basic rights. In a posting on X, Pope Francis pleaded with governments to “to listen to the cry for peace of the millions of people deprived of their most basic rights due to war” which, he said, “is the mother of all poverty.” Vatican News report here
Polygamist cult leader jailed for 50 years
The leader of a polygamist religious sect in Arizona who claimed more than 20 spiritual “wives” including 10 underage girls has been jailed for 50 years. Samuel Bateman, 48, tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Arizona and Utah. The group split from the mainstream church after Mormons officially abandoned polygamy in 1890. Judge Susan Brnovich told Bateman: “You took them from their homes, from their families and made them into sex slaves.” AP report here
Dowden blames Labour for Jewish school closure
Former Tory minister Oliver Dowden says the announcement to shut the Jewish Immanuel College prep school in Hertfordshire is partly due to “destructive” Labour policies and will deprive Jewish children in his constituency of the faith education they deserve. The school has blamed Labour’s introduction of VAT on fees, the cost of teachers’ pension schemes and the removal of business rates for the decision to close the prep school, where fees are £13,632 a year. Jewish News report here
Mexico, a dangerous place for Catholic priests
Mexico City is one of the most dangerous places in the world for Catholic priests to live, a report says this week. Research by the Catholic Multimedia Centre found that 10 priests and one seminary student had been murdered during the six-year term of the former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. An additional seven bishops and seven priests were violently attacked during the same period, but survived. In addition, evidence came to light of almost 900 Catholics being extorted or threatened and 26 attacks on religious buildings. Independent Catholic News report here
Pope appoints the youngest cardinal
A Ukrainian bishop this week became the youngest cardinal in the world. Mykola Bychok, 44, is bishop of the Eparchy of SS Peter and Paul in Melbourne and represents Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. To mark his appointment by the Pope, he wore a purple robe embroidered with images of the saints and wore a black “koukoul” on his head, both traditional symbols of the Ukrainian Catholic faith. Catholic News Agency report here
Kashmiri star abandons pop career for her faith
A 25-year-old Kashmiri pop star has given up her music career to dedicate to her faith. Reshi Sakeena made the announcement in a video wearing a hijab and burqa, saying she would now “commit to Islam”. She said she would distance herself from her past life and would no longer appear on social media. Sakeena had a charismatic stage persona and her song Hey Hey Waisi Ye Yaaran Hai Tarpauns went viral, gaining her two million YouTube followers in 10 days in 2019. Report here
and finally . . .
‘Noisy’ Catholic club falls out with neighbours
Neighbours of Herne Bay Catholic Social Club in the Kent seaside town have been trying to stop it from serving alcohol until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. Opponents claimed club members were noisy and one told Canterbury City Council, the licensing authority: “There is vomiting and urination in the street by members and noise nuisance, usually from drunk females crying and screaming about their boyfriend.” The club, which was founded more than 60 years ago, is next to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church. The council allowed the extended licence. Daily Mail report here
