Weary renewed calls for peace as war in Ukraine passes six month landmark
Pope Francis has re-iterated his call for peace in Ukraine, as the country marks the six month anniversary of war. Vatican News has issued a timeline showing his repeated calls for peace since the war began and re-affirms his desire to open a door for negotiation and willingness to travel to Moscow and Kyiv. During these past six months, the Pope has described war as senseless, madness, a nightmare destroying cities, villages and the future: “What victory is there,” he asked, “in planting a flag on a pile of rubble?”.
Sanctuary Foundation appeals for more UK host families
Dr Krish Kandiah, founder of Sanctuary Foundation which has been working with the UK government on the resettlement of Ukrainians forced to flee, is calling for the £350 a month payment to host families to double, due to the cost of living crisis. The Foundation fears that a quarter of the families will pull out of the scheme due to rising costs and it is launching a new campaign seeking additional people willing to open their doors. It is also urging the government to ensure Ukrainians receive long term independent accommodation when their initial six month stays end.
Former Barbados High Commissioner heads CofE racial justice unit
A former Barbados High Commissioner to the UK, now an Anglican priest, has been appointed as director of the Church of England’s Racial Justice Unit. The Rev Guy Hewitt was born in London to Barbadian and Indian parents, ordained in Barbados in 2005, served in a church in Hollywood, Florida and is currently associate vicar at All Saints Church in Fulham, southwest London. He is an honorary senior research fellow with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, and an advisory board member of the Windrush Scandal Research Project based there. He is the first person in this newly created role and will support the Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission and the Committee on Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns.
Christians Against Poverty demands immediate help to families facing destitution from food and fuel poverty
Christians Against Poverty says it has already seen a 37 percent increase in calls to its helpline, from people concerned about the cost of living crisis and the high rise in fuel prices. This is even before Friday’s expected Ofgem announcement of the price cap increase, which it is feared, could be 81 per cent higher than current prices. CAP says pleas for emergency fuel top-ups has doubled in the first half of this year compared to last, along with a sharp rise in requests for emergency food shops. CAP’s Director of External Affairs, Gareth McNab, said their clients are in serious distress, facing destitution, fearing they won’t be able to feed their families, or be able to pay for the most basic essentials like toiletries and clothing. CAP is calling on the government to at least double support to households on means tested benefits; pause benefit deductions on debt repayments to the government for six months; speed up social security assessments; and ban energy companies from forcibly switching customers to pre-payment meters.
UK intelligence agencies implicated in imprisonment of Scottish Sikh
The campaign group Reprieve says it has uncovered documents suggesting UK intelligence agencies tipped off Indian authorities about Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, who was arrested in 2017 when he returned to Punjab for his wedding. He was a campaigner for Sikh human rights, and has been formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder and being a member of a terrorist gang, facing a possible death penalty. He has consistently denied any wrong doing and his brother Gurpreet, a lawyer and local councillor in Scotland, is at the centre of the campaign to free him. The campaign is appealing to Liz Truss, as foreign secretary, to right the wrongs of previous administrations and bring him home. She has said the case should be brought to justice as soon as possible.
Rishi Sunak garlanded at Hindu festival on his campaign trail
Rishi Sunak, former chancellor and Prime Minister hopeful, has visited Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna Temple in Letchmore Heath, to celebrate the Hindu festival of Janmashtami. The Temple said that as an observant Hindu, he had visited the temple with this family before many times and on this occasion joined tens of thousands of people for the festival which marks the birth of Lord Krishna. He is quoted on the Temple’s website saying: “It’s been a tough campaign, but during the most difficult times I’ve been given the teachings of the Gita, and it’s been the Gita that’s given me the strength to keep fighting for the things I believe in.”
Vatican financial clean up imposes another deadline
The Associated Press reports that Pope Francis has imposed a deadline of 1 October for all Holy See offices and Vatican-linked institutions to deposit their assets with the Vatican bank. It follows reports of mismanagement of funds culminating in a 350 million-euro investment in a London property. AP reports that ten people, including former Vatican officials and external brokers, are on trial in the Vatican tribunal on finance-related charges related to the deal.
Understanding the history of schism in the Anglican Communion
Andrew Brown, veteran religious affairs correspondent, has published a substantial recollection of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, where a bitterly divided gathering passed the controversial Resolution I:10 against homosexual practice and same sex marriage. It has been at the heart of Anglican Communion dispute since then and surfaced again at the Lambeth conference this summer. In articles published as Part One and Part Two, he explains how and why bishops in the global south are so vehemently opposed to homosexuality and suggests that their traditionalist allies in the global north were fuelled in part by their failure to prevent women’s ordination.
