As the COP28 climate summit gets under way, the Lead Bishop for Environmental Issues, Bishop John Arnold, has reiterated his call for the nations of the world to act:
“Whilst the extreme heat of last summer may be a distant memory for many of us, huge numbers of people around the world have had their lives devastated by climate disasters in the last year or so. Given that the impacts of climate change will only worsen, there is no option but for COP28 to succeed.”
On Friday 1 December, the funeral service took place for baby Indi Gregory in Nottingham’s St Barnabas Cathedral. It was an opportunity to celebrate the life of baby Indi and to entrust her precious soul to God’s love. The Right Reverend Patrick McKinney, Bishop of Nottingham presided and preached the homily. Read more.
You can also read Pope Francis’ message for the funeral service.
The First Sunday of Advent, 3 December, is the International Day of People with Disability. A special ‘Catholic News’ podcast discusses the day and the wider issues for the church. Read and listen.
Bishop Peter Brignall, Bishop of Wrexham, wants the newly-elevated St Winefride’s Shrine, now a national shrine, to be a beacon of hope and healing for women who have suffered from violence and abuse in parallel with the experiences of the saint herself. Read more.
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales gathered in Leeds for their Autumn Plenary meeting at Hinsley Hall from 13-16 November 2023. There are five resolutions from the plenary; Synod on Synodality, Environmental Concerns, Shrine of St Winefride, National Eucharistic Congress and Conflict in Gaza.
This podcast is a walk-and-talk tour of the London Oratory’s memorials, statues, confessionals, altars, beautiful works of art, and prayerful side chapels – all gateways to a life beyond this world. Prayerful places where we can focus our minds on the Holy Souls and pray for those who have gone before us. Read more.
Bishop Declan Lang, Chair of the Bishops’ Conference’s International Affairs department, and Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Chair of the Holy Land Co-ordination have released a statement on the ongoing Israel/Hamas war. Read more.
The National Tribunal Service of England and Wales will enhance impartiality, transparency and consistency in the application of canon law across its jurisdiction in penal cases. Read more.
Pope Francis has released his Exhortation Laudate Deum, ‘Praise God’, to “clarify and complete” what he started in 2015 with Laudato si’.
Lead Bishop for Environmental Issues for the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop John Arnold, praises the Pope’s intervention as ‘timely’ and ‘vital’:
“I thoroughly welcome the timely and prophetic words of Pope Francis in Laudate Deum who once again implores the international community to alter the path of destruction down which we are heading.
The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has confirmed the approval by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for the new Lectionary.
The Lectionary, which includes the scripture readings for Mass and the sacraments, will come into use in Catholic parishes in England and Wales from Advent 2024.
Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery, wrote to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference, confirming the new translation of the Lectionary, which has been done in collaboration with the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. Read more.
Love the Stranger is a publication from the Department for International Affairs that presents a Catholic response to migrants and refugees. It places the human being at the heart of our pastoral outreach, looking beyond statistics and policies to the person – each with a name, a face and a story. Read more.
Use our online directory of churches in England and Wales streaming Catholic Mass live online.
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