Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

You may worry that your letter will be lost in the post, but you probably don’t worry that your letter may be eaten by snails. But perhaps it is time to start. Especially if your letter is being posted in rural Northumberland. It seems some hungry snails there have developed a taste for eating the...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren I was interested to hear that from this academic year, your vicar has asked you to take his place as a school governor. A whole new world of exciting meetings is about to open up to you. Naturally, you will have been told that the...

 The Church Commissioners and Durham County Council are hoping to build 1435 new homes on jointly owned agricultural land. The land is near Newton Aycliffe, and the development would run to 97.1 hectares. The result would be a series of ‘interlinked neighbourhoods’ around a central ‘spine’ road, and would include a primary school and a...

At the end of his life in 1924, Gabriel Fauré, the French composer, said to his sons, “When I am no longer here, you will hear it said of my works, ‘After all, that was nothing much to write home about!’ You must not let that hurt or depress you. It is the way of...

Sundays of the Month Editor:  Continuing our new feature, as we thought you might find it helpful to know what the Sundays of each month are called… 1st September              14th Sunday after Trinity 8th September             15th Sunday after Trinity / Education Sunday 15th September           16th Sunday after Trinity 22nd September          17th Sunday after...

St Drithelm is the saint for you if you have ever wondered what lies beyond death, or have had a near-death experience.    He was married and living in Cunningham (now Ayrshire, then Northumbria) in the 7th century when he fell ill and apparently died.  When he revived a few hours later he caused panic among...

St Giles was an immensely popular saint in the Middle Ages, and no wonder:  he was the patron saint of cripples.  In those days, there were many people who, once injured, were never really whole again.  Even today, a serious injury – either physical or mental or emotional, can leave us damaged for months, years...

The Anglican Church in Australia still honours the New Guinea Martyrs of 1942.  These brave men and women, 10 Australians and two Papuans, refused to leave their missionary work on the island as the Japanese military forces advanced.  As one tribute to them put it: ‘They knowing full well the risk, elected to stay with...

Pope Gregory never called himself ‘the Great’, but instead ‘the Servant of the Servants of God’.  Nevertheless, Gregory was one of the most important popes and influential writers of the Middle Ages.  The son of a very rich Roman senator, he left the service of the State upon his conversion as a young man.  Gregory...

Did you ever feel that God was calling you to do something big for Him, even though you were not quite sure of the details? If so, Birinus is the saint for you. He was a French Benedictine monk who in 634 was made a bishop at Genoa, and sent by Pope Honorius 1 to...

You are walking down the road when a beggar approaches you for money.  What do you do?   If, instead of giving money, you buy him/her coffee or a meal, then you are in good company:  you are following in the steps of the first ever Bishop of Venice. Laurence Giustiniani (1381 – 1455) was born...

Captain Allen Gardiner is a saint for anyone who refuses to give up on their calling.  For this courageous and indomitable man founded what became the South American Mission Society, though he sacrificed his own life in the process. Gardiner had not started out to be a missionary.  Born in 1794, he had left Berkshire to...