Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

These days, lawyers and politicians are held in the lowest esteem by the public, along with tabloid journalists and estate agents. St Thomas More was both a lawyer and politician, who is today much admired for holding steadfastly to his faith-based principles. He lived in dangerous times, when anyone, even queens, who displeased King Henry...

Have you ever noticed how life-enhancing good ministers are? St Boisil (d.c.661) should be their patron saint. He did nothing spectacular, but he did everything that mattered. Boisil was a monk who became abbot of Melrose, in the Irish monastic tradition.  Boisil knew about God – he had spent years in study, and this earned...

Where do you go on your summer travels?  If you enjoy including a Christian element to your trips, such as making a pilgrimage, or visiting places rich in Christian history, then St. Willibald (d. 876) is the saint for you this month.  He was one of the most widely travelled Anglo-Saxons of his time. Willibald...

St Benedict (c.480 – c.550) was an abbot and author of the famous Rule that bears his name.  Because of his Rule, Benedict is also the Patriarch of Western Monasticism, and Patron Saint of Europe. Surprisingly little is known about his life.  Born at Nursia, Benedict studied at Rome, which he then left before completing...

Sometimes those who suffer are best at helping others in a similar situation.  Discharged from the Venetian army with an incurable leg wound, St Camillus (1550 – 1614) founded a religious order called the Ministers of the Sick (the Camellians).  Both in their Holy Ghost Hospital in Rome, and by travelling to plague-stricken parts of...

Many of us are gardeners, but not many of us are buried in our gardens. Phocus was a fourth century Christian gardener who ran a little guest house in Sinope, on the Black Sea (now part of modern Turkey). He used the produce from his garden to welcome and feed any visitors who came by,...

St Swithun is apparently the saint you can blame for rainy summers.  It is said that if it rains on his special day, 15th July, it will then rain for 40 days after that.  It all began when Swithun was made Bishop of Winchester in 852 by King Ethelwulf of Wessex. It was an important...

Take the book of Samuel in the Bible, add a bit of Luke Skywalker father/son conflict from Star Wars, stir in a dash of Pirates of the Caribbean, and you sort of have the story of St Helier – the first saint and martyr of Jersey. According to the legend, it all began in 6th...

Investigating racial incidents Evaluation of independent survivor support service reports ‘positive impact’ Church’s 2023 strategic investment focuses on doubling number of children and young people – report  Weekly Church attendance up five per cent in third year of consecutive growth  Church of England welcomes opportunities to open Special Schools following Government announcement Sudan: The forgotten...

Do you have a sister?  Is she ‘good news’ in your life?   Macrina the Younger (c. 327 -79) should be the patron saint of all ‘sisters’ whose generosity helps their siblings to succeed. Macrina the Younger was the eldest of 10 children.  Their father was Basil the Elder, a leader in the church in 4th...

A support service for survivors of church-related abuse has published its 2024 Evaluation report. Safe Spaces, which launched in September 2020, is an independent advocacy and support service for victims and survivors of church-related abuse in the Catholic Church of England and Wales, the Church of England, and the Church in Wales. The report notes...

As the traditional Easter story is remembered again this month, you may notice that there is one name that frequently occurs. It is that of the ‘other’ Mary – not the mother of Jesus but Mary of Magdala, who stood by her at the cross and became the first human being, male or female, actually...