Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Back last summer, when the C of E announced its three-year national spending plans, the Triennium Funding Working Group (TFWG) included an allocation of £12 million for the areas of social and racial justice in the 2026-2028 triennium. The precise allocation of that £12 million was a matter for the Archbishops’ Council to determine. It...

– vicar and poet  On this day the Church Calendar celebrates George Herbert. For those who are muttering ‘never heard of him’, just think of the hymn ‘Let all the world/ In every corner sing’, which he wrote, along with several other hymns which are still popular, even if they are well over 300 years old....

Keep a close eye on your car this year, because sadly, no one else seems to be able to do so. Recent figures have revealed that more than 121,000 car theft offences were not solved in 2024-25. The British Transport Police, South Yorkshire, City of London, Sussex and Warwickshire police forces reported that more than...

Anglicans in Hong Kong offer prayers and support in aftermath of deadly fire Bishop Martyn welcomes end of two-child limit “The suffering in Sudan is almost unbearable” – Bishop of Leeds Government urged to keep VAT grants for repairs Dublin given a Roman Catholic cathedral Archbishops’ Council response to Charity Commission case review Church of...

The Church of England conducted fewer weddings than ever in 2023, as the number of people in England and Wales getting married in religious ceremonies has slumped to a new low. In 2023, 23,004 marriages were recorded by the Church of England and Church in Wales, according to recent data from the Office of National...

Sundays of the Month 4th Jan             Second Sunday of Christmas 11th Jan            Baptism of Jesus – First Sunday of Epiphany 18th Jan           Second Sunday of Epiphany 25th Jan           Third Sunday of Epiphany 1st Feb              Fourth Sunday of Epiphany 2nd Feb            Presentation of Christ in the Temple – Candlemas **...

Matthew and Luke tell how the angel instructed that Mary’s baby was to be named Jesus – a common name meaning ‘saviour’. The Church recalls the naming of Jesus on 1st January – eight days after 25th December (by the Jewish way of reckoning days).  In Jewish tradition, the male babies were circumcised and named...

The name Jesus is a transliteration of a name that occurs in several languages. It is of Hebrew origin, ‘Yehosua’, or Joshua. There is also the Hebrew-Aramaic form, ‘Yesua’. In Greek, it became ‘ Ἰησοῦς’ (Iēsoûs), and in Latin it became ‘Iesus’. The meaning of the name is ‘Yahweh delivers’ or ‘Yahweh rescues’, or ‘Yahweh...

Basil was most people’s idea of the perfect diocesan bishop. He was a theologian of distinction, who as a monk devoted himself to much prayer and teaching. He leapt to the defence of the Church from the persecution of the Arian emperor Valens, but also appreciated great secular literature of the time, gave away his...

‘Discipline’ is now virtually a banned word, along with ‘risk’, ‘problem’ and ‘failure’. They seem to have been replaced respectively by ‘focus’, ‘safety’, ‘challenge’ and ‘opportunity’. On the occasions when we do recognise and applaud the virtue of discipline, it’s usually in the lives and activities of soldiers, police officers, dressage horses and the dog....

Quite frankly, this hermit was about as weird as they come. But he loved God, and God blessed him, strange though he was. So perhaps Simeon Stylites (390 – 459) should be the patron saint of all REALLY eccentric people. Simeon was the son of a shepherd on the Syrian border of Cilicia. He joined...

On 6th January we celebrate Epiphany – the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus. But who were these Wise Men? No one knows for sure. Matthew calls them ‘Magi’, and that was the name of an ancient caste of a priestly kind from Persia. It wasn’t until the third century that they...