Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

It was 40 years ago, on 27th August 1979, that Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was killed by an IRA bomb on his fishing boat Shadow V off the coast of Ireland in Donegal Bay.  He was Viceroy of India (1947), Governor-General of India (1947-48), First Sea Lord (1955-59) and mentor of the...

On consecutive days this month (27th and 28th) the Christian Church celebrates, a mother and her son. The mother is Monica, and her son is Augustine. The story of their relationship and how, after a long process, they both came to share the same Christian faith is a moving one, and perhaps has a message...

Take, Lord, and receive all my freedom, my memory, my intelligence and my will – all that I have and possess. You, Lord, have given those things to me. I now give them back to you, Lord. All belongs to you. Dispose of these gifts according to your will. I ask only for your love...

The old adage that dogs take after their owners may be more true that we realise.   For a new study has found that when dog-owners suffer from on-going anxiety, so do their dogs. Scientists measured the concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, by taking a few centimetres of hair from a number of dogs and...

The Bible Society’s Open the Book (OtB) programme offers primary school children an opportunity to hear the major stories of the Bible through the academic year. It is a three-year rolling programme of chronological stories.  Volunteers from local churches present the stories during assemblies using drama, props and costumes.  OtB meets the criteria used by school inspection...

The robin sang, the flowers bloomed all nature played its part, The only discord in this scene was man’s reluctant heart. The Creator’s manual he ignored so a path of pain he trod, Thinking that he knew the best man turned away from God.   The mess we’re in has been self-made, all answers lie...

When a close friend dies, it hurts. Very much.  But now an analysis of bereaved people has found that women suffer more, emotionally and socially, than men do, when they lose a close friend. Women friends can take up to four years to recover, probably because women tend to share tighter ‘socio-emotional’ bonds with one...

After St Paul, who was the most influential Christian writer ever?  St Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), whose feast-day is on 28th August.  He lived and wrote in a time of social and spiritual chaos.  The Roman Empire was collapsing, the world was about to slide into the dark ages and the Church was...

Churches were encouraged to offer a place of sanctuary for young people as part of efforts to combat knife crime and serious youth violence, in a key debate held at the General Synod last month. The Revd. Canon Dr Rosemarie Mallett, a priest in Angell Town, south London, urged parishes to consider opening their doors...

The ethnicity of churchgoers has been measured across thousands of churches in England in the English Church Censuses of 1998 and 2005, and numbers for other years can be estimated from these.  The proportion of White worshippers is declining, compared with the emphatic growth of many Black churches, especially in London.  In the year 2000...

Sunday trading was legalised in England and Wales 25 years ago, on 28th August 1994. Until then, under the Shops Act of 1950, the situation had been rather chaotic, and some of the rules laughable, but Sunday had been recognised as a ‘special’ day. The Shops Bill of 1984, which would have allowed widespread Sunday trading,...

Going on holiday with the parents this year?  If they are elderly, you might want to use the time to keep an eye out for any signs of depression or dementia. It is not a cheerful thing to do on holiday, but one which is recommended by NHS England’s national clinical director for dementia and...