Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

1st March is St David’s Day, and it’s time for the Welsh to wear daffodils or leeks. Shakespeare called this custom ‘an honourable tradition begun upon an honourable request’ – but nobody knows the reason.  Why should anyone have ever ‘requested’ that the Welsh wear leeks or daffodils to honour their patron saint? It’s a...

The Church of England is launching an energy rating system similar to those used for household appliances.  The aim is to help monitor the carbon footprint of its almost 40,000 buildings, as General Synod has recently voted on a major new proposal to reach ‘net zero’ CO2 emissions. The hope is for all parts of the...

On 1st March Wales celebrates its patron saint, David – or, in Welsh, Dewi or Dafydd. He is indisputably British, and is revered wherever Welsh people have settled. As with most figures from the so-called ’Dark Ages’ (he lived in the sixth century), reliable details about his life are scarce, but there are enough for...

By Laurentia Johns OSB, SPCK, £9.99 Our world badly needs Christ’s light and peace. One way to bring these blessings to one another is to attend to our own hearts and to learn to live well. Living Lent well involves turning back to God to receive His blessing. In this deep and practical book, a...

Chad (d 672) should be the patron saint of any modern bishop whose consecration is questioned by another bishop.   Chad was consecrated a bishop, then deposed – and then re-consecrated! It all began when Oswiu, king of Northumbria, made him bishop of the Northumbrian see.   But due to a scarcity of appropriate bishops, two dubious...

Casimir is a good patron saint for anyone whose father drives them crazy.  For he did not let an unhappy background stop him from becoming the person he wanted to be.  Yet Casimir’s father, the King of Poland back in 1458, was no picnic as a dad. For if you think your teens were difficult,...

Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, was shot dead by a gunman as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel 40 years ago, on 24th March 1980. The Archbishop was widely known for speaking out against poverty, social injustice, torture and assassinations during a struggle between left-wing and right-wing forces. No-one was ever convicted...

The courage of Oscar Romero Real Easter Eggs celebrate their 10th birthday! The new website that makes evangelism easier                                  Hope for All – a great gift to give ‘Unleashing’ the church at Spring Harvest 2020 – how to make an impact today Biblica and Hodder unite to launch fund-raising initiative for more Bibles Al Shabaab...

Changes have been announced making it easier for parishes to apply for funding to support fabric repairs. The Church of England, working with the Wolfson Foundation and the National Churches Trust (NCT), has announced that during 2020 administration of the Wolfson Foundation funds for fabric repairs of churches will move from the Cathedral & Church...

Eusebius is the saint for you if you believe in the Bible, and also in providing hospitality.  He was born of a good family in Cremona, Italy, in the fourth century, and felt called to become a monk.  As Eusebius was ascetic by nature, he sought out St Jerome in Rome, who advocated an austere...

By Brian Draper and Howard Green, Canterbury Press, £14.99 In our busy, pressured world, the natural world can be a powerful counter-balance, offering wisdom for the challenges, pain and dislocations of life as well as for beauty, wonder and healing. Soulful Nature encourages you to get outside and make deeper connections with creation and its...

This story could come straight out of modern Africa.  Perpetua was a young married woman of 22 who had recently become a Christian.  But the authorities had forbidden any new conversions, and soon she and some other catechumens were arrested and sentenced to death.  This was not under Islamic State, nor Boko Haram, but under...