Posts Tagged ‘England’

Catholic grammar schools top performance list

Friday, June 15th, 2012

Eight out of the top 10 ranking grammar schools in Northern Ireland are Catholic, according to a list compiled by the Irish News. Schools were ranked on the highest percentage of pupils achieving three or more A-levels at grades A to C. Continue reading  

Number of women joining religious orders triples in three years

Friday, June 15th, 2012

The number of women joining religious orders in England and Wales has almost tripled in the last three years, according to bishops’ conference figures. In 2011 there were 17 new women recruits to orders across the country, up from six in 2009. Asked if this marked the beginning of a revival for women religious in Read more

No sex please; we’re British

Friday, June 1st, 2012

The British Government is planning to remove sex from the law of marriage, so that same-sex couples can be wed. In current British law marriage is not official until a man and woman have “ordinary and complete” sexual intercourse, which means same-sex couples cannot meet the requirement. Tory MP Edward Leigh says the move will Read more

New law will compel churches to offer same-sex marriages

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

David Cameron will not be able to exempt the Churches from a duty to offer marriages to gay couples, a senior Catholic barrister has warned. Neil Addison, the director of the Thomas More Legal Centre, said that the Prime Minister’s assurances to the Church that they would not be compelled to perform religious marriage for Read more

British inquiry: Children being damaged by online porn

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Many British children are “easily accessing online pornography” and are suffering as a result, a cross-party parliamentary inquiry has found. According to the inquiry, children’s attitudes to sex, relationships and body image are all being negatively affected by seeing internet pornography. Studies noted in the inquiry’s report suggested four out of five children aged 14-16 Read more

Over 3,500 adults received into the Church in England and Wales

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

More than 3,500 adults were received into the Catholic Church in England and Wales last week. They included 1,397 catechumens, who had prepared to be baptised, and 1,843 candidates, who had already baptised in another Christian tradition. The largest numbers were in the dioceses of Westminster (734), Southwark (481), Brentwood (333), Birmingham (255) and Portsmouth Read more

40% less children know the Lord’s Prayer

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Children are less likely to know the Our Father but are more likely to say religion is more important to them than children of 40 years ago, a BBC study shows. The survey marked 40 years since Newsround was first broadcast. The programme surveyed over 1,000 children aged 6-12 and 1,000 adults who’d have been Read more

Marriage is natural changing it has serious consequences

Friday, March 9th, 2012

The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols will tell Catholics on Sunday that marriage has an “instinctive understanding” and that changing the definition to include homosexuals would be a “profoundly radical step” that would strip it of its “distinctive nature. The warning will be read in 2,500 churches during Sunday Mass, and will also be co-signed Read more

Westminster Archbishop – cuts hit the vulnerable the hardest

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has said in a speech to MPs, peers and charity workers that Government cuts are “already being felt disproportionally by the most vulnerable”.

It is the closest a Catholic bishop in England and Wales has come to criticising the Coalition’s austerity measures.

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Archbishop warns gay marriage will weaken marriage in Britain

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

British PM David Cameron’s plan to legalise gay marriage will weaken marriage as an institution at the heart of British society, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said. Nichols said at a news conference that Cameron wants to “annex the institution of marriage” for homosexuals. Nichols said he respects Cameron’s desire to encourage equality and committed gay relationships. Read more