Earlier this year a prime specialist theology and philosophy institution in the UK, Heythrop College, closed its doors after 400 years of teaching.

Founded in 1614 by the Society of Jesus, and part of the University of London since 1970, Heythrop had a mission to provide ‘an education marked by intelligence, scholarship and generosity of spirit'.

In recent years the college struggled to recruit students, and this, along with increasing administrative pressures, forced its closure in January.

This was gloomy news, but not surprising.

As the British Academy has shown this week, student numbers for theology and religious studies have fallen by almost half since 2012 - 6,500 fewer students on theology and religious studies degree courses in 2017-18 than six years before - and the decline has led to the closure or reduction in size of several theology departments in the UK.

There are many reasons for this - chief among them the trebling of university tuition fees in 2012.

Prospective students now face an enormous financial burden from tuition fees and living costs, greatly affecting the decisions they make, not only about what to study, but whether to study at all.

Hardest hit will be those wishing to return to education later in life or to study part-time.

Yet causes are less alarming than consequences: theology and religious studies risk disappearing from our universities just at the time when we need them most.

Despite two centuries of apparent secularisation in the West, religion has an all-pervasive role on the world stage.

From the persecution of Myanmar Rohingya in a surge of Buddhist nationalism, to revived power struggles between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the electoral appeal of Narendra Modi to many Hindus or Donald Trump's popularity among US Evangelicals, we can't hope to understand the swirl of current events - or tackle their challenges - without first understanding religion in all its forms.

In these embittered and increasingly turbulent times, public debates have become more polarised, not least through the deliberate misuse of social media.

There is a widespread scorn for debating in good faith or respecting one's opponent, and a preference for viciously assertive arguments in a call-out culture.

It is no longer enough simply to disagree with your opponents; they can never be more than hypocrites, liars, or idiots.

This is an age of pitchforks and pithy putdowns - ugly and cynical, a poison for sane society.

Theology and religious studies offer antidotes to this increasingly adversarial culture.

Given the chance to study analytically the belief systems, morality, art, philosophy and history of varying faiths and cultures, graduates in these disciplines leave university with an unrivalled understanding of humanity in all its glorious untidy complexity.

How could such degree courses fail to nurture the empathy and curiosity of those who study them?

Yet the value of theology and religious studies degrees extends beyond this.

The Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey shows how theology and religious studies graduates are ideally placed to enjoy rich and rewarding careers in non-religious sectors, including international development, journalism, welfare, social care, teaching, and policymaking.

In fact, theology and religious studies students graduating in 2016/17 were more likely to be employed than graduates across historical and philosophical studies as a whole.

Nearly two-thirds of those employed were in professional occupations or associate professions and technical occupations - the so-called ‘highly-skilled graduate jobs' - within six months of completing their degree.

The British Academy's report - and, for that matter, the closure of Heythrop College - must serve as a wake-up call. Theology and religious studies need to confront significant challenges if they are to survive the era of high fees. Continue reading

• Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, is a Vice-President of the British Academy.
• Image: YouTube

It has always depended on what kind of a service is being offered.

Now it has become more complicated because, in 2016, the then-National government passed the responsibility of Easter trading hours to councils.

To date, 39 of the 67 councils have created bylaws allowing about 9500 retailers to open if they want.

However, this is still only a fraction of shops around the country, with Wellington, Auckland and other major centres opting against it.

Joseph Parker's fight with Anthony Joshua is on Easter Sunday.

His promoters say antiquated Easter trading laws are dealing knockout blows to Kiwis looking to enjoy the fight.

Venues wanting to show the fight need to apply for a licence for a fundraising, quiz or event hosting a speaker so as to be granted dispensation.

Ed Sheeran's Dunedin performances all clash with Good Friday or Easter Sunday in some way.

This had those in the hospitality sector nervous that they would have to close their doors.

However, earlier this year authorities gave the green light for bars to cater for the more than 100,000 fans going to the concerts, and still comply with the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.

The Dunedin City Council has also permitted shop trading at Easter. A full council meeting voted 10-5 in favour of the policy and said it will review it after 90 days.

While the likes of supermarkets and hardware stores supported the policy, unions were bitterly opposed.

Mayor Dave Cull said it was an "exceedingly difficult call to make", given that 60,000 to 90,000 visitors would be in Dunedin over the long weekend.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

For the last six and a half years Castillo lived at the Holy Cross College in Auckland, the national Roman Catholic seminary for the training of priests.

On September 23 he will commit to a life of religious service.

"I have had the last six and a half years to decide whether this is the right thing. There has never been any pressure put on me and it would have been fine if I had decided against it," Castillo said.

"But this is what I am meant to be doing."

Raised in the church, Castillo's faith had always been important to him, but in his first year of university something changed.

"I started to get this nudge. I had this nagging feeling all the time. It's like when your parents tell you to do something but you keep ignoring it. It was like that except the message was coming from somewhere else."

After a number of long discussions with priests, friends and family Castillo made the move to Auckland. He recognised the choice baffled some, especially when it came to the prospect of marriage and children.

"I won't be able to have kids or be in a romantic relationship. But when I was doing my placement I met so many people who opened their lives and homes to me.

"There are certain types of relationships I won't be able to have. But there are so many that I still can. It just means I can commit all my love to those relationships.

"And I'm still just a normal person. I live here with a few other guys and we still do normal things. We go to the movies, we have a few drinks occasionally, we play soccer every Friday.

When asked about the falling numbers of young religious people and the relevance of the church today Castillo said he believed it was as necessary as ever.

"When you look around the world today it's constantly changing. That can be pretty scary. Religion and faith offers an unchanging foundation to stand on.

"For me it realigns everything I do. I live with Christ at the centre. And that makes me a better person." Continue reading

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• Sunday Star Times / Stuff article by Leah Flynn

I never understood why this was a problem.

I used to attribute their lamentations to either a desire for a homogenous society or a desire for political power.

My church offers a CD of the week from Lighthouse Catholic Media. Each week it is on display in the narthex.

I have learned a lot from these cds. They have allowed me to more fully understand my faith and more fully live my faith.

But I remember one time I was listening to a woman speak, and she mentioned that once she converted fully to Catholicism, she started to feel out of place in her old circles.

She said she no longer wanted to do the things that she used to do. Her standard weekend outings were no longer as pleasurable for her.

To my secularized heart, that sounded horrible.

It sounded to me like she had rejected people just because they viewed the world from a slightly different angle.

It sounded intolerant, and judgmental, and condescending.

Vibrant faith

Clearly I had missed her point.

Now, about a year later, I find myself sitting in my living room tonight with a heavy heart.

A lot has changed in my life over the last year or two.

My family and I have found a wonderful and vibrant faith community.

• We have found a place that welcomes people with open arms.
• We have found a community that places an emphasis on living the faith rather than just preaching it.
• We have found a place where people truly and honestly strive to serve God and His people.

And what is most remarkable is that we feel like we fit in. We don't feel rejected. We don't feel judged. We don't feel unworthy.

This is good because our children go to school there, and we spend every weekend going to Mass there, and we have found most of our friends and social groups there.

We are different

But when we started at this parish, we were a lot different than we are now.

We had just decided to start attending Mass regularly again after years away.

We didn't make this decision because of a call to holiness and communion with the Catholic Church.

We made this decision because we wanted our children to grow up in a Catholic School, and we wanted them to have the stability that comes along with regular Mass attendance.

It was for them.

We were certain our hearts would remain closed.

In other words, we were going to a Catholic Church, but we weren't exactly Catholic.

But slowly, we found that while we weren't seeking the Catholic Church, she had been seeking and pursuing us. And finally we let her find us.

Now we try to surround ourselves with open conversations and the honest sharing of this experience of life.

We seek out people who teach their children the same values that we want ours to grow up with.

We constantly seek more ways to allow God and faith and holiness into our lives.

In other words, we surround ourselves with people who inspire us and who help cultivate in us a desire to do more, to do better, to live more authentically in communion with God.

New view

We fail a lot. But we keep striving.

And to be completely honest, sometimes that makes me feel alone and sad and defeated.

Because I now look around the world, and I see a society that doesn't care about the same things that I now care about.

• I see a society that cares about justice but not grace.
• That cares about political correctness... except when it comes to Christianity.
• I see a culture that values irreverence in the name of a laugh.
• And I see a culture that would much rather paint people into stereotypes than try to bridge the gaps and understand and respect the worldviews of its people.

I am not saying I am above this secular culture.

I am not saying I am holier than this culture or better than this culture.

I'm just saying that I no longer really feel like I fit in where I once did.

And if I step back and look at this, I realize that this is part of the call of Christianity - we are called to be in the world and not of the world.

We are called to be constantly looking up. We are called to something more, and in return, we will find something much deeper.

I just finished reading Angela's Ashes.

In a way, I longed for that society — a society that while extraordinarily flawed and misguided, wasn't afraid to speak of God and wasn't afraid to proclaim their truth.

It seemed so different than ours. It was so different from ours.

I sometimes wonder if societies like that could exist anymore. Can a world be created that seeks out God at the expense of temporal pleasures? Can we fix the trajectory we've been on for decades? Can we find our way back?

I don't know the answer. Only God knows that. And all we can do is fall to our knees and pray without ceasing.

I'm glad I found a different path.

A path that leads me to a deeper feeling of peace and connectedness. Now it would be amazing if we could bring more people on our journey. I know it would feel a whole lot less lonely.

Amanda Knapp - is an overextended but remarkably happy stay at home mother to three little girls, ages 2-6. In life before children. She writes to stay sane and to purge all of the doubts that wander through her mind. After a few years floundering in her faith, she, her husband, and her three girls have found their way back home to the Catholic Church, and she enjoys sharing how her faith plays a role in her every day life. She blogs about mothering, life, and faith on her blog, Indisposable Mama

"It is a simple fact that word ‘marriage' as we have traditionally known it is being redefined in our times," said Monsignor Charles Pope of Washington archdiocese.

"To many in the secular world the word no longer means what it once did and when the Church uses the word marriage we clearly do not mean what the increasing number of states mean."

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