LATEST NEWS – March 13th 2024

LATEST NEWS

Support for Russian priest who prays for peace

Thousands of Russian Orthodox Christians have been urging Patriarch Kirill of Moscow to reinstate a very popular priest in the capital, the Revd Alexei Uminsky, who has refused to recite an official prayer for Russia’s victory over Ukraine.

An open letter, which attracted more than 11,000 signatures, including the heads of local charities, says:

“The decree banning this priest from serving will deprive thousands of people of spiritual support – a great tragedy for many believers, for children’s hospice patients, for hundreds of prisoners and thousands of homeless people.”

Uminsky had repeatedly warned that he could not endorse the invasion of Ukraine.

Now Russia’s online news agency, Gazeta.ru, says that Fr Uminsky was banned from ministering under a decree issued by the Moscow Patriarchate, for suggesting in a YouTube interview that Christians should “pray for peace, rather than victory”. 

The Russian news agency went on to say that Uminsky has long been seen as “a thorn in the Kremlin’s side” for his anti-militarism. He was branded a ‘criminal in a cassock’ by the Russian Orthodox Church’s own TV channel Spas, after calling for mercy for the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, during his prison hunger strike.

For the moment, Uminsky remains banned, and may face defrocking as a priest. More than 300 Russian Orthodox priests, who signed an appeal against the Ukraine invasion of 2022, have since been silenced, or forced to emigrate.

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Dramatic decline of religion on TV

There is less television being devoted to religion and ethics than there used to be. A lot less.

The latest statistics from Ofcom, the industry regulator reveal a dramatic reduction in television programmes about ‘religion and ethics’ broadcast by the public-service broadcasting networks (PSBs): BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Comparing 2022 with 2011, peak time hours of ‘first-run’ UK origination output fell by 85 per cent; while peak-time hours of ‘all origin’ output (that is, including bought-in material) fell by 76 per cent. Channel 4 dropped from being the most prolific network to providing no output at all; and the BBC output fell by 65 per cent.

Roger Bolton, a former BBC and ITV executive and independent producer, wrote recently in the Church Times:

“All this has happened without a peep from Ofcom or the boards of the PSBs, who are supposed to protect the public interest. There have been no peeps, either, from religious leaders. They seem to be asleep, or preoccupied with their own internal issues, unaware of this wanton destruction.”

“In my opinion, television commissioners … underestimate the power of religion and the continuing interest in it. They also seem to forget that people are moral creatures, often keen to do the right thing, but wishing to discuss and debate what that is.”

(From Church Times, 19th Jan 2024, p14)

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Worldwide persecution of Christians on the increase

More than 365 million Christians worldwide now face persecution and discrimination for their faith. 

Entire Christian communities face extinction in some parts of the world. Those in sub-Saharan Africa are especially at risk, because of increasingly authoritarian regimes and violence.

So warns the latest global study of persecution.

The World Watch List 2024 is compiled by the charity Open Doors. It rates the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. This year, something new has emerged: the countries listed have not changed since 2023, and there are no new countries to the list, but the level of violence experienced by Christians globally has grown exponentially in just this past year.

Open Doors reports a sevenfold increase in reported attacks on churches, Christian schools, and Christian hospitals. In 2022 there were 2,110 such attacks. In 2023 it was 14,766.

Attacks on the homes of Christian have also soared – by 371 per cent. 

A staggering one in seven Christians worldwide now faces a high level of persecution and discrimination.

This is the 30th year that the World Watch List has been compiled and published. The countries are scored by various factors:  pressure levels in private life, family life, community life, and national life, and on church communities, as well as violence levels. This year’s list covers the period between 1st October 2022 to 30th September 2023.

The chief executive of Open Doors UK, Henrietta Blyth, says that Christian minorities in East and West Africa face an existential threat from jihadists and autocratic regimes. Jihadists are viciously attacking Christians across sub-Saharan Africa: Somalia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali, to name just some countries.

In Nigeria, things have got particularly bad, where Islamist extremism is threatening many Christian communities. In fact, the murder of Christians in Nigeria accounts for a staggering 82 per cent of ALL Christians killed for their faith worldwide. Last year 4118 such murders were recorded, though many more were never even reported. 

Open Doors has praised UK government efforts to become a global leader in standing up for the freedom of religion and belief, but it urges that the position of the Prime Minister’s special envoy, currently held by Fiona Bruce MP, should be turned into a permanent, statutory post.

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CAP responds to Ofgem’s call for input on standing charges

CAP has written a letter responding to Ofgem’s call for input on standing charges. 

For people on prepayment meters especially, standing charges can be problematic. Over summer, when people may not be using their gas for heating yet, they are still required to pay a daily standing charge. This can mean that when temperatures drop and people want to heat their home, they are faced with a high debt to repay before they can do so. 

CAP would like Ofgem to note that the levels of most standing charges are currently too high, and can lead to longer periods of self-disconnection. More needs to be done by suppliers, Ofgem and the Government to support low-income households afford their energy use. 

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Church of England welcomes Listed Places of Worship funding

Church of England Cathedrals and churches were among nearly 5,000 religious buildings to recently receive a share of up to £42 million in Government funding aimed at helping with the conservation of listed places of worship.

The Listed Places of Worship (LPW) Grant Scheme gives grants covering the VAT on repairs to listed buildings used as places of worship. 

Beneficiaries of the scheme over the last year included Leicester Cathedral, which received more than £600,000 for restoration work; Chichester Cathedral, dating from the 11th century, received more than £195,000 for its roof and lighting projects; and the 12th-century Collegiate Church of St Mary in Warwick, which was granted more than £141,500 to repair its ancient tower.

Emily Gee, Director for Cathedral and Church Buildings for the Church of England said: “Our churches and cathedrals provide spiritual, pastoral and practical support to their communities, and are key to the cultural heritage of the country. 

“Their presence boosts local economies and provides jobs and volunteer roles, and in many cases, they are the only publicly open building in their local place, where other amenities have closed.

“More than three quarters of our nearly 16,000 church buildings are listed, meaning they are of great significance to our nation’s heritage.

“We are enormously grateful for the Government’s Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme and the support that it provides in helping our church buildings remain central to the life of this country.”

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 Ministry Experience Scheme ‘key’ to C of E goal of reaching more young people

The Ministry Experience Scheme (MES) could play a key role in helping the Church of England achieve its goals of recruiting more people to work in ministry to children, youth and families by 2030, a conference has heard.

The Revd Helen Fraser, Head of Vocations for the Church of England, spoke of her hope that the MES Future Youth programme – training in children and youth work for young adults as part of a year-long ministry placement, will grow following its pilot launch in six dioceses this year.

The Revd Helen Fraser said:  “We often think vocation just means ordination but vocation actually is all that God calls us to – it just means ‘call’ and that can be as simple as Jesus saying to His disciples ‘come follow me’ – that is a vocation, all the way through to something very much more specific,” she said.

She went on: “For some people that will be the really clear and right outcome. But please keep an open mind and a broad mind if that is not clear to you yet because there are lots of different expressions of ministerial vocation that will all, over time, help us to be the Church that God is calling us together to be.”

MES Chair and Chair of the Future Youth Steering Group, the Bishop of Jarrow, Sarah Clark said: “It is always a great joy for me to hear the stories of so many young adults utterly alive in their faith in Jesus Christ, actively exploring their vocation while serving their local church and community with love.”

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Visit the C of E online page

There is now a range of digital resources for to you connect with God at this difficult time.  These include:

Time to Pray app (https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/apps/time-to-pray) which is free and has an accompanying daily audio offering on SoundCloud and iTunes.

Mental health reflections (https://www.churchofengland.org/faith-action/mental-health-resources/supporting-good-mental-health)

Tips to tackle isolation (https://www.churchofengland.org/faith-action/mental-health-resources/dealing-loneliness-and-isolation-five-top-tips)

Finally, there are the Church’s smart speaker apps, which provide a range of Christian resources.  https://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/our-smart-speaker-apps  In March alone, the number of people using the Alexa app rose by more than 70 per cent.

More details at:  https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-online

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