First BAME bishop for 20 years
07 Jan 2017
One month after a large group of black and minority-ethnic (BAME) clergy wrote a letter criticising the lack of non-white senior clergy in the CofE, Downing Street has announced the appointment of the first BAME bishop for twenty years. The next Bishop of Woolwich will be the Vicar of St John’s, Upper Holloway, Revd Woyin Karowei Dorgu. The 58-year-old was born and brought up in Nigeria, and worked as a GP before training for ordination. He has been Vicar of St John’s since 2000. ‘We are greatly honoured to be invited to share and contribute to this dynamic ministry of bringing God’s love to the people of Woolwich and the diocese,’ Revd Dorgu said. Speaking to reporters, he said, ‘I want to encourage BAME vocations and more participation in ministry. I will celebrate the diversity in race, ability, gender, sexuality, and class. Celebrating our differences is a gift.’
Is UK aid ‘exporting the dole’?
07 Jan 2017
Tory MP Nigel Evans has harshly criticised a foreign aid programme that hands money directly to Pakistan’s poorest people. Britain currently helps fund the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), which offered cash support to over 235,000 families across Pakistan in 2012 and could be helping 441,000 by 2020. The Department for International Development (DfID) argues that offering just over £10 a month to these families cuts out middlemen, reduces the risk of fraud, and minimises the cost of the programme. The budget for the transfers, which help people who live on less than £1 a day, has risen from £53 million in 2005 to an annual average of £219 million in the period 2011-2015. However, Evans has called on DfID to launch an urgent examination of the process, saying, ‘This should only be a temporary measure, but it seems as if we’re exporting the dole to Pakistan, which is clearly not a clever idea.’
Patients on trolleys crisis in Eire
07 Jan 2017
On Tuesday 3 January a record number of 612 patients in Irish hospitals had to be accommodated on trolleys, falling to 602 the following day. The figures have led to a political outcry, with Labour health spokesman Alan Kelly describing them as a ‘national emergency’. The Department of Health have said the increase in cases of flu and winter-related illnesses is to blame. However, a number of doctors and nurses have said that this increase is only partially responsible for the number of patients on trolleys, and that the system has long been in need of an overhaul. The minister for health, Simon Harris, said that increased opening hours and support services for nursing homes are being considered, as ways of keeping flu patients at home rather than transferring them to hospitals. He also acknowledged the need to recruit more nurses.
Bishop receives knighthood
07 Jan 2017
James Jones, the former Bishop of Liverpool, who chaired an independent panel of inquiry into the Hillsborough football disaster, has been knighted in the New Year Honours list for services to bereaved families and justice. Bishop Jones was widely praised for his chairmanship of the panel, which concluded that many of the deaths at Hillsborough might have been avoided with better medical care. Bishop Jones said that he had mixed emotions on accepting the KBE, ‘because of the enduring sadness of the families who continue to feel the loss of their loved ones’. The inquiry, he said, had been ‘very much the climax’ of his 15 years as Bishop of Liverpool. A Hillsborough protester, Professor Phil Scraton, who led the panel’s research team, revealed last week that he had turned down an OBE in protest at those who ‘remained unresponsive’ to the campaign for truth and justice.
Busy roads and dementia
07 Jan 2017
More than ten million Britons are at a higher risk of dementia because they live near a busy road, scientists have concluded. Those living in big cities are up to 12 per cent more likely to develop dementia as a result of traffic fumes, according to a study of more than six million people in Ontario, Canada. The closer people live to heavy traffic, the higher the risk. The scientists said that their findings were ‘of real public health significance’. They called for homes to be built further away from traffic, and for levels of traffic-related air pollution to be further reduced. Half the population of Ontario lives within 200 metres of a busy road, and 20 per cent within fifty metres: these figures are likely to be higher in Britain.
Europe - a hope and refuge
07 Jan 2017
Millions are fleeing from the tyranny of war, famine, and heartache in the largest movement of people since WWII. For most, Europe offers the only hope of safety, and many risk the very real threat of death on their journeys to refuge. Often these people are seen as a problem, but while our enemy can use people to kill, steal, and destroy, God sees each and every person as a unique and loved creation. Greater Europe Mission (GEM) is just one of the many organisations which are working to meet the needs of the millions of vulnerable and hurting displaced people in train stations, courtyards, and fields across Europe. Unfortunately defensive reactions, not open-handed welcome, is the response from many citizens in receiving countries. Anxiety about those who are ‘different’ is driving people to fear and reject refugees. Pray for Christians in these countries to lead the way by offering rest and refreshment, and lifting burdens.
Portions of a letter from Germany
07 Jan 2017
‘The terror attack on the Christmas market in Berlin has been reported in detail in the media. As well as praying for the bereaved and injured, please pray for the security forces, police, politicians and the justice system to work together for the security of citizens, and to better manage the challenges of tracing those who may be intent on carrying out terror attacks. Pray for God’s wisdom and protection from the rule of fear.’ Also: ‘Post-factual (or Post-truth) stands for a fundamental change in presenting news and information in society. Increasingly political and social discussions are based on emotion rather than facts. An emotional perception of what is real then replaces the factual reality. The “truth” now rests in what everybody is talking about irrespective of the underlying facts. News is increasingly created and spread through social networks. Pray for political leaders to protect citizens from the deliberate manipulation of facts and make the spreading of untrue information a punishable offence.’
Word of the year for 2017
07 Jan 2017
In a topsy-turvy world of surprises, in a perilous world of uncertainty, insecurity and violence, what might be the WORD of the year for 2017? Some have predicted that it could be ’fear’ or possibly ‘hysteria’. Christians must resist this way of thinking. When some of Christ’s frightened disciples woke their sleeping Master as their boat was almost sinking in a storm on the Lake of Galilee, His words to them were, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ In a moment, He had calmed the storm. (Mark 4:35-41) For Christians the word of the year for 2017 must be ‘hope’, a hope born out of faith in the midst of uncertainty and danger. (Romans 15:3)