Archbishop Justin Welby and Cardinal Vincent Nichols took part in an unscripted discussion from Lambeth Palace.

They answered questions that came in and spoke on a variety of topics including Pentecost and prayer.

One hour after the live video, more than 4000 people had watched it.

Many comments expressed disappointment that the video only lasted for nine minutes and 20 seconds.

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Speaking during a press conference last week, the cardinal said: "Diocese by diocese, parish by parish", the rate of people going to Confession had "increased dramatically during the past six months".

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Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster hosted the service of Vespers, largely conducted in Latin and attended by 300 people.

The service featured choral music from the 15th and 16th centuries.

The cardinal entered the chapel walking a few steps behind Bishop Richard Chartres, the Anglican bishop of London and dean of the royal chapels.

The cardinal and the bishop held a public discussion on the relationship between the churches and the crown and the role of Christianity in society

Bishop Chartres then preached a homily, in which he stated that church unity would be built "as we look together at the problems facing humanity rather than looking at the differences between us".

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Speaking ahead of the synod on the family in Rome, Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton said "there is a bit of an issue".

"I thought I understood marriage and family life because I come from a family, because I've ministered for 37 years in a parish," Bishop Doyle said.

"When I got involved in marriage and family life, I suddenly realised that there was a whole world there that I didn't know."

Bishop Doyle was responding to a media question about concerns that a meeting focused on family is largely being conducted only by men.

Some 279 male priests and prelates have been appointed by Francis as the voting members of the synod.

While there is a small group of women taking part in the discussions as collaborators and auditors, they are not allowed to vote on any final documents or issues.

At the same media conference, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said the synod " is not an exchange of opinion among male celibates".

"This is a period of prayer and reflection among the shepherds of the people."

The cardinal noted that there will be 17 married couples presenting testimonies to the synod, which has more time for small group discussions than in previous synods.

"There will be in every small group married people and women," Cardinal Nichols said.

Before the synod, former Irish president Mary McAleese said if she wanted expertise on the family, she wouldn't be calling hundreds of celibate prelates together.

"Let me repeat a question I asked last year when I saw the Vatican's lengthy pre-synod questionnaire, namely how many of these men have ever changed a child's nappy?" she said.

Sources

• Irish Times
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Catholic Women's League

That was one of the conclusions of a report summarising responses to consultation by the England and Wales bishops ahead of next month's synod on the family.

The responses came from more than 2000 Catholics in 16 dioceses.

The 28-page document noted that the admission of divorced and remarried Catholics to Holy Communion was consistently contentious.

One diocese listing it as the principal issue of concern and another stated it was the "single most common theme".

"Many write of happy and fulfilling marriages but often with a sting in the tail regarding their children having difficult and broken relationships and not keeping the faith," the summary noted.

"The disturbing and damaging effect on children is frequently referred to."

A number of parents refer to the difficulty of passing on the faith to their children who perceive the Church as holding "outdated and misogynistic views".

The summary stated: "Virtually no-one is opposed to the ideal of marriage but many are disturbed by the legalistic and punitive response of the Church to those who cannot live up to the standard."

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said one of the major challenges facing the synod was how to identify a pattern of conversion that would allow the divorced and remarried back into full communion with the Church.

"How do we find accompaniment for these people," he said.

The cardinal noted that the divorced are not a "category", but are "people on a pilgrimage, like all of us".

Cardinal Nichols also said he believed the Catholic Church had not yet fully developed the concept of what a sacramentally-valid marriage involved.

Evidence for this, he said, were the reforms of the annulment process announced by Pope Francis earlier this month.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• The Tablet
• Image: Spectator

The private member's bill, sponsored by Labour's Rob Marris, was defeated 330-118, with 220 MPs absent at the vote on September 11.

Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark said he hoped the result meant that this would be an end to the debate on assisted dying.

"I welcome Parliament's recognition of the grave risks that this bill posed to the lives of our society's most vulnerable people," he said.

"There is much excellent practice in palliative care which we need to celebrate and promote, and I hope now the debate on assisted suicide is behind us, that this will become a focus for political action.

"I am encouraged by the participation of so many Catholics throughout England and Wales in this important discussion and hope that everyone involved will continue to support calls for better quality care as life nears its end," he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was firmly against the bill becoming law.

Ahead of the vote, Catholic and Anglican leaders urged the faithful to contact their MPs to oppose the bill.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said he believes this grassroots opposition played a role in the measure's defeat.

"I thank all Catholics in our parishes who took the time to write to or visit their Member of Parliament to express their concern about the bill," he said.

"It was an important moment of witness to our Christian faith and the value it places on each and every human life."

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Guardian

His message, conveyed in a letter to Her Majesty to mark the occasion of her becoming the longest reigning monarch.

The Cardinal wrote in the name of Catholics across the world, and especially in the Commonwealth.

He told Her Majesty that Catholics join our prayers of thanksgiving to those of other Christians for the many blessings of her reign.

In a message released Wednesday, Cardinal Nichols said the Queen has been "unstinting' in her vocation.

"Your vocation as our Queen has been unstinting over these years.

"The burden of high office fell upon your shoulders at a young age, and yet through the many and varied circumstances of your reign, you have held integrity of service as a high standard and as an exemplar for other heads of state and leaders of nations.

"We give thanks too for the constant support that Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, has shown you in your time as our Queen; his role as Prince Consort being a source of strength and stay.

"We thank you too, for your steadfast insistence on the great importance of our Christian faith, given in both word and example, alongside your appreciation of the contribution made by other religions in our rich and diverse society today.

"Our hope is that, enriched by the presence of many beliefs and cultures, our country will always maintain respect for our Christian heritage and the sure foundations that it provides for a flourishing of true human fulfilment. "

The Gospel of Jesus, which we seek to serve, is a challenge to our society to think more deeply about the sanctity of life, the constant need for forgiveness and reconciliation, and the faithfulness required in love and the self-sacrifice which brings true satisfaction."

Cardinal Nichols promised the prayers of all the Catholic communities of England and Wales and concluded asking God to grant Queen Elizabeth every blessing now and in the years to come.

Sources:

• Catholic Herald
• Image: TV3

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, several [Anglican] bishops, priests and rabbis argued that, far from being a sin, helping terminally ill people to commit suicide should be viewed simply as enabling them to "gracefully hand back" their lives to God.

There is, they insisted "nothing sacred" about suffering in itself and no one should be "obliged to endure it".

But those who want to continue life until the last breath should be supported, they noted.

Signatories of the letter include Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, who stunned the Church of England last year when he announced that he had changed his mind on the issue.

The Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Alan Wilson, and a handful of Anglican clerics were also among the signatories - despite the Church of England's official opposition to a change in the law - as was Baroness Richardson, first female President of the Methodist Conference.

Rabbi Danny Rich, chief executive of Liberal Judaism and Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain a leading figure in Reform Judaism, also supported the call.

UK MPs are due to debate an assisted dying bill tabled by Labour's Rob Marris next month.

It would allow people thought to have no more than six months to live and a "settled intention" to end their life to be allowed to be given a lethal dose of drugs on the authority of two doctors.

Most of the major religious groups in the UK have voiced opposition.

Last month, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said "the right to die is someone else's duty to kill".

Preaching at Lourdes, Cardinal Nichols quoted Pope Francis: "It is a great lie to try and convince people that life lived with serious illness is not worth living."

The cardinal continued: "This is why we oppose those who wish to pass laws assisting suicide, giving people the right to die when they want."

Sources

• The Telegraph
• The Tablet
• Image: The Guardian

Twice a month, LGBT Catholics join the congregation at a regular Sunday evening Mass at the Jesuit Farm Street Church in central London.

A social gathering is held afterwards at the parish hall.

The initiative is an extension of Westminster diocese's pastoral care for gay people.

These occasions replaced the more controversial so-called "gay Masses" designated for LGBT Catholics at a church in Soho until 2013.

Chaplain Fr Keith Barltrop said that the cardinal would like to see the Farm Street Masses as a model for other parishes in his diocese.

He added that the idea could be taken up by parishes in other dioceses.

The Farm Street Masses are similar to those said for the LGBT community in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Martin Pendergast of the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council said that any move to expand the model would be dependent on interested parishioners taking the lead.

Looking ahead to the October synod on the family in Rome, Mr Pendergast said his group was currently drawing up a briefing paper which it hoped Cardinal Nichols and Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, the delegates to the synod from England and Wales, would take with them and feed into the debate.

A major line of argument in the paper, he said, would be a move to encourage the Vatican to undertake a "serious review" of the vocabulary it used in relation to homosexuality.

"Two terms which have been used by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in regard to homosexuality are ‘objective disorder' and ‘intrinsic moral disorder'," he said.

"But these are inaccurate and theologically quite inappropriate - and the people who are most hurt by this sort of language are the parents of children who come out as gay.

"What does it mean to them to hear their children described in those terms?" he added.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Image: Westminster Diocese

Speaking at the Proclaim ‘15 national Catholic evangelisation gathering in Birmingham in England on July 11, Rev. Gumbel said he loves the Catholic Church.

Rev. Gumbel, an Anglican minister from Holy Trinity Brompton, is the pioneer of Alpha, a 15-session introduction to the Christian faith.

Alpha has its roots in the charismatic evangelical movement and is now used - in modified form - by more Catholic churches worldwide than Anglican ones.

Rev. Gumbel had been invited to Proclaim ‘15 to help parishes shift their mentality "from maintenance to mission".

At the gathering, Rev. Gumbel said the key to his current thinking was Pope Francis's 2013 apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium".

Everyone, not just Catholics, should read the encyclical and put it into practice, Rev. Gumbel said.

"If every Christian in England put Evangelii Gaudium into practice the nation would be transformed," Rev. Gumbel said, adding that the Church would also be revitalised and transformed.

Friendship was one key to successful evangelisation, he noted.

Another was personal experience of the Holy Spirit.

He said it was important for Church leaders to be close to people outside as well as inside the Church.

"Evangelise according to your gifting, whether your gift is pastoring or something else. Involve everyone," he said, advocating the "small" approach.

"I love the small group. I love smelling of the sheep, as the Pope would say."

Small teaching inputs about Jesus and a warm welcome were the keys to reaching the unchurched and lapsed.

At Proclaim ‘15, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminister launched plans to inspire 5000 "missionary parishes" in England and Wales.

Parishes are also to be encouraged to establish their own evangelisation teams.

But before Proclaim ‘15, Cardinal Nichols stressed that these teams should avoid proselytising.

"Door-stepping, cold calling, things that minimalise the quality of human relationship is not what we do," he said.

Sources

• Christian Today
• The Tablet
• Alpha
• Image: Holy Trinity Brompton

At a press conference following the release of Laudato Si', the cardinal was asked about the encyclical's appeal for "sobriety and self-denial".

Cardinal Nichols said that people needed to go beyond reading the encyclical in a "puritanical way".

He said Pope Francis wanted the faithful to recognise that when it comes to consumerism "less is better".

The cardinal added that being trapped on an escalator where you "always want more" is not a "happy escalator".

Cardinal Nichols also highlighted that the encyclical made clear that when we purchase any object we make an ethical choice and that indviduals should ask themselves "do I need this?"

Among the many messages in Laudato Si' the Pope wrote: "A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment."

Cardinal Nichols described the encyclical as a thoroughly Catholic teaching document.

Meanwhile, the Church of England's General Synod is set to approve a proposal that asks congregations to skip lunch on the first day of each month.

A motion to be launched by the Bishop Nicholas Holtam of Salisbury will require bishops and vicars to "encourage prayer and fasting for climate justice on the first day of each month".

Bishop Holtam has described climate change as "the most pressing moral issue in our world".

The plea is part of a green overhaul by the Church of England which will also see trainee priests instructed in "eco theology" and "eco-justice" alongside the Bible.

The new subject for theological colleges is designed to ensure that the next generation of vicars become "enablers for others in seeking change and a sustainable future".

Two days before the Pope's encyclical was released, the Archbishop of Canterbury produced a declaration signed by British faith leaders calling for a low carbon economy.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Daily Mail
• Laudato Si'
• Image: CathNews USA

Cardinal Nichols was speaking at a special Mass at Westminster Cathedral in thanksgiving for the sacrament of Matrimony.

More than 500 married couple celebrating milestone anniversaries attended.

In his homily, Cardinal Nichols said Christ is actively present in every sacramental marriage; he is a partner in it and he is always faithful.

"So we have to grasp the challenging truth that even when the human relationships within a marriage denigrate and break down, something recognised in a civil divorce, there remains in that marriage the Word of Christ, given and never revoked," he said.

From this arises a demanding and painful question, the cardinal continued: What was the grace of marriage that remains for the spouse in such a situation?

"Perhaps it is the grace of sorrow and repentance, the grace of being able to see and embrace the hurt done through that breakdown and the responsibilities that flow from it?" he said.

"Perhaps that recognition is the first step on the pathway of mercy and of conversion."

Families are at the heart of the life of the Church, he said, and it was important to remember that neither marriage nor family was ever entirely private or self-contained.

"At every phase of marriage and family life, help is often needed from the wider family or from the Church community," he said.

The cardinal was speaking four months ahead of the Synod on the Family in Rome, in which he will be taking part.

This week, Pope Francis chaired a meeting of the Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops, working on the text of the working document (Instrumentum Laboris) for the synod.

Publication of the working document is expected within a few weeks.

The synod, to be held from October 4-25 in the Vatican is titled "The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world".

Sources

• The Tablet
• Independent Catholic News
• Vatican Information Service
• Image: Lifesitenews

Speaking at a Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral during Holy Week, Cardinal Nichols warned such hostilities can cause "collateral damage".

His comments came a week after he rebuked the 461 priests in England and Wales for going to the press about a letter they signed calling on the synod to resist changes to the Church's moral teaching.

According to The Tablet, the cardinal said in his homily: "It is wrong, in my view, to think or speak of this synod as a battle, a battle between contesting sides."

"Battles have winners and losers," he continued.

"And often ‘collateral damage' is the most tragic consequence of hostilities."

Last month, at the launch of a book about Pope Francis, German Cardinal Walter Kasper called for prayer ahead of the synod "because a battle is going on".

Debate on issues such as allowing Communion for those divorced and remarried to be raised at October's Synod on the Family has exposed tensions in the Church, another article in The Tablet stated.

Bishop Peter Doyle, of Northampton, who with Cardinal Nichols will represent England and Wales at the synod, said there is a "puzzle" facing the synod.

"It's about upholding the constant teaching of the Church while at the same time trying to find ways of meeting painful situations with the compassion of the Lord," Bishop Doyle said.

Meanwhile, another English prelate, Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster, has drawn controversy for refusing to meet local members of the reformist group A Call to Action (ACTA).

An ACTA spokesman said Pope Francis wants the synod to get the Church to catch up with the modern face of the family, whose issues included gay marriage as well as divorce and remarriage.

Bishop Campbell said the group had no recognition or approval by the Catholic Church in his diocese.

The bishop also strongly rejected any insinuation that he is in disagreement with Pope Francis.

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Catholic News Agency

The mortal remains of King Richard III were re-interred in Leicester Cathedral on March 26, following five days of commemorations.

In 2012, the king's skeleton was discovered under a parking lot near the cathedral.

He had been hastily buried in 1485 by Franciscan friars after the Battle of Bosworth, in which he was killed.

More than half a century later, commemorations included an interfaith service of compline in the cathedral in Leicester on March 22.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster preached a homily.

The cardinal described King Richard as a "child of war" who spent much of his early life as a refugee before he seized power "on the battlefield and only by ruthless determination, strong alliances and a willingness to employ the use of force, at times with astonishing brutality".

On March 23, Cardinal Nichols celebrated a Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the king at the Holy Cross Priory of the Dominican order.

The cardinal wore the Westminster Vestment, a chasuble dating from the reign of Richard and which might have been seen by him during Masses at Westminster Abbey in London.

More 20,000 people filed past the king's coffin in Leicester Cathedral

Thousands also lined roads to witness the passage of the king's cortege.

The Archbishop of Canterbury led the prayers at the March 26 service.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were among the guests there.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, a distant relation of the king, read a poem by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Richard III has been vilified in history for his alleged complicity in the deaths of his nephews, whom he had imprisoned in the Tower of London.

But some scholars have contended that Richard's bad reputation was partially due to Tudor dynasty propagandists, including William Shakespeare.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• New York Times
• The Guardian
• BBC
• Image: The Telegraph

The England and Wales bishops have produced a four page letter which asks Catholics to consider some fundamental ethical questions before they vote.

The letter is to be distributed in parishes this weekend.

Cardinal Nichols said that the document was principally concerned with solidarity, both with the wider world and the poor.

But he said that life issues such as abortion and euthanasia were the highest priority.

At a press conference at the launch of the document, Cardinal Nichols told Catholics: "Stir yourselves."

"We're citizens, we've been called to play a part in this society," he said.

"We have these ten weeks to raise the game and to make sure that some of these debates address the crucial issues."

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