New bishop installed at cathedral in Manx capital
John Sherrington was named as Archbishop of Liverpool by the late Pope Francis in early April. The archdiocese includes the Isle of Man.
He assumed his new role at a ceremony at the Church of Saint Mary of the Isle, which was attended by dignitaries including MHKs and local leaders of other churches.
Archbishop Sherrington's installation at his "co-cathedral" - Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral, 80 miles (129km) away across the Irish Sea - took place on 27 May.
As is tradition, the service in the Manx capital began with the archbishop knocking on the closed cathedral doors before being invited in by the Dean, Monsignor John Devine.
Guests included the island's Lieutenant Governor Sir John Lorimer, President of Tynwald Laurence Skelly, Chief Minister Alfred Cannan and leaders of other Christian denominations.
During the service, the letter issued by the late Pope in early April, confirming Archbishop Sherrington's appointment, was read aloud to the congregation.
The bishop was then installed in a special chair in the cathedral, which features his coat of arms alongside that representing the co-cathedral.
The proceedings also included the hymn This Little Light of Mine, performed by the children of St Mary's Catholic Primary School, and the island's national anthem.
During his homily, Archbishop Sherrington said the ceremony marked a "day of great joy".
Archbishop Sherrington moved from the Diocese of Westminster to succeed the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon OP, who was been in the post since May 2014.
Archbishop McMahon submitted his resignation to the late pontiff last year, having reached the usual retirement age for bishops of 75.
Bishop Sherrington was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Nottingham in 1987.
He was also ordained as an Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Hilta in 2011.
In addition to the Isle of Man, the archdiocese covers Merseyside as well as parts of Cheshire and Greater Manchester, and an area of Lancashire south-west of the River Ribble.
The elevation of the Manx cathedral in November 2023 followed Douglas being awarded city status as part of the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.
Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
New Archbishop of Liverpool appointed by Pope
Ceremony marks Manx church's new cathedral status
Cathedral status service to feature Manx elements
Cathedral status service to feature Manx elements
Douglas church granted cathedral status by Pope
Douglas Jubilee city status 'a huge honour'
Archdiocese of Liverpool
The Roman Catholic church on the Isle of Man
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Timeline: Grim history of Ireland's mother and baby homes
Exhumation of a mass grave has begun in Tuam, Ireland, at the site of a former mother and baby home — one of several that once operated across the country. The burial site, which could hold the remains of nearly 800 infants and young children, has forced the country and the Catholic Church to contend with its decades-long legacy of shunning unmarried mothers and separating them from their children left at the mercy of a cruel system. Extensive maltreatment that contributed to the deaths of thousands of children has been gradually revealed over time. Here is a timeline of developments related to Ireland's network of mother and baby homes. 1800s 1846 — The Tuam workhouse opens on six acres to house 800 'inmates' who were destitute. 1900s 1921 — County Galway opens a mother and baby home in a former workhouse in Glenamaddy that is run by Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order. 1922-23 — The home is occupied by British troops during the Irish Civil War. Six members of an Irish Republican Army faction that opposed the treaty ending the war were executed there in 1923. 1925 — The Children's Home in Glenamaddy closes and reopens in the converted Tuam workhouse as a home for. 1961 — The Tuam home closes. 1970s — Two boys discover bones in an underground chamber on the grounds of the derelict home. Locals believe the grave includes victims of the Irish famine and create a memorial garden. 2000s 2012 — Local historian Catherine Corless publishes an article in the Journal of the Old Tuam Society that reveals many children died in the home. She later finds records of 796 deaths with no burial records. She reveals that the bones found in the 1970s were in the location of a defunct septic tank. May 2014 — The Irish Mail publishes a story about nearly 800 unaccounted dead babies at the home and the possibility some are buried in the sewage tank. International news coverage leads to a public outcry. June 2014 — The Irish government announces it will investigate mother and baby homes across Ireland, including Tuam. February 2015 — The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes is formally established. March 2017 — A test excavation by the commission confirms 'significant quantities' of human remains of infants in underground chambers at the Tuam site. Tests show they ranged from 35 weeks to three years old. 2018 — The Irish government pledges to carry out a full forensic excavation and enact legislation to allow for the recovery and potential identification of remains. October 2018 — Government officially approves a full forensic excavation of the Tuam site. The cost is estimated at 6—13 million ($7-15 million) euros. January 2021 — The Commission's final report finds that about 9,000 children died in 18 institutions, including Tuam, from 1922 to 1998. Prime Minister Micheál Martin issues a state apology. 2022 — Ireland passes the Institutional Burials Act, giving legal authority to excavate, recover, and identify remains from sites such as Tuam. 2023 — The Director of Authorised Intervention is established to oversee the Tuam excavation. June 11, 2025 — The site is secured, and pre-excavation work begins. July 14, 2025 — The excavation team begins its dig to recover remains. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Newsweek
15 hours ago
- Newsweek
Map Shows Countries Where Christians No Longer in Majority
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. New data from Pew Research Center shows a decline in the number of countries where Christians are in a majority between 2010 and 2020. While most countries still have Christian majorities—with more than half the people in those countries identifying as Christians—there has been a decline in the last decade—with the U.K., France, Uruguay and Australia no longer falling into this category. Having previously had Christian majorities in 2010, the proportion of Christians in each country was 49 percent, 46 percent, 44 percent and 47 percent respectively in 2020, with no religious group holding a majority. Uruguay was the only country in the Americas that didn't have a Christian majority in 2020, although French Guiana is an overseas department of France on the northeast coast of South America, and as such part of a country without a Christian majority. Why It Matters Millions of Christians across the globe have been leaving the religion in recent years, resulting in the number of Christians in many countries dropping in the last decade, Pew Research Center reported. The center said that "religious switching" could be the main reason behind this, which refers to a person leaving one religion to join another, or abandoning religion entirely. The center's findings show an increase in the number of countries with religiously unaffiliated majorities—with 10 countries in that category in 2020, three more than in 2010. What To Know Overall, the data showed that 120 out of the 201 countries and territories studied had Christian majorities in 2020, which was four fewer than in 2010. It's important to note that other countries may have also lost their Christian majorities prior to 2010, while some may have lost them since 2020. The reason the U.K., France, Uruguay and Australia no longer have Christian majorities, is because of the "continuation of a long, gradual process of religious disaffiliation that's been going on for many decades," David Voas, a professor of social science at University College London, told Newsweek. He said that the "drift away from religion is largely generational." "When older, more religious people die, they are replaced in the population by younger, less religious people," he added. Voas said that there is also "some switching out of religion in adulthood," but that typically the largest shifts occur "between rather than within generations." More broadly, lots of Christian-majority countries have seen "a decline in the proportion of their populations declaring themselves Christian," Paul Seabright, a professor of economics at Université Toulouse Capitole, France, told Newsweek. This is down to many factors, including that more people, especially younger people, "are 'mixing-and-matching' their spirituality," he said. "Many still believe in God but don't declare themselves members of a particular church or even a particular religion, and those who don't really believe in God are more comfortable saying so openly than their parents used to be," Seabright added. Another contributor is the increase in childlessness, Seabright said, which has two effects—firstly, fewer children born of Christian parents, and secondly, childless couples and younger single people are less likely to belong to Christian churches than couples with children. There may be variations from this trend, he added, as "some young people who are currently childless, especially Generation Z, are likely to become more religious when they eventually have children." He said that technology could also be having an impact, as those who were teens when the iPhone launched in 2007, will be just entering their 30s now, and "are only just starting to grapple with the challenges of having a family." "This should bring more of them out of their online bubbles into real-world communities," he said. Another factor, according to Seabright, is that "in many countries the Christian churches were associated with the conservative establishment, which gradually eroded their legitimacy, especially in countries where the Church supported very conservative or authoritarian regimes. Examples include Spain and Chile, but also in Ireland, the U.K. and Germany." Additionally, "the scandals of sexual, physical and financial abuse have led to significant numbers of people leaving the churches, for example in France, Ireland, the U.S." What People Are Saying Paul Seabright, a professor of economics at Université Toulouse Capitole, France, told Newsweek: "There are offsetting trends, such as urbanization which is leading to an increase in Christians belonging to evangelical and Pentecostal churches, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and some Asian countries, like The Philippines, and also to a Muslim revival in places like Indonesia, Nigeria, Tanzania." He added: "Immigration from non-Christian countries explains part of the decline but only a small part. Immigration from other Christian countries often increases a country's Christian proportion, for example from the West Indies and Africa into the U.K." Lois Lee, a senior lecturer in secular studies at the University of Kent, told Newsweek: "What we're seeing in historically Christian countries is a long-term cultural shift that involves the transformation of Christian traditions into new meaning systems. Humanism and alternative spirituality are significant examples, but there are others too. Like any cultural transformation, the causes are complex, multifactorial—in the same way there's no short answer to the question, why did the Reformation happen?" She said: "We tend to focus on the decline of Christianity but the Reformation analogy is a reminder that cultural change doesn't overturn everything that came before it—it transforms it into something new. In the U.K., for example, humanism seems to be widespread and British humanism is shaped by Christianity in significant ways." She added: "On one level, what is causing the shift is parents no longer finding it important to pass on Christianity as we know it to their children, and a big part of that is that they are passing on alternative meaning systems and values instead." David Coleman, a professor of demography at the University of Oxford in England, told Newsweek: "To me the astonishing thing is that the data shows so many countries that still have Christian majorities. If the report had included the proportion of residents who were religiously active, praying at home, attending church, and use that as the criterion for the number of Christian countries then numbers would be far fewer. Many are happy to accept the cultural label without the religious involvement." He said: "The cumulative effect of generations of education, the weak authority of the church and the huge damage of scandals, and growing material security is making active Christianity a curiosity. Rejection of religion is strong in countries where the (Catholic) church was dominant and authoritarian, in countries like Ireland, Italy, and Latin America. That is not to deny a revival of interest in Christian religion in the young and the strength of various kinds of evangelical Christianity in immigrant minorities, especially from Africa." What Happens Next It is likely that more countries will no longer have Christianity as the majority religion in coming years, experts told Newsweek. "Countries that currently have only small Christian majorities are the most likely to see those figures drop below 50 percent in the decade or so ahead," Voas said. Canada, Estonia, Belgium and Germany may all lose their Christian majorities, he added, while Suriname in South America is "on the borderline but there's no clear movement." Additionally, in Africa, "Benin could lose a Christian majority if the share of Muslims continues to increase," he said. Seabright also said that Chile, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain may become "minority Christian countries in the next decade." "In the longer term, this could happen to the U.S., but because of Christianity becoming associated with the political right, not because of immigration," he said. "Lots of countries will continue to see Christian beliefs and identities morphing into new meaning systems since these are long-term cultural shifts," Lee said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The school where children know they are 'valued and cared for'
A primary school in Westhoughton where the behaviour of pupils is 'truly exemplary' has been praised as outstanding at its most recent inspection. Sacred Heart RC Primary School underwent its most recent inspection by the Catholic Schools Inspectorate earlier this month where it received top marks. Children at Sacred Heart Primary School were praised for their exemplary behaviour in the report. (Image: Sacred Heart R.C. Primary School) The report praised pupils at the school: 'The behaviour and attitudes of the pupils are truly exemplary. This is due to their strong voice and active involvement in decision-making. 'They undertake a wide range of valuable leadership roles, demonstrating genuine respect, and support for one another. READ MORE: Bolton Muslim Girls School is good with outstanding features Sharples School celebrates successful Ofsted visit Clarendon Primary School retains Ofsted 'good' rating 'They know they are valued and cared for by the adults with whom they spend their days. 'It gives pupils experiences which help them to come to know God and to understand their faith in many special and unique ways.' As well as praising pupil behaviour, the inspector also noted that the school 'proclaims its love of God and its prime mission to 'Love One Another' with joy and enthusiasm' and that 'students who attend the school are very fortunate.' The pupils were praised for their individuality and inclusivity. (Image: Sacred Heart R.C. Primary School) The report states: 'They know God loves them as individuals, each gifted with particular talents that they are called to share with others. 'They show deep respect for each other, including those of other faiths and cultures. 'As one pupil told inspectors, 'Pope Francis says we should encounter others, so we understand them better, and realise they are just the same as us'. 'Pupils demonstrate high levels of awareness of Catholic social teaching and the implications for taking action, especially when it comes to speaking truth to power, human rights, social justice, and caring for our common home. 'The charitable and community engagement undertaken by the school is beyond outstanding, having contributed financially and practically to more than twenty five charitable causes in the last year or so.' Students at the school continually seek to be 'Like Jesus', the inspector noted, praising a strident commitment to inclusivity and the celebration of individuality, even when this requires courageous decisions and action. The report also praised the school's commitment to help pupil's families, often through difficult circumstances. Pupils demonstrated a strong awareness of Catholic teaching, the report noted. (Image: Sacred Heart R.C. Primary School) The report states:' Chaplaincy provision is particularly strong, and the care for families and pupils whose circumstances make life more challenging, often goes beyond that which can be reasonably expected. 'Some of this provision, done away from the public eye and with the dignity and privacy of individuals maintained as a priority, is literally life changing.' Character and architecture of the school was also highlighted by the inspector as 'distinctively Catholic' in its character, as well as 'thoughtful additions' to the school's provision, such as the urban farm, the vardo, a real grape vine and three fire pits. The inspector notes: 'The strong commitment to caring for our planet is lived out, through the installation of solar panels, the growing of crops and wildflowers, the urban farm, recycling and repurposing. 'Parish links are strong, and the parish priest is a much valued and frequent visitor.' Sacred Heart Primary School was marked as outstanding in all areas, including for its Catholic life and mission, Religious education and Collective worship. The overall quality of Catholic education provided by the school was ranked as outstanding. Headteacher Martin Johnson said: 'The whole Catholic inspectorate covers everything you are as a school including behaviour, leadership and values. 'We are proud for the opportunity to showcase everything we do and how our students live each day. 'We are also extremely proud of our children, their families, our Parish and the wider community. Our dedicated staff team and governors have played a monumental role in making the school as special as it is.'
