Woman who sold drugs and spent 12 years in jail turns life around
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The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
What happens in church on Good Friday? That would be an ecumenical matter
Canon John Longuet-Higgins oversimplifies on the matter of Good Friday (Letters, 12 August). How to handle this (yes, non-feast) day, liturgically? Some, indeed, say no communion. Other traditions say that on this day of all days – the day of the cross – there should be a full service of holy communion. And others follow the pattern of receiving communion from the 'pre-sanctified' – that is, bread and wine consecrated the previous day, at the 'Last Supper' eucharist, and 'reserved' and simply shared the next day, as a sign that Christ's offering at the supper and on the cross was one and the same – his whole Canon Michael AinsworthManchester Sorry to be pedantic, but from an ecumenical point of view Canon John Longuet-Higgins is not correct, for not only do Catholics receive holy communion on Good Friday, but so also do high church Anglo-Catholics of his own church as a pinnacle point of the Easter Triduum. Of all days in the Christian year it would seem the most appropriate moment to receive the blessed sacrament of Christ's body and blood poured forth as the key moment in Christian salvation Eifion Rogers HartleyWorkington, Cumbria Any bank holiday is a feast day. Any bank holiday that changes date is a movable feast. If elements of the clergy see otherwise in the diminishing religious element of the population, just remind them they are seriously overrepresented in the hierarchy. How they mark the bank holiday is entirely up to GoughManchester Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Telegraph
07-08-2025
- Telegraph
‘God exists whether you have doubts or not': Five religious leaders on Kemi Badenoch's crisis of faith
At one stage in her life, Kemi Badenoch believed in God. 'I would have defined myself as a Christian apologist, always arguing with people about why there was a God,' she told the BBC on Thursday. But then news of Josef Fritzl, who'd locked his daughter in a cellar for 24 years, broke. 'That killed it', said Badenoch. It's a story familiar to religious leaders across the country, who are often asked how God can exist and still allow evil and awful personal tragedy to take place. Indeed, vicars, priests, rabbis and imams often experience their own trials, which can be all the more tortuous given their responsibility to project confidence and stability in the face of adversity. Here, five religious leaders describe how they address doubts that are raised with them about the existence of God, even in cases where they have privately wrestled with similar concerns. 'I don't have the answer' Yitzchak Schochet, 60, rabbi of Mill Hill Synagogue, north London At the beginning of April, there was a crazy car accident that happened in New York. A car jumped a kerb on Saturday morning when a mother and her daughters were walking home from synagogue, killing her and two of the children. I flew to the funeral in Israel, and I will never forget how, in the midst of it all, the grandfather who lost his daughter and two granddaughters yelled out to me, 'Rabbi. Why does God allow this to happen?' All I could do in that moment was give him a hug. I wasn't there to even attempt an answer, because I don't have the answer, and I have to be honest enough to know that. I know that there are things that are well beyond human comprehension. To believe in God means that you believe there are things that are beyond your own understanding. But the inevitable tension is always going to be there: knowing that I will not be able to provide the answer for the question that they're asking, but at the same time, wanting to encourage them to hold on to their faith, because that's the only thing that will walk them through whatever turmoil they're undergoing. 'I'm not some kind of saviour figure' Fr Ben Bell, 50, rector of St George the Martyr, south London My church is on Borough High Street. It's really busy, just down the road from London Bridge. We've got Guy's Hospital around the corner from us so it's not uncommon for people to come into the church on their way to an appointment. They come in with all sorts of crises: relationships, work-related, homelessness. Sometimes people come and ask: 'Am I cursed?' And I can give some concrete answers to that and say, 'No, I don't believe that is the case.' But very often, my role is to be an accommodating presence for people who are going through the s--- of life. We can all be tempted, from time to time, to think that we might be able to help. I'm not some kind of saviour figure, so that's not my business. I'm also a human who is a representative of the church. The place of the church is to hold people, or to provide a space for people who are wrestling with these questions: that is exactly what the church exists for, not for people who are full of certainty. As vicars, we're certainly not superheroes, we're certainly not fixers. We're certainly not spiritual paramedics. Our role is of accompaniment and prayer. Doubt and questioning how faith breathes are all part of this thing we call 'faith'. One of the great curses of modernity is that it's taught us that faith is an individual activity, and is all about certainty. I think that faith is communal and about mystery. It's not about certainty. And I think that we've been betrayed by modernist thinking in that respect. 'My son died on his honeymoon, but I don't believe it was the will of God' Rabbi Jonathan Romain, 70, Convener of Reform Judaism's Beit Din One of my sons drowned on his honeymoon two years ago: it was devastating for me, but it was not the will of God or part of some unfathomable divine plan, but sheer bad luck. Being religious means not being derailed by it and still living life to the full. People like to have a reason for why things happen. Why did my son drown? Why did my father die of cancer? Why did my wife get killed in a car accident? Sometimes there is no good explanation. People don't like question marks, they like answers. They much prefer to have an exclamation mark to a question mark. But Judaism is very much about saying life happens, bad things happen, but let's try and make a positive change. The trouble is that sometimes there's a difference between a person's emotional response and their intellectual response. Intellectually, a lot of people will say, 'You're right: my wife's cancer was just just bad luck', but emotionally they still feel there ought to be a reason. My message is: that's not always possible, but what is possible is change. So go out and do something positive for change in your wife's memory. 'My own faith is challenged' Glynn Harrison, 75, former diocesan lay minister, Christian speaker and retired psychiatrist I've wrestled with many of the same doubts and questions that Kemi talks about. You can't be a follower of Christ and not be sensitive to suffering. But I'm now much more comfortable with the fact that not knowing the answer to something doesn't mean an answer doesn't exist. And that's the way I cope with this question of suffering and the violent clash there is between the realities of the world and the conviction that God is good. I see the terrible toll of mental illness on some people and that really challenges my own faith, because you are watching a disintegration of the self at the most profound level of who we are. That's really hard, but even so, I come back to this idea that I think I can trust that God is good. Everything else about my faith tells me that God is good. We may not know the answer, but if he's good, there's reason for trusting him. I can think of a man who could not accept the tragic death of his wife and it finished his faith. At that point, you don't come in with arguments. You sit with them. It's a time for showing the love of God rather than talking about it. Being present, listening, supporting and grieving with the person. Later, after they've seen love in action, there's the opportunity to ask where this love comes from. Does it come from blind, material forces in a cruel universe? Or, does it come from the reality that we bear the image of God himself, and therefore from him who's the author of love? 'Doubt comes from my emotional reaction to something' Fergus Butler-Gallie, 30, vicar of Charlbury with Shorthampton, Oxfordshire I don't think anyone is immune to doubt, but I think there's an arrogance to think that my doubts matter. I think God exists, whether I doubt him or not, and doubt almost certainly comes from my emotional reaction to something rather than what's actually the case. That's my attitude to my own doubts. And then, invariably, something happens to reaffirm things and makes me realise how silly those doubts are. I don't really take them intellectually seriously, I view them as an emotional response, because God is there whether I like it or not. And one morning I might not like it, but that doesn't change it from being the case.
Belfast Telegraph
02-08-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
Royal Black Institution holds annual procession of Battle of Newtownbutler in Co Fermanagh
Over 30 preceptories joined 36 marching bands in the Lakeland village of Derrygonnelly on Saturday. A approximately 2000 participants took to village's streets as onlookers heard accordions, flutes and pipes play marching songs. Leading this year's procession was Ballyreagh Silver Band which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year followed by Garrison Accordion, Enniskillen Pipe and Inver Flue bands. News Catch Up - Friday 1st August Sovereign Grand Master Rev William Anderson, who was the principal speaker at the demonstration field on Creamery Road, said: 'The Royal Black Institution has a long history and tradition in Fermanagh. 'This traditional event draws together sir knights from the border counties of Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan, and Donegal. We have enjoyed a wonderful day here in the great village of Derrygonnely, where we have witnessed for the Reformed Christian Faith and celebrated our history and culture. 'I trust that as our banners float in the wind, and as the spectators gaze upon those brilliant paintings of scriptural truths, they will be encouraged to recognise their need of a Saviour, One who can truly save them from their sins, as they accept in their lives that wonderful gift of God's grace for themselves.' County Grand Master Neville McElwaine congratulated the members of Derrygonnelly Star of Freedom RBP 465 for 'having the vision and dedication' to host the event. 'I am certain today will be another memorable chapter in the rich history of our great institution here in Co Fermanagh. Our dedicated charity this year is the Air Ambulance NI, which continues to offer live-saving services across Northern Ireland, and, in many cases, here in rural Fermanagh.'
