Latest news with #Gribben
Belfast Telegraph
4 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
‘I don't think it is great to have sporting games on a Sunday': Presbyterian Moderator shares view amid debate on changing NI football schedule
The incoming Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has confirmed he would not attend a football match on a Sunday, in reference to the ongoing debate about altering the Northern Irish soccer schedule. Speaking ahead of next week's General Assembly, when he will be formally installed as Moderator, Dr Rev Trevor Gribben (64) also said he believes there may be a 'female Moderator [for the church] in future'. The Moderator for the PCI is the most senior office-bearer in the organisation, each one serving a one-year term in the post. Originally from Tandragee, Rev Gribben had been serving his denomination as a clerk since 2014. The views of the new Moderator were shared at a briefing today, which was held in the lead-up to next week's General Assembly — the 38th he will attend. While in the past Moderators had the theme for their tenure chose by the church, in this case Rev Gribben was able to select his own. Rev Trevor Gribben believes it is 'not particularly great' to have significant matches on a Sunday Since ceasing his duties as an Assembly clerk on May 12 to take up his new role, the reverend announced that his theme will be 'Hope and Future in Jesus'. Rev Gribben was questioned on his view on Sunday matches, as well as female Moderators, the latter of which he believed will happen 'in the future' if it is 'God's will'. As a supporter of Belfast club Linfield, Rev Gribben believes it is 'not particularly great' to have significant matches played on the Sabbath. His take on the debate comes amid ongoing discussion between fans and authorities of the local game, this newspaper reporting last month that the Irish FA and NI Football League have joined forces in a concerted effort to push through a proposal on Sunday football at the IFA's Annual General Meeting later this month. Currently, league matches here can only be played on a Sunday if both participating teams agree to it. 'I would probably not go on Sunday myself. I have other things to do then,' said Rev Gribben. 'I don't think it is particularly great to have significant sporting games on a Sunday. If I was out for a walk and I saw people playing cricket on a Sunday afternoon, I may stop to look at that. 'The Irish Football Association, for the Premier League in particular, states that games can be played on a Sunday, but only if both teams agree. 'If one team says they don't want to play on Sunday, then they won't be forced to. 'I think that, as a church, we are content with that position. I want to live in a world where we didn't have that on a Sunday. 'But we do not feel that people should be forced to play on a Sunday. 'It is not just people who are coming from a church or religious backgrounds [saying this], it is also people who are part-time players. 'They have day jobs; they don't want to be playing on Saturday and Sundays. 'Sundays are an important day for them, for their family. It's not just for Christian perspectives.' Regarding ordination, Rev Gribben said at the briefing that, within the PCI, both men and women 'have equal opportunity to be Moderator'. 'I believe it is God's will that a female Moderator will be chosen. Women are open to be Moderator as much as men. The opportunity is there,' he added. 'Men and women are both eligible for ordination. In my time in the Assembly, 30-plus years, I have seen some really good women being nominated [to be Moderator]. 'And I have also seen, just because of the numbers, even more really good men be nominated… and not be elected. 'Do I think there will be a female Moderator in future? I think I got into a lot of trouble for this last year, but, yes, I think there will be.' At the General Assembly, made up of ministers and elders from more than 500 congregations, a number of church 'mergers' will be discussed in addition to their '10 plus 10 in 10' goal. Among churches set to be merged include First Portglenone Presbyterian Church and Town Hill. 'This is a strategy to plant 10 new congregations, plus 10 other missional enterprises, in the next 10 years,' said Rev Gribben. 'I am actually delighted that that is the first session I made since being the Moderator. 'We have planted new churches. There is one growing in Carlisle Circus. There is another about to be established in the old May Street buildings. 'This new vision of '10 plus 10 in 10' I think is very exciting. 'Listening to the global church, we have got delegates coming this year from Malawi, Indonesia, Greece and an official delegate from the Evangelical Church of USA. 'With the latter, we are trying to formalise our fraternal and confessional relations with them. 'General Assemblies are times when the PCI family comes together from across the island to pray, worship and be guided by God,' said Rev Gribben. 'It is also part of the democratic heart of our Presbyterian denomination.'
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Brit athletics champion, 81, is a MONK who took 70 YEARS to claim first gold after ‘nearly collapsing' on first run
SIGN OF THE CROSSFIT Brit athletics champion, 81, is a MONK who took 70 YEARS to claim first gold after 'nearly collapsing' on first run Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MARATHON monk has become a British athletics champion after SEVENTY YEARS despite 'nearly collapsing' on his first run. Father John Gribben is a sprightly 81 years old and can now claim to be top of his field after winning a gold medal at the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 A sprightly elderly monk has become a gold medal British athletics champion Credit: Guzelian 2 Father John Gribben, 81, is known as the 'sprinting monk' Credit: Guzelian Known as the 'sprinting monk' among parishioners, he won the 400 metre dash in two minutes, three seconds and 190 milliseconds. Gribben also secured bronze medals in the 60 metre and 200 metre events in London. But it took him 70 long years to finally achieve running stardom, with Gribben's first attempt at the sport coming in the 1950s. That didn't exactly go to plan, with octogenarian admitting he could barely stand up straight after a half-mile effort. READ MORE IN ATHLETICS HURD MENTALITY Fans stunned at how sprinter finished race after falling over final hurdle He told The Times: 'I nearly collapsed after that first run. I said, 'I'm not a runner', but I never stopped after it.' Gribben started to master the art of running when he moved to Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1979 — where he remains to this day. And like any good athlete, Gribben dedicates himself to a gruelling mid-week training schedule. He explained: 'Three nights at least of a 5km run, most days I'll do a 60 metre sprint, and then the other things are an hour at the local gym a couple of days a week.' The Belfast native, who attended a theological college in Dublin, mainly gets his racing kicks at Greenhead Park's Parkrun in Huddersfield. He's since completed over 250 events, boasting an impressive 5km Personal Best of 26 minutes. I'm a parkrun fanatic - here are my top 10 tips for first-timers as the event turns 20 Gribben, who takes TWO buses to reach the course, started attending when he was nearly 70 years old. He now runs 5km in around 40 minutes, and those Saturday morning slogs finally paid dividends when he clinched gold at the Masters. Gribben also revealed the spiritual kick he gets from running, adding: 'There's something in the spring, you hit one point where it is ecstasy, you're outside yourself almost, when you hit that speed that carries you the last whatever you need to get to the line. 'Sometimes I just say to my saviour, 'Well I'll run if you run with me'. 'I don't know that I get an answer but… I start putting on my trainers and it feels good to do.'
The Independent
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Charlie Brooker wants Black Mirror to be one of TV's longest-running shows
It's been 14 years since Black Mirror 's humble beginnings on Channel 4 – and if creator Charlie Brooker has his way, it'll become one of TV's longest-running shows. Brooker's dystopian anthology show, which returns this week on Netflix, ran for three series on terrestrial TV between 2011 and 2014. The streaming service gave it a new lease of life when it looked like new episodes would not be commissioned. That was in 2017 and, ever since, the show has increasingly attracted star names, ranging from Miley Cyrus to Josh Hartnett. The new series's A-list cast includes Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Issa Rae and Emma Corrin, who stars in a feature-length episode titled 'Hotel Reverie'. New episodes, as ever, explore the worrying effects of technology on the world – and if there were any doubts over whether the show could continue (considering the real world has, thanks to AI, worryingly caught up with the science fiction since it first aired), Brooker is batting them away. Black Mirror 's debut episode 'Hated in the Nation' made headlines after showing Rory Kinnear's prime minister getting intimate with a pig on national TV to save his abducted daughter. When The Independent highlighted that this was 14 years ago, Brooker replied: 'Don't say that. I feel so old.' Aske if the show could continue for another 14 years, he said: 'I hope so,' revealing that was his plan. He corroborated this to the BBC, stating: 'Hopefully [it will run and run]. Selfishly, it's a fun job.' One of season seven's stars who was overjoyed to win a role is Lewis Gribben, the Somewhere Boy breakout who appears in an episode titled 'Plaything'. 'It's trippy,' he said. 'You watch it and you're like, 'It would be cool to be a part of that,' so being in it is like, 'Woah!''. Gribben said that Black Mirror 'represents where we're going wrong in humanity' and 'how we're getting further and further apart from people' – and pointed to the recent Studio Ghibli AI scandal as evidence. Last month, fans of famed Japanese animation studio behind Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle were left furious when a new version of ChatGPT let them transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki. 'Bad parts of technology are becoming more acceptable, like recently that whole AI Studio Ghibli rip-off art,' Gribben said. 'I love Ghibli movies and they're all hand drawn and then animated – it takes years to get it that way. Then people are like, 'Oh, I can make Ghibli art from a photo in two hours.' 'That people find that's OK when there are real artists who paint and draw, and you've just replicated it on a phone and are trying to sell it, is crazy to me. It's bad and soulless.'
BBC News
12-02-2025
- BBC News
Clerical abuse survivors hope study will lead to public inquiry
Tony Gribben describes "cowering like a dog", as he was "beaten down" by his abuser at his boarding school. "The violence meted out on me was both physical and sexual," Mr Gribben survivors want an independent public inquiry into the abuse they suffered by clergy and other religious leaders in Northern Ireland. The devolved Northern Ireland government is now considering how to deal with the issue and has commissioned a study, which Mr Gribben describes as a "critical step forward".Warning: This page contains distressing details The research is gathering the stories of survivors of abuse in what is termed "faith settings" – which can include churches, schools and other places where clergy and leaders in religious organisations abused Gribben said the abuses he suffered began during his first year in boarding school."It started with beatings around the head. On reflection, I understand this was part of his tactics – beating me down," Mr Gribben said."Then it moved on to general sexual assault – like hands down sweaters, fondling, kissing – and culminated in extreme sexual violence."Mr Gribben was abused by Father Malachy Finnegan, who died in was accused of multiple sexual assaults on boys, including at St Colman's College in Newry, County Down, where he became he was never prosecuted or questioned by Gribben and the survivor support network, the Dromore Group, want an independent public inquiry into clerical abuse in Northern Ireland. 'How do I deal?' "It's the lived experience which touches on people's hearts," says Mr Gribben, who is encouraging people to take part in the project."It is through disclosure that you empower yourself."Mr Gribben decided to report the abuse he suffered to the police in 2019, when he was coming to the end of his career."I was preparing for my retirement, and all this came flooding back," he said."The box reopened, and I was moving into the last phase of my life."I thought, how do I deal with this?"He is keen to help spread the word about the research to other survivors who, like himself, live abroad."One common factor amongst those who have been abused as children is that they tend to move away from the environment where they lived. There are too many triggers for them to have a normal life," he explained."Part of me believes that as survivors we've become strong in our numbers, and our voice is being heard."I'm confident the administration in Northern Ireland is taking this issue seriously." 'A lack of accountability' Nikella Holmes agrees that "survivors aren't being quiet any more".She was abused by a youth leader at her former church, Gary Thompson, who was jailed last year."We are coming into a new age where we see survivors are strong people. That's what's going to bring change," she told BBC News NI."For me, it took a long time to believe that I was abused."Sometimes we can use Christian principles like forgiveness to try to leave behind what happened."That's never going to work with this kind of trauma."She has taken part in the research and is particularly encouraging people from a Protestant background, like her, to come forward."We have heard a lot about abuse in the Catholic Church – we haven't heard a lot of stories from people with a Protestant background."I have no doubt those stories are there."She points out that evangelical, non-denominational churches often aren't part of an overarching organisation – and "what comes along with that can be a lack of accountability"."We can look up the safeguarding policies of larger denominations - sometimes right down to when text messaging should stop between a leader and an attendee."With evangelical churches the leadership can just be a family, and often it comes down to them – what they're going to report, what steps they're going to take, and for me that can be dangerous." 'Let out the poison' Three strands of research are being carried out – into safeguarding policies; records held by faith organisations and public bodies; and survivors' Tim Chapman, who is leading the project on victims' testimonies, promises a sensitive approach."It's very important that we hear people's authentic stories."We're not going in with a list of questions. We ask survivors what they want to tell us about what happened, how it's impacted their life, and what response they got if they reported it."Survivors who take part can meet online or in person, and they can choose whether they want to speak to a man or a is a guarantee of confidentiality, and the project team is aware some people who speak to them haven't told their families about what they've said there aren't adequate statistics available to put a number on how many people are affected by the issues, but he believes there are "thousands" across Northern Ireland."There are many who feel they can't come forward; they just can't bear talking about it."In my view, there's a toxicity about it. So we need to let out the poison, acknowledge what's happened, and do our best to repair it." 'Getting to the truth' The report will form the basis of recommendations by an interdepartmental working group and a survivors' reference group to the first and deputy first has already been a public inquiry into abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland – and one is being set up into institutions for unmarried there has not been such an investigation into abuse by religious leaders in the Gribben hopes the leaders of the Northern Ireland Executive will call a public highlights a number of questions in his case, which he feels need to be examined – such as whether Father Malachy Finnegan was a police informer during the conflict in Northern Ireland, and how he was "packed off" to a rural parish where he was accused of continuing his abuse."We have too many brick walls at this point in time in terms of getting to the truth of why all this was allowed to happen over decades."Only a public inquiry will get to the nearest possible point of truth, which will then help survivors deal with this." Details on how to take part in the research project are available you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, you can visit the BBC Action Line for support.
