Bishop of Salford Addresses Conservative Party Conference
The Bishop of Salford addressed a well-attended fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference yesterday.
The reception, organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, The Catholic Education Service, and the Catholic Herald, celebrated the work of the Church in public life.
More than 70 MPs, local councillors and party members attended the event to hear from the Bishop of Salford, the Rt Rev. John Arnold.
Bishop John paid tribute to the work of Catholics in public life, thanking them for their vocation to serve the common good.
In his speech he also stressed the need for more kindness in the country’s political discourse as well as the desire for all political parties to prioritise measures to tackle the climate emergency.
Mater Ecclesiae College – Ecclesiastical Faculties at St Mary’s University
The Theological and Philosophical faculties, to be known as Mater Ecclesiae College, will open on the 1st October 2019 in its new home at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.
Prior to this move, the Institute was based at Heythrop College which, on the 31st January 2019, ceased to be a college of the University of London.
In July of this year, the Holy See, by a Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education, transferred the Faculties of Theology and Philosophy from Heythrop College to St Mary’s University with governance being transferred from the Society of Jesus to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
Mater Ecclesiae College will remain the only faculties in the UK with the ability to confer ecclesiastical degrees – qualifications recognised throughout the Catholic Church.
October 2019: ‘Baptised and Sent’ The Extraordinary Month of Mission
In October 2019 Pope Francis calls us all to renew our missionary commitment through a special month of prayer and action.
Schools are encouraged to join with our worldwide Catholic community to help pupils in their own mission to work and pray together to share God’s love with everyone, everywhere.
For secondary schools, Missio offers a workshop and short reflections to download, focusing on EMM and Christus Vivit. Find these and other secondary materials at https://missio.org.uk/emm-schools-page/
Mission Together, Missio’s children’s branch, has created resources to help primary schools mark this special month, including assemblies, activities and liturgies. These are available to download at https://missiontogether.org.uk/an-extraordinary-month-of-mission/
Missio is the Pope’s charity for world mission.
Extraordinary Month of Mission Competition
Through Mission Together, the children’s branch of Missio, children everywhere live out their mission: to share God’s love with the whole world. In a unique exchange of love and friendship children pray for and share with one another. Pope Francis has made October 2019 an Extraordinary Month of Mission during which he calls us to make a special effort to share God’s love around the world. No one is too young or too small to take part.
To mark this special occasion, Mission Together is inviting children in England and Wales to design a postcard, showing how Mission Together helps children all over the world, by feeding hungry people with food and hope; offering those who are thirsty water and faith and helping people who are sick with medicine and prayers.
The theme of the design is: ‘Our Mission: To Share God’s Love with the Whole World’. The competition is open to all children living in England and Wales aged between 5 and 14.
For information about the competition please visit www.missiontogether.org.uk/pupil-postcard-competition and to find out more about the Extraordinary Month of Mission please go to www.missio.org.uk/emm
Happy Drawing!