Cardinal Vincent Nichols has distanced himself from the Vatican’s refusal to criticise the head of the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. While the Pope has repeatedly spoken out about the war, he has not publicly condemned Russian President Vladmir Putin or indeed Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Speaking at the fourth annual Religion Media Festival, the Archbishop of Westminster said: “We’ve seen a certain caution from the Holy See in not outrightly condemning Russia.” In a recorded interview with journalist and broadcaster Roger Bolton, the festival’s keynote speaker said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt at all about who is the aggressor.” The cardinal believes the Pope’s reluctance to condemn Putin is driven by his “deepest desire” to end the conflict. “Nobody expresses more eloquently the horror of warfare and its destructive nature,” he said of the Pope. “He would say all this aggression, this destruction, is abominable. It’s awful and it must be brought to a halt. But I think he still wishes to keep that door open. I don’t entertain that stance myself.”Cardinal Nichols said he personally “could not open a conversation” with Patriarch Kirill because of his support for the Kremlin. Nevertheless, he “tries to understand some of the difficulties that they’re in”. The ties between church and the “powers that be” are “quite inhibiting,” he said. “It’s easy from here to say the Patriarch Kirill should be condemning the actions of Putin and the Russian armed forces. But then I don’t wear his shoes and I’m not not under the influences that he’s under.”
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When Revd Danny Driver became the parish vicar at Christ the Redeemer, Barnwell, he used sport ministry to build new bridges between the church and the community – creating links with local schools and finding innovative ways to serve the community through sports.Danny believes sports ministry helps improve people’s lives – physically, socially, and spiritually – as well as being an effective way for the church to make new connections with young people. “Sport can bring people together from all sorts of backgrounds and unite them,” Danny explained. "As a church, it was a glaringly obvious opportunity for us to use sport to connect with new people, to form community, and to share the good news of Jesus with them.”The sporting activities at the church include a Friday night Youth Group, multi-sports activities and an after-school club providing sports alongside crafts to teach the Bible to children. “There are 16 kids attending the after-school club, 10 have never had church contact before,” said Danny. “These young people had no idea that being in a church could be like this, their perceptions of church have changed.“Part of our vision is to see young people’s lives transformed through the power of the Gospel.”A multi-sport camp is also offered to the entire community for one week during the summer holidays. Alongside sports, games and a BBQ, attendees are encouraged to learn about Jesus.Danny says that last year more than 40 children took part, and three new families began attending the church as a direct result of being invited to the event. Danny reflected: “Whilst setting up new sporting groups, we have started to see growth in the number of children and young people that we are regularly in contact with, it’s wonderful.”
A Private Members’ Bill which would abolish the two child limit to Universal Credit was drawn from the ballot, to be introduced in the coming session by the Bishop of Durham. For the last five years, support provided by the child element of Universal Credit has been limited to the first two children. The Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill would remove the restriction introduced in 2016 and reinstate entitlement of support for all children and qualifying young people. The Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Paul Butler (see photo) said about the bill: “There is a huge amount of evidence that says that the two child limit is pushing larger families into poverty. There were significant concerns about this raised at the time the limit was introduced, and they have proved true five years later.“I am pleased to introduce the bill into the Lords in this session, and I hope that it will be an opportunity to give proper time and attention to this issue. “If there was ever a time to take a positive step forward to support families, it is as we are in the grips of a cost-of-living crisis, feeling the effect of an insufficient social security system.“We must seek to be a just and compassionate nation, remembering that all children are of great value, not just the first two.”
