Archbishop of York praises church magazines
THE Archbishop of York has praised the work of church-magazine editors, as Parish Pump — an internet subscription service which provides news, features, and illustrations for church magazines — celebrates its twenty fifth birthday. The service has supported 3000 publications a month since its launch on the Christian Resources Exhibition in May 1999. The journalist Anne Coomes has edited Parish Pump throughout the quarter-century from her home near Macclesfield. In a message to have a good time the anniversary this week, Archbishop Cottrell said: “Even in a digital world, paper-based communications will help construct bridges for local churches. I’m deeply appreciative of the trouble put in by quite a few church magazine editors.”
Next Walsingham Priest Administrator named
Guardians of the Shrine of Our Lady of WalsinghamFr EadonTHE next Priest Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, in Norfolk, is to be the Revd Ben Eadon CMP, the College of Guardians has announced. Fr Eadon, Vicar of St Bartholomew’s and St Paul’s, Brighton, since 2020, will succeed the Revd Kevin Smith, who has held the post since 2016, within the autumn. The Priest Administrator has day-to-day responsibility for the Shrine and its staff. Fr Eadon was ordained priest in 2012 and served his title at St Chad’s, Sunderland. He was Assistant Curate, Priest-in-Charge, and Vicar of St Symphorian’s, Durrington, in Worthing, until taking on his present appointment. The Shrine has about 10,000 residential pilgrims annually, in addition to day pilgrims, tourists, and visitors. The next Master of the Guardians, it has also been announced, is a current Guardian, Prebendary Philip Barnes, Vicar of St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road, in London.
Former Synod member to be Bishop Ordinary
THE next Ordinary and first Bishop Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is to be the Revd David Waller, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales announced on Monday. He was appointed by Pope Francis to succeed Mgr Keith Newton, who stood down at the tip of last month. Fr Waller, who’s 62, was a community employee in Bradford before training for ordination at Chichester Theological College. He was ordained priest in 1992 and served his title at Aldwick, in Chichester diocese, before becoming Team Vicar of Crawley. He was on the General Synod from 2005 until 2010. He was Vicar of St Saviour’s, Walthamstow, in east London, from 2000 until 2011, when he was received into the Roman Catholic Church.
Chris Brain pleads not guilty to charges of rape and assault
THE founding father of the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield, Chris Brain, 66, of Park Road, Wilmslow, in Cheshire, has pleaded not guilty on the Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday to at least one charge of rape and 33 counts of indecent assault regarding 11 women. The offences are alleged to have been committed between 1981 and 1995. He was charged in February (News, 9 February). Mr Brain, who was released on unconditional bail, will next appear at court for a case-management hearing on 10 June 2024. His trial is scheduled to start at the identical court on 30 June 2025. NOS was a rave-culture-style Evangelical initiative that attracted a whole lot of young worshippers in Sheffield through the Eighties and ’90s. It collapsed within the ’90s amid claims of sexual and mental abuse. NOS was initially held in St Thomas’s, Crookes, Sheffield, before moving to Ponds Forge in town centre.
Leicester diocese signs union agreement with Unite
THE diocese of Leicester has turn out to be the primary diocese to sign an agreement with Unite to represent its staff, each clergy and laity, the union announced on Monday. The agreement ensures collective-bargaining rights over clergy stipends and staff pay, in addition to terms and conditions for each. It was negotiated by the Church of England Clergy and Employee Advocates, which is an element of Unite’s wider faith staff’ branch. The workplace representative for Leicester diocese, the Revd Peter Hobson, said: “Even once you work for God, your terms and conditions are still drawn up by human beings, and everyone knows that a healthy church can only be helped by healthy employment practices for its staff.”
Former Exeter cleric convicted of sex offences
A FORMER assistant priest within the diocese of Exeter, Julian Wheeler, 75, of Mount Raleigh Avenue, Bideford, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being found guilty at Exeter Crown Court last Friday of 13 counts of indecent assault. He has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for all times. A diocesan statement confirmed that Wheeler had served from 1975 to 2003 and that the offences of which he was convicted had occurred while he was an Honorary Curate between 1986 and 2003 in a bunch of nine parishes in north Devon. The Acting Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Revd Jackie Searle, said that the sentence was “a mirrored image of the extremely serious crimes committed by Julian Wheeler. . . I hope the justice done today will bring some peace to all affected by this case.”
Rochester Chancellor is behind dementia single
THE Chancellor of Rochester Cathedral, Canon Gordon Giles, and the award-winning British composer Thomas Hewitt Jones have released a love song, “If in the future”, to lift awareness of dementia. Available on streaming platforms, it’s performed by Freddie Benedict. Canon Giles wrote the lyrics, which begin: “If in the future I forget your name Hold my hand and spare my shame.” He said that the song “reminds us that there may be plenty of life that takes place before any diagnosis of dementia”. Proceeds from the sale of the only can be donated to UK dementia charities.
Dr Braybrooke walks a mile a day for RNLI
The Revd Dr Marcus BraybrookeTHE former President of the World Congress of Faiths and a co-founder of the Faith and Belief Forum, the Revd Dr Marcus Braybrooke, is planning to walk one mile a day in May to lift funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which celebrates its 2 hundredth anniversary this 12 months. He said: “Just before Christmas, I fell and broke my leg quite badly, and spent Christmas in Torbay Hospital and received excellent care. It was a triumph after five days to walk just a few yards to have a shower, and never be pushed there. Slowly, I walked just a few more steps. After three months, I could walk a brief distance with out a knee brace, and, using a rollator, steadily, managed half a mile. Now, 4 months after the accident, I actually have just walked a mile with one stick!” fundraise.rnli.org/fundraisers/marcusbraybrooke/mayday-mile
Jim Cotter commemorated in lecture and book
TEN years after his death, the legacy of a priest and campaigner for gay rights, the Revd Jim Cotter, is to be recognised in a latest book, Anglican Spiritual Writers of the twentieth Century, and within the 2024 Jim Cotter Memorial Lecture. Cotter co-founded the Gay Christian Movement (now generally known as OneBodyOneFaith) in 1976. Dr Nicola Slee, Professor of Feminist Practical Theology on the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, is to deliver the lecture — “Jim Cotter: Writing and living a sexual spirituality” — on the R. S. Thomas and M. E. Eldridge Poetry and Arts Festival in Aberdaron, Gwynedd.
