Bishop Mark said: “I shall be 69 in October and will have been Bishop of Jarrow for just over eleven wonderful and happy years and that seems to be a good time to retire and move onto the next stage of life.

“In recent weeks I have become ever more aware of what an extraordinary blessing it has been to be allowed to live in the North East and to be amongst its people for these past eleven years.

The Bishop of Jarrow will celebrate the Eucharist for the last time in Durham Cathedral on the afternoon of Sunday September 23^rd.

Bishop Mark said: “People across the region have been extremely generous with their prayers for me over the past eleven years and I wonder if Elisabeth and I might trespass on your kindness a little longer by asking that they continue to pray for us as we prepare to make what feels like quite a significant transition.”

The Rt Revd Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham said: “Bishop Mark has been a great servant to the Diocese and the region over these last eleven years and I want to personally thank him on behalf of the whole Diocese for everything he has done, for the energies he has brought to being Bishop of Jarrow and to his ministry here in the North East.

“I want to particularly highlight Bishop Mark’s leading role in helping people discern vocation to ordination and also his championing of poverty issues. I also want to pay tribute to…

Palavanatham village in Tamil Nadu was hosting a church-run club for the holidays for around 50 children which, according to the school’s organiser, John Madhavan, was disrupted when two men trespassed on the property and demanded that the programme be stopped.

Reportedly, the men were overbearing and sharply questioned the children about their caste. Despite assurances by the organisers that the children were there at the consent of their parents, the two men continued to threaten everyone present and prevented anyone from leaving the premises while they alerted the police.

Mr Madhvan also said that the men are known to have threatened members of the church over the past year. No one was injured but the moment was described as “religious intolerance and intimidation” by Nehemiah Christie from the Synod of Pentecostal Churches. 

The school was due to run until the end of this week but was cancelled after the incident. 

Steven Selvaraj, South Asia team leader for the Christian freedom charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide told Premier: “While the session was taking place, two men actually had stormed into the session and properly interrupted the session and stopped the teaching and the singing”

He explained: “There’s been a political vacuum in South India…Tamil Nadu is one of the few countries that the RSS and the BJP have not had government there.”

The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) are a Hindu…

The Cathedral has been free in the past but introduced a fee to help with the upkeep of the building. 

Now, it is returning to it’s old policy in a bid to welcome more people, an announcement which was made when the Archbishop of Canterbury visited on Saturday. 

John Whitcombe, the Dean of Coventry told Premier: “We want to take down any barriers to people coming in and enjoying our extraordinary building and being caught up in the message that it represents.”

“We will be making the announcement just after our 12 o clock litany, which is a prayer we say every day about breaking down barriers between people and nation,

“So it’s going to be lovely to be able to say ‘and we are taking down this barrier to people being able to come in’”

John said that it feels wrong to have to pay: “I stood by our entrance and I’ve stood by the entrance of many cathedral up and down the country as people look at the charge and even if it quite a modest charge it’s just not in our national mind-set to pay to go into a build of this sort.”

“So I’m really confident that so many more people will come in both from the city and from across the country – people who’ve travelled across the world actually on the whole don’t mind paying”

Speaking of how they will make-up the loss in revenue, he said: “We have taken in a little bit short of £100,000 each year in the last few years since we have been charging people for entry so the first thing is…

A priest was one of those killed on 1st May at Our Lady Fatima Church, just four years after 15 people were killed from the same church. 

2000 people had gathered for the service in Bengui, the capital of Central African Republic (CAR), when armed men threw grenades and fired on the church.

Several of those killed or injured were trapped in the church compound as the gunmen attacked and were unable to flee until police intervened. 

Local sources report that constant gunfire was heard in and around KM5 district from the time of the attack until 3pm.

The Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Bangui has identified Father Albert Toungoumale Baba as the priest killed at the church.

After attacking the church, the perpetrators moved into neighbouring districts, looting shops and homes and attacking civilians. An Evangelical church member was killed outside his home.

Father Moses Otii, the parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima told Catholic charity Aid to Church in Need: “I saw three hand grenades thrown in front of the Church, but thank God in an area without people, and a grenade thrown in among many people gathered in the open air within the church’s compound.”

He added that in the commotion, some ran and hid but others couldn’t: “a lady had both legs cut off by the grenade, she couldn’t move. It was a commotion with people running and people crying.”

Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Mervyn Thomas said: “We extend our…

Last week, Sam Gyimah, the government’s minister for universities, announced plans to punish universities that don’t uphold free speech and criticised the attempts to ban speakers

In the Daily Telegraph on Sunday, Prof Stephen Toope, the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, said he has an “agenda of openness” and is committed to universities “trying to explore the greatest questions that face the nation and humanity.”

The intentions by Sam Gyimah to uphold these rights was also welcomed by many Christians.

Graham Nicholls, the Director of the evangelical group Affinity told Premier: “In general I was very encouraged by them,

“We would want to support and be very pleased about any attempt to avoid the suppresion of freedom of speech and of course I’m particularly concerned with free speech and the freedom to claim and express the gospel on university campus or anywhere else.”

In recent years, there has been increasing attempts to ban speakers because of views not held by other students, such as pro-life groups or Jewish speakers.

Speaking about whether things had changed for this generation of university students, Graham Nicholls said: “I think overall it has got worse – there is a danger you get paranoid about it…but I think there has been an increase.”

Graham said this is often genuine ignorance and fear about what the law is and whether they could accidentally be supporting exclusion of other groups.

He explained he is now…

After being approached by constituents, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Kate Forbes, brought the topic of religious bullying up in Hollyrood.

People had told her stories of their children feeling uncomfortable about being open about their faith.

Kate Forbes told Premier one was of a “five year old who was in the habit of saying a quick grace before lunchtime and she was getting questioned by other people and I think possibly staff as well.”

“She was just replicating what she would normally do at home and I think it’s right that children are allowed to express their faith in that way.”

The SNP politician said another regarded: “The teenage sons of the minister who were just constantly being accused of being bible-bashers and things like that and they were by no means shoving anything down anyone else’s throat.”

“People should be allowed to be themselves in school.”

Last week the MSP, prompted by the stories of religious bullying, asked the parliament: “what its position is on protecting young people’s right to religious observance, education and freedom of religious belief in schools.”

The reply from John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, stated: “Freedom of religious belief is an important feature of Scottish life that must also apply in schools” and said providing education on religion and morals was enshrined in law.

He added: “The legislation also gives parents a right to…

The NSPCC have raised concerns this week about the video game Fortnite and its chat function.

Fortnite is a free computer game with 45 million registered players. It includes the ability to chat to other players around the world while playing.

The National Society for the Protection of Children are worried that the text messaging system in the game cannot be disabled.  

They also reckon that in general, not just in Fortnite, 25% of children have been contacted online by strangers.

Andy Robertson, a family gaming expert and father of two said the warning doesn’t mean parents need to stop their children having fun: “It’s like any of these games, you need to have it in balance” and encouraged parents to be involved in their children’s decisions about gaming.

Andy said: “My older son is 12 and plays it and I think gets a lot out of it, there’s lots of community, lots of strategy but at the same you need to keep an eye on other aspects that are highlighted by the NSPCC.”

Fortnite is rated 12 and is a survival game with zombie-like creatures who try to attack those left alive on Earth. Similar to other modern games, the ability to chat to other players is essential.

“Being able to communicate with the other players in fortnite – that’s up to 100 different people – is a key part of the game” said Andy.

“As long as the parents know that is a feature then they can set up their console and configure the way their child plays…

The Reverend Pat Conroy wrote his resignation letter after being indirectly asked to by Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, but then took it back.  

His resignation letter was read out in the House of Representatives but his letter reversing that decision has got much more attention.

In the letter where he changed his mind, he said: “I have never been disciplined, nor reprimanded, nor have I ever heard a complaint about my ministry during my time as House Chaplain.”

He recalls that Paul Ryan’s Chief of Staff, Jonathan Burks, informed him that the Speaker would like his letter of resignation and added: “maybe it’s time we had a chaplain that wasn’t Catholic.”

Mr Burks also referenced a prayer Conroy made and an interview he did with National Journal Daily. 

Rev Conroy continues: “I had little choice but to resign” but says criticisms made by Paul Ryan since then accusing him of not offering adequate “spritual counselling” mean he now wishes to set the record straight.

He told the Speaker: “no such criticism has ever been levelled against me during my tenure as House Chaplain” and said “you may wish to outright ‘fire’ me…but should you wish to terminate my services, it will be without my offer of resignation.”

He asked for confirmation of Mr Ryan’s recognition of the letter by 12^th May.

Paul Ryan has issued a statement in recognition of the letter, saying the chaplain will remain in his post.

Mr Ryan said: “that decision was based…