But Archbishop Dr Peter Loy Chong has insisted this would only happen if the Church and the government aren’t able to agree on three other options being explored.

The four options decided on after a meeting held last Thursday, include:

• To initiate a critical self-reflection and an organisational review of Catholic education in the areas of identity, character, quality of teachers and planning; e.g. the plan to upgrade Corpus Christi to a Catholic university
• To continue partnership with faith-based communities and work towards partnership with the Government. 
• To take an aggressive and urgent stand on the Church’s request to consider faith as a merit when considering appointments of Heads of Schools
• Archdiocese considers civil disobedience, which would include an open-air Mass, and to close the 44 primary and 19 secondary schools.

The South Pacific country’s education ministry recently appointed two non-Catholic principals at Xavier College in Ba and Saint Thomas High in Lautoka.

Education Minister Rosy Akbar defended the decision and stated it was in line with the ministry’s Open Merit Recruitment System.

She added that organisations unhappy with the ministry’s policies could choose to privatise their schools.

Rev Epineri Vakadewavosa, president of Fiji’s largest church – the Methodist Church, has called for more…

Saheb Fadaie and Fatemeh Bakhteri face 18 months and twelve months respectively if two Tehran-based judges uphold their sentences – originally passed in September 2018.

It has emerged the pair were asked by the judges – who have both previously been accused of involvement in human rights violations – to renounce their Christian beliefs.

They have been accused of attacking Islam by discussing Christian doctrine in house churches.

Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of the religious freedoms charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said: “The conviction of Mr Fadaie and Ms Bakhteri for asserting Christian doctrine is not only a grave violation of their right to espouse a religious belief of their choosing, but also criminalises the Christian faith, which the Iranian constitution purports to recognise.”

Mr Fadaie is already serving a ten year sentence in Evin prison for “acting against national security” by “promoting Zionist Christianity”.

Mr Fadaie – along with fellow Church of Iran members Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, Mohammadreza Omidi and Yasser Mossayebzadeh – were arrested during raids on Christian homes in the city of Rasht in May 2016.

They were each jailed for a decade – sentences upheld by the same two judges – Hassan Babaee and Ahmad Zargar – in May last year.

Babaee and Zargar are due to announce their decision in the appeals of Mr Fadaie and Ms Bakhteri in the…

Under a new order, Peter McNamara from Asenby near Thirsk must pay almost £104,000 to the Diocese of Leeds.

The 71-year-old is currently serving a two-year prison sentence after being found guilty at York Crown Court in October last year of two counts of theft.

Jonathan Rowland from North Yorkshire Police said: “Whilst securing a conviction and sentence is vital in these cases, so is the follow up work that goes on after criminal court proceedings.

“North Yorkshire Police, wherever possible, will seek to use available legislation in order to redress the financial damage done to a victim.”

A man who stole more than £90,000 from St Robert’s Church in Harrogate, has been ordered to pay the money back by a Judge at York Crown Court. https://t.co/ZicPy77dOE

— North Yorkshire Police (@NYorksPolice) January 18, 2019

McNamara, a retired Greater Manchester Police officer, worked as an administrator at St Robert’s Church in Harrogate between May 2007 and October 2014.

Jonathan Rowland continued: “The order placed on Peter McNamara, will ensure he is prevented from having any financial gain from his shocking crime of stealing from the local church.

“The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is a powerful tool which allows us to demonstrate to the court how a convicted criminal has benefited financially from their crime, and then ask the court to order the money is paid back.

“Our…

Following a consultation, draft proposals have been published including measures to give a legal definition of domestic abuse.

The definition would mean wider forms of abuse such as financial or controlling behaviour would be included.

Co-director of Restored, Andrew Caplen told Premier: “It’s quite useful for people to know what domestic abuse is because sometimes people can be subject to domestic abuse and not actually realise that that’s what they are undergoing.”

Another proposal is to stop alleged abusers from cross-examining their accusers in family courts.

Caplen told Premier: “It can be extremely frightening, extremely terrifying to them because of course they have been subject to abuse in one way or another, whether it’s been economic, financial or even physical abuse.”

The legislation will also clarify the workings of “Clare’s Law” – a measure introduced four years ago to permit police to tell a member of the public of concerns over a partner’s previous violence.

Theresa May included domestic abuse as a key pledge in the 2017 Queen’s Speech.

Government estimates put the cost to the economy of domestic abuse and its consequences at £66bn in 2016/17.

Campaigners have said the measures are a “once in a generation” opportunity to combat the impact of abuse but also argued more money will be needed.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian…

Pope Francis unveiled his own profile on the new app on Sunday during his traditional Sunday address to thousands of people in St Peter’s Square.

Click To Pray will enable users to post prayer requests, with users also being able to see who has completed their request.

It has been launched ahead of World Youth Day, which takes place from January 22nd to 29th, and almost 800,000 prayers have been added to it so far.

The app is split into three main sections: “Pray with the Pope”, where the Pope’s monthly prayer intentions are listed; “Pray every day”, encouraging users to pray three times a day; and “Pray with the network”, where users (including the pontiff) can share their prayers with the others.

A Vatican statement said the app would allow the faithful to “accompany the Pope in a mission of compassion”.

The app is available in Spanish, English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and German.

If can be downloaded onto smartphones but there is also a website where the app’s features can be used without the need of downloading.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

Nick Sandmann has identified himself as the youth standing close to Nathan Phillips, a 64-year-old Native American man, as two marches took place at the same time in Washington last week.

The Indigenous Peoples March in Washington on Friday coincided with the March for Life, which drew thousands of anti-abortion protesters, including a group from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills.

“I am being called every name in the book, including a racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my family’s name,” wrote Mr Sandmann, who added that he and his parents have received death threats since video of Friday’s confrontation emerged.

Both Mr Sandmann and Mr Phillips say they were trying to defuse tensions that were rising among three groups on a day Washington hosted the marches.

But video of Mr Sandmann standing very close to Mr Phillips, staring and at times smiling at him as Mr Phillips sang and played a drum, gave many who watched it a different impression.

Other students appeared to be laughing at the drummer, and at least one could be seen on video doing a tomahawk chop.

The differing accounts emerged on Sunday as the nation picked apart footage from dozens of mobile phones that recorded the incident amid an increasingly divided political climate fuelled by a partial government shutdown over immigration policy.

Mr Sandmann said he…