Stephanie Millar, 24, and Nicole Docherty, 21 will forsake the luxury of home comforts for to help CrossReach, the social care arm of the Church of Scotland.

The pair has initially set a target of £1,000 to support the Kirkhaven project in Dalmarnock area of Glasgow. It provides accommodation, support and social care for homeless men and for between three months and a year.

Miller and Docherty, who are currently on a 10-week placement at the re-settlement project, said they were struck by the fact that limitations in funding mean that staff have to raise money themselves to send service users on short respite breaks to a cottage near Pitlochry.

The University of the West of Scotland second year social work students decided that one night of rough sleeping in the city centre on 15^th March would enable them to raise money and raise awareness of homelessness at the same time.

Millar said she and her friend had got to know people well at the 14-room facility over the last five weeks.

Stephanie Millar and Nicole Docherty

“The main thing they spoke to us about was this cottage in Pitlochry”, she added.

“In the past they’ve had the cost funded by a third party but due to budget limitations this isn’t available unless Kirkhaven provide their own funds.”

Docherty said: “Going to the cottage seemed to be a…

According to World Watch Monitor, 66-year-old Gabriel Ole was an elder at a Baptist church in Bangui, the capital.

Ole and five other workers, including two officials from the Ministry of Education, and three members of a local group that works with UNICEF were travelling to the north-western town of Markounda, near the Chad border, on 25th February, when their car was ambushed.

It’s been reported that some of the victims were shot dead, while others had their throats slit. Their car was also torched.

UNICEF has strongly condemned the violent act.

The humanitarian charity said in a statement: “All of us at UNICEF are deeply saddened and shocked by the killing of our colleague, along with five other education workers.

“We strongly condemn this senseless act against aid workers who were there to improve the lives of the most vulnerable populations.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the families and the colleagues of the victims.”

The group was travelling to start training for community teachers.

Over 7,000 people have sought refuge in Markounda over the past months, in order to shelter from violence.

UNICEF and partners have set up Temporary Learning Spaces for 2,000 crisis-affected children in Markounda. The training was organised for community teachers who were to start teaching in those Temporary…

Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, a top papal adviser, wrote an extraordinary letter to the bishops of Latin America insisting the Pope’s trip was not a failure, but was “highly positive”.

The National Catholic Reporter first reported the letter and its contents Friday.

Cardinal Errazuriz did not take responsibility for a sex abuse scandal that shadowed Francis’ visit or how the handling of allegations involving the Reverend Fernando Karadima affected the views of Chilean Catholics toward the church and the papacy.

The cardinal took no responsibility for the lingering effects of a sex abuse scandal on Chilean Catholics and their views about the church and the papacy.

The former archbishop initially shelved the investigation of Karadima’s abuse of young parishioners and has admitted he did not believe the victims.

A Vatican tribunal convicted Karadima in 2011 and sentenced him to a life of penance and prayer for his sex crimes.

Independent polling firm Latinobarometro has pointed to the Karadima scandal as the leading cause of the church’s loss of credibility in Chile.

The country ranks lowest among the 19 in South and Central America in esteem for the pope.

Francis’ trip was dominated by the Karadima affair and his support for a Karadima protege, Bishop Juan Barros.

Some of Karadima’s victims have accused Bishop Barros of having witnessed their abuse and ignored it.

The…

According to religious freedom charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the Sharon Retreat Centre was served with the evacuation notice on 7^th March and its caretakers were given only three days remove all of their belongings and hand the centre over to the government.   

The centre is located in Karaj and sits on 10,000 square metres of land and is worth $2,200,000.

The Council of AoG Churches in Iran acquired it in the early 1970s for use as a retreat for church ministers, for youth camps, and for other church functions.

This is not the first time retreat centre has been the subject of much scrutiny.

CSW said in 2005, the centre was raided by security agents during a Council Synod meeting, and all the clergy on the Council were arrested.

The church leaders were interrogated overnight in a detention centre near Karaj and forced to sign an agreement stating they would comply with the government’s demands to limit church activities.

The charity added that one article of this agreement stated that they would use the retreat centre only for Armenian and Assyrian church members with the prior permission of security officials.

Also in 2015, a Revolutionary Court issued a confiscation order for the property and Iran’s government has accused the centre of being funded by the CIA to “infiltrate and undermine the country through evangelistic…