Catholic Bishop Andrew Nkea says he was blackmailed by boys from his Mamfe diocese, who told their victims he would be next if he didn’t pay them £655.

Three men, Father Felix Sunday, parish priest of Afap and two priests from the presbytery of Kembong Parish were held at gunpoint in October.

In a pastoral letter, seen by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Nkea says the culprits were “venting their anger” against him for attending the Grand National Dialogue in Yaounde – which was called to help restore peace between the Anglophone and Francophone regions of the country.

He said: “[The youths] told the priests that their target was the bishop and, until [I] paid [my] fine [of 500,000 CFA francs (£655)], they would track [me] down and kidnap [me].”

The bishop stated: “These boys who harass the priests are from these villages, and until the population dialogues with their children and gives me a written guarantee of the safety of the pastors who work for them, the parishes will remain without pastors.”

President Paul Biya’s government organised five days of talks in October to address the ongoing conflict between Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon, which reignited three years ago over the use of French in schools and courts.

Subsequent protests lead to the deaths of 3,000 people and the displacement of a further 500,000.

Launching their ‘Race and Faith’ manifesto was always going to be a difficult day for a party heavily criticised for its handling of anti-Semitism.

It was made a harder sell after the Chief Rabbi in the UK said in The Times on Tuesday that many Jews were scared of a Labour government, with the Archbishop of Canterbury backing him up. 

As people waited outside the launch for Jeremy Corbyn with signs about anti-Semitism, a gospel choir sang inside and the party set out their vision for minorities and religious people.

The Race and Faith manifesto says Labour will appoint an envoy for freedom of religion and belief (a role the current government have), that they will strengthen communities’ rights to wear religious symbols and will have all religions taught about in schools.

Labour’s pledges seem to echo the recommendations of the Bishop of Truro’s report in the persecution of Christians in Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa, without naming the report.

For example, they promise to train Foreign Office staff in religious literacy – something that was brought to the fore after Christian converts were initially denied asylum because they claimed Christianity was a religion of peace and civil servants handpicked Bible verses about violence to argue that an Iranian should not be granted asylum because they didn’t…

From next year all schools will be required to provide age appropriate teaching for relationships and sex education – including LGBT relationships.

The move has prompted protests at some schools which have already implemented the changes.

At Anderton Park Primary School (pictured below), for months campaigners – mostly Muslim – held vocal vigils claiming the classes went against their faith.

It led to a temporary ban being imposed.

On Tuesday, that ban was made permanent with a High Court judge suggesting the demos had a “very significant adverse impact” on pupils, staff and local residents.

Welcoming the decision, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the education union NAHT, said: “These protests have been widely and rightly condemned and they should now be brought to an end with immediate effect.

“We will continue to support schools where disagreements persist because diversity and equality are a matter of fact and a matter of law and learning about equality and diversity is not optional.”

But with the lessons been rolled out across the country next year, Christian campaigner John Allman, who was involved in the High Court legal action against the council, called on believers not to give up.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said.

“Don’t do anything that’s going to antagonise the LGBT community but simply assert the truth that…

Two advent calendars from famous jewellers will set you back as much as £100,000. A platinum diamond ring worth £26,000 is behind one door of the Beaverbrooks calendar. Tiffany’s offers gifts of up to £13,000 behind their advent doors, wrapped in their iconic blue boxes.

A number of Christian groups have spoken out deploring such excess during the festive season. Speaking to the Telegraph, Andrea Williams, the chief executive of Christian Concern said: “Christmas is a timeless message of beauty: of baby born into a messy world to bring hope and light.”

But she said these calendars “play to the basest of our human instincts”.

Charities suggested such vast sums would be better spent on helping those in need, particularly when some charities have seen donation levels drop.

Donations to Christian Aid haven fallen by almost a quarter since 2016 from £26.6million to £49.7million last year.

Deborah Auty, of Christian Aid, told the Telegraph: “To put the £100,000 advent calendars into perspective, it’s worth remembering it takes a very small amount to offer hope to communities…the same amount of money could provide safe shelter for more than 500 families in camps in Afghanistan throughout the coming harsh winter.”

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Cathedrals have witnessed their highest Easter congregation numbers in recent years, while visitor numbers increased by a million on the previous year, according to new figures published today.

The major Christian festivals remain at the heart of congregational growth, with 58,000 people attending a cathedral at Easter and 95,000 during Holy Week – the highest numbers recorded for a decade, with Easter attendance up nearly 10,000 since 2008. 

Meanwhile numbers at Christmas and Advent services rose five per cent on the previous year to reach 750,000 in 2018.  There were 133,000 people worshipping in cathedrals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – second only to the previous year’s record high.

Cathedrals reported a total of 37,000 people worshipping each week in the year 2018, marking an increase of around 14 per cent over the past ten years. Around one in five cathedral worshippers was under the age of 16, also an increase on the previous year.

Attendance at midweek services, including choral evensong, grew 34 per cent in the ten years to 2018, with nearly 19,000 attending each week. More people attended midweek services than on Sunday for only the second time since records began.

Music in Cathedrals continues to flourish with 2,000 full-time choristers and 1,800 voluntary choir members. 
Cathedrals also welcomed the highest ever number of children and…