England on Sunday

To be a pilgrim...

New ways to do pilgrimages

England SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

On Sunday

Miliband: Labour will slash student tuition fees David Miliband has vowed to slash university fees ahead of the opening of the Labour Party conference today.

In an interview with the Observer, he says that his party will slash the maximum fee universities can charge to £6,000, down from the £9,000 currently permitted.

The Lib Dems, who opposed fees while in opposition, have also faced calls from party members to cut the. But Labour says it will achieve its plans by reversing planned bank tax cuts and requiring wealthier students to pay more for their tuition.

“We can’t build a successful economy if our young people come out of university burdened down by £50,000 of debt,” he said. “We can’t build a successful economy if the kids from all backgrounds are put off going to university.”

He told the newspaper that his plan was fully costed.

Making the change is believed to cost in the region of £1 billion, but the Labour

Patricia Routledge

leader, celebrating his first year in charge of the party, said he wanted to put part of the cost on the banks.

He is proposing cancelling a planned cut in corporation tax for banks. He told the Sunday Mirror: “That’s fair because we shouldn’t be cutting taxes for the banks at the moment.

“We should be helping our young people – helping them help themselves to get the skills they need and to help our economy.”

He said he wanted to “invest in our young people by using the talents of everyone, not engaging in tax cuts for financial services.”

Meanwhile, he is due to receive important backing from his brother David today, whom he beat in the leadership election a year ago.

Although the elder Miliband turned down a Shadow Cabinet role, he is expected to tell a fringe meeting at the Liverpool conference: “Ed has led the party with strong purpose

National Theatre tickets on offer

The Milibands arriving in Liverpool yesterday

King James Bible 8 October – 6 November

and conviction, and that is what Labour needs.”

However, it is reported that after making his fringe appearance, he is due to fly to Washington, thus missing his brother David’s conference speech on Tuesday.

It is thought that during this week’s conference he will continue his attack on the Coalition’s austerity programme, arguing that it is too fast and too deep. “We have got to break this government’s addiction to austerity

because it is not working,” he said.

Meanwhile, Labour’s National Executive Committee passed an historic resolution yesterday allowing people to register as ‘party supporters’, without taking out a membership. Those who take up this option will be allowed to vote in leadership elections. This new category would have 10 per cent of the share of voting in such an election, but only if at least 50,000 sign up.

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Book that changed the world, an ensemble of leading actors will read twelve extracts from the King James Bible. Casting includes Nancy Carroll, Alan Howard, Paterson Joseph, Alex Jennings, Maureen Lipman, Patricia Routledge, John Shrapnel and Simon Russell Beale. With more casting to still to be announced.

Some of the most extraordinary and remembered extracts have been edited by Edward Kemp into short 80 minute readings and will be directed by Nicholas Hytner, James Dacre and Polly Findlay. It will include In the Beginning (Genesis), Psalms of David and Song of Solomon, The Gospels and Revelation.

Tickets from £5. Special rates available for groups of eight or more.

Make the most of your trip to the National Theatre and enjoy a backstage tour, food and drink in our café, restaurant and bars, or simply relax by the river on the South Bank.

To enter this competition, answer the following question and send your answer to: National Theatre competition, England on Sunday, 14 Great College Street, London, SW1P 3RX, or you can email your answer to cen@churchnewspaper.com, putting ‘National Theatre Competition’ in the subject line.

Question: In what year was the King James Bible first published?

Winners’ tickets are valid for 8 October – 6 November 2011, subject to availability. Competition closes 26 September. Winners will be contacted by 3 October 2011. Promoter reserves the right to substitute prize for that of an equal or greater value if necessary. Normal CEN rules apply.

england news e2 • world news e3 • pilgrimages & retreats e4, e5 • Books e7 • CatHerine FoX e8 • Crossword e8 •

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September 25, 2011

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England On Sunday

TV Pick of the week

Dowler family settlement nearer

Plans for Royal Mail to be mutualised

News International is close to agreeing a financial settlement with the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler as a result of the phone hacking scandal. It is believed the deal is likely to involve a donation of a seven-figure sum to charity and the Dowler family would receive a payment of about £2m.

In July it emerged her phone was hacked on behalf of the News of the World, a revelation that led to the closure of the Sunday newspaper.

News International and the Dowlers’ solicitor have declined to comment.

The Government has unveiled plans to move the Royal Mail into mutual ownership. Unveiling a consultation process, Ministers said that it could be on a ‘clear path’ to mutualisation by the end of this Parliament, in 2015. Sub-Postmasters, customers and communities would all have a say in how the Post Office division is run.

The latest move follows anger earlier this year over plans to privatize the lossmaking Royal Mail, a plan the Government argues is essential to protect its future.

A report from Cooperatives UK first suggested the mutualisation proposal and the Government would transfer ownership to that group.

Postal Affairs Minister Edward Davey said: “We want to explore how those with an interest in the Post Office could be given a real say in how it is run.”

Conjoined twins separated

Police investigate burglar killing

Two conjoined twins were successfully separated after four operations at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital this week.

The 11-month-old twins, Rital and Ritag Gaboura, from Sudan, were joined at the head, a condition that is said to have a survival rate of one in 10 million.

Surgeons at Great Ormond Street said the twins overcame incredible odds to survive the surgery.

The head of the craniofacial team at the Hospital, David Dunaway, said: “The incidences of surviving twins with this condition are extremely rare.

The task presented innumerable challenges and we were all very aware of our responsibilities to the family and these two little girls.”

A man was released on bail after he stabbed to death a burglar at his Bramhall, Stockport, home last Saturday night. Detectives said that they were investigating the case to determine whether it was a criminal act or self-defence.

Burglars broke into the home of Vincent Cooke, 39, at 8.50pm last Saturday. Home alone, he confronted the burglars and stabbed one, Raymond Jacob, with his own knife. The other fled, but was later arrested by police.

However, Mr Cooke remained on bail, as Chief Superintendent Rebekah Sutcliffe of Greater Manchester Police explained: “It is vital we establish the exact circumstances in which Raymond died and determine whether or not it was a criminal act or of self-defence.

“This process will clearly take time because it is important we do not make snap decisions but investigate fully and without prejudice.”

Rosh Hashanah – What Is The Point Of Religion?

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks marks the Jewish New Year in this BBC1 programme on Tuesday night (11.15pm) when he examines the hotly debated concept of the Big Society.

He looks at three examples where society has broken down: in families, in communities and between generations, and shows how Judaism in action can restore broken bonds.

He argues that the point of religion is as an antidote to society’s ills and a means of building a “Big Society” or a “Good Society”.

Former Prime Minister’s wife Sarah Brown takes part in a conversation at Finchley Synagogue in the programme.

EU leaders are working on a £1.7 trillion deal to save the Euro, the Sunday Telegraph claims on its front page. Controversially, the new plan would allow for am ‘orderly’ exit from the Euro for Greece.

The deal is part of a threepronged strategy that would also bail out the banks again and erect a ‘firewall’ around some of the most in-danger European states.

Spearheaded by France and Germany, it would address some of the most pressing market worries that are threatening to plunge Europe back into recession.

The mother of Jade Goody tells the People why she has called in the police over reports that the phones of her family were hacked.

Jackiey Budden told the newspaper that she was convinced a tragic phone call between her and her daughter while she was

filming the Indian Celebrity Big Brother was intercepted. It was while Jade was making that show that she received the news of her cervical cancer.

But Ms Budden said that along with her and Jade’s phones being bugged, her son-in-law, Jack Tweed, also had his phone hacked.

She says the hackers were listening to deeply private calls when Jade was losing her battle with cancer.

She told the paper: “It is sick.

My little girl was fighting cancer.

I will sue these people for doing what they did, it is pure wrong.”

The BBC is under attack for dropping the terms BC and AD, the Mail on Sunday reports.

Instead, the Corporations is increasingly adopting the politically correct terms ‘CE’ and ‘BCE’, which stand for ‘Common Era’ and ‘Before Common Era’.

The paper says that the changes have been spotted on programmes like University Challenge and Radio 4’s In Our Time. But they also say that the

What the papers say today... use of the terminology is common on the BBC’s religion and ethics website.

A spokesman for that department said that the changes are necessary to avoid offending non-Christians.

A spokesman said: “As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians.

“In line with modern practice, BCE/CE (Before Common Era/Common Era) are used as a religiously neutral alternative to BC/AD.” However, the Mail on Sunday says the change has been attacked by politicians and church leaders and the Plain English Campaign say it is unnecessary.

A house fire in north west London was being investigated by police and fire officers, the Inde-

pendent on Sunday reports.

A mother and six of her children were killed in the fire in Neasden early yesterday morning, while the father and a 16year-old girl escaped the blaze.

The father is in critical condition in hospital.

It is believed that the family were Palestinian refugees who came to England 17 years ago.

Emergency services are investigating the blaze, while neighbours reported hearing a bang just before the fire broke out at 1am.

A new bullying row has hit the XFactor, the Sunday Mirror is reporting. The mother of contestant Kitty Brucknell has

threatened to pull her daughter off the show because she feels she has been made to appear ‘a monster’ and a ‘panto villain.’

Her mother, Mary Edwards, tells the paper that she was distressed to see her daughter being put under so much pressure and getting upset at the boot camp stage of the contest.

She also claimed that Kitty was being ‘viciously bullied’ by other contestants.

“If something happens and it looks like it’s getting too much for her I will not hesitate to tell her enough is enough because it’s unfair to let her keep suffering.”

It poses another headache for X Factor bosses already under scrutiny for ridiculing tone-deaf Ceri Rees last week.

Plans for massive school involvement in next summer’s Olympics are facing disappointment, The Observer reports. The newspaper claims that fewer than a third of state schools have signed up to Government plans to enlist them in a campaign to revive competitive sport in schools.

September 25, 2011

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America on Sunday

Africa on Sunday

Europe on Sunday

Tension at UN over Palestinian statehood

Egypt sets dates for first elections after Mubarak

Berlusconi reacts with anger to downgrading

All eyes were on the United Nations this week as the Palestinian Authority were poised to file a claim for statehood at the New York Assembly.

Mediators from the ‘Quartet’ of Middle East peace negotiators – the UN, the EU, the USA and Russia – were hoping to convince the Palestinians to drop their statehood demand in return for revived peace talks, but were facing stiff resistance.

Members of the US Congress have threatened to withhold $500m in funding for the Palestinian Authority if they go ahead with their demand for statehood, but Mahmoud Abbas is said to be pessimistic of any concession from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Talks were expected to continue until the deadline for the vote

Egypt has announced that it will start parliamentary elections in November, following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s 30year rule.

The election commission said that voting for the country’s lower house, the People’s Assembly, would take three stages, starting on 21 November and ending on 3 January. Voting for the upper house, the Shura Council, will begin on 22 January and end on 4 March.

Following those polls, a presidential election will follow. The announcement comes as unrest is growing in Egypt, as many there are concerned that the military was dragging its feet.

However, Islamists and others have demanded changes to the election plans, to exclude supporters of Mubarak and his now defunct party from taking part in the polls.

Italy was rocked this week when its sovereign debt was downgraded by ratings agency Standard and Poor’s.

Defending its action, it cited economic, fiscal and political weakness.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing legal action on a number of fronts, but markets were also concerned about the scale of Italy’s debts and its ability to repay.

The Prime Minister responded angrily to the downgrading, suggesting that economists were paying too much attention to tabloid headlines.

Following bail-outs in Greece and Ireland, pressure is mounting on the Eurozone to establish financial stability, but the downgrade will mean that Italy will have to pay considerably more to service its sovereign debt.

Asia on Sunday Taliban suicide bomb claims 13 lives in Karachi Thirteen people were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber in Karachi on Monday. The attack, on the home of a senior counter-terrorism officer, killed eight, while an attack on a market claimed five more lives.

The officer, Superintendent Aslam Khan, escaped unhurt, although his home was destroyed. He said afterwards that he knew he was the target of the attack.

The Pakistan Taliban, which is linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the bombing and defended their action claiming that the officer was responsible for arresting, torturing and killing Taliban members.

For more regional news visit our websites at www.americaonsunday.com, www.europeonsunday.com, www.asiaonsunday.com, www.africaonsunday.com

Ruth Gledhill View from Fleet Street

Faith works!

My attention was distracted from the routine last Sunday by two intrusions, both welcome. The first was a story appearing unexpectedly in The Sunday Express, accompanied by a photograph that included Yours Truly! The paper’s defence correspondent Marco Giannangeli had written a piece about our new pop band, All Faiths, which has been put together by Jeff Chegwin and Nick Patrick, the duo behind The Soldiers. The defence link, as he wrote it, was the concept that one of the aims if that the group help contribute to bridging religious divides in honour of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Jeff told Marco: “The idea came to me after seeing how in the music industry people from all classes, ethnic backgrounds and religions get on well together and work alongside each other in harmony.

“In this turbulent world we live in I thought it was worth trying to create and promote a new symbol of togetherness and unity.

“It’s about having respect for each other’s differences and this is what, I hope, All Faiths will show,” he said. “As 9/11 marked the beginning of a period of religious divide, we want to reach out to everyone and spread a positive message of peace through music.”

The group features Islamic singer Ustad Ali Hafeez Khan, the Orthodox rabbi Danny Bergson, who has his own album coming out shortly, Hindu

The other distraction last Sunday was the Archbishop of Canterbury in conversation with the comedian Frank Skinner. Because of choir practice I couldn’t get to Canterbury so the cathedral sent me the audio. Unlike so many historic buildings, Hampton Court Palace has not had its lead roof stolen which means there is no mobile reception at all which makes working from there on Sundays something of a challenge. I spend all last Sunday transcribing the 90-minute session at Canterbury. Transcription is normally a soul-destroying task, tedious and timeconsuming. I expect people imagine we have secretaries and workies to do it for us but we don’t. This was one of the most enjoyable, possibly the only enjoyable, transcription I’ve ever done simply because it was so funny. I’ve posted it in full at my Times blog, Articles of Faith. This was just one of the amusing exchanges: FS: I like the idea that we are funnier than the atheists as you can imagine. I don’t imagine that Richard Dawkins is a laugh a minute.

AB: Well, I’ve never heard him tell a joke.

FS: To be fair he is still evolving.

singer Chiranjib Chakraborty, Derbyshire Anglican vicar Tony Luke, whose claim to fame is making it once to ‘boot camp’ on X Factor, retired Catholic priest Father John Glynn from Essex, the chart-topping Tibetan Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma and me!

Jeff said: “Religion is often accused of dividing people. We believe that faith can unite us all. I hope this beautiful song will show that.”

Jeff then emails me comments from world leaders. “Wishing All Faiths much success,” wrote the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. “This is an interesting project,” said the Prime Minister’s office at 10 Downing Street. And from President Barack Obama no less: “…what I’ve come to understand is that regardless of your faith …people all have certain common hopes and common dreams.” And finally, “We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” That was Kofi Annan, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. So far two tracks have been recorded, I Have A Dream and Faith Unites Us All. The band features on Yahoo! music and I’ve posted a couple of videos also at my YouTube channel, rgledhillfranks. I’ve also blogged it at my new Mumsnet blog, GoddessofSmallThings.com, which is one of Mumsnet’s top featured blogs.

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September 25, 2011

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A refreshing retreat, right on

By Matt Cresswell IF TRAVELLING hundreds of miles to the Middle East is not in your schedule or budget, you can always consider a retreat to one of the Church of England diocesan retreat centres.

Some of these centres have been the focus of attention in recent years, owing to worries over maintaining them. However, it is essential that churches do support these abbeys and stately homes that provide people with a much-needed break from the stress of ministry and general living.

In the diocese of Blackburn, the retreat and conference house is set in the grounds and ruins of a 14th Century Cistercian Abbey. Seated along the banks of the River Calder in the countryside of the Ribble Valley, the Abbey has easy access to motorway and rail networks. As well as

holding various number-crunching financial meetings of the diocese, the retreat centre has a number of popular events running this autumn for a wider audience. For example, on 6 October a wedding fair featuring stalls to help couples plan their marriage will take place.

Later, a ‘Paulinus’ evening – part of the diocese’s spiritual programme – is held on 9 October with another event about mission and the diocese planned for 13 October. The Abbey also offers luxurious bed and breakfast accommodation for those looking for a chance to get away from things.

Meanwhile, in Chester diocese, the Foxhill spiritual retreat and conference centre offers facilities for both large and small groups or individuals on their own.

Plenty of events take place at Foxhill including concerts, gigs, talks, church services and seminars. One easy way to

find a feel for the place is to attend one of the regular celebrations of Holy Communion in the Chapel or to come to the Carol Concert, held in December each year. Set in 70 acres of Cheshire woodland, the retreat centre contains an arboretum containing several species of rare plants and trees. The woods contain woodpeckers, jays, buzzards and other birds of prey. There are also birches, redwoods elms, eucalyptus trees and a Gingko Bilboa from Japan – often called the living fossil.

In the diocese of York, Wydale Hall serves as a retreat centre for clergy and lay people. Built in the 18th Century, Wydale Hall is a magnificent country house set amongst 14 acres of gardens and woodlands.

It features 28 en-suite bedrooms with tea- and coffee-making facilities. It also has capacity of 50 beds for groups who are

willing to share and a maximum of 29 beds for groups where all have single accommodation. Other facilities include a lounge overlooking gardens, wifi access, woodlands, a labyrinth, sports pitch and tennis court. As with most Anglican retreat centres, there is, of course, a good bar.

But what is the point of a retreat? Why not just take a trip to the beach or a tour of coffee shops in the Cotswolds? Can time spent mulling around an Abbey, with bed and breakfast thrown in, actually improve your spiritual life or is it just the latest Church of England fad? Well, you can take comfort in that some of the great men of the church such as JC Ryle and Charles Spurgeon enjoyed and regularly took retreats. Spurgeon would often head off to a cottage in France for a much-needed escape from preaching full pelt several times a week without amplification. The late John Stott also regularly went on

Meeting the people: a Holy Land pilgrimage that could

By Matt Cresswell EARLIER THIS year both the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster hosted a two-day conference on the fate of Christians in the Holy Land. The main premise of the conference was to discuss the apparent haemorrhaging of Christians from the Middle East and how the West could help this situation. One of the conclusions of the conference was that there should be a targeted push with the Israeli authorities in favour of better access to the holy sites.

The conference also called for the encouragement of pilgrimage and tourism to the Holy Land, which would be done in a new way. Instead of just visiting historical sites, tours and pilgrimages would be encouraged to meet local Jewish and Palestinian communities. Both Archbishops said there was a danger that the Middle East was becoming like a type of ‘Disney Land’ to the West, rather than a lively centre of faith.

With this in mind there are plenty of tours now available that help visitors experience more of the real Middle East.

The Amos Trust (set up by vicar/activist/guitar strummer and poet Garth Hewitt) has been running tours of this type since 1995. One such Amos Trust tour runs in May for 10 days and is based in Bethlehem and Nazareth, with visits to Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah and Galilee. The trip also includes time to meet and eat with local Palestinian communities, as well as chances to take in the impact of the shores of Galilee and the Judean desert. There will also be the chance to meet Christian, Muslim and Jewish peace activists.

The trip, which is run by Rev Chris Rose, Director of the Amos Trust, is designed for both those who are familiar with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and those who are new to it and want to learn more.

Amos Trust also runs a bi-annual Palestinian homebuilding trip, which will run again in 2012. These are considered non-violent protests against the demolition of Palestinian homes and a chance to experience “firsthand the reality of the occupation and to learn from our local Partners.” Its trips are run in conjunction with various partners including the Holy Land Trust, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Wi’am Conflict Resolution Centre.

Another organisation that offers trips to the Holy Land with a difference is RetreatHolidays. This organisation steers away from the traditional whistle-stop tour of all the holy sites and aims to

provide a more reflective experience. Speaking to this paper, Dr Stephanie Rybak, director of Retreat-Holidays, said their firm aimed to provide a more reflective experience. “Our trips are retreats rather than pilgrimages, because most tours try to see as much as possible. By the end of such tours, people often feel that they haven’t been able to respond to what they have seen on the visit. On our trips we visit just one site a day and provide an ancillary place where people can reflect on what they have just seen.”

The trip is led by Fr Jim Crampsey, a Jesuit priest who is parish priest of the Sacred Heart Church in Lauriston, Edinburgh. He was the former Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Britain, South Africa and Guyana for six years.

Retreat-Holidays is affiliated to the Retreat Association, which is the national body to which several denominational retreat groups belong to. Retreat-Holidays, which was established in 2005, also runs trips to Northern Cyprus, Italy Alban Hills, Andalucia in Spain, the Black Forest in Germany and a Turkish sailing holiday. More information can be found at www.retreat-holidays.co.uk or www.walkwherejesuswalked.com website which links to several providers of tours to the Holy Land.

Oak Hall has been running trips to Israel for many years, with trips based in three main areas: Jerusalem, Galilee and Bethlehem. If you want something a little more ‘full on’ then this may be for you.

Their trips begin with a climb into the hill country to arrive at Jerusalem. Later the trips extend to the Mount of Olives, the Pool of Bethsaida, the Pool of Siloam, the site of the City of David and other areas such as the Garden of

September 25, 2011

www.englandonsunday.com

your doorstep retreats to his cottage in the Welsh Hills where he wrote many of his books.

The Diocesan House of Retreat, Pleshey, in Chelmsford, offers the following advice for those considering one. “Just as a good night’s sleep will not change things, but will help you face a new day with renewed strength, courage and determination, so a retreat will not change your life or solve all your problems,” it argues. “But it could be just what you need to find that strength, that new direction, or that renewed sense of purpose.”

A retreat is not a fix-all but it is advisable to have it as part of a spiritual diet. Places such as Lee Abbey in Devon, are said to be in areas of such natural beauty that they function as what the Celtic Christians

used to call ‘thin places’. By just taking a walk around the cliffs your spiritual endorphins will start firing.

The internet is an excellent way to research the right retreat centre for your particular needs. Whether it is natural beauty you are looking for or a retreat centre that will put on a really involving teaching programme, such as Lee Abbey, there are plenty of places in England where you can go. Failing that, your diocese should be able to provide good information on its own retreat centre and how to book accommodation.

It is essential that churches put pressure on their diocese to make sure these vital centres are maintained and kept. With many rumours of such places under great financial strain it is important churches campaign to keep them open.

make a real difference

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INGREDIENTS

Recipe of the Week

Serves 2 Prep 15 mins Cook 30 min 1 large sweet potato , cut into chips 4 tsp olive oil 2 x 140g/5oz skinless salmon fillets thumbnail-size piece ginger, grated zest 1 lime , plus wedges to serve ½ bunch spring onions , finely chopped 2 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with wasabi (optional)

Salmon-and-ginger-fish-cakes METHOD Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the chips in a roasting tin with 1 tsp oil. Season and bake for 20-25 mins.

Chop the salmon as finely as you can and place in a bowl with the ginger, lime zest and seasoning. Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick pan and

soften the spring onions for 2 mins. Stir into the salmon, mix well and shape into 4 patties.

Heat remaining oil in the pan and cook the patties for 3-4 mins each side until golden and cooked through. Cover with a lid and leave to rest for a few mins. Serve 2 patties each with the chips, mayo and lime wedges for squeezing.

Wine of the week Sunrise Concha y Toro Sauvignon Blanc 2011 Waitrose £5.59 (until 11 October) The wines of Chile are nearly always good value and very reasonably priced. Sauvignon Blanc was once often mixed in wine-making there with a mutated vine which crossed that grape with another, to the eye almost indistinguishable. Now it almost certainly is what it says on the bottle, particularly from such a prime producer as Concho y Toro. Sauvignon Blanc is best drunk as young as possible, and here we benefit from

Gethsemane, the Broad Wall and the Western (Wailing) Wall. There is also the chance to wade through the tunnel built by King Hezekiah.

The trips always include a time spent studying the Bible and Oak Hall always have a good list of Bible teachers to cater for people’s spiritual needs. As with the Amos Trust, they aim for their team to meet up with local Christians from the area.

Going on a retreat or pilgrimage is not essential to the Christian faith but can certainly bring you closer to its historical roots. In 2008 I took some time out of the 2008 GAFCON conference and was fortunate to find myself on a boat on Lake Galilee with a shipload of rebel bishops. It was an unforgettable moment, for many reasons, and I highly suggest CEN readers take some time out over the next years to discover the Holy Land. Whether you are evangelical, AngloCatholic, Pentecostal or agnostic, there are operators who will help bring the experience home to you.

Chile’s southern hemisphere harvest, their autumn, our spring. So we can drink a wine sent to us from this very year. It has been made choosing the grapes from assorted chosen vineyards situated in the extensive Central Valley, near the capital, Santiago.The palest gold in colour, on the nose, aromas of ripe grapefruit and grass. On the palate, the same flavours. Served quite chilled, which I think best, there are sharper lemon notes making for good refreshing acidity. More sweetness emerges if left for a while in the glass. There’s a refreshing finish. Alcohol by Vol. is 12.5 %. Drink as an aperitif, or with almost all fish, and other seafood, especially prawns. Marries well with ginger, so, try with light Asian dishes.

Graham Gendall Norton

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CD of the Week Neptune Eliza Carthy (HemHem Records) When you have grown up surrounded by musical relatives and watching umpteen live shows a year, the nature and nurture are bound to create some innate ability to create and perform.

Eliza Carthy has already been nominated twice for the Mercury Music Prize and this release shows again why she is such an exciting talent.

There is no set sound for the disc, as each song gets the treatment it needs. So the exhilarating Blood on my Feet comes across like a female Duke Special, complete with vaudevillian backing vocals and a brilliant honky-tonk piano; but the poignant and melodic Write a Letter sees cello and brass form themselves around her phrasing.

It is understandable that she has an innate sense of melody, but lyrics like hers can only be crafted. The intense poetry of Tea at Five and the imagery of Fay Wray up the Empire State Building show it in different ways, but the surreal Britain is a Car Park is something else again. It describes some future England run by Poles and Czechs, as the rest of us have moved to Spain. Traditional folk harmonies clash with a frenetic Latin soundscape, while the lyrics borrow ideas from Joni Mitchell. There is much to feast on here.

Derek Walker

September 25, 2011

www.englandonsunday.com

Smiley’s back, but still in the Cold War Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (cert. 15) squeezes into feature length John le Carré’s 1974 novel, serialised by the BBC in 1979 starring Alec Guinness as MI6 intelligence expert George Smiley.

Gary Oldman takes the role in Tomas Alfredson’s new version (for which Le Carré is an executive producer) and is widely tipped for best actor awards.

It seems pointless trying to explain what’s going on, as Smiley searches for the Soviet mole in “The Circus” (as MI6 was internally known). There are few concessions to anyone starting from scratch; terms like Circus and Karla are not explained (Karla could be taken as a KGB high-ranker or the KGB itself).

Trying to compress a long story about complex relationships, bluffs and double bluffs into a two-hour film was obviously going to be a challenge, and part of the pointlessness of trying to explain it is that most of the time I hadn’t got a clue what was going on. Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) goes to Budapest on a mission, gets shot, then somehow turns up as a teacher at a public school and living in a caravan in the grounds.

John Hurt’s career as “Control” ends

with the Prideaux incident, he takes Smiley with him into retirement (signified by a long walk through the MI6 offices), but he’s not really retired. His mission, should he accept it, is to unmask the traitor – it’s one of four (pick from Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, David Dencik, Colin Firth) or maybe the fifth man could even be Smiley himself.

Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) is the spy whose liaison with a beautiful Russian counterpart provides the clues Smiley needs, as his main investigator Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) fills in the gaps. Though it’s all very complicated, the actual discovery of the mole seems just too neat.

A lot of the story is in flashback, and that fills in a lot of the story about the culture of MI6. Perhaps not crucial to that, but a bit of a surprise, was the Christmas party where the proceedings are interrupted by Santa Claus in a Lenin mask who leads the company in a rousing version of the Soviet national anthem.

Sadly I’d have to say that was the highlight for me. It’s well-acted, atmospheric, and has a decent score by Alberto Iglesias – but in the end, all a bit pointless, and rather dated.

Drive (cert. 18) is a graphically violent film based on the book by James Sallis. Ryan Gosling plays an unnamed “hero”, a movie stunt driver in LA who sometimes helps out his car repairmen friend Shannon (Bryan Cranston) and sometimes is the wheelman for a robbery.

The opening scenes show how good he is at this. It’s not exactly a car chase so much as an exercise in not getting chased, but there’s the real thing later.

His fourth floor apartment has few home comforts, but three doors down the corridor lives waitress Irene (Casey

Mulligan) with her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos). Benicio’s father Standard (Oscar Isaac) is in jail, but soon to be out, and our unnamed hero fills a bit of a gap in Benicio’s life, and maybe in Irene’s.

Standard, it seems, has a prison obligation to see to; soon after release he gets beaten up, Irene and Benicio are also threatened, and unnamed hero steps in to save the day. Director Nicolas Winding Refn has hinted that the part is not just unnamed hero, but superhero.

Hero is taciturn, cool, and himself not averse to violence (when called for of course) but his lack of fear when dealing with mobsters Nino (Rob Perlman) and Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) and their henchman Cook (James Biberi) has an unnatural feel to it. Our “superhero” cool guy displays more psychopathic traits than the bad guys.

For all the questions left in its wake – like who tidies up his apartment of all the bodies – Drive is a rather superior crime thriller, and the engagement with Irene and her son is the emotional tie that binds the audience to the driver’s side. I still think he’d have drawn less attention if he’d cleaned his scorpion jacket of the rather obvious bloodstains.

Steve Parish

Religious art celebrated in London Images and Objects of Faith: Exhibitions at National Galler y & British Museum Victorian replacements of long-lost reredos statuary in historic parish churches, and modern-era tapestries in Coventry and Chichester cathedrals represent liturgical and artistic echoes of the pre-Reformation altarpiece, for centuries visual focus for worshippers across Western Christendom.

Such recall of the distinctive piety and culture of our Christian forbears resonates far less readily for jewel-encrusted reliquaries supposedly housing the bone fragments of martyrs, as alien to a Protestant worldview as a secular one. Yet altarpiece and reliquary alike occasioned remarkable creativity by artists and craftsmen expressing their faith dynamics, as two concurrent world-class London exhibitions sumptuously demonstrate: National Gallery’s Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces before 1500 (until October 2), superbly complemented by Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe at the British Museum (until October 9).

Both exhibitions reverse today’s secularising trend by stressing these ‘art forms’ originated primarily as works of

faith rather than works of art, becoming the latter only when dislocated from their ecclesial settings (altarpieces metamorphosed through dismemberment, dispersal and sale into free-standing artworks).

National Gallery’s imaginative re-creation of a 15th-century Italian ‘sacred space’, focused on Luca Signorelli’s visually compelling 1490 Circumcision above a replica altar with real candles, with Zanobi

Strozzi’s exquisite Annunciation and Zanobi Machiavelli’s vivid portraits of saints among quasi-side chapel masterworks, confirms this with proper reverence (and evocative liturgical chant).

Altarpieces were not a static concept.

They evolved from the soaring, multipanel ‘polyptych’ imaging the Gothic quest for transcendence to the more humanistic mono-painting in grand Renaissance style. The striking juxtaposition of Giovanni dal Ponte’s pinnacled nineimage Ascension of John the Evangelist (c 1420) with Francesco Botticini’s opulent St Jerome portrait within a larger work (c 1490), reveals this vividly.

Readily evident, if not highlighted, is an earlier evolution from Byzantine-idiom formats to more realistic, distinctively Western Catholic visual narratives. From Marganto of Arezzo’s primitive, nine-ikon Virgin and Child (1263) to Niccolo di Pietro quasi-realist Baptism of Christ (1387) and Mantegna’s deeply sensitive Virgin and Child with Saints (1490), huge leaps in figurative representation, perspective and composition are clearly manifest.

Altarpieces were seen regularly by worshippers at Catholic mass, focusing their piety and inspiring deeper devotion. Reliquaries, by contrast, were especially sig-

nificant on saints’ days and at pilgrimage centres like Rome and Santiago de Compostela — in England the shrines of Cuthbert at Durham and Thomas Becket at Canterbury.

Showcasing sacred artefacts from collections worldwide including the Vatican and European church treasuries, the British Museum explores the spiritual and artistic significance of relics and reliquaries in mediaeval Christendom, primarily between 1000-1500 AD, but also including late Roman tombs with Christian symbols.

For mediaeval Christians, veneration of the saints in the presence of (claimed) pieces of their body parts, fragments of the ‘True Cross’ and other relics, heightened communion with the heavenly realm and could facilitate miraculous cures.

Accordingly, format and embellishment of the reliquaries housing them proclaimed their sacred nature and spiritual power.

Christian rulers from Byzantine emperors to European monarchs maintained large relic collections for spiritual protection and state prestige: the Doge brought to Venice a reliquary arm of St George from Constantinople around 1204.

The Protestant Reformation destroyed the pilgrimage shrines; Catholics salvaged relics to support the Counter-Reformation; widely dispersed, reliquaries changed from sacred objects to museum artefacts.

Brian Cooper

September 25, 2011

England On Sunday

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Looking afresh at the Trinity An Introduction to the Trinity, Declan Marmion and Rick Van Nieuwenhove CUP, pb, £16.99 If theologians rediscovered the doctrine of the Trinity in the second half of the 20th century this discovery has probably still to influence the thinking of ordinary Christians, many of whom have been described as holding a set of beliefs designated as ‘Moral, therapeutic deism’. As the authors of this new survey of the doctrine of the Trinity from the Bible to the modern theology put it: “Many Christians would be hard put to indicate the significance, never mind the implications, of belief in the triune God.” Not the least of the many good qualities of excellent this book is that it does attempt to show the difference the Trinity makes to Christian faith and life. You do not have to go along with a thoroughgoing ‘social’ interpretation of the Trinity to see that it is affirming the importance of relationships and teaching that individuals cannot flourish in isolation.

Readily admitting that the doctrine of the Trinity does not appear in clear form in the New Testament, Marmion and Van Nieuwenhove trace its development in the early church as Christians sought to make sense of the revelation given to them in Christ and their experi-

ence of prayer and worship. What they call ‘a Trinitarian consciousness’ steadily grew in the church.

Tracing the disputes about doctrine that led to Nicea and Chalcedon they quote Rowan Williams’ judgement that it was not a case of orthodoxy being defended by the church so much as being discovered and made. They see dogmas and church teaching as a reminder and an interpretation of the great deeds of God that need to be applied afresh in different cultural contexts even if we cannot completely abandon the language in which they are expressed.

Clear expositions are offered of the Trinitarian thinking of the Cappodocians, Augustine, Richard of St Victor, Bonaventure, Aquinas, van Ruusbroec, Luther and Calvin. Aquinas is defended from the accusation that he presents an ‘abstract’ approach to the Trinity that neglects scripture. Luther is seen as a precursor of such modern theologians as Moltmann and Balthasar in his stress on the radical identification of the Son of God with the suffering and godforsaken and he is also credited with encouraging a growing chasm between Christian faith and the traditional doctrine of the Trinity by his emphasis on Sola Scriptura.

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Journeying with Mark Lectionar y Year B James Woodward, Paula Gooder and Mark Pr yce SPCK, pb, £9.99 This book is an excellent accompaniment to the Gospel readings for the Lectionary next year.

Although it is certainly not a heavy book – there are just seven chapters covering the whole liturgical year – there are come interesting features that will help preachers and occasional readers getting the most from the text. In each chapter there are sections putting the text and author in context, ideas to imagine how the original readers would have read the text, reflections, questions and prayers.

The Worr y Book Finding a path to freedom Will van der Hart and Rob Waller IVP, pb, £7.99 Something on your mind? This book takes a different perspective on worry: rather than trying to solve the problems we worry about, the authors say that we should see the process of worry as the problem. The book bids to explain the whole issue of worry and gives practical advice on how to overcome it. In fact, the authors even say that worry can be tackled rather than just be tolerated.

The authors are a vicar and a consultant psychiatrist respectively.

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Soul Food for Mums Lucinda van der Hart and Anna France-Williams IVP, pb, £9.99 The year of a family’s first pregnancy and birth is certainly a time of change, and not just because of the nappies, new responsibilities and upset sleeping patterns. Every parent can attest to that, but it can come as a shock. This book is aimed squarely at new mothers and is divided into weekly sections for each of the 12 months once baby arrives. There are biblical reflections, ideas for prayer and even suggestions of things to do, time permitting. A useful resource new mums will find helpful for dipping into.

In the Enlightenment this combined with a separation of faith and reason, an eclipse of the contemplative dimension to faith, and the emergence of the historical-critical approach to the Bible to lead to a decline in interest in the Trinity.

In the 20th century this trend was reversed by such theological giants as Karl Barth and Karl Rahner. But alongside the work of these Western theologians must be put Eastern Orthodox thinkers such as John Zizioulos who criticised their Western colleagues for underplaying the persons of the Trinity and putting forward a view in which the three persons merely represented different modes of the one God. Western theologians such as Karen Kilby have hit back and accused the supporters of a ‘social view’ of the Trinity of using doctrine to promote specific social, political or ecclesiological regimes.

Marmion and van Nieuwenhove discuss this and other disputes in 20th century Trinitarian theology very well. They examine, for example, claims that Rahner’s argument that the immanent trinity (God as he is in himself) must be the same as the economic trinity (God as he is revealed in revelation) and argue that it is difficult for any theologian to take this view since it assumes more knowledge of God than it is possible for human beings to possess.

In a final chapter the authors look at the Trinity and post-modernity and the Trinity and religious pluralism. Although written by Roman Catholics this is a book all Christians can read with profit. It is a model text-book, setting out different points of view with clarity and attempting to come to balanced conclusions. It will be widely used in theological colleges and universities but could be profitably read by anyone with a serious interest in theology who would like an up-to-date survey of an important field of study.

Paul Richardson

To order any books on this page please call 020 7878 1008

Between Naivety and Hostility Eds: Steve Bell and Colin Chapman Authentic, pb, £8.99 Islam has risen to the top of concerns about inter-faith relations, and this book from two experts in the field gather together 20 examples of possible routes Christians should consider. With a foreword by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the authors recount examples of Christian-Muslim encounter ranging from issues including women, education, young people and actual experiences from church leaders in areas with large Muslim populations. This book suggests a new way forward.

The Word on the Wind Alison Morgan Monarch, pb, £9.99 The author, who works for ReSource as a thinker and writer, has written this book as a way to encourage genuine confidence in the Gospel, in the process offering a way to share the faith in a way that is not arrogant or condescending. With a foreword by the Archbishop of Canterbury, she argues that we have to look again at the issues and approach them from a different direction. Her thoughtful book has plenty of examples and, as the Archbishop notes, she pulls no punches about the scale of the challenges.

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September 25, 2011

www.englandonsunday.com

A Siberian winter?

Catherine Fox

A novel view of the week

From the above list of key trends we should pay particular attention to ‘fur-trim knits and jackets’. Yes, it’s true I’m afraid: we’re in for another harsh winter. Or so one set of forecasters is predicting. Lay in your extra supplies of salt now, so that you can ensure your garden path will be ultra-treacherous when the temperatures dip below the freezing point of salt water solution. I will probably be clingfilming my study windows again, and sitting writing this column in a sleeping bag. If that conjures up a bizarre mental picture, let me clarify that I will be sitting with a sleeping bag up to my waist, writing this column, rather than burrowing headfirst into a sleeping bag with my laptop — though that’s also an extremely effective way of keeping warm in harsh weather conditions.

As is customary with this type of weather prediction, we are being threatened with ‘Siberian temperatures.’ This is a bit like ‘an area the size of Wales’. It’s journalistic shorthand, a handy phrase to conjure up a picture. But what is the area of Wales? Anyone? The concept is pretty meaningless to me, I must admit. Whenever I hear ‘an area the size of Wales’ I vaguely picture a map of the British Isles (witch riding a pig), isolate the Wales (the pig’s head) and think ‘So, about that big, then.’ Possibly this is just me. For all I know, everyone else nods sagely and thinks, ‘Area the size of Wales? Ah yes — around 8,000 square miles, you mean.’

In the same way ‘Siberian temperatures’ just means ‘Jolly cold.’ But a small amount of research reveals that the journalist’s go-to ‘bad winter’ cliché is hopelessly imprecise. Siberia has a wider range of climates than the stereotypical ‘freeze your eyeballs’ one. Polar desert, tundra, Alpine tundra, taiga, montane forest, temperate broadleaf forest, temperate steppe and dry steppe. Typical ‘Siberian temperatures’ obviously vary according to which climate you happen to be in. So, for example, in the country’s largest city, Novosibirsk, the average daily temperature in September is 11.5 ºC. This compares unfavourably with London’s average of 15ºC, but is close to Edinburgh’s 12ºC. I suspect the hopeless imprecision of the cliché is deliberate. It gives weather forecasters an easy get-out. If we end up having a mild winter after all, they can always say, ‘Yes, but I meant south western Siberia.’

Fashion issues London Fashion Week. As decent Evangelical Anglicans it may pass you by, in the same way that the Season of Pentecost goes largely unnoticed by hard-core fashionistas. Perhaps the pinnacle of your fashion ambition is to get your socks matching and to locate a jumper that doesn’t have last week’s curry down the front. Far be it from me to denigrate these modest aims. But at the same time, if I achieve one thing through the vehicle of this column, let it be the sartorial improvement of the Evangelical wing of the C of E! I mean, apart from glorifying the Lord Jesus, of course.

Over the years I have issued many fashion diktats. These have ranged from ‘Get yourself fitted with a decent bra’ (aimed mainly at my women readers) through to ‘Trim your eyebrows’ (aimed mainly at my male readers. Oh, all right then — at my Episcopal readers). In a spirit of humility, I have also aimed one at myself: ‘Thou shalt not be too matchymatchy.’ This still goes against my style grain. I’m a sucker for co-ordinating accessories. If you struggle in this area as well, I can offer some guidelines. Get dressed as usual, but before you leave the house take off your footwear and bravely put on a pair that doesn’t match.

Then, if you are wearing stripes/checks

on your lower half, add a floral shirt.

Conversely, if you are wearing florals on your lower half, put on a lumberjack shirt. Next, go to your nearest dressingup box (or vestry cupboard, if you are clergy) close your eyes, rummage, and pull out the first hat you find. Et voila!

Your non matchy-matchy look is good to go.

According to the Telegraph, this season’s key trends are as follows: ‘belowthe-knee skirts; pleats; collage fabric mixes; spots and dots; wine, olive, red, pink, orange; hoods, capes and cloaks; fur-trim knits and jackets; the sleeveless, tailored vest; devore and velvet; jewelled sweaters; buttoned-up shirts with neat collars; epaulettes; fake and real fur; wooden heels, rubber soles; dropped-waists, hip-belts.’ In these times of recession this is very good news indeed. Almost all of the above can be found in a decent dressing-up box (apart from wine, which is available from supermarkets). There’s plenty to cheer up the would-be fashionable clergy person too: ‘pleats, capes and cloaks, buttoned up shirts with neat collars.’ One word of warning: when they say ‘dropped waist’ and ‘hip-belts’ the fashion world does not mean the ‘under the pot-belly trouser waistband’ look.

PRIZE CROSSWORD No. 765

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Close Encounters — Fashion Trends in Lichfield Cathedral This season we will mostly be wearing our trousers approximately 1.5-2 inches too short. Well, I say this season. It’s every season of every year, in fact, thus technically it can’t be termed a trend. We’ll refer to it as the ‘short trouser’ phenomenon. It occurs in both men and women over the age of 60 (biggest age group in any English cathedral), and I’m at a loss to explain it. Someone has pointed out that short trouser phenomenon is truly mystifying, as this is precisely the age when people are losing height, so you’d naturally expect trousers to become too long.

If the long-range weather forecast is correct, you will also see us sporting padded gilets and fake fur hats. For gentlemen, the latter will have earflaps tied up on the top of the head, where they are no use at all. As the cold snap continues I predict a micro-trend in jaunty slings and plaster casts.

Mentally prepare for a testing task (5) Article used to 15 down (3) Waterside tree in Ezekiel ch. 17 (6) ...take advantage of a widow or an ______ (Ex 22:22) (6) Christ is the end of it according to Romans ch. 10 (3) Coming before all others (5) It is shown by one who heeds correction, says Proverbs ch. 15 (8) Denude (5) Rope thrown to rescue someone in the water (8) Amphibious pests in Exodus ch. 8 (5)

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Building block baked in Genesis ch. 11 (5) ..in the hope of the _____ of God (Rom 5.2) (5) Item of furniture under which scraps were picked up in Judges ch. 1 (5) He made an axe-head float in 2 Kings ch. 6 (6) Part of church at right angles to the nave (8) One of the sorcerers sent for in Genesis ch.

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Colossians describes Epaphras as a faithful one (8) Benison (8) Bird among the ruins in Psalm 102 (3) Propel a boat like the

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disciples in John ch. 6 (3) Fearful, like Elijah in 1 Kings ch. 19 (6) Snake hatching when an egg breaks in Isaiah ch.59 (5) Smith’s block in Isaiah ch. 41 (5) Precious stone in a necklace in Song ch. 4 (5)

Solutions to last week's crossword Across 8 Close 9 Arbiter 10 Ezekiel 11 Natal 12 Shoe 14 Orderly 16 Strayed 19 Bath 22 Asset 23 Numbers 25 Lineage 26 Title Down 1 Screw 2 Joseph 3 Levi 4 Gallio 5 Abinadab 6 Stator 7 Trilbys 13 Egyptians15 Assault 17 Resent 18 Daniel 20 Twenty 21 Asses 24 Mate

The first correct entr y drawn will win a book of the Editor’s choice.

Send your entr y to Crossword Number 765, The Church of England Newspaper, 14 Great College Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3RX by next Friday

Name Across 9 5 8

..._____ your feet and cry out (Ezek 6:11) (5) Trustworthy, like the witnesses

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in Isaiah ch. 8 (8) eg Abarim in Numbers ch. 27 (5) ... every ________ word they have spoken (Matt 12:36) (8)

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