Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

–2 Corinthians 4:13-18

#Spring is a whimsical wanderer
blooming beauty along her path.

~ Angie Weiland-Crosby#Blossoms 🫶#BlossomWatch #Spring2024 pic.twitter.com/cbvQgPUJdL

— Margaret O'Connell🌻 (@MargaretOC6) March 23, 2024

As perhaps the ultimate job with purpose, careers in the church are enjoying a second coming.

In a world of zero-hours contracts and corporate greed, doing God’s work is an increasingly attractive option for those seeking a meaningful role making a difference to communities locally and worldwide. Two factors have combined to resurrect interest in church employment.

Firstly, ageing congregations and the rapid rise in female employment means there are fewer volunteers to take on local roles. A recent study suggested the average age of the church’s worshipping community was 61, but many congregations’ members are still in employment and unable to volunteer….

Secondly, modernising moves such as the Church of England’s £30 million net-zero carbon programme and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have aligned the church to corporate workplaces, making it simpler for those with transferable skills to make the move into ministry.

Read it all (subscription).

'ageing congregations & the rapid rise in female employment means there are fewer volunteers to take on local roles

…With one in five churches missing people in key positions, some parishes are moving certain roles… to paid support staff'@thetimes https://t.co/x9dldFTerM

— Rebecca (Bex) Chapman (@bexchapman3boys) March 22, 2024

The Princess of Wales says she is in the early stages of treatment after a cancer diagnosis.

In a video statement, Catherine says it was a “huge shock” after an “incredibly tough couple of months”.

But she sent a positive message, saying: “I am well and getting stronger every day.”

Details of the cancer have not been disclosed, but Kensington Palace says it is confident the princess will make a full recovery.

Read it all.

Everyone at Westminster Abbey wishes The Princess of Wales well following the news of her cancer diagnosis.

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, said: 'In the face of this news, it is our hope that Her Royal Highness will feel sustained by the love that… pic.twitter.com/mtBkNyF5tx

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) March 22, 2024

Gunmen in Nigeria opened the New Year 2024 by killing 14 Christians on their way home from a midnight church service. The attack rocked the country’s Christian community, still reeling from a Christmas Eve massacre that claimed the lives of 130 believers. These attacks are just the latest in a disturbing trend of increasing violence against Christians in Nigeria, which some are calling a genocide.

Since the year 2000, 62,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria, prompting President Trump to place Nigeria on its list of violators of religious freedom. Biden removed Nigeria from the list, and last year alone, more than 8,000 Christians were killed.

In a report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, between January 2022 and January 2023, 8,400 Christians were abducted, 840 of whom never returned alive from captivity. Many of these abductions have been attributed to the military and the police, some to Islamic Terror Jihadists, while others have been attributed to Fulani militias, who are also accused of having killed 600 captives. Priests and seminarians have been abducted, churches destroyed, Christian communities have been sacked, and millions of Christians and targeted Muslims have been displaced, either becoming internally displaced people (IDPs) or crossing international borders to become refugees.

Read it all.

Violence in Nigeria against Christians by groups like Boko Haram is continuing unabated. @Brooklynmonk https://t.co/hoRvPzBTcg

— Providence (@ProvMagazine) March 21, 2024

A team led by Google scientists has developed a machine-learning tool that can help to detect and monitor health conditions by evaluating noises such as coughing and breathing. The artificial intelligence (AI) system, trained on millions of audio clips of human sounds, might one day be used by physicians to diagnose diseases including COVID-19 and tuberculosis and to assess how well a person’s lungs are functioning.

This is not the first time a research group has explored using sound as a biomarker for disease. The concept gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, when scientists discovered that it was possible to detect the respiratory disease through a person’s cough.

What’s new about the Google system — called Health Acoustic Representations (HeAR) — is the massive data set that it was trained on, and the fact that it can be fine-tuned to perform multiple tasks.

Read it all.

Google AI could soon use a person’s cough to diagnose disease

Machine-learning system trained on millions of human audio clips shows promise for detecting COVID-19 and tuberculosis. @marilenharo https://t.co/SyYt96CPk1

— Ashis Basu 🇨🇦 (@BasuAshis) March 22, 2024

Almighty and everlasting God, the source and perfection of all virtues, who didst inspire thy servant James de Koven to do what is right and to preach what is true: Grant that all ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may afford to thy faithful people, by word and example, the knowledge of thy grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates James DeKoven, Priest, 1879

A priest/educator dubbed the "American Keble", he was a leader of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Episcopal Church & taught at Nashotah House + Racine College (now The DeKoven Center https://t.co/nPAViHbmdE) pic.twitter.com/DzRcUGY9eE

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) March 22, 2024

Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou hast given us, for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, now and for evermore.

Good Friday lovely people in my phone.
An another wild day ahead..#FridayMotivation #storm #sunrise #grandrising #GoodVibesOnly #spring #StormHour #jefinuist #GoodVibesOnly #outerhebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/gyyFUGLS5R

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) March 22, 2024

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

–2 Corinthians 4:1-12

"Pale Morning Light" pic.twitter.com/3hWihXGYVW

— simon c woodley (@simoncwoodley) March 22, 2024

The provincial proposal being advocated by CEEC and the Alliance would involve the exercise of geographical episcopacy as it would involve bishops having responsibility for particular geographical areas. I have previously made this point in a theoretical description of what a conservative third province (the ‘Province of Mercia’) might look like.

‘Like the existing provinces of Canterbury and York, the new province would consist of parishes, deaneries, archdeaconries and dioceses. The number of dioceses that would initially be formed would obviously depend on how many parishes opted to join the new province, but one possible pattern would be for there to initially be four dioceses, one in the Southwest, one in the South and Southeast, one in the Midlands and East Anglia, and one in the North. Chaplaincies in Europe would come under the diocese for the South and Southeast.

Each diocese would initially have one bishop and one of these would be the archbishop of the province. There would be no fixed archiepiscopal diocese and the office of archbishop would subsequently be held by the senior bishop of the province.

A parish church in each diocese would be the cathedral. This would contain the bishop’s chair and would be used for diocesan services such as the enthronement of the bishop, ordinations, and the renewal of ordination vows on Maundy Thursday. The diocese would be named after the location of the cathedral and the incumbent would carry the title Dean. There would be no cathedral chapter and when not being used for diocesan services the cathedral would act as a normal parish church.’

As can be clearly seen in this description the geographical nature of episcopacy would be maintained in such a provincial arrangement. Bell’s suggestion that the geographical nature of the episcopate precludes a provincial solution is therefore mistaken.

Read it all.

I have just posted a new blog post, 'Geographical episcopacy – a further response to Charlie Bell.'https://t.co/5qMh71WfIv

— Martin Davie (@MartinBDavie) March 11, 2024

To maintain and expand military families as an asset for the sustainment of the All-Volunteer Force, it is critical to address declining likelihood to recommend military service. The proportion of active-duty family respondents who were likely to recommend military service has dropped by nearly half from 2016, when
it was 55% to just 32% in 2023.

Furthermore, the proportion who were unlikely to recommend military service has more than doubled from 15% in 2016 to 31% in 2023.

Read it all.

The results of the 2023 Military Family Lifestyle Survey are here! Join the #BlueStarFamilies researchers in our virtual Data Deep Dive event on March 21st from 1 — 2 PM ET. Our team will break down this year’s findings. https://t.co/9jDWLo0n7e

— craig newmark (@craignewmark) March 14, 2024

First the cartel cut its teeth with drug trafficking. Then avocados, real estate and construction companies. Now, a Mexican criminal group known for its brutality is moving in on seniors and their timeshares.

The operation is relatively simple. Cartel employees posing as sales representatives call up timeshare owners, offering to buy their investments back for generous sums. They then demand upfront fees for anything from listing advertisements to paying government fines. The representatives persuade their victims to wire large amounts of money to Mexico — sometimes as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars — and then they disappear.

The scheme has netted the cartel, Jalisco New Generation, hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak publicly, via dozens of call centers in Mexico that relentlessly target American and Canadian timeshare owners. They even bribe employees at Mexican resorts to leak guest information, the U.S. officials say.

Read it all.

“Over 5 years, American timeshare owners were bilked out of $288 million. The real number is most likely $350 million, as about 20% never register a complaint.”

A Mexican Drug Cartel’s New Target? Seniors and Their Timeshares https://t.co/DAKwfJwE37

— Dan Beucke (@DanBeucke) March 21, 2024

Debi Lucas had a tremor in her arm. Her feet froze when she tried to walk and she fell into her coffee table, busting her lip.

She went to a neurologist who thought she had Parkinson’s disease. Doctors normally diagnose the neurodegenerative condition by symptoms. Lucas, 59, had them.

But the neurologist, Dr. Jason Crowell, couldn’t be sure. The symptoms might be related to a traumatic brain injury Lucas suffered in a car accident decades earlier, he thought. Or they might be from her medications.

To find an answer, Crowell turned to a new test: a skin biopsy that can detect an abnormal protein people with Parkinson’s have inside their nerves. He took samples of skin near her ankle, knee and shoulder and sent them to a lab.

Read it all.

Parkinson’s disease can now be diagnosed with a skin biopsy that can detect an abnormal protein people with Parkinson’s have inside their nerves.

“The skin test basically is a window into the brain." https://t.co/rxT0u9XL6A https://t.co/rxT0u9XL6A

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 21, 2024

Almighty God, who didst give to thy servant Thomas Ken grace and courage to bear witness to the truth before rulers and kings: Give us also thy strength that, following his example, we may constantly defend what is right, boldly reprove what is evil, and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and ever.

#OTD 19 March 1711: death of Thomas Ken, non-juring bishop and hymn-writer. pic.twitter.com/ExDxEEQizY

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) March 19, 2024

O God, who by the cross and passion of thy Son Jesus Christ didst save and deliver mankind: Grant that by steadfast faith in the merits of that holy sacrifice we may find help and salvation, and may triumph in the power of his victory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Klaas’s Cuckoo looking for its next meal…

📍@nyandungupark in #Kigali #Rwanda #RwOX #Birds pic.twitter.com/wdB5FsihoP

— Will Wilson (@2wsphotography) March 21, 2024

A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

–Psalm 131

Morning everyone hope you are well. It's amazing how many different views you can get from Loughrigg Fell, which is on my doorstep. This has to be one of my favourites overlooking Rydal Water. Have a great day. #LakeDistrict @keswickbootco pic.twitter.com/OwcQhZkyjf

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) March 21, 2024

Wright takes us through Romans 8 as a summary of the whole letter and of Paul’s theology more widely, and finds it to be about a call to become genuine human beings by being filled with God’s own life.

The chapter is read as a recapitulation of the schema of Creation, Passover, Exodus, and Covenant. Not all scholars of Romans have been persuaded by the tidiness of this reading, but it is, none the less, compelling when set out in detail, and chimes with elements of patristic exegesis. Wright uses “platonism” as a shorthand for an earth/heaven dualism, but he would find allies in Christian Platonist writers who would also foreground recapitulation, the corporate dimension of salvation, and Paul’s synergism. Indeed, as Wright shows, Romans 8 is one of those passages that show that God does not like to do anything for us without us. Rather, what he does for us he does as one of us, with us, and through us.

Read it all.

"Wright takes us through Romans 8 as a summary of the whole letter and of Paul’s theology more widely, and finds it to be about a call to become genuine human beings by being filled with God’s own life." https://t.co/SSjOSFgzso

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 17, 2024

Pastors of Hispanic Protestant churches in the United States maintain immense gratitude for their role, but many face financial struggles. Their congregations reflect diverse worship styles, but they have a unified desire to reach and serve their communities.

Lifeway Research partnered with numerous denominations and church networks to survey Hispanic Protestant pastors in the United States for a study sponsored by Lifeway Recursos, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse. This study follows a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Hispanic Protestant pastors last year focused on the congregations and their evangelistic outreach.

“The response from pastors and leaders about the first study we did last year was overwhelming,” said Giancarlo Montemayor, director of global publishing for Lifeway Recursos. “The goal with this second study is to dig deeper into some of the nuances of the Hispanic church in the U.S., such as worship and outreach. We also wanted to pay close attention to the particular needs of the pastors serving in these communities who often struggle with cultural and political issues that are not present in an English-speaking church.”

Read it all.

More than 20 denominations and networks invited pastors of Hispanic congregations in the U.S. to participate in a survey describing their ministries https://t.co/v3TaHPRWcC

— Scott McConnell (@smcconn) March 20, 2024

The U.S. has fallen out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time since a global ranking began in 2012, due in large part to a drop in happiness among younger adults.

Americans fell to 23rd place in happiness, down from 15th a year ago, according to data collected in the Gallup World Poll for the World Happiness Report 2024. Costa Rica and Lithuania were among the countries that reported being happier than Americans, according to the annual survey, which asks respondents to rate their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible life for them. Nordic countries dominate the top 10, with Finland at the top.

In the U.S., self-reported happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for young adults. Americans 30 years and younger ranked 62nd globally in terms of well-being, trailing the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Guatemala. Older Americans ranked 10th.

Read it all.

Those 30 and under are the U.S.’s least happy age group, a decline attributed to their feeling worse about their lives https://t.co/tJGFb317Z5 https://t.co/tJGFb317Z5

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 20, 2024

Researchers have used generative artificial intelligence (AI) to help them make completely new antibodies for the first time. The proof-of-principle work, reported this week in a preprint on bioRxiv, raises the possibility of bringing AI-guided protein design to the therapeutic antibody market, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Antibodies — immune molecules that strongly attach to proteins implicated in disease — have conventionally been made using brute-force approaches that involve immunizing animals or screening vast numbers of molecules. AI tools that can shortcut those costly efforts have the potential to “democratize the ability to design antibodies”, says study co-author Nathaniel Bennett, a computational biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Ten years from now, this is how we’re going to be designing antibodies.”

Read it all.

Researchers have used generative artificial intelligence to help them make completely new antibodies for the first time https://t.co/pcb5is20jF

— nature (@Nature) March 19, 2024

Merciful God, who didst call Cuthbert from following the flock to be a shepherd of thy people: Mercifully grant that we also may go without fear to dangerous and remote places, to seek the indifferent and the lost; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Church of England celebrates Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687

Image: Stained glass panel in @nclcathedral. Photo by Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via flickr pic.twitter.com/mDiSOH6OD2

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) March 20, 2024

O God, who by the example of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ hast taught us the greatness of true humility, and dost call us to watch with him in his passion: Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness, and to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

Das Hier und Jetzt ist alles, was wir haben. Wir sollten jeden Tag versuchen, etwas Gutes daraus zu machen.
🌺🌱🌞Guten Morgen 🌞🌱 🌺 pic.twitter.com/PMNakfMcAO

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) March 20, 2024

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.

–2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Guten Morgen ☕️🌷 wünsche euch einen wunderschönen Frühlingstag 🍃🌷🍃
Frühlingsglaube von Ludwig Uhland
………..⭐️ Die Welt wird schöner mit jedem Tag,
man weiß nicht, was noch werden mag, das Blühen will
nicht enden. ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/VWBEcGBCjm

— Renate Kleine (@RenateKleine) March 20, 2024

The tendency to downplay the value of toddler groups has been challenged in a new booklet that highlights the vital part that they play in preparing children for school.

The booklet, It’s not ‘just’ a parent and toddler group, has been compiled by a number of organisations brought together by Dave King, the strategic director for Gather Movement, an organisation that works with churches seeking to transform communities. The group including Kids Matter, Daniel’s Den, Care for the Family, 1277, 5 Minus, and Love and Joy Ministries.

It encourages those running groups to stop prefacing references to their work with “just” (“I’m just putting out some toys”), and sets out 12 aspects of school-readiness to which the groups can contribute.

Read it all.

Really enjoyed looking at a new booklet, "It’s not ‘just’ a parent and toddler group", about how they can contribute to school-readiness, & a chat with Jo Gordon of @DanielsDenUK. "The primary thing of a toddler group is that unconditional welcome to all" https://t.co/Gq1Wvx9xnE

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) March 19, 2024

We must transfer our collective faculty for care and compassion from thwarted or struggling adults to those children who need us. This need not be a matter of cruelty or stigma, but rather of reordering our priorities to what we know to be true. This is urgent: If we can’t even mount a normophilic defense of a baby’s need for his or her mother, we will have few resources left to defend our own organismic fundamentals in the face of the seemingly endless ambitions of biotech. Some are already preselecting IVF embryos based on genome analysis. Others propose the accelerated “evolution” of humans by means of in vitro gametogenesis. Others again propose gene-editing embryos. Just recently a breakthrough was announced in the synthetic creation of human embryos: in theory, children wholly without ancestors.

No one is coming to save us. We cannot wait for the “silent majority” to rise up and demand a return to common sense, or mumble about postponing action until we’ve re-Christianized the West, or until we’ve devised a fully worked-out post-Christian metaphysics of human nature. We may lament the Christianity-shaped hole in our discourse, but just because much of modern culture is post-Christian doesn’t mean we no longer have a nature. All we’ve lost is our common framework for naming that nature. We must speak the truth anyway. And wherever possible, we must redirect law and policy from the abolition of human nature to its flourishing.

Should this project be accused of oppressing or stigmatizing “the vulnerable,” we must recall that in reasserting the necessity of norms we are not attacking the most vulnerable. We are defending them. Normophobia imposed on babies and children an obligation to sacrifice their needs for the sake of our wayward desires. We must lift this burden from their little shoulders.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Of Note: "Children’s needs have not changed just because adult desires have grown more unruly." https://t.co/awSIeT6jFW @moveincircles

— Inst. Family Studies (@FamStudies) March 13, 2024

Oceans marked 365 straight days of record-breaking global sea surface temperatures this week, fuelling concerns among international scientists that climate change could push marine ecosystems beyond a tipping point.

The consistent climb in temperatures reached a peak on Wednesday when the new all-time high was set for the past 12 months, at 21.2C.

The world’s seas have yet to show any signs of dropping to typical, seasonal temperatures, with daily records consecutively broken since they first went off the charts in mid-March last year, according to data from the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration and the Climate Reanalyzer research collaboration.

Driven by human-caused climate change and amplified by the cyclical El Niño weather phenomenon that warms the Pacific Ocean, this exceptional heat has bleak implications.

Read it all.

„Climate graphic of the week: Oceans set heat records for more than 365 days in a row“ https://t.co/utI21M9PFM

— Özden Terli (@TerliWetter) March 18, 2024

ZENIT spoke with Father Tarcisio Giuseppe Stramare of the Congregation of Oblates of Saint Joseph, director of the Josephite Movement, about Tuesday’s feast of St. Joseph the Worker….

ZENIT: What does “Gospel of work” mean?

Father Stramare: “Gospel” is the Good News that refers to Jesus, the Savior of humanity. Well, despite the fact that in general we see Jesus as someone who teaches and does miracles, he was so identified with work that in his time he was regarded as “the son of the carpenter,” namely, an artisan himself. Among many possible activities, the Wisdom of God chose for Jesus manual work, entrusted the education of his Son not to the school of the learned but to a humble artisan, namely, St. Joseph.

Read it all.

Joseph the Carpenter
Georges de La Tour, c. 1645
Saint Joseph Feast – 19 March pic.twitter.com/KieTrGQgFH

— Marysia (@marysia_cc) March 18, 2024

O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Dream of St. Joseph by Rembrandt. pic.twitter.com/81VD0IUFXO

— Christian Culture (@Christian8Pics) October 7, 2019

O God, whose blessed Son did overcome death for our salvation: Mercifully grant that we, who have his glorious passion in remembrance, may take up our cross daily and follow him; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Morning everyone hope you are well. Another forgotten Fell overlooking Ullswater, Hind Crag. I only saw 2 other people. But as for those views sweeping down the lake towards Glenridding, I won't forget. Have a great day. #LakeDistrict @keswickbootco pic.twitter.com/mIfx27ZTpj

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) March 19, 2024

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.

–Psalm 121:1-3

Up Early On The Wolds. 9°C after a heavy dew. Cloud approaching. Hares in the valley. pic.twitter.com/15wWKkA7RB

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) March 19, 2024

Pressure is growing on Pope Francis to rethink a doctrinal declaration, Fiducia Supplicans, allowing Roman Catholic clergy to bless same-sex couples…, after the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East responded by halting its dialogue with the Vatican.

“We affirm our firm rejection of all homosexual relationships, because they violate the Holy Bible and God’s law in creating mankind as male and female — we consider any blessing of such relations, whatever its type, to be a blessing for sin,” the Coptic Orthodox Church’s governing Holy Synod, chaired by Pope Tawadros II, said in a statement released last week.

“After consulting with sister-Churches of the Eastern Orthodox family, it was decided to suspend theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, re-evaluate the results achieved by this dialogue from its beginning 20 years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed in future.”

Read it all.

Pressure is growing on Pope Francis to rethink a doctrinal declaration, Fiducia Supplicans, allowing RC clergy to bless same-sex couples, after the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East responded by halting its dialogue with the Vaticanhttps://t.co/lki87tr36O

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 18, 2024