The status of the clergy as office-holders “must not be used to place increasing demands and expectations on clergy without offering reciprocal support structures and accountability of those making the demands”, the chair of Church of England Clergy and Employee Advocates (CEECA) has said.

The Revd Sam Maginnis, who chairs CEECA, part of Unite the Union’s Faithworkers’ Branch, is the Team Vicar of Horsham. He was responding to a letter in today’s Church Times requesting a discussion about “whether parish priests really are ‘office-holders’ with less job security than most secular workers, or whether it is a convenient management fiction”.

The letter, from a parish priest who requested anonymity, lists working conditions for the clergy, including: working “on average longer hours than most employees”; being “canonically obliged to remain within certain forms of wording in carrying out certain duties”; and being “compulsorily subject to both a draconian disciplinary system and a system of particular action outside that system without any appeal or redress rights”.

The status of the clergy as office-holders “must not be used to place increasing demands and expectations on clergy without offering reciprocal support structures and accountability of those making the demands”, the chair of CEECA has said https://t.co/Zh6JBVTnv1

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 3, 2024

Never has it been so cheap to inflict a world of economic pain.

That stark point was underscored last week by Maximilian Hess, a principal at London-based Enmetena Advisory, a political risk consultancy. Speaking to a webinar of supply-chain managers, he showed a slide of a canoe-size naval drone and said such jury-rigged weapons have the ability to redirect world trade.

“Nowhere is this more clear than in the conflict in the Red Sea,” Hess said, referring to attacks launched from Yemen toward commercial ships trying to use the Suez Canal.

Nearly six months into the Houthis’ relentless campaign to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, the economic fallout is widening. As ships sail around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, their unpredictable schedules are clogging major Asian ports, creating shortages of empty containers in some places and pileups in others. Delivery times to the US and Europe are getting longer, and freight rates are surging.

🌎 Ships Diverted From Red Sea Send Ripple Effects Across the Globe – Bloomberghttps://t.co/1A8HVOJVKX pic.twitter.com/6fFCf9asLJ

— Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) June 3, 2024

Coastal areas up and down the East Coast are sinking at the same time sea levels are rising. Parts of Beaufort, Colleton and Charleston counties sank more than 2 inches since 2007, and some areas on St. Helena Island sank more than 3 inches, The Post and Courier previously reported.

Sinking land — a problem also called subsidence and settlement — can make flooding worse, cause septic tanks to fail, damage underground infrastructure, and cause buildings and bridges to crack.

So can we slow it down? Here’s what we found out.

Parts of South Carolina are sinking, and quickly. Can we slow it down? https://t.co/xVQX3VRcFk

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) June 3, 2024

Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Dr Stephen Kaziimba invited Ndukuba as the guest preacher at the Anglican site as the Church marks the 2024 Martyrs Day.

He thanked God for the 45 Uganda Martyrs from both Anglicans and Catholics and the opportunity for the Church of Nigeria to take part in this year’s Martyrs Day celebrations. He asked Christians to emulate the martyrs because they did not forsake their faith.

“The Church in Uganda is because of God’s holy word and also on the sacrifices of those who were killed for their faith in God. I have been shocked by the many people who have travelled long distances to come here and worship God. The reward for sin is death, but the strength of God is seen in righteousness,” he said.

He equated the Uganda Martyrs to the Biblical believers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:8–30 who chose to be thrown in the Lake of Fire rather than denounce God.

Nigeria archbishop celebrates Uganda Martyrs, decries persecution of Christians

DETAILS: https://t.co/S3POimeVkU #VisionUpdates pic.twitter.com/XgdjLjQoPQ

— The New Vision (@newvisionwire) June 3, 2024

O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before thee the blessed martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they gave obedience even unto death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Happy Martyrs’ day.

The Uganda Law Society joins the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s Martyrs' Day.

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ ~Mathew 5:10. pic.twitter.com/BIRAPizLHZ

— Uganda Law Society (@ug_lawsociety) June 3, 2024

O God, the protector of all those who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy, that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Wishing you a happy new week from Stokesley, North Yorkshire 😊 pic.twitter.com/Z2VW35bQcV

— Nicky (@Nicky13Johnson) June 3, 2024

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them. Then I said to myself, “What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.

–Ecclesiastes 2: 22-25

New week, new possibilities. pic.twitter.com/Z2ZbidkaOb

— 🌳Tree-lined🌳lanes🌳 (@LanesTree) June 3, 2024