Daily Archives: November 20, 2025

(Church Times) Former Anglican clergy make up a third of new Roman Catholic priests in Britain, report reveals

Between 1992 and 2024, former Anglican clergy made up more than one third of those beginning priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, a new report reveals.

The report, Convert Clergy in the Catholic Church in Britain, summarises the findings of a research project commissioned in 2019 by the St Barnabas Society, a charity that continues the work of the Converts Aid Society, established in 1896.

The report was produced in partnership with researchers at the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society, whose UK base is at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Published on Thursday, it recognises the “substantial ongoing contribution to Catholic life made by convert clergy/religious in this country”.

The period studied begins in 1992, when the General Synod voted in favour of the ordination of women to the priesthood.

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Posted in Church of England, England / UK, Marriage & Family, Ministry of the Ordained, Parish Ministry, Religion & Culture, Roman Catholic

(Bloomberg) The Risks Lurking in Wall Street’s Insurance Takeover

No one worries about the insurance industry quite like Tom Gober.

From his home office outside of Pittsburgh, the forensic accountant has been tracking, documenting and highlighting the weaknesses of the $9.3 trillion sector responsible for the financial well-being of millions of Americans.

“I’ve been seeing warning signs for years, and I’ve been very vocal about it,” Gober, 66, said in a recent interview in his living room. More recently, he’s been paying attention to what he says is the most troubling development yet: The influx of private equity’s billions.

The industry waves off its critics as needlessly alarmist, always predicting a disaster that never comes. But that mid-October afternoon, Gober’s phone began to light up. Josh Wander, the co-founder of 777 Partners, a private equity firm on Gober’s radar, had been charged with cheating investors and lenders out of almost $500 million — an alleged fraud enabled in part by its opaque and intricate ties with some US insurance companies.

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Posted in * Economics, Politics, Corporations/Corporate Life, Economy, Ethics / Moral Theology, Housing/Real Estate Market, Psychology, Stock Market, Uncategorized

(Economist) America’s huge mortgage market is slowly dying

 America’s huge mortgage market is slowly dying. In America’s foundation myths, the humble mortgage rarely features. There are no stirring ballads about the heroism of 30-year rates or credit-scoring. Yet mortgages have fueled the American dream, which centers on home ownership, ever since the federal government began subsidizing property loans a century ago. Now that fuel is running low. At $13.5 trillion, America’s current stock of mortgage debt is equivalent to 44% of the country’s GDP. That marks a drop of almost 30 percentage points since the global financial crisis of 2007-09, which was sparked by a binge on dicey housing debt, and the lowest level since 1999, before that property bubble got started. More striking still, mortgage debt has shrunk to just 27% of the value of American household property—a 65-year low. A great de-mortgaging is under way, with worrying consequences for the property market.

With Wall Street fretting about other corners of American finance, such as booming private lending to shaky mid-size firms, the tranquility of the mortgage market might seem like a sign of healthy restraint. In fact, it masks an insidious crisis. The median monthly principal-and-interest payment on an American home has surged from just above $1,000 to $2,100 in five years.

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Posted in * Economics, Politics, America/U.S.A., Economy, Housing/Real Estate Market, Personal Finance & Investing

(TLC) Archbishop Steve Wood Inhibited; Bishop Ray Sutton Steps Down

Even with changes in personnel, the Wood matter is unlikely to be resolved quickly. Kate Harris, an ACNA spokeswoman, confirmed to TLC that Dobbs has assumed archiepiscopal duties for the duration of the Wood matter, but the complainants have expressed concern about its next procedural steps, which involve a Board of Inquiry that Sutton had appointed before stepping down.

One complainant told TLC that Sutton’s revised statement of not recalling discussions about making the board “bishop-friendly,” combined with continued involvement of provincial staff serving at Archbishop Wood’s pleasure, has eroded the complainant’s confidence in the board’s steps for determining whether the charges merit trial.

“The timeline of the [Board of Inquiry] historically has been about six to eight weeks, but it can sometimes take longer depending on scheduling and coordinating calendars, [and the] members cannot be shared to protect them from emails and lobbying of favor or bias,” Butler said in email to the complainants reviewed by TLC. Denominational canons specify that five priests and five adult ACNA members sit on a Board of Inquiry.

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Posted in Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Ethics / Moral Theology, Ministry of the Ordained

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Edmund of East Anglia

O God of ineffable mercy, who didst give grace and fortitude to blessed Edmund the king to triumph over the enemy of his people by nobly dying for thy Name: Bestow on us thy servants, we beseech thee, the shield of faith, wherewith we may withstand the assaults of our ancient enemy; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Posted in Church History, England / UK, Spirituality/Prayer

A prayer for the day from the Church of England

Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son was revealed
to destroy the works of the devil
and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:
grant that we, having this hope,
may purify ourselves even as he is pure;
that when he shall appear in power and great glory
we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Bible Readings

Then he led forth Israel with silver and gold,
    and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
Egypt was glad when they departed,
    for dread of them had fallen upon it.
He spread a cloud for a covering,
    and fire to give light by night.
They asked, and he brought quails,
    and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
He opened the rock, and water gushed forth;
    it flowed through the desert like a river.
For he remembered his holy promise,
    and Abraham his servant.

–Psalm 105:37-42

Posted in Theology: Scripture