Archbishop of Cardiff joins embryo policy row

Archbishop Peter Smith has added his voice of concern, calling for a free vote on stem cell research policy. Likewise Archbishop Vincent Nicholls of Birmingham.

Read about it here

Analysis of decline

Decline in the number of Roman Catholics born and baptised into the faith in England and Wales is reported in the first statistical analysis of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales to use financial data publicly available through the Charity Commission.

Data taken from 1958 to 2005 published by the independent Pastoral Research Centre Trust is at variance with recent reports that Roman Catholic numbers were surging ahead, largely because of immigration from Roman Catholic areas of Europe, and are now comparable to the number of practicing Anglicans.

The Church Times report can be read here

Who is going to be at church this Christmas?

The Times on-line declares that Anglican church attendance numbers are stable, meaning that the decline appears to have halted. Read about it here

Roman Catholic attendances are on a par with Anglican attendances now, and slightly ahead for the first time. This is attributed to the influx of immigrants from Catholic countries. The true extent of the decline in indigenous Catholic numbers is thereby masked.

Even so, only five per cent of the total population are now regular church attenders.