News from the Diocese of York Friday 7th February 2014

Enews from the Diocese of York – Friday 7 February 2014

Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

The Bishop of Hull, Richard Frith, will be leading the Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land , and tweeting about his experiences.  From 17th to 24th February, fifty people from across the Diocese will be joining Richard to explore Bethlehem , Nazareth , and Jerusalem , as well as the West Bank and Palestinian territories.  Richard will be tweeting his experiences @rmcfrith, and you can see the pilgrims’ itinerary here: http://lightline.org.uk/destinations/holy-land/2014/the-rt-revd-richard-frith.html.  Please pray for the group and the people they will meet.

Safeguarding

As part of our ongoing commitment to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults across the whole of the diocese, the Archbishop’s Council has decided that with immediate effect the support for parishes will be provided by a combination of our retained consultant, Sue Roughton (whom many people will have met during training sessions over the last few years), and a part-time in-house advisor, Sarah Harrison. This will mean that for the first time in recent years we will be able to provide a direct telephone number to enable parishes and members of the public to contact the Safeguarding Advisor on 07551 124951. In this way we have significantly improved our capacity to meet the increasing expectations on dioceses arising from the recent reviews into high profile safeguarding cases inside and outside of the Church.   

Sarah Harrison will be working three days a week on an interim basis until a permanent half time appointment is made and she can be contacted either via Diocesan Office, on safeguarding@yorkdiocese.org or on the number above for general or specific safeguarding advice.

Praying for February’s General Synod

General Synod meets from Monday 10th – Wednesday 12th February, and during this time the Archbishops of Canterbury and York would like people to pray for the work and life of the Synod.  To help with this, the General Synod office has produced a prayer card which has been designed for people to use across the country: which you can find here: http://www.dioceseofyork.org.uk/news-events/news/news-from-the-diocese-of-york/02340.html

Church of England launches new Church Legacy website

The Church of England has launched a new Church Legacy website with essential information for individuals considering leaving a “lasting gift” to their local church in their Will.  The website provides further information on leaving a legacy, example wording for your Will, and information for Solicitors and for PCCs. Legacies, of whatever size, are a hugely valuable source of income to parish churches, contributing £44.8 million to parish income in 2011, that’s almost £3,000 per parish church per year.  www.churchlegacy.org.uk

CUF Research – Credit unions

The latest Church Urban Fund research report about credit unions has just been published. It’s called ‘Money Speaks Louder than Words: Credit unions and the role of the Church in tackling financial exclusion’. The full report and executive summary can be downloaded here: www.cuf.org.uk/money-speaks

National Churches Trust repair grants programme re-opens

Churches, chapels and meeting houses seeking funding for repairs and modernisation can apply to the National Churches Trust grants programme, which re-opens on 1 February 2014.  From repairing a roof to helping to install an accessible toilets theses grants enable places of worship to continue to serve their local communities.  Full details and online application forms are available on the grants section of the National Churches Trust website: www.nationalchurchestrust.org.

Trace-in-Metal offer

Trace-in-Metal is a unique, patented system for protecting large lead roofs from theft by impregnating nickel microdots into lead.  During February, if churches buy when you purchase a basic installation, which marks 48 sections of lead, Trace-in-Metal are offering to mark a further 48 sections (worth £425) free of charge.   Offer expires at midnight on 28th February.  For further information call Paul on 01428 776130 or visit www.trace-in-metal.biz.

What’s On  

For a list of what’s on in the Diocese, visit http://www.dioceseofyork.org.uk/news-events/events/