Revival of Latin in schools!

A world-leading language project based at the University of Cambridge is rekindling an international love of Latin.

Four million copies of the Cambridge Latin Course (CLC) have now been sold around the world, which have helped an estimated eight million students.

The course is part of the Cambridge School Classics Project which was set up 40 years ago and now supports 1,100 schools in the UK and 500 adult learners from China to Chile.

Worldwide, more than 85 per cent of all schools now use the Cambridge course which features the everyday life of Pompeiian folk before the volcanic eruption.

This, along with a wealth of online resource has brought global fame for its characters including Caecilius, the father, Grumio, the cook and Cerberus, the dog.

Director Will Griffiths said the project had helped revive the teaching of Latin, especially in state schools.

"Ten years ago around 150 state schools taught Latin. Now that figure is 650, including 58 state schools which joined in this academic year.

Ordinariate bound!

After much prayer, thought and consultation I have offered myself for ordination as a Catholic Priest within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsinham. To this end I have resigned from my ministry within the Church of England from Sunday 6th March and expect to begin a course of formation with a view to ordination as a Catholic Priest at Pentecost. This will bring me into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

Although I live in Shrewsbury the Ordinariate Group with to which I belong is based in the Black Country area of the Midlands. I hope to be able, in the fullness of time, to form the nucleus for a new Group in Shropshire, Mid-Wales and across the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury.

In November 2009 Pope Benedict XVI issued an Apostolic Constitution called Anglicanorum coetibus (“By groups of Anglicans”) which set out the structure whereby ex-Anglicans could be received into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining some of their identity as Anglicans.

It would not be true to say that this decision is motivated by any particular issues. It is rather the culmination of nearly half a century of spiritual journeying which has led me to this point. The offer of Pope Benedict is one which I know I must accept. His vision of the unity of the Church is what has inspired this initiative.

The move, like all moves and partings, is full of a mixture of sadness but excitement. I have no regrets about moving on after over thirty years as an ordained Anglican, nor do I see it as a negation of what has gone before. It is a whole new chapter in the spiritual adventure. Please pray for me and those taking the steps with me!

Murder of Shabaz Bhatti

This week, unidentified gunmen in Islamabad shot dead Federal Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti.

The assailants sprayed bullets at Bhatti’s car after he came out of his mother’s home in a residential area of Islamabad to attend a cabinet meeting.

Bhatti, a 42-year-old bachelor, was Pakistan’s only cabinet-level Christian and an outspoken critic of the country’s widely condemned blasphemy laws. Suspected Islamic extremists from Pakistan’s Taliban and al Qaeda reportedly left a letter at the scene saying those who try to change Pakistan’s blasphemy laws would be killed.

The murder comes two months after Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his bodyguard for supporting Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman to be sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges.

Bhatti had defied death threats after the assassination of Taseer, conceding in several interviews that he was ‘the highest target right now’, but vowing to continue his work and trusting his life to God. The federal government had provided bodyguards for Bhatti, but they were not present at the time of the attack.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Bhatti had said he was ‘ready to die for a cause’ as a Christian. "I am living for my community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights," he said. “These threats and warnings cannot change my opinion and principles."