Cambridge top again!

The University of Cambridge has come top of the latest ranking of UK universities, published yesterday by The Guardian newspaper.

Universities are ranked according to how much they spend per student, their staff/student ratio, the career prospects of their graduates, what grades applicants need, a value-added score that compares the academic achievements of first years with their final degree results, and how content students are with their courses based on the National Student Survey.

A spokesman for the University said:

Cambridge is proud of the world-class education we offer - our students benefit from intensive tuition, exceptional individual support and some of the best academic facilities in the world, and they have excellent career prospects.

We admit the brightest and best students regardless of background and financial circumstances. We will continue to provide an extensive and flexible bursary scheme and invest in outreach activity to ensure this continues to be the case.

Any student who has the ability should consider making Cambridge one of their five choices when they apply to University.

The Danger of Digital Fixation

When it comes to the dangers of the digital age, most parents worry about what is on the screen of the computer. Recent research indicates that the screen itself just might be a very real danger.

Writing in The New York Times, physician Perri Klass warns that many parents are unaware of the risks posed by the digital screen. She tells of parents who tell the pediatrician that their child cannot have attention problems because he can watch a digital screen for hours on end. The child may have attention issues elsewhere, but not in front of a screen.

She writes:

In fact, a child’s ability to stay focused on a screen, though not anywhere else, is actually characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are complex behavioral and neurological connections linking screens and attention, and many experts believe that these children do spend more time playing video games and watching television than their peers.

The beatification of Pope John Paul II

The beatification of Pope John Paul II, due to be celebrated in Rome – and around the world – on 1 May 2011, will mark the Church’s affirmation of the faith and life of a worthy servant of God. Blessed John Paul will be promoted as an exemplar of how to live the life of faith, with honesty, integrity and whole-hearted commitment.
Thursday 27 October 2011 will mark the silver jubilee of that invited gathering of religious leaders at Assisi, to mark the World Day of Prayer for Peace. Pope Benedict XVI, at the midday Angelus on the first day of this calendar year, called for this anniversary to be marked by a similar gathering. Our world needs peace and mutual understanding more than ever. Prayer across our divides – together – is one way in which we can strive for this. We can look to Blessed John Paul, Karol Wojtyła, to encourage us forward with a smile – and to bless again the new life taking shape within us.

Seeing things in perspective!

Elizabeth decided that Grandad needed to wear a pair of her play spectacles in order to see the Connect 4 game properly. She would wear his glasses! True to form she continued to win consistently and, to my mind, deviously!

Oh, by the way, I was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church yesterday as a member of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. More seeing things in perspective?

Now for the final vision of ordination to the Catholic Priesthood at Pentecost!

Independence of Ordinariate from Joint Contact Group

Bishop Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales for the implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, has written to the Tablet to correct some inaccuracies regarding the Joint Contact Group established to liaise between the Church of England House of Bishops and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales. His letter, which is not published in this week’s edition, can be found on our website here. Bishop Hopes states that “[t]he Joint Contact Group has no remit or oversight in relation to the establishment or the implementation of the Personal Ordinariate” but, rather, “to provide a forum for contact between the House of Bishops of the Church of England and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for discussion on pastoral and practical issues arising from the establishment of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; and, to inform and advise the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference on specific pastoral issues, practical developments and any potential ecumenical implications”.

The full text of the letter can be found below:

Dear Ms Pepinster

I write in respect of the ‘News’ article by Christopher Lamb entitled “Ordinariate gets joint liaison group”.

The article states that the “Church of England and Catholic bishops have set up a joint liaison group to help to oversee the implementation of the British Ordinariate”. This, I must inform you, is inaccurate.

The establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and the implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is the responsibility of the Personal Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, working in collaboration with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The Joint Contact Group has no remit or oversight in relation to the establishment or the implementation of the Personal Ordinariate.

The Joint Contact Group was formed for a particular purpose and with a limited remit, namely: to provide a forum for contact between the House of Bishops of the Church of England and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for discussion on pastoral and practical issues arising from the establishment of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; and, to inform and advise the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference on specific pastoral issues, practical developments and any potential ecumenical implications. The Joint Contact Group has no decision making power or powers of oversight.

Yours sincerely

Right Reverend Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate

The original story, which appeared on the Tablet website, can be found below:

The Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster agreed this week that it was too soon for Anglicans who join the ordinariate within the Catholic Church to share Anglican churches. Dr Rowan Williams cited “pastoral sensitivities” and Westminster Archbishop Vincent Nichols said ordinariate groups in Westminster could share Catholic churches. Archbishop Nichols stressed that the ordinariate should not be seen as “alternative ecumenism” with Anglicans. Three Anglican and three Catholic bishops are overseeing the implementation of the ordinariate: Anglicans Christopher Hill (Guildford), Anthony Priddis (Hereford) and Stephen Platten (Wakefield), and Catholics Thomas McMahon (Brentwood) and auxiliaries Alan Hopes and Paul Hendricks.

Bloggers head for Rome!¬

I was quite disappointed when I read the detail! Catholic bloggers will converge on the Vatican for landmark talks next month. The conference will be held on 2 May, the day after Pope John Paul II’s beatification, as it is assumed many of the bloggers will already be in Rome and won’t have to make a special trip. Dr Richard Rouse of the Pontifical Council for Culture said culture today was strongly formed and shaped in the blogosphere. ‘Bloggers have an enormous influence,’ he told Vatican Radio. But the meeting would not propose rules. ‘It’s not a meeting in which we’re going to tell people how to blog properly,’ said Dr Rouse. ‘It’s just a very simple encounter, a first step along a road of dialogue.’
Source: Catholic Herald (15/4)

Volume Three now published!

At last I have finished the three year cycle of Sunday Meditations based on the (Anglican) Lectionary Readings! Available on Amazon from Sunday! Now to concentrate on Allen Hall, CCC and Pentecost!!