English bishop urges Catholics to come back to churches

CNA Staff, Dec 4, 2020 / 04:30 pm (CNA).- Actors from the films trilogies the “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” have backed a campaign to turn the former home of Catholic author JRR Tolkien into an educational center.

Project Northmoor is seeking to raise nearly $6.5 million to purchase the house where Tolkien wrote his most famous novels. As of Dec.4, the project has funded $250,000.

A video in support of the project was released Dec. 2. It includes the actors Ian McKellen, who portrayed Gandalf; Martin Freeman, who portrayed Bilbo Baggins; and John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli.

McKellen tweeted that authors of Tolkien’s stature have museums and educational centers established in their memory. He encouraged Tolkien fans to donate to the campaign.

“We cannot achieve this without the worldwide support of the Tolkien fans,” he said. “We will only succeed if we do this together as a fellowship.”

While a fellow at Pembroke College, and later Merton, Tolkien lived at the house on Northmoor Road in Oxford from 1930 until 1947.

If the project raises enough money, the six-bedroom home will be renovated and the garden restored. This will include a hobbit house in the garden and a pipe-smoking area around Tolkien’s tree. The Tolkien house would also involve creative courses and special events.

“Unbelievably, considering his importance, there is no centre devoted to Tolkien anywhere in the world,” said Rhys-Davies, according to BBC.

“[It would be a] literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers.”

Project Northmoor was founded by British Novelist Julia Golding. She said it is a huge challenge to raise this money in three months, but noted that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“We need only to look at Frodo and Sam’s journey from Rivendell to Mount Doom, which took that same amount of time – and we are inspired that we can do this too, ” she said, according to BBC.

The video also features Leith McPherson, dialect coach on The Hobbit movies; Malcolm Guite, poet and scholar; and Golding, director of Project Northmoor. They highlighted the important influence that Tolkien’s life and literature have had.

“Tolkien’s world has been an inspiration for many artists, writers, filmmakers. But, so far there has been no specific place dedicated to the appreciation of Tolkien’s life,” said Guite.

“Tolkien built his vast mythology for his mythical world between teaching Oxford students the languages and literature he loved,” said Michael Ward, a British scholar and author.

“He also invented his own languages. From the beautiful language of the elves to the terrible Black Speech of Sauron,” said McPherson, switching between Elvish and the Dark Tongue of Mordor.

Golding said that if completed, the house will be dedicated to the fans and expressed hope that the house would become a center for fans from all over the world.

“This is our vision at project Northmoor, a charity set up to purchase the house and then go on to establish the center. We hope one day to welcome Tolkien enthusiasts from the world over to take part in our events.”

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London, England, Jan 29, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Attempts to liberalize access to abortion in Northern Ireland continue, shortly after legal abortion was introduced in the Republic of Ireland, with both legislation in Westminster and a legal challenge.

Abortion is legally permitted in Northern Ireland only if the mother’s life is at risk or if there is risk of permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health. Elective abortion is legal in the rest of the United Kingdom up to 24 weeks.

British prime minister Theresa May has said abortion should be a devolved issue for Northern Ireland, but the Northern Ireland Assembly is currently suspended due to disagreements between the two major governing parties.

Last week, one member of the British parliament wanted to add an amendment promoting abortion reform in Northern Ireland to a bill meant to curb domestic violence.

Labour and Co-operative MP Stella Creasy intended to put forward an amendment to the draft Domestic Abuse Bill which would give the British parliament jurisdiction over abortion laws throughout the United Kingdom, The Sunday Times reported Jan. 27. However, the bill’s scope was restricted by the government, blocking the amendment.

The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and a member of the coalition government in Westminster, is opposed to changing the region’s abortion law.

Separately, a Belfast woman plans to bring forward a personal challenge to Northern Ireland’s abortion law to court this week.

Sarah Ewart, who is backed by Amnesty International, traveled to England in 2013 for an abortion after her doctors reportedly told her that her baby would not survive outside of the womb. She has previously campaigned to change the law to allow for abortion in cases of “fatal fetal abnormality.”

In June 2018, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission challenged the region’s abortion laws in the UK Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court concluded that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws violated human rights law by banning abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, and incest, it threw out the case saying it had not been brought forward by a person who had been wrongfully harmed by the law.

Ewart’s challenge to the abortion law before the court is expected to last three days.

Northern Ireland’s abortion law has been under increased pressured in recent years. Since abortion became legal in the Republic, calls for “the north is next” and “now for Northern Ireland” have increased.

In October 2018, the British parliament passed a bill requiring the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to provide guidance to civil servants on how to exercise their functions regarding human rights.

Under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018, Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland Secretary, is to guide Northern Irish officials on how to exercise their functions in light of what the UK Supreme Court said in June regarding the region’s abortion law.

Debate over the bill in the House of Lords focused on the importance of devolution.

Creasy had introduced an amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 in the House of Commons to repeal Northern Irish law on abortion and gay marriage, which was defeated.

Since November 2017, Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales.

Bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.

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Madrid, Spain, May 18, 2017 / 10:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Over the past nine years, Spain has been hit particularly hard by the worldwide economic crisis.

It was in recession from 2008-2009 and 2011-2013, and unemployment in the country is at about 19 percent, with unemployment rates twice as high for people under the age of 25, forcing younger generations to leave the country to find work.

Unfinished apartment complexes and houses stand out in the sun, sustaining years of wear and tear, a reminder of the burst property bubble at the center of the crisis.

Spaniards are cutting back on expenses everywhere, including opting for smaller, civil wedding ceremonies and celebrations rather than large church weddings, which are down 50 percent since the crisis began.

But there is one thing for which Spaniards are still willing to splurge: First Communion parties.

In a recent episode, economic podcast Marketplace explored the phenomenon of the lavish parties celebrating youngsters’ First Holy Communions, which have not declined in extravagance despite the hard times in the majority-Catholic country.

According to a 2014 study reported on by Marketplace, First Communion parties are a multimillion dollar business, with families spending almost 600 million euros (or about $640 million dollars) on these celebrations that year. Many individual families end up spending several thousand dollars on a First Communion party.

Parties include fancy, wedding-like dresses for girls, cake, food, photoshoots, and entertainment. Sometimes families will even borrow money or take out a loan in order to “have the communion that God demands,” Francesc Nuñez, sociologist at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, told Marketplace.

It’s a distinctly religious phenomenon too, he noted, as there is no secular “proxy” for a First Communion party, as there are for events like wedding ceremonies. Despite waning numbers of active churchgoers, approximately 70 percent of Spaniards still self-identify as Catholic.

May is “First Communion season” for many countries in the Church, including Spain, where restaurant owners and other related businesses can expect an uptick in revenue around that time.

Infanta Sofía of Spain, 10, who is currently second in the line of succession to the nation’s throne, received her first Communion this week at Asunción de Nuestra Señora parish in Madrid.

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