English and Scottish bishops have welcomed “positive aspects” of a treaty between Britain and Francis to speed up the processing of migrants at Calais. The Sandhurst Treaty aims to cut the processing time from six months to one month and to 25 days for children. But Westminster Auxiliary Bishop Paul McAleenan and Bishop William Nolan of Galloway said proposed security tightening “must not result in further violence and brutality”.
LGBT group returns to favour in Westminster archdiocese
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, has written to priests describing Quest, an LGBT group that was removed from the Catholic Directory 20 years ago, as a legitimate organisation that supports gay Catholics. In the letter the cardinal said one of the pastoral challenges of today was to minister to “those who live with a same-sex attraction and [who] are often very anxious about their journey to God and their relationship with the Church”. He then listed three organisations: Courage, which supports gay Catholics in living chaste lives; the Farm Street LGBT group, which organises Sunday gatherings at the Jesuit church in west London; and Quest, which he described as “a national organisation providing support for LGBT Catholics, their friends and families”. The organisation was removed from the Catholic Directory in 1999 by Cardinal Basil Hume over its apparent rejection of Church teaching on homosexuality. At the time he said the group’s aim – to “encourage and recognise loving same-sex partnerships” – was something the Church could not accept.
