LONDON (UNITED KINGDOM)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
April 27, 2026
By Ruth Gledhill, Bess Twiston Davies, Aili Winstanley Channer, Sarah Mac Donald
Ealing Abbey in west London will on Saturday 2 May unveil a plaque in the abbey church, marking its commitment to supporting survivors of child sexual abuse. Abbot Dominic Taylor will bless the plaque at a Mass of Hope and Healing for survivors on Saturday 2 May at 11.15am. It has been installed in the Mary Mother of All chapel which has a relief that depicts Our Lady drawing children to her. The plaque reads: “Mindful of all victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and people in authority, we acknowledge the terrible wrong done and grieve the deep suffering caused. Ever vigilant let us work and pray for healing, justice and peace. The Abbot and Community.” The text was written by the group, HOPE, which had the idea for a Mass not just for survivors of abuse but for all parishioners and those distressed and concerned about it. The Heart of London Threshold Choir will sing at the Mass. HOPE meets online monthly and has built on the work of the late Fr James Leachman, a member of the Benedictine community who led outreach to survivors. Two monks and two lay teachers were convicted of multiple offences involving the sexual abuse of more than 20 children at St Benedict’s School between the 1970s and 2008. Until its formal separation in 2012, the school was governed by the monks.
On Tuesday 5 May the Church is holding the fifth National Day of Prayer for Survivors of Abuse. The fear and abuse caused by domestic abuse is this year’s theme. Bishop Joanne Grenfell of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, is the new co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Safeguarding in Faith Communities.
Faith representatives and members of the public gathered in London for a “Walk of Faiths” to celebrate St George’s Day last week with “a message of unity, respect and togetherness”. The interfaith walk organised by Faiths Forum for London started at St George’s Church, St John’s Wood and then proceeded to visit places of worship of other faiths, finishing with a celebration.
There are more conflicts in the world today than in any other period since religious freedom was first enshrined by the United Nations at the end of the Second World War, Baroness Scotland, Labour peer and former secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations, warned on a panel hosted by Aid to the Church in Need at Farm Street Church on 19 April.
A conference on AI and Tech for the Catholic Church is being held on Saturday 2 May from 2-6pm at St Wilfrid’s Hall, The London Oratory, SW7 2RP. Speakers include Matthew Sanders, creator of Magisterium AI and Fr Dominic Robinson SJ. Please register here.
On Monday 4 May the Guild of St Stephen Annual Rally for Southwark Altar Servers will take place at The Friars, Aylesford Priory, Kent. Bishop Paul Hendrick the auxiliary bishop for the Kent Area will preside over a sung Mass at 11.30 am. For further details please visit here.
King Charles III sent a message to the Sacro Convent of St Francis in Assisi to mark the launch on 22 April of the Italian translation of his book, Harmony. “In this age, marked by the unprecedented and increasing destruction of our natural world, the inspiration of St Francis is more relevant and more necessary than ever before,” said the King in message read aloud by the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Christopher Trott CVO.
Students from St John Plessington Catholic College, Bebington, in the Wirral won first prize in a language competition for developing an educational board game exploring hygiene in Spanish, and writing a story on hygiene to accompany it set in the Costa Rican rainforest. They had to pitch the boardgame to competing schools in Spanish, as well as explaining the rules and demonstrating the game for the competition held at Rossall School, in Fleetwood, Lancashire in partnership with the World Health Organisation.
Faith continues to be important for very many people in Ireland though it is more complex, more questioning and more personal, Archbishop Francis Duffy of Tuam has said. Speaking at St Muredach’s Cathedral, Ballina, Co Mayo as he was installed as bishop of Killala, joining the dioceses of Tuam and Killala under one bishop, Archbishop Duffy expressed gratitude for the Church’s many pioneers. However, “not all was good or wholesome or right. Not everything was as it should have been” and many young people suffered abuse perpetrated by clergy, he said. Since April 2024, the two dioceses have been working towards union.
Church in crisis is a sign that the Church is very much alive, Archbishop Dermot Farrell said in a message for the annual Dublin diocesan pilgrimage to Knock Shrine. Speaking about people’s concerns that churches are empty and very few are going to Mass, Archbishop Farrell told pilgrims, “You could point to 101 things to say that the Church in Ireland, and in Europe generally, is in crisis, and you would not be mistaken.” But, he added, “The Church always has difficulties” and “God is at work among us”.
Priesthood calls for humility, trust in God, love of people,” Bishop Lawrence Duffy said as he ordained 30-year-old Fr Stephen Sherry in Clogher diocese on Vocations Sunday. Speaking about priesthood in St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan, Bishop Duffy said “God calls us as we are, not the ideal perfect person.” He told the congregation that in the age in which we live, a vocation to priesthood calls for deep faith and closeness to Christ. Fr Sherry comes from the Parish of Tullycorbet in Co Monaghan and is one of four children.
The Bishop of Meath has hit out at the “negative, ideologically driven and adversarial depiction of Catholic schools” in Ireland as ‘ill-informed and false’. In an address to mark the golden jubilee of St Oliver Plunkett’s Primary School in Navan, Bishop Tom Deenihan said the results of the Department of Education’s survey on divesting indicate that the majority of parents in local communities wish to send their children to Catholic schools, and “that choice must be respected”.
Bishop Alan McGuckian, chair of the Irish Bishops’ Council for Migrants and Refugees, has expressed “serious concern” over Ireland’s new International Protection Act which was signed into law last week. The Act aims to reform Irish asylum laws and implement the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact. In a statement, the Bishop of Down and Connor said the Bishops’ Council “deeply regret that the International Protection Act provides for the detention of children”, even if this is only in exceptional circumstances and as a measure of last resort.