'And above all, no fuss'

Continued from P3, Col 6
October. Life issues dominate the month of October. First comes the news of an attempt by the Alliance for Choice to use the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, set up under the Good Friday Agreement, to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to the Province, in order to circumvent democracy, which is proving a problem because of the pro-life sentiments of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland.
Shadow International Development Secretary, Gary Streeter, announces that the severing of development aid from birth control programmes is now Conservative Party policy. Its change in direction is brought about through its "Listening to Britain's Churches" exercise, which has discovered "a widespread rejection of coercion as an ingredient of population policy" and a "need for acknowledgement of serious excesses in the past". The move is given a broad welcome by Cafod and the Catholic Institute of International Relations.
However, The Catholic Herald's coverage of the story incurs the wrath of Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, who during October is busy promoting birth control in the developing world.
On one occasion Ms Short joins abortion providers for a poorly-attended rally in Trafalgar Square to lament the arrival of the planet's six billionth child, during which she is heckled by about 20 members of the pro-life group, Student LifeNet, who turned up at the event to celebrate the "birth".
In a letter to the paper Ms Short says she is "saddened that a Catholic paper should be so obsessed with these questions and so little interested in improving living conditions for the one in four of the human family that live in abject poverty". This and other claims are refuted by the paper and by prominent Catholics who in turn accuse the Government of "economic and racial imperialism" in seeking to fund overseas birth control programmes at the expense of the development of health and education services that some organisations, such as MaterCare International, claim to be the true cause of maternal deaths and poverty.
Closer to home, the issue of abortion grabs headlines when it is reported that a 12year-old girl has asked for assistance from Cardinal Winning's Pro-Life Initiative. Some pro-abortion groups said the Church's involvement is irresponsible and hinted that the girl, who is in care, should be compelled to have an abortion.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Winning is in Rome for the Synod of the Bishops of Europe. There, he calls for the Church to adopt an "option for the family" with an emphasis on sacramental life. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan later become the focus of media attention when his appeal for "greater collegiality" in the Church was "misinterpreted" as a call for a Third Vatican Council.
The Church declares it will postpone the beatification of Pope Pius XII in order to maintain its good relations with the Jews in the wake of claims made — and denied by the Vatican —in Hitler's Pope.
A tough month for the Church comes to end on a brighter note with the 400 year row with the Lutherans over the doctrine of "justification" being resolved in a joint declaration at the symbolic location of Augsburg, Germany.
November. The threeyear wait for a successor to the disgraced Bishop Roderick Wright ends with the appointment of a new Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. His replacement is the former rector of the Royal Scots College in Valladolid, Mgr Ian Murray, who will leave his post as vicar general of St Andrews and Edinburgh to lead the remote diocese. The See was left vacant in September 1996 when Bishop Wright left his
ministry to live with girlfriend Kathleen MacPhee.
Tony Blair says he has no plans to alter the controversial law forbidding the British monarch from marrying or becoming a Catholic. In reply to a letter from Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, a Conservative MSP, the Prime Minister says that reforming the 1701 Act of Settlement would be "complex in the extreme" as at least eight other pieces of legislation would also have to be repealed. Catholic-educated Lord James, a member of the Church of Scotland, pledges to continue his campaign, calling the Act an "anachronism".
Christian leaders in Israel shut down the holy sites for two days in protest against plans to build a new mosque in Nazareth. They are angry
that the Israeli government has permitted the construction of a mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation on land set aside for a piazza for Holy Year pilgrims. A joint statement by the Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian Patriarchs warns that the Churches will take "further steps" if the Israelis refuse to back down. They accuse the government of siding with a "small group of fundamentalists" in the hope of electoral gain and of
upsetting the "traditional harmony and peace" between Christians and Muslims in Nazareth. Archbishop Michael Bowen launches a blistering attack on the Israeli government, accusing it of plotting to widen divisions between Muslims and Christians by permitting the building of the mosque.
In a letter to the Israeli ambassador in London, the newly-appointed president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales objects to the Government's "compromise" agreement which gives a portion of the land for the piazza to the Muslims.
Cardinal Winning enters the fray over the promotion of homosexuality in schools. He appeals to Scotland's lawmakers not to abolish Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which forbids local authorities from promoting homosexuality in the classroom. He warns the repeal will "leave the way open to a new form of valuefree political correctness which would impose an 'anything-goes' morality". Catholic gay and lesbian support group Quest attacks the Cardinal's comments, branding them -extreme".
Parishioners in Shrewsbury are furious at plans for a radical reorganisation of the diocese. They vow to fight the plans which will remove priests from parish posts, turn prominent churches into Mass centres and involve the selloff of parish halls and presbyteries.
A priest in Stalybridge, Cheshire, says his parishioners are "up in arms" at proposals to turn his church into a Mass centre served by a priest from a neighbouring parish.
A diocesan spokesman says that the pastoral shake-up is a response to a 10year forecast predicting a 25 per cent decline in the number of priests.
Other dioceses are set to follow Shrewsbury's lead. Hexham and Newcastle, Lancaster, Middlesbrough, Salford, Liverpool and Nottingham dioceses are said to be preparing for a far-reaching pastoral reorganisation.
A naked swordsman attacks Sunday Mass-goers at a busy south London church. Eleven parishioners from St Andrew's Church, Thornton Heath, are admitted to hospital, four with critical injuries. Archbishop Bowen praises parishioner Tom Tracey, an off-duty policeman, who subdued the attacker with an organ pipe.
December: A new book
claims General Augusto Pinochet was excommunicated in 1980. Author Hugh O'Shaughnessy reports that the former military dictator, under house arrest in Britain awaiting extradition to Spain to answer charges of torture, was forbidden to receive the sacraments by seven Chilean bishops, who ruled that "those who are able to stop torture and do not do it cannot receive Holy Communion".
The Catholic and Anglican churches accuse Age Concern England's Millennium "Debatc of the Age" of campaigning to legalise euthanasia. They criticise the nationwide consultation for attempting to manipulate public opinion in favour of voluntary euthanasia. Meanwhile, MP Ann Winterton tables a Bill in Parliament calling for new safeguards against involuntary euthanasia.
Westminster Archdiocese's official newspaper pleads for a successor to Cardinal Hume to be in place for the start of the Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve. Editor Fr Kit Cunningham asks Rome to treat Westminster as a priority case.
The Pope opens the Holy Door in St Peter's on Christmas Eve ushering in the Holy Year. Bishop Vincent Nichols of North London opens the Pilgrim's Door in Westminster Cathedral, signalling the start of the Jubilee in England and Wales.