Rosy future
THE wife of the Methodist chaplain at Wormwood Scrubs prison this week was given two air tickets to Washington DC by Cardinal Basil Hume for winning Westminster's cathedral's "Name the Rose" competition. Angela Woodman's suggestion "Rosy Future" — came out on top in the search for a name for Peter Harkness's new rose, first displayed at the flower festival in Westminster cathedral last year. Proceeds from the sale of the bloom will go to the Cardinal Hume Centre for young people at risk, while a bed of Rosy Futures has been presented to the Queen Mother to mark her 90th birthday.
PATRONS and governors of St Raphael's Hospice, Cheam, opened in 1987, hosted a reception on Monday at the Mansion House in the City of London to draw attention to their work and that of other hospices, and to raise funds for the non-denominational centre.
CHURCH Action on Poverty has expressed grave concern at the direction of the government's review of the operation of the poll tax. The church organisation, which brings together all the major denominations, has twice been refused a meeting with Environment Secretary Chris Patten to voice its fears that people on low incomes are receiving poll tax bills they cannot pay.
THE Redemptorists have agreed at a meeting of the entire London province to aim for greater partnership with the laity in the work of evangelisation. Youth ministry and parish mission were identified by the 50 priests and brothers at Hawkstone Hall near Shrewsbury as areas of major new activity.
THE National Council of the Catholic Teachers' Federation has called on Education Secretary John MacGregor to allow greater flexibility in the application of the national curriculum.
A REPORT prepared jointly by the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace and the Irish Council of Churches has recommended that prisoners in Northern Ireland jails be allowed to choose between segregation on religious lines or integration. To force them to adopt either course against their will would be a violation of human rights, the report's authors contend. Other recommendations indnde access to telephones and conjugal rights for prisoners.
GLORIA Gaynor, the charttopping American soul singer (7 Will Survive), is to present a new series of gospel music on BBC Radio 2 starting this Thursday.
THE Catholic Douay Martyrs School in Uxbridge, Middlesex, has received the Schools Curriculum Award for creative initiatives.
MGR Kevin Rafferty has been appointed by Pope John Paul as auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. Born in Co Derry in Northern Ireland Mgr Rafferty studied for the priesthood at St Columba's College Derry and at St Kieran's College Kilkenny. He is presently parish priest of SS John Cantins and Nicholas, Broxburn near Edinburgh.
A VILLAGE school built by Poor Clare nuns is to close next month after 140 years. Baddesley Clinton School in Warwickshire, which has 20 pupils, was earmarked for closure four years ago. Parents and teachers won a temporary reprieve until a new school, planned for the neighbouring village of Lapworth, was built. The new building opens in September.
THE winner of this year's Knights of St Columba Trophy for the best production of either a musical or play by a secondary school in their area is Lordswood Girls School, Harborne, near Birmingham,for their production of The Drunkard, a Victorian melodrama.
OVER 400 people crowded in the large hall at the Electrolux factory in Luton, Bedfordshire, recently to mark the silver jubilee of the local Holy Ghost church. The parish centre was not big enough to accommodate all those who wished to attend. The guest of honour at the celebration evening was Bishop Dermot 0 Mahony, auxiliary in Dublin.