DAME Cicely Saunders, the Chairman of St Christopher's Hospice, South London, has asked that additional government funding be provided for increased levels of nursing pay in the hospices in the wake of the Government's decision to boost nurses' wages. In a letter to the Times, Dame Cicely echoed a point made by the Duchess of Norfolk, Chariman of Help the Hospices, that the pay rise would place additional intolerable burdens on the hospices (Catholic Herald, May 6).
TWICE married TV host Derek Jameson and divorced Ellen Petrie are to be married in Arundel Cathedral on September 3. Miss Petrie, a Catholic, has petitioned successfully for the service, pointing out that none of the couple's previous marriages took place in church, and hence were not valid in the eyes of the Church.
SOME 600 years of priestly service were celebrated at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, recently when 11 Golden Jubilarians from four dioceses gathered to mark the event. Canons Ambrose Woods, and Edward Mitchinson, and Frs Joseph Sullivan, Donald Braithwaite-Young, Gerard Furey, Richard Hickey and Philip McGuinness of Southwark joined Fr Edward Fooks of Arundel and Brighton, Canon Bernard Shaw of Nottingham, and Frs John Hayes and Jim Jones of Brentwood for the Mass, where Archbishop Michael Bowen presided. Fr Paul Baker of Arundel was unwell and unable to join with his fellow golden jubilarians.