FROM BRITAIN AND IRELAND NEWS Cuts threat to church-run care homes Christopher Lamb and Qina Liu
CHURCH-RUNcare homes for the most vul- nerable in society face a funding cut which has already led two to close. Those in charge of at least nine residential homes for the elderly and for adults with learning disabilities have expressed concerns that local authorities’ plans to slash their expenditure will put their budgets under severe strain and in some cases could force them to close altogether. In a number of cases, those running homes for the elderly have said that councils will stop sending to them resi- dents who cannot fund their own care and need the local authority to pay their fees. St Cuthberts Care in Newcastle upon Tyne, one of the biggest social care providers in the North-East, has already had to close two of its residential centres for adults with learning disabilities due to funding cuts. At the other end of the country, in Dover, the director of St Mary’s care home for the elderly said that the local authority had stopped sending to the home residents who needed council fund- ing. While the majority of their 36 places are taken by residents who pay for their own fees, a number are funded by the local authority. Maureen Smith, the director said: “What’s going to happen to these people now? It’s a nightmare.” A spokesman for Kent County Council said that if someone was assessed as needing resi - dential care then it was a duty for the council to provide it. “We will always meet our statu-
tory obligations in a way that is most cost- effective, given the limited money in the public sector,” he said. Nick Gilbert, the finance director of St Cuthberts Care, explained that one of the local authorities with which they work, Durham, has already announced a 7.5 per cent cut in funding to its day-care service and he believed, at best, other local authorities would announce that there would be no funding increase for the work the charity was doing. “The concern for us is that an individual will not receive the right level of care and that the viability of our existing operations is at risk,” he said. Mr Gilbert added that in the case of two adult care homes, which recently closed, some residents had been transferred to other homes and others to facilities where they had a meas- ure of independence. There are concerns, however, about those with learning disabilities who are less capable of caring for themselves and may no longer have places in residential homes. A spokesman for Sundial House in Surrey, which looks after seven people with disabilities, said the worst- case scenario would mean that residents would be transferred to “independent living” facilities. Worries about cuts came as the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales held a con- ference at Liverpool Hope University this week entitled “A Common Endeavour”, exploring Catholic Social Teaching and ways the Church can engage with society and build
the common good. The initiative is inspired by Pope Benedict’s address to the bishops at the end of his visit to Britain last year when he said Christians must “take a lead in calling for solidarity with those in need”. Helen O’Brien, chief executive of the Caritas Social Action Network, the umbrella organ- isation representing Catholic charities in England and Wales, said government cuts were likely to affect church-run residential centres that were more reliant on state fund- ing. Speaking at the conference, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the Church needed to explore the opportunities for social engage- ment in the coming years. “Most crucially, we also need a realistic assessment of our own capabilities, of the things that prevent us doing more, and indeed of our own potential to con- tribute more clearly to the good of our society,” he said. The archbishop referred to the great hard- ships now being faced by many families and their “immediate and pressing needs” but stressed that “A Common Endeavour” would build for the future. “This project we are embarking on together is not about a short- term response to particularly difficult eco- nomic circumstances. It is about the long term and how we conduct ourselves to bear lasting fruit,” he said.
Archbishop Nichols, who has in the past
praised the Government’s Big Society project, added that “in the coming months there are great opportunities to engage in public debate about the future of civil society”.
Irish priests say new translation could cause chaos
THE INTRODUCTIONof the new translation of the Mass in English threatens to cause chaos and confusion and should be deferred for five years, an organisation representing priests in Ireland said this week, writes Sarah Mac Donald. The Association of Catholic
Priests in Ireland (ACP), which represents more than 400 clergy, claimed the new texts were “archaic, elitist and obscure and not in keeping with the natural rhythm, cadence and syntax of the English language”. They urged bishops to follow the lead of their counterparts in
Germany and assert the right to make their own decisions about the liturgy. The bishops in Ireland have scheduled the introduction of the new translation for the first Sunday of Advent. In a statement that was due to be released at a press conference in Dublin on Thursday, the ACP called on the bishops “to engage with Irish Catholics with a view to developing a new set of texts that will adequately reflect the literary genius and spiritual needs of our church community in these modern times”. The priests believe that laity, women and priests have been
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ignored in the preparation of the new text and have identified a number of pressing reasons for deferral, saying it was “gravely concerned” that the “word-for-word translation from Latin into a vernacular language, mandated by the document Liturgiam Authenticam(March 2001), demonstrates a lack of awareness of the insights gained from linguistics and anthropology during the past 100 years”. Calling for Catholics to be allowed to pray publicly in their own language, the ACP said it was “particularly ironic that this Latinised, stilted English is being imposed on
Irish people who are so blessed with world-renowned poets, playwrights and novelists”. Responding to the ACP’s concerns, Fr Paddy Jones, director of the National Centre for Liturgy in Maynooth, which is tasked with preparing priests and people for the new Missal’s implementation, defended the new text but acknowledged: “No translation is perfect and time will tell us the strengths and weaknesses.” Fr Jones, co-author of “The New Missal: Explaining the Changes”, said its introduction was an opportunity to learn more about the Mass and how its celebration could be improved.
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