Anglicans sell off former Catholic Churches

The sale of public art since the recession has rightly grabbed headlines. The loss of sculptures by Henry Moore or etchings by Picasso, often on view for generations, has generated handwringing from journalists and politicians, as well as bold attempts to save the works.

But at the same time as the purchases of Titian's Diana and Actaeon or Poussin's Sacraments are trumpeted as great rescues, dozens of buildings which are open to the public slip quietly into private ownership with barely a mention in the press. Nor are these insignificant works of architecture, some are precious parts of Britain's national heritage, often of exceptional antiquity or artistic quality.

Each year the Church of England sells off around 20 churches. There are, at the time of writing, 14 available for purchase, listed on a page of the Church's website entitled "Closed Churches Available For Disposal". Until recently, they were open to the public and consecrated for services, objects as important as anything in a national museum, but free to access and located all around the country. Now many will become private houses, bars or offices.

In Ufford, Peterborough, the grand, 14th Century church has slender piers and beautiful windows. Its stately font has been used to baptise the babies of the village for six centuries. The font at St Giles, Merston, near Chichester, is 300 years older still. Here the steep roof slopes down to enclose a tiny, chocolate-box church. Now, to use the Church of England's lingo, they are both "redundant"

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Cathcon- they should give them back to the original owner.

Christian rule a dark chapter says Turkish PM

Turkey: Erdogan called Christian Byzantium a "dark chapter"

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the rule of the Christian Byzantines in Turkey today a "dark chapter". With the conquest of Constantinople and the victory over the Byzantine Empire in the 15th Century, the Muslim Ottomans started an "age of enlightenment" , Erdogan said on Wednesday, according to the German Catholic news agency KNA.

The Islamic-conservative Premier spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new highway bridge over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, on the anniversary of the conquest of Byzantium (Constantinople) which took place on 29 May 1453. "Today we are making history," Erdogan said in reference to the construction of the bridge, the third connection between Asia and Europe in Istanbul. The Istanbul authorities mark the anniversary of the victory over the Byzantines with traditional ceremonies and receptions.

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Cathcon- and he wants his country to be a member of the European Union!

Just what's needed- priest playing guitar at wedding

Waka Waka Franciscans in Poland

Anything the Dominicans can do the Franciscans do worse.

Lady Gaga Dominicans in Poland

Court judgement expected after raid on Cardinal's home in 2010

The Supreme Court focused on Tuesday for the fourth time on documents seized by the Brussels magistrate Wim De Troy in June 2010 from Archbishop's Palace of Mechelen and from offices and the private residence of Cardinal Danneels. The highest court in the country must decide if the Court of Indictment in Brussels had reason to exclude these documents from the file because the searches were not legal.

Searches conducted on 24 June 2010 were within the framework of Operation Chalice, the investigation by the Brussels judge, Wim De Troy of evidence for sexual abuse of children by clergy and the possible cover-up of these cases within the Catholic Church. Three differently constituted Court of Indictments decided one after the other that these searches were initially irregular, then they were perfectly legal and finally they were illegal. In their last judgment of November 29, 2011, the Court of Indictment found that the documents seized during the searches should be excluded from the file. The Court of Cassation quashed the decision because it was inadequate but the judgment declaring the raids irregular has not been finally broken. The Court of Indictment again decided in December 2012 that these parts should be excluded from file, but according to several plaintiffs, the Court is wrong and it must be overturned when the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation takes the opposite view. The Court will deliver its judgment on May 28

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