Zak Feaunati, a parishioner at Holy Trinity, Sutton Coldfield and a retired professional rugby player (Zak played for Bath 131 times!) was chosen by Clint Eastwood to star alongside Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in the film Invictus. Morgan Freeman is Nelson Mandela, Matt Damon is Francois Pienaar and Zak plays Jonah Lomu. Invictus chronicles how President Mandela and Francois Pienaar joined forces such that the Springbok victory over the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup in 1995 was a defining moment of national unity and reconciliation.

The Right Reverend Monsignor Canon Thomas Joseph Gavin, MA, one of the longest serving priests in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, died in Coventry’s University Hospital, during the early hours of Christmas Day 2009, after a short illness, aged 87.

In November 2008, the Birmingham Catholic Primary Partnership sent a cheque to the Sisters in Rwanda for £23,000.

Catholics in England and Wales have been urged to make the plight of Christians in the Holy Land an issue at the forthcoming General Election.

In general, our social teaching applies some well-established principles to key social, political and economic issues of the time. It therefore evolves in response to the different historical contexts in which it is written. We would not expect it to provide explicit endorsement for the labelling of certain goods by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Archbishop Bernard Longley was Installed as the Ninth Archbishop of Birmingham, in the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of St Chad, Birmingham, during a special Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tuesday, 8 December, one of the two Patronal Feasts of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

We are delighted to report that the runners who ran the Great North Run in aid of our campaign for the people of Zimbabwe raised a staggering £10,000.

Birmingham City Council’s Museum and Art Gallery celebrated the true spirit of Christmas with the return of the Nativity Art Trail through its galleries and Father Christmas from 28 November.

On Saturday December 5  the scripture resource Take & Read: The Gospels was launched in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. The event was well attended by priests, religious and catechists from dioceses across the north of England. Speaking at the launch were the retired bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, Bishop Ambrose Griffiths OSB, the scripture scholars, Fr Adrian Graffy and Fr Henry Wansbrough OSB and Mike Conway, Editor of Catholic Today.

Sr Sabina, (aged 81), Daughter of St Paul, Selly Park was awarded an MBE on Tuesday 28 October for her work with Fireside a charity which works alongside those who are socially excluded or disadvantaged. Sr Sabina, now works in a fund raising and public relations role but is a founding member of the charity which addresses alcohol issues,  homelessness as well as empowering and supporting people to meet their short and long term goals.

Jeanne Jugan is the foundress and first Little Sister of the Poor. On October 11, 2009 she was canonized a Saint at St Peter’s in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI.

A wonderful mass of thanksgiving and an emotional goodbye for the visit of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux.

A donation to Bible Alive’s International Prison Outreach allows us to send a subscription of Bible Alive to prisoners both in the UK and Ireland and also abroad. We know that such a faith resource is very much appreciated behind prison walls, where great works of conversion take place. A donation to International Prison Outreach is a way of fulfilling Christ’s invitation to visit prisoners (Matt. 25:36).