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HEALING THE WOUNDS OF HISTORY – The Dresden Story

HEALING THE WOUNDS OF HISTORY – The Dresden Story

Dr. Paul Oestreicher in his 'Healing the Wounds of History - The Dresden Story' writes: In December 1940 Hitler’s Luftwaffe began to attack Britain. Coventry was the especially chosen target. It remains iconic. Just under 1000 people died. The medieval city-centre was destroyed and with it the Cathedral of Saint Michael. Most of the industries survived. On Christmas Day, Dean Howard, preaching in the Cathedral ruins, declared: “We say no to revenge. When this conflict is over, we shall, with our present enemies try to build a kinder more Christlike world.” The Empire Service of the BBC relayed that around the globe. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-06-24T22:00:32+00:00By Oestreicher, The Rev'd Canon Paul|Tags: War & Peace|

Exercising Choice

Exercising Choice

Dr. Peter Mills reflects: As Descartes asserted, “I think therefor I am”, but about what do we think, and to what end? In many cases, we think in order to make decisions. The range of decisions is vast, although many are only of a minor nature. If a glass is seen on the kitchen table, is it left where it is or put away in a cupboard? A very small matter, but still a decision. At the other end of the spectrum, however, decisions can occasionally be life changing ... For a decision to be meaningful, there has to be choice available. In fact, given that decision-making is essential to our nature as human beings, so too must be the presence of choice in our lives. Furthermore, choice in many cases will need to be exercised in the wider physical world. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE ....

2026-05-29T17:52:23+00:00By Mills, Dr. Peter|Tags: Theology|

WARFARE OF THE SPIRIT Paul Oestreicher reflects on his life with the Archangel Michael – (Revised presentation)

WARFARE OF THE SPIRIT Paul Oestreicher reflects on his life with the Archangel Michael – (Revised presentation)

Paul Oestreicher reflects on his life and his guardian angel St Michael: Even in Hell on Earth, there are glimpses of Heaven. A Catholic priest, no longer young in years, himself a prisoner, offered to take the place of a much younger Jewish prisoner who had three children and was heading for the gas chamber. That is not the normal way of the world. Having rid heaven of sin, it is the kind of world the Archangel Michael came to establish on earth. The concentration camp guards accepted the priest’s offer. The Jewish prisoner lived. Miracles happen. My father was born to secular Jewish parents in 1896. Recruited in 1914 like all his school mates, and later a lieutenant in the Bavarian horse artillery, he survived the horrific battle of the Somme. He began to reflect on the meaning of life – and death. Medical study followed. As a young paediatrician, driving through the forest in deep snow, visiting a sick child, he heard a voice, stopped his little two-seater car: Paul, go and be baptised. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-06-11T21:50:09+00:00By Oestreicher, The Rev'd Canon Paul|Tags: Culture & Faith|

Book Review of “Good Faith” by Angela Tilby

Book Review of “Good Faith” by Angela Tilby

In her review of Angela Tilby's new book 'Good Faith - Why England needs its Church'; Rosemary Hart writes: In this highly readable and insightful book Angela Tilby covers the great sweep of English history from the earliest seeds of Christianity to the present day as it has formed and influenced the English national church making sense of the complexities and controversies that have affected it over the centuries. ... It is a timely contribution when adherence to the Christian faith (and more particularly the Church of England) has been hijacked by some political factions as a tool for nationalistic agendas and ethnic identity. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-04-29T20:53:09+00:00By Hart, Rosemary|Tags: Believable Christianity|

Straight talking. Editorial, Easter 4, Good Shepherd Sunday

Straight talking. Editorial, Easter 4, Good Shepherd Sunday

In his Easter 4 Editorial, the Editor, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes: The ongoing war centred around the Strait of Hormuz and related much-wider conflicts in the Middle East have been described to me by my Lebanese contacts who are suffering severe collateral damage, as the Trump/Netanyahu Wars. The conflict is of course has many more players, but the newish Pope Leo XIV courageously pointed during a visit to Cameroon out that the world was "being ravaged by a handful of tyrants." This appears to have been prompted by Donld Trump’s threat “that a whole civilisation will die” if Iran did not agree to US demands to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz. The Pope subsequently stated that his ‘tyrants’ speech was not aimed at Trump as he explained further the background to the narrative. Such are the unfortunate complications associated with a powerful and unpredictable American President where traditional forms of diplomacy are redundant. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-04-22T22:16:44+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: Politics, War & Peace|

The Pattern of God – David Jenkins’ Theology in Church and in Public Space by Richard Truss (Review)

The Pattern of God – David Jenkins’ Theology in Church and in Public Space by Richard Truss (Review)

In her Review of 'The Pattern of God' Dr. Priscilla Chadwick writes: ‘Why does the Bishop of Durham say that Christianity requires you to believe three impossible things before breakfast?’ This question from a parishioner used to be posed to prospective Anglican ordinands and understandably generated a wide range of responses. David Jenkins had a reputation for radical thinking, engaging his theological thinking in the public arena and thereby attracting much media attention. Not many bishops featured in Private Eye or had their own Spitting Image puppet. However Richard Truss, the author of this thoughtful and well written book, realised that, although Jenkins’ legacy was not so well known to the current generation, his theological ideas were still highly relevant to contemporary society. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-03-23T23:38:11+00:00By Chadwick, Dr. Priscilla|Tags: Theology|

Is the Iran War actually a religious one?

Is the Iran War actually a religious one?

The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson (Editor) write in his Lenten Editorial: The Trumpian concept of regime change is more or less evidenced as a reason for the recent and ongoing unleashing of a huge onslaught on Iran. This rapidly expanding confrontation, which has already resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of extra deaths following the recent bloody Iranian suppression of demonstrations against the current regime, seems to be running out of control. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-03-13T13:42:03+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: War & Peace|

A new Archbishop and a new agenda?

A new Archbishop and a new agenda?

In his Editorial for the beginning of Lent, the Editor, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas Henderson writes: So, thus far the new Archbishop of Canterbury has been through three of the four stages of appointment. ... Sarah Mullaly is therefore already legally Archbishop of Canterbury despite not yet having been enthroned. Thus, there is no longer any hiding of views and/or direction of leadership. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-03-13T13:42:27+00:00By Henderson, The Rev'd Dr. Nicholas|Tags: Sex & Sexuality|

GADFLY Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a gadfly

GADFLY Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a gadfly

The Rev'd Canon Paul Oestreicher reflects on being a 'gadfly' ... In 1984 my election as Bishop of Wellington in New Zealand made the English newspapers. A day or two later a postcard arrived from Francis House, whom I’d never met. It simply said “Don’t go. You are the gadfly our Church cannot do without.” I was puzzled. Who was this Francis and what is a gadfly? A gadfly, I soon learned, was a troublemaker who, more popularly, puts a cat among the pigeons ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO CONTINUE

2026-01-27T22:22:07+00:00By Oestreicher, The Rev'd Canon Paul|Tags: Believable Christianity|

Loving the prophet… or maybe not? Mark Rudall explores how pastoral concern for a congregation may actually silence a prophetic voice

Loving the prophet… or maybe not? Mark Rudall explores how pastoral concern for a congregation may actually silence a prophetic voice

Loving the prophet… or maybe not? The Rev'd Mark Rudall reflects ... The Church of England has received many refugees from other traditions and I became an Anglican at the end of the 20th century when the idea of Christian life as an ongoing journey of discovery, truly a pilgrimage, took ever deeper root. Unable to espouse the ‘saved, and that’s it’ static condition so often portrayed by traditional evangelicalism, there was also an awareness after 23 years in non-conformist ministry of being in a scene that was teetering towards an unappealing and dangerous conservatism. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO VIEW FULL ARTICLE

2026-01-08T17:51:36+00:00By Rudall, The Rev'd Mark|Tags: Culture & Faith|