In Byker today at St Michael’s church / home of the Lighthouse project, reflecting with urban and estates clergy. Good to be here in this transformed space 🙏

Everlasting God, you sent the gentle bishop Aidan to proclaim the gospel in this land: grant us to live as he taught in simplicity, humility and love for the poor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy feast of St Aidan of Lindisfarne 🫶🙏

I can't put into words my thoughts and feelings about the headline this evening other than to say how absolutely awful and heartbreaking it is Rest in peace Jason Arday

There’s a rider in the women’s pro peloton with the last name “Paternoster,” and every time the announcers say it, my brain immediately goes “Lord’s Prayer.”

Sunset over Tynemouth Longsands -

*sucks teeth* sorry, mate, think you’ll find that’s a structural Jesus

I know this is doing the rounds, including appearance in The Wall Street Journal, but friends at Mockingbird (@toddbrewer.bsky.social) have underlined the implicit theology of humans, and how we value work, with clarity: mbird.com/week-in-revi... This is Gospel as the long summer holidays begin

"Museum professionals worry that these tools will spout inaccuracies and bias or flatten interpretation to gimmickry, undermining museums as a trusted source of knowledge." They do indeed, plus the poor cognitive outcome, cultural homogenisation and environmental impacts.

Catherine Fletcher@catherinefletcher.info · 3mo ago

not so much throwing museums a lifeline as massively exaggerating the biases in the sources, if the cited case at Leighton House is anything to go by

A day full of memories and the privilege of sharing worship on my 11th anniversary of priesting with @ruthh.bsky.social’s parishes in west Newcastle. Beautiful cycle to and from too.

Today is for the "to do" list, but the accompanying reading & listening has a Juneteenth flavour to it w/ @okwonga.bsky.social on the latest @stadio.football episode & reading sent by college of canons colleague @newcastlecathedral.bsky.social Dr Kelly Brown-Douglas: religionnews.com/2026/06/18/1...

161 years after Juneteenth, there is unfinished work of freedom

(RNS) — The forces that threaten freedom continually take new forms.

religionnews.com

This is the content I am here for today (Dies Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Domini Iesu Christi) and, as usual, did not know I needed it until Giacomo said/sung it…🎶🧌👹🎶…🍞🍷

Jack Belloli@frgiacbelloli.bsky.social · 4mo ago

a modest proposal for catholic evangelism: a Corpus Christi-themed novelty record called MONSTRANCE MASH

The Irish Times asked me to put a bit of a response together to the Pope's so-called 'AI encyclical'

Joe Noonan@joenoonan.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The warning is stark: if we miss this moment to develop appropriate social norms, cultural responses, institutional safeguards and political frameworks, “the digital age will not be postcolonial, but colonial in another form”. - @kevinhargaden.bsky.social

The Rt. Rev. Vicentia Kgabe, Bishop of Pretoria, preached that the priesthood is “not a reward, or a spiritual achievement,” but “an invitation into servanthood.” #Anglican #News https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/botswana-ordains-14-women-as-priests/

Botswana Ordains 14 Women as Priests - The Living Church

The Rt. Rev. Vicentia Kgabe, Bishop of Pretoria, preached that the priesthood is “not a reward, or a spiritual achievement,” but “an invitation into servanthood.”

livingchurch.org

Here’s the text of the encyclical: www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo apologizes for the Doctrine of Discovery, which sanctioned colonialism & slavery, to talk about AI. Here, I thought I went off the rails in Data Empire, where I insist the Doctrine of Discovery is critical to the history of data’s power www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

In the interest of being a good professor, if you want to read the pertinent sections of Magnifica Humanitas on slavery, the "apology" and the implications for AI, skip to sections 172-181 of the Encyclical.

I know some of y'all are in your feelings pro and con about the encyclical but let me just say getting a Pope to admit the church was complicit and needs to be on the right side of an issue is huge for an institution responsible for a lot of really bad things.

Yesterday’s vestry prayer. Entering into Pentecost after the manner of Pope Leo in the Easter season, and on the eve of Magnifica Humanitas

Quoting Gaudium et Spes (Vatican 2), sounding like the Didache. I am vibrating.

This is also a generation whose entire lives have been lived in austerity, with playgrounds, youth services, libraries, community centres, high streets, etc. disappearing and disinvested. That doesn’t get a mention in this report on Milburn’s review. And even covid seems a bit of an afterthought.

UK faces 'economic catastrophe' unless it adapts to young people 'rewired by smartphones'

Almost one million young people are not in employment, education or training - with a new report claiming social media is contributing to declining mental health, poorer sleep and lower levels of conc...

news.sky.com

It is a "boost for Burnham", but it's much more a boost for the principle that if you stick to a regional growth strategy for 30+ years you can see productivity and living standard improvements at the end of it. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Manchester sees biggest rise in living standards in boost for Burnham

The share of underprivileged inner-city neighbourhoods across the country has fallen significantly since 2010, driven by changes in big cities – such as Manchester, Liverpool and London

independent.co.uk

“Leave us not orphans…let thy Spirit, bringing peace to the world, manifest…” Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954) and the Sarum Rite for Ascensiontide and the ‘stormy present’

prayers with colleagues from NCL diocese and the cloud of witnesses at Gaberone Cathedral tomorrow for the ordination of 14 deacons as priests in God’s church. These are the first Anglican women to be ordained in Botswana, so if you’re the praying sort do pray for them 🙏🏻 ⚓️

⛅️ Today, Thursday 14 May, is Ascension Day. Join us at Newcastle Cathedral for a Choral Eucharist this evening at 6pm as we celebrate the ascension of Jesus into heaven, forty days after his resurrection: newcastlecathedral.org.uk/event/festal-choral-eucharist-ascension-day

So here is the ex-twitter thread I promised on Julian. 1/ Today is the the feast of Mother Julian of Norwich, a patron of the anxious and those with poor mental health. The two are connected for me and so forgive me while I make some personal observations about life, mental health and Julian.

One of the things that worries me about the kind of dramatic electoral shift we are seeing here is that there are going to be a heck of a lot of new councillors with no real experience or understanding of what local government actually entails, and a lot of expertise and institutional memory lost.

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 5mo ago

Newcastle City Council Results (all up) LDM: 25 (+2) GRN: 24 (+22) RFM: 24 (+24) IND: 3 (-3) LAB: 2 (-44) CON: 0 (-1) Labour LOSS to NOC Changes w/ 2022/23/24 (new boundaries).

Those of you who have known me in recent years know that papal AF1 drip is something I have been waiting for…

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Sigh. Forgot my contribution earlier to #bikesatpollingstations - sorry all. Here is a cargo bike prior to a visit to a polling station today

Cycling on the north east's wagonways continues to be a terrible experience in late spring.