Things which have slipped under the radar

Mine, at least, over the Christmas holiday - ecclesiastical / political stuff, mainly: 

Forward in Faith, North America responds to the C of E's Pilling Report [here]: 

"We recognize that the recommendations of the Pilling Report are primarily for reflection and discussion by the Church of England's House of Bishops.
Nonetheless, under the authority of holy scripture and tradition of the church, we affirm that sexual activity can only properly take place within the context of holy matrimony between a man and woman.
We affirm that any other type of sexual relationship is sinful regardless of context or degree of fidelity, and that the church cannot bless any type of sexual relationship outside of holy matrimony between a man and woman."

And, we can be sure that a substantive change in marriage discipline, an overthrowing of the Christian faith's traditional view of human sexuality, will be regarded by many in the 'western' Anglican provinces as the 'logical' next step; it's far from logical, much less theological, but in the opinion of many commentators now probably inevitable as pressure continues to build from within...  [More here from Canada. The trajectory of these commissions is always depressingly clear from the start] 

It's interesting to see 'St Jim's Ecclesiastical Plant. Piccadilly' living up to its well-deserved reputation under its new-ish manageress: of course, they've always loved a controversial gimmick. The political one-sidedness of the visual effect of their stage set 'wall' seems to be  in stark contradiction to their stated aim in erecting it. A response in The Spectator here 
Meanwhile the exodus of Palestinian Christians, trapped amongst the regional complexities of Saudi-funded Islamic fundamentalism, ultra-Orthodox Jewish expansionism and genuine Israeli security concerns, goes on. 

A glimmer of hope for Egypt's Christians? A new draft constitution is unveiled [here]
Of course, it's not so much what a constitution says that is important, it's how it is interpreted on the ground...

And in Christmas messages, Archbishops comment publicly on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East [here] and the first Christmas homily of Pope Francis [reported here]

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays claim to be the new champion of traditional, Christian values  [here and here] There's not a great deal of competition - certainly not from the present leaders of the West ...

The Ordinariate in Britain establishes its first religious community in Maryvale and ordains a deacon in Wales  [here] 
And a pretty good attempt by the Vatican to define the much sought-after but elusive Anglican liturgical patrimony [here] 

Pope Francis restricts the use of the honorific title of 'monsignor' for diocesan clergy [here] and an interesting (and naive?)  response [here]  

How would it be possible to help curb Anglican careerism, one wonders?  - Anglican careerism - surely not! [Ed] 
A first step would be the abandonment of those secular-style 'job interviews' introduced a while ago (and the disastrously worldly ethos which goes with them) which encourage applicants to say how absolutely brilliant they are...  

But as so often, the best comment on all this is here

And this recent photo is certainly the best of 2014 so far ....