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I know it's a little early to be asking that question: we're only half-way through Holy Week, Good Friday hasn't happened yet, and the no-man's-land of Holy Saturday is still ahead, but consider the question for a moment. I've just been asked that question on the phone by a journalist writing a piece for his paper, and it's not an easy question to answer in a few words.

How do you approach Easter weekend? Are there some rituals you always follow? Do you always go to a church or a cathedral on Easter Day? Do you believe in "resurrection"? Is there a piece of art -- a painting, a sculpture, some music -- that your return to at Easter? Or is it a time when you rediscover your self or your family? How do agnostics and atheists mark Easter (after all, many atheists put up trees at Christmas)? Or is it all about chocolate?

Picture: The , in his workship in Vrhnika, Slovenia, drills thousands of holes in an eggshell.

What does "holiness" mean? In the next installment of her studies in the Old Testament, Yale University professor Christine Hayes shows how that category, for the ancient Hebrew people, linked notions of moral purity with aspects of cultural and religious identity. She also looks at an ancient text which, when it is invoked in modern moral disputes, has proven extremely controversial -- the book of Leviticus.

The lecture in summary: "The Priestly source (P) found primarily in Leviticus and Numbers is introduced. The symbolism of the sacrificial cult and purity system, the differences between moral and ritual impurity, as well as holiness and purity are explained within the Priestly context. The concept of holiness and imitatio dei, or human imitation of God, is explained."

to Lecture 9.
about this course.
the course syllabus.
Why is the course on the Will & Testament blog?

I snapped this picture of the living legend that is Hugo Duncan just before he went on air this afternoon.

The wonderful staff of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ phone room threw Hugo a surprise party, complete with Birthday cake, and decorated his studio, and the corridors leading to it, with massive pictures of the wee man from Strabane covering most decades of his life.

Hugo turned 60 today. And he looked like he was enjoying every minute of it.

Happy Birthday, Hugo: you're the man.

, Vincent Nicholls, the Archbishop of Westminster, addresses the child abuse crisis facing the Catholic Church and calls on commentators to do justice to the efforts by Pope Benedict to introduce new child protection procedures in church law. Money quote:

"What of the role of Pope Benedict? When he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he led important changes made in church law: the inclusion in canon law of internet offences against children, the extension of child abuse offences to include the sexual abuse of all under 18, the case by case waiving of the statue of limitation and the establishment of a fast-track dismissal from the clerical state for offenders. He is not an idle observer. His actions speak as well as his words."

The governing body of the Orange Order in Ireland has urged UK citizens and to oppose any future invitation to visit Northern Ireland. Today's statement by Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland provoked anger and outrage from many of those who called or texted the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's Talkback programme. Some of those who contacted the programme to express their opposition to the Order's stance were themselves members of the Orange Order. I spoke privately to one lifelong member of the Order, who has served for many years as a Chaplain, and he described the Grand Lodge's stance as "a mistake", "an ungracious statement" and "utterly un-Christian".

Other callers, identifying themselves as members of the Order, called to support the Grand Lodge's position. They echoed the Grand Lodge's assertion that "The Pope claims himself to be the vicar of Christ on earth, a title which assumes supreme and universal supremacy both in honour and jurisdiction over all - church, state, the world. Any who would welcome him are in danger of appearing to acknowledge his primacy and universal supremacy in all of these matters."

You can listen to the Talkback debate on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer.

Read the .

is sending shock waves around the Catholic world. As five Irish bishops are forced to resign because they failed to respond appropriately to now-historic cases of clerical abuse, and as the Irish Primate, Cardinal Sean Brady, continues to weather calls for him to follow suit, after he took part in two meetings with teenage abuse victims in 1975 during which the children were asked to take vows of secrecy, the focus of . The New York Times alleges that "Top Vatican officials -- including the future Pope Benedict XVI -- did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit."

The newspaper publishes previously unseen internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin , the future pope, "which shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal."

It is not just American Catholics who are now facing the question, What did the Pope know?, about the Pope's previous role as Archbishop of Munich. A second question -- just as troubling -- touches on the implications of all of this for Pope Benedict's moral authority: if the Pope failed to act to protect children, or acted in such a way that an abuser was protected or went unchallenged, how can he discipline any other bishop for similar failings?

The Vatican is now said to be i as to tell their stories in dioceses across Europe and the United States. Official responses from the Vatican by the then-Cardinal Ratzinger.

"The love stuff is good. And you can still believe in that, and live a life like that. But the whole grand scheme of Christianity, for me, is just a bunch of bunk." It's not much of a religious creed, is it? But that's how "Jack", a 50-year old Southern Baptist minister describes his approach to Christian faith. He's one of five Protestant pastors who have taken part in a new study, "", co-authored by and Linda LaScola and funded by Tufts University.

The authors write: "The loneliness of non-believing pastors is extreme. They have no trusted confidantes to reassure them, to reflect their own musings back to them, to provide reality checks. As their profiles reveal, even their spouses are often unaware of their turmoil. Why don't they resign their posts and find a new life? They are caught in a trap, cunningly designed to harness both their best intentions and their basest fears to the task of immobilizing them in their predicament. Their salaries are modest and the economic incentive is to stay in place, to hang on by their fingernails and wait for retirement when they get their pension"

The Dennett-LaScola study is an exploration of the personal experience of these purportedly Christian ministers, how they conceal their true beliefs -- or lack of belief -- and why they have remained within faith-communities or faith-based ministries. How many clergy are "preachers who are not believers"? It may be impossible to tell, and this study does not suggest any figures. Nor is it possible, on the current research, to ascertain whether particular pastors are struggling with temporary crises of faith, rather than a decisive step away from religious belief.

Dennett and LaScola are planning a follow-up study, and they invite clergy interested in participating, to Dennett has written about the study

John Magee that Pope Benedict has formally accepted his. Bishop Magee's statement notes that he tendered his resignation on 9 March, a year after he "stepped aside" from his episcopal role after being severely criticized by the Catholic Church in Ireland's child protection watchdog. A report by the found that his diocese was failing to protect children, even after the adoption of new child protection guidelines. A year ago, the bishop's decision to "step aside" from his diocesan responsibilities was seen by many as a non-resignation resignation. The findings of the National Board's report have now caught up with Bishop Magee. He becomes the fifth Irish Catholic bishop to resign over child protection failings in as many months.

What now will happen to Bishop Magee's diocese? For the past year, Cloyne has been administered by Dr Dermot Clifford, the Archbishop of Cashel. Will a new bishop be appointed to Cloyne, or will the Pope decide that Bishop Magee's former diocese could now become an administered adjunct to a neighbouring diocese (just as the Bishop of is the permanent Apostolic Administrators of Kilfenora)? There have been recent calls for a re-organisation of Ireland's dioceses, and for a reduction in the number of bishops. With the resignations of the bishops of , and now Cloyne, the Vatican is presented with a strategic opportunity to rationalise resources and re-organise dioceses. Add to those now or soon-to-be vacant dioceses the impending vacancies in and , when Bishop Joseph Duffy and Bishop Willie Walsh, respectively, reach retirement age, and you have the basis for a significant re-organisation.

Human rights campaigners have called on King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to intervene in the case of a TV presenter who has been Ali Hussain Sibat (pictured), who presented a popular psychic call-in show on a satellite TV channel, was arrested by religious police when he visited Saudi Arabia in 2008.

Mr Sibat, 48, is married with five children. His wife has told CNN, "I haven't seen my husband in two years. I don't know if he's eating. I don't know if he's healthy. I don't know how he looks. This has been very difficult. I don't even have enough money to be able to travel to Saudi Arabia to see him."

It is understood that Ali Hussain Sibat was sentenced to death by a secret court in Madina on 9 November, and was not permitted any legal representation or assistance during hearings.

Read Amnesty International's account of the case . According to Amnesty, "at least 158 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2007 and at least 102 in 2008. Since the beginning of 2009, a further 67 people are known to have been executed."

A Tory MP has been reported to the police for comments he made last month during a debate in Parliament about immigration. Northamptonshire Race Equality Council contacted the police to complain that , MP for Kettering (pictured, right), had described wearing a burka as "the religious equivalent of going around with a paper bag over your head with two holes for the eyes." No further action is to be taken by the police or the Crown Prosecution Service; the free speech of MPs is, of course, protected in law and parliamentary privilege gives legislators added protection.

of the comment by Mr Hollobone, part of the speech in which he expressed "huge sympathy" for those calling for a ban on the burka:

"How ridiculous would the House of Commons be if we were all to wear burkas? How would Mr Speaker be able to identify which member to call next? The voters might well prefer it, but it is the religious equivalent of going around with a paper bag over your head with two holes for the eyes. In my view, it is offensive to want to cut yourself off from face-to-face contact with, or recognition by, other members of the human race. We should certainly look at ways to tackle that issue."

Anjona Roy, chief executive of the Northamptonshire Race Equality Council, accepted that MPs speak within the House with parliamentary privilege, but claimed that their complaint related to comments made by Mr Hollobone outside the Commons in which he expanded on his views.

: "Talking about women wearing paper bags over their heads, I don't think his comments can be construed in any other way than as offensive language . . . When those comments are aimed at a particular group of women practising a religion then it will be seen as a religiously-motivated hate incident. We've had reports of women wearing burkas being spat at and women being verbally abused in the street."

Sam Harris thinks so. In his recent TED lecture, the new atheist argues that, although "questions of good and evil, right and wrong, are commonly thought unanswerable by science, science can, and should, be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life." or by clicking below.

We should debate Harris's argument, such as it is. He makes a case for a scientifically "objective" approach to morality in this talk, but it is difficult to lay out the argument he is defending. At the top of the lecture, he stipulates that moral propositions are objective "facts" about the world. That is an extremely controversial claim, which goes undefended, merely stated, in this lecture.

It may be that what Harris is arguing runs like this: If moral propositions are objective facts about the world, it might follow that they can be discovered; and since science is a method for discovering objective facts about the world, why shouldn't science, then, be regarded as a moral authority? The first premise about moral propositions being objective facts would need to be established before this argument can go through. Let's see the argument establishing the first premise, then we can move to the second premise.

It is certainly clear that logic can function within moral disputes -- for example, in identifying flaws in arguments. Science can also play a role in moral disputes -- by, for example, providing evidence that challenges a moral claim. Thus, if someone makes an argument about abortion or euthanasia and appeals to claims about human biology, their interlocutor might challenge their argument by showing that their biological science is at fault. Scientific evidence often plays that role in moral debates within bioethics today. But it is entirely another thing to suggest that science can answer the moral questions that interest human beings, that by applying the scientific method we can arrive at the objectively "true" moral "fact" about a matter in dispute.

The decision by the Christian owners of a B&B in Berkshire to turn away a gay couple, Michael Black and John Morgan, because accommodating same-sex couples in a shared room went against their principles, has raised again the debate about how apparently conflicting moral values can make space for one another in a diverse society. One Will & Testament commenter suggests that a research paper from the public theology think tank could be helpful in making progress with this debate.

The paper, titled "Sex, Orientation and Debate" (available as a pdf ) examines the biblical and post-biblical debate about homosexuality, and also explores moral questions relating to the use and abuse of language in progressing a responsible conversation about same-sex relationships. Language and listening issues are not merely academic concerns: how we talk to one another (and how we hear one another talk) about profoundly controversial questions can determine whether or not we hear one another, do justice to one another, and actually make progress towards a just outcome for everyone. Those language issues are just as important in a debate about sexuality as they are in a debate about evolution and creationism or a conversation about overcoming sectarianism in a place like Northern Ireland.

I suggest that we use this thread to discuss the Ekklesia paper, and keep comments about the B&B discussion specifically on the separate thread related to that controversy.

(pictured, left) was one of the English-speaking world's best-known philosophers in the 20th century. He held the Wykeham Chair in Logic at Oxford, widely seen as the country's top philosophy job, and was the UK's leading proponent of "", which, in its day, represented the most strident assault on the meaningfulness of religious language ever mounted. These days, logical positivism is rejected by most philosophers as a self-referentially wounded proposal (because, in rejecting all metaphysical claims as "nonsense", logical positivism, which is itself a metaphysical claim, falls on its own sword). But in 1936, when Freddie Ayer published his book, , which popularised the key ideas of logical positivism, his reputation was made.

That's all history now. Modern philosophical atheism, though influenced by logical positivism, has grown beyond those philosophical flaws and mounts a different case against religious belief these days -- one that is typically focused on the evidence-related rationality of belief in God, rather than a challenge to the coherence, per se, of religious claims. Nevertheless, Ayer remains, alongside Bertrand Russell, as one of British atheism's star performers in the past century. They were both succeeded by , who has subsequently, and rather controversially, changed his mind about religion in recent years and now describes himself as a deist.

Since Ayer's death in 1989, it has been rumoured that he, too, had a change of mind in his last days. A death-bed conversion by one of the world's leading atheists? There was talk of an out-of-body experience and an encounter with an angelic being of sorts.

Those rumours return in a , which explores Ayer's friendship with the Jesuit philosopher (pictured, right).

Foges's writes: "In the last year of his life, Ayer spent many hours in Copleston's company, talking and arguing about who knows what. They must have made an odd couple seated together in the darkest recesses of London's Garrick Club. The Catholic divine even graced Ayer's scrupulously secular cremation."

"We're two respectable middle-aged men - John is leader of the Lib Dem group on Huntingdon Town Council. This was the first time either of us had experienced homophobia at first hand, despite being aged 56 and 62. We were shocked and embarrassed."

The words of Michael Black, as he described the experience of being turned away from a Berkshire B&B because he and his parter, John Morgan, are a gay couple. Susanne Wilkinson, the owner of the Swiss B&B, Terry's Lane, in Cookham (pictured), explained to the couple that accommodating same-sex couples went against her principles.

A spokesperson for the campaign group Stonewall said, "In open and shut cases of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation the law's quite clear - it's illegal for businesses to turn away gay customers or discriminate against them when providing goods or services, and this can't be overridden by personal prejudice."

The Cambridgeshire Constabulary is now investigating the incident.

they are now advising Mike and Susanne Wilkinson.

to the victims and survivors of clerical abuse in Ireland and expressed his disappointment at the failure of Irish bishops to deal appropriately with abuse allegations. In his he writes: "I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them."

The picture shows Cardinal Sean Brady handing out copies of the Letter at Saint Patrick's Cathedral today. The cardinal began his with these words: "My dear people of the Cathedral Parish of Armagh, today is a very historic day for the Catholics of Ireland. Pope Benedict has written a pastoral letter to express his closeness to us at this challenging time." In expressing his closeness, the Pope also told the Cardinal and his episcopal colleagues that their credibility and effectiveness have been "seriously undermined" by their failure to act appropriately to protect children from abuse.

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The secret Vatican document has again been at the centre of a public debate about clerical child abuse. The directive was issued in 1962 and sets out instructions for dealing with abuse allegations related to the Confessional, and more broadly any occasion of child abuse by a priest. Critics say this document is the smoking gun in the Vatican files, that it functioned as a mandate for a worldwide cover-up of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. (Read an English translation of the Latin text .)

The Catholic Church in Ireland emphasizes that it, like other church authorities, now operates in accordance with . But questions are now being asked about the church hierarchy's role in an alleged cover-up of child abuse, over many decades, including the use of vows of secrecy to silence child victims. In Ireland, there are increasing calls for a public enquiry to investigate the church's handling of abuse allegations in every diocese.

Internationally, Pope Benedict XVI also faces questions. While he was , a position he held for more than 20 years, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ordered that files relating to all clerical abuse allegations be sent to his office at the Vatican. It was his office that enforced the instructions set out in Crimen Sollicitationis.

says the Vatican could, if it chose to do so, open its archives and allow the world to see what is there. The Pope, he claims, could simply say: "Here's the policy: full disclosure to the civil authorities, absolute isolation and dismissal of any accused and proven and convicted clerics, complete openness and transparency, complete openness of all financial situations, stop all barriers to the legal process and completely co-operate with the civil authorities everywhere. He could do that."

In 2006, the the relationship between the Vatican and the international sex abuse crisis. Watch the programme by clicking on the screen below.

David Willey, the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's veteran Rome correspondent, reports this week on the demolition of the Vatican's "wall of silence". He writes: "During four decades of reporting from the Vatican, I have never seen a graver crisis affecting the very credibility of the leadership of the world's longest surviving international organisation, the Roman Catholic Church." Listen to David's full report on Radio 4's .

At 10.15 this morning, Cardinal SeΓ‘n Brady, Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, will celebrate Mass in Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. After Mass Cardinal Brady will welcome the "Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland". Live video streaming of the Mass and the cardinal's response to the papal letter is provided by the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference .

The Catholic Church in Ireland has disclosed the wording of the "oath of confidentiality" involved in the 1975 enquiry involving the then Fr SeΓ‘n Brady and concerning Fr Brendan Smyth. These are the words of the vow taken by two teenagers in the presence of the man who is now leader of Ireland's Catholics:

"I [name] hereby swear that I have told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and that I will talk to no-one about this interview except authorised priests."

In addition, the following sentence was included in the second oath:

"So help me God and these holy Gospels which I touch."

This note of explanation has been provided by the Catholic Communications Office: "Authorised priests in this case refers to the personnel who were taking evidence. The intention of the oaths was to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the enquiry's evidence and to ensure that the process was robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth. It was understood by canonical personnel in Ireland that the oaths were no longer binding when the taking of evidence from all witnesses was complete."

The Archbishop of Canterbury's office yesterday says the election of a second openly gay and partnered bishop in the United States as "regrettable" and warns that the development will further endanger the unity of the

The archbishop's office also regretted that their calls for restraint went unheeded by the American church.

Read the full story, courtesy of Ruth Gledhill, .

A proposed five year extension to running the collapsed Presbyterian Mutual Society in administration was cut today to 12 months, writes Alan Erwin.

Lawyers for the administrator Arthur Boyd amended his plans amid concerns that some elderly savers may not live long enough to enjoy their investments if such a long-term extension was granted. It was also stressed at the High Court that Mr Boyd was anxious to avoid incurring any needless expenses or delays. A judge who agreed to the new proposals was told the administrator still reserved the right to seek a further extension in future if it was believed to be in creditors interests. Nearly 10,000 Presbyterians across Northern Ireland lost access to their savings when the society went into administration more than a year ago following a run on its funds.

More details of today's developments continue below the fold.

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Fr , one of the world's most famous theologians, and a former academic colleage of Pope Benedict, has called on the Pope to publicly accept responsibility for his part in the "worldwide cover-up" of clerical sexual abuse. Writing in the current edition of the National Catholic Reporter, in an article titled "Ratzinger's Responsibility", Professor KΓΌng asks, "Is it not time for Pope Benedict XVI himself to acknowledge his share of responsibility, instead of whining about a campaign against his person?"

The academic and prolific author, whose licence to teach as a "Catholic theologian" was withdrawn by the Vatican because of his controversial views, pulls no punches in this latest challenge to Pope Benedict's authority.

He writes: "No other person in the Church has had to deal with so many cases of abuse crossing his desk . . . Honesty demands that Joseph Ratzinger himself, the man who for decades has been principally responsible for the worldwide cover-up, at last pronounce his own 'mea culpa'."

Read the full article .

Welcome back to our weekly course on Old Testament studies. Yale University Professor Christine Hayes continues to make her way through the Pentateuch.

This week's lecture in summary: "This lecture traces the account of the Exodus (and the origin of the Passover festival as a historicization of older nature festivals) and Israel's liberation from bondage under Pharaoh. The story reaches its climax with the covenant concluded between God and Israel through Moses at Sinai. Drawing heavily on the work of Jon Levenson, the lecture examines Ancient Near Eastern parallels to the Sinaitic covenant and describes the divine-human relationship (an intersection of law and love) that the covenant seeks to express."

to Lecture 8.
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the course syllabus.
Why is the course on the Will & Testament blog?

Picture: Icon of Moses and the Burning Bush. Russian, 18th century, Kizhi monastery.

Monsignor Maurice Dooley's intenvention in the Cardinal Brady crisis triggered an avalanche of angry reaction from the public. Speaking on Tuesday's Talkback programme, he told me that Sean Brady had no moral or legal obligation to report allegations of child abuse to the police, and suggested that oaths of confidentiality may still be used by the Catholic Church. Today, his bishop, Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel & Emly and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Cloyne, has distanced himself and the church from the monsignor's views:

Archbishop Clifford says: "The views expressed in the media in recent days by Mgr Maurice Dooley, a priest of Archdiocese of Cashel & Emly, with regard to the reporting of safeguarding concerns to the appropriate State authorities are his own personal views. As his bishop and on behalf of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, I want to state that all concerns that come to light are reported fully and without delay to the State authorities. I want to give that assurance to all who may have heard Monsignor Dooley's remarks. Such views do not represent the policy or the practice of the Catholic Church in Ireland today concerning the reporting of allegations of abuse to the civil authorities, North and South. The policy and practice of this diocese, and every diocese, is to report all allegations to the statutory authorities. As a consequence, I have spoken to Monsignor Dooley today and he assures me that he will not be speaking again in this controversy. I regret the distress, anger, and confusion that Mgr Dooley's remarks have caused in recent days to all concerned."

Picture: Monsignor Maurice Dooley. Listen again to the interview with Mgr Dooley here (scroll forward to 30 mins).

The news media may shift their attentions away from the plight of Cardinal Sean Brady today -- if only temporarily -- as we learn more details about the involvement of the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, in an to cover up alleged child sexual abuse.

T is reporting that an alleged victim of child sexual abuse was paid Β£12,000 in December 2000 and required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

It is claimed that the victim in this case was subjected to sexual abuse by an unnamed priest over a 10-year period from the age of 8.

According to Ian Elliott, chief executive of the, out of court settlements are "not acceptable". The Diocese of Derry has refused to comment on the allegations until it checks its official records.

The alleged victim's father has told the Belfast Telegraph that her family had not gone to the police at the time because "it was not the culture" in Derry to do so. That appears to be a reference to the unwillingness of many Catholics and nationalists at the time to have any contact with the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

It may be that the diocese, when they have examined their files, will argue that this financial settlement was considered appropriate at the time because the normal route of a police investigation -- and, thus, the criminal courts -- was blocked as a consequence of the controversial nature of policing in Northern Ireland.

If that argument is deployed, it will not satisfy many victims and survivors of abuse, and questions will remain unanswered about the fact that neither the alleged abuser nor the diocese accepted any liability in this civil action in respect of a decade-long spate of abuse.

Instead, we are told, that the closest the priest in question came to an admission of guilt was a handwritten letter, attached to the civil agreement, in which he apologised to the alleged victim's family for "for any pain I caused you through inappropriate gesture or mistaken signs of affection".

When an alleged paedophile who has abused an eight-year-old child describes that molestation as a "mistaken sign of affection", that is clearly a sign that the abuser is still unwilling to fully accept that he is an abuser. Any secrecy mechanism that permits an abuser to disguise the nature or extent of his abuse is extremely dangerous and may leave other children vulnerable to abuse in the future.

These are some of the questions now facing the Bishop of Derry:

1. What were the circumstances of the alleged abuse?
2. How did the church learn of the abuse allegations?
3. What action was taken to deal with the allegations?
4. Who was told about the allegations?
5. Did the alleged abuser, the priest, admit guilt in any meetings with church officials?
6. Who took the decision not to involve the police in the investigation of the complaints?
7. Was any effort made to persuade the family that they should contact the police or become involved in a police-led investigation?
8. Who suggested that this case should be resolved by means of a civil action?
9. How was the compensation figure of Β£12,000 agreed?
10. How many other confidentiality agreements have been signed with alleged victims of abuse?
11. Why was the alleged abuser permitted to avoid any admission of criminal responsibility?
12. What action was taken to remove the alleged abuser from the priesthood?
13. If the alleged abuser was removed from the priesthood, was he then permitted to move into another career in which he had contact with children?
14. Do the alleged abusers' subsequent employers have any knowledge of the abuse allegations he faced in the year 2000?
15. If the alleged abuser subsequently abused another child, would the church have an legal liabilities or moral responsibility in respect of that abuse?

The Episcopal Church of a second openly gay partnered bishop. Canon Mary Glasspool is to be consecrated a bishop on 15 May and will serve as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles. The Anglican Communion's first gay bishop was Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was elected in 2003. Gene Robinson's appointment proved to be so controversial that he was advised to wear body armour under his ecclesiastical vestments during his consecration, and resulted in a culture war over homosexuality within the worldwide that still continues. The election of a second gay bishop is likely to intensify that global debate.

Responding to the news, , "I am profoundly grateful for the many people - in Los Angeles, in Maryland, and around the world - who have given their prayers, love, and support during this time of discernment. I am also aware that not everyone rejoices in this election and consent, and will work, pray, and continue to extend my own hands and heart to bridge those gaps, and strengthen the bonds of affection among all people, in the Name of Jesus Christ."

Cardinal Sean Brady has used his Saint Patrick's Day homily to offer an apology for what he describes as "a painful episode" from his past. "Looking back", he said, "I am ashamed that I have not always upheld the values that I profess and believe in." The cardinal's sermon, which was broadcast this morning on RTE Radio, includes an appeal for prayer for the victims of clerical abuse, and ends with a request for prayer for himself. Dr Brady also said, "For the sake of survivors, for the sake of all the Catholic faithful as well as the religious and priests of this country, we have to stop the drip, drip, drip of revelations of failure."

In what could be read as a response to requests from political leaders that he consider his own position, the homily ends with these words: "This is a time for deep prayer and much reflection. Be certain that I will be reflecting carefully as we enter into Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. I will use this time to pray, to reflect on the Word of God and to discern the will of the Holy Spirit. I will reflect on what I have heard from those who have been hurt by abuse. I will also talk to people, priests, religious and to those I know and love. Pray for those who have been hurt. Pray for the Church. Pray for me."

The full text of the Cardinal Brady's homily is below the fold. Read my analysis .

Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI made Facing a
spreading scandal of child sexual abuse by priests, the Pope says he hopes his imminent Pastor Letter on the problem will "help repentance, healing and renewal". Speaking in English to pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square for his general audience, Pope Benedict announced that on Friday he will sign his long awaited pastoral letter dealing
with clerical abuse in Ireland. Vatican sources say the letter is expected to be released on Friday or Saturday. If we have the text of the Letter by Sunday, we'll bring you a close reading and analysis of it on this week's Sunday Sequence.

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Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, joint head of the Northern Ireland executive, has called on Cardinal Sean Brady to "consider his position". Mr McGuinness is Green Party leader John Gormley, who serves as environment minister in the Republic's government, has asked the cardinal to examine his own conscience, and Roisin Shortall, spokesperson on social and family affairs for the Irish Labour Party, concluded that the church leader was "hopelessly compromised by what had emerged". Those political leaders join a growing number of individuals and organisations across Ireland, including The Rape Crisis Network Ireland, who have called on the primate to step down.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Communications Office released this statement today to "clarify media reporting on Cardinal SeΓ‘n Brady":

1. The State's first Child Abuse Guidelines came into effect in 1987 and the Church's first guidelines Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, were published in 1996.

2. In late March 1975, Fr SeΓ‘n Brady was asked by his bishop, Bishop Francis McKiernan, to conduct a canonical enquiry into an allegation of child sexual abuse which was made by a boy in Dundalk, concerning a Norbertine priest, Fr Brendan Smyth.

3. Fr Brady was then a full-time teacher at St Patrick's College, Cavan. Because he held a doctorate in Canon Law, Fr Brady was asked to conduct this canonical enquiry; however he had no decision-making powers regarding the outcome of the enquiry. Bishop McKiernan held this responsibility.

4. On 29 March 1975, Fr Brady and two other priests interviewed a boy (14) in Dundalk. Fr Brady's role was to take notes. On 4 April 1975, Fr Brady interviewed a second boy (15) in the Parochial House in Ballyjamesduff. On this occasion Fr Brady conducted the inquiry by himself and took notes.

5. At the end of both interviews, the boys were asked to confirm by oath the truthfulness of their statements and that they would preserve the confidentiality of the interview process. The intention of this oath was to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the inquiry's evidence and to ensure that the process was robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth.

6. A week later Fr Brady passed his findings to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action.

7. Eight days later, on 12 April 1975, Bishop McKiernan reported the findings to Fr Smyth's Religious Superior, the Abbot of Kilnacrott. The specific responsibility for the supervision of Fr Smith's activities was, at all times, with his Religious Superiors. Bishop McKiernan withdrew Brendan Smyth's priestly faculties and advised psychiatric intervention.

Today's Talk Back received a record number of texts as we debated Cardinal Sean Brady's position. That may be a small sign of the increasing willingness by ordinary Catholics in Ireland to , another indication of the seismic cultural shifts that have taken place here in the past decade. A culture of religious deference has been eroded by one scandalous story after another.

Eighty percent of the texts we got were hostile. "He should resign immediately," said one lifelong Catholic. "He has no moral authority left," added another. One compared his unwillingness to resign to , the leader of the Germany's 24 million Lutherans, who stood down earlier this month because she was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. Cardinal Brady's "offence" was vastly more serious, according to the listener.

that he represented the church at meetings in 1975, long before he became a bishop himself, when two victims of the serial child abuser were asked to sign an oath of silence about their complaints. The victims were aged 14 and 15.

Brendan Smyth later moved to other dioceses and countries, where he continued to abuse children for another 20 years. When he was eventually brought to justice, he pleaded guilty in dozens of cases of abuse; it is thought that his victims number in the hundreds. Smyth died in prison in 1998, but not before an extradition controversy related to his case led to the collapse of the Irish Republic's Labour/Fianna Fail coalition government.

In December, that he would feel obliged to resign if any act or omission on his part "had allowed or meant that other children were abused". Cardinal Brady now faces calls from victims campaigners to keep his word and resign as Irish primate.

He says he was merely following orders from his superiors. Some victims of clerical abuse have pointedly reminded him that this argument didn't work in , and it doesn't work now.

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We have 3.14 reasons to celebrate today. In addition to honouring the dedication of our mothers, we can also give thanks for one of the most magical mathematical constants in the universe. Pi, as every schoolboy knows, represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The Greek letter Ο€ was first used as the symbol for that constant in 1707 by the Welsh mathematician , as shorthand for "perimeter" (Greek, πΡρίμΡτρος). Hats off for Mr Jones today, the Father of the Pi symbol. Maths lovers around the world are commemorating that symbolic innovation today -- the 14th day of the 3rd month of the year.

If you want to remember the Pi number sequence, you might try this mnemonic: "How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics. All of thy geometry, Herr Planck, is fairly hard . . . ", where each digit is the number of the letters in each successive word, thus: 3.14159265358979323846264 . . .

Pi is a , which is not as religious as it sounds. That said, I can't resist bringing a bit of biblical history into this mathematical red letter day.

Here's a verse from the Bible that's rarely preached on: "And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about." (I Kings 7: 23) Biblical eggheads will recognize this as part of the list of construction specifications for the Temple of Solomon (c. 950 BCE). What's interesting is that this specification, which is repeated in II Chronicles 4: 2, gives Ο€ = 3, which is pretty close to our modern calculation. Even in the ancient world, they had a sense that Pi was a constant in the vicinity of 3. In fact, the (c. 1650 BCE), Pi works out at 3.16. The , the epic Indian ritual text, gets extremely close at 3.139. It is, of course, the Greek mathematician who rightly gets the credit for being first to "correctly" calculate Pi. He approximated Pi to 3.14, a value still in wide use today.

What might you do to celebrate Pi Day? You might read by Yann Martel (though there's more religion than mathematics in there). You could , Darren Aronofsky's thriller about a number theorist. Or, if you are more pressed for time, could could listen to (which, unfortunately, is a little longer than 3 minutes 14 seconds).

The more theologically-inclined Will & Testament readers will already be pondering the philosophical implications of mathematical constants. Do these constants point to a transcendent intelligence in the universe? Was this infinitely rich and non-repeating pattern "placed" there for us to discover? Or is that idea just Pi in the Sky?

Colm O'Gorman, one of Ireland's best-known justice campaigners, has called on the leader of Ireland's Catholics, , to resign after when victims of sexual abuse signed a commitment, under oath, that they would not reveal details of an investigation into the notorious child abuser . Smyth died in 1997.

Today's Sunday Times runs the story of the cardinal's role in the 1975 cases under the headline .

The reporter, Justine McCarthy, writes: "The revelation that the country's most senior churchman is accused of helping to keep child sex abuse complaints a secret comes as the Catholic church struggles with sex scandals in Germany, the Netherlands and the Vatican. Pope Benedict has been caught in a scandal over moving deviant priests from parish to parish in his native Germany. Judge Yvonne Murphy's report, published last November, about the handling of complaints in the Dublin archdiocese, highlighted the church's crimen sollicitationis rules for investigating complaints. It dictates that the accuser takes an oath of secrecy. 'The penalty for breach of that oath could extend to excommunication,'the report points out."

The Cardinal's office released the following statement in response to media enquiries about the case:

"In 1975, Fr Sean Brady, as he then was, was the part-time secretary to the then Bishop of Kilmore, the late Bishop Francis McKiernan. At the direction of Bishop McKiernan, Fr Brady attended two meetings: in the Dundalk meeting Fr Brady acted as recording secretary for the process involved and in the Ballyjamesduff meeting he asked the questions and recorded the answers given. At those meetings the complainants signed undertakings, on oath, to respect the confidentiality of the information gathering process. As instructed, and as a matter of urgency, Fr Brady passed both reports to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action."

We made repeated efforts before and during this morning's programme to interview the cardinal or another church spokesperson, but no one was able or willing to be interviewed. Needless to say, this is a very serious matter now facing the Irish Catholic Church and its most senior leader.

Update (5pm): to the claim that he failed to deal appropriately with allegations of child sexual abuse. He says: "Even today the appropriate person to do that is the designated person - I was not that person. But I insist again I did act, and act effectively, in that inquiry to produce the grounds for removing Fr Smyth from ministry and specifically it was underlined that he was not to hear confessions and that was very important. The responsibility for his behaviour as a priest rested with his religious superior in Kilnacrott."

See also: .

There's been a lot of debate lately about bullying in the workplace, and about whether the Prime Minister has been bullying some of his staff in Downing Street.

But what about "theological bullying"? The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, turned which he described as "bullying and insensitive".

He had in mind the sort of evangelism that treats non-Christian faiths as inferior to Christianity, and sees non-Christians as nothing more than targets for conversion. He said, "God save us form that kind of approach."

On today's programme, we tried to pinpoint the line that is crossed when someone takes evangelism too far. Is every occasion of evangelism ipso facto "insenstitive", or is it possible to seek to persuade others of an alternative religious viewpoint without being abusive or disrespectful? You can listen to Sunday Sequence on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer or download our weekly podcast.

This is one we've tried ourselves on the blog. If you were to construct a set of Ten Commandments for the contemporary world, what would you include? In this , Christopher Hitchens offers a reading of the biblical ten commandments. In the accompanying video talk, included here, he presents his new decalogue. What do you think?

Incidentally, while we're still trying to devise a set of homiletical commandments, it's worth noticing that Christopher Hitchens's talk almost meets Archbishop Eterovic's 8-minute duration rule (he comes in at 7 seconds over the limit). Whatever you make of Hitchens's critique of the traditional decalogue or his proposed modern version, it's an impressively succinct oratorical performance.

How long is long enough when it comes to a sermon? That rather depends on who is doing the preaching. In many evangelical churches, the average sermon runs to 25 minutes. I reckon the average Church of England vicar pitches for 12-15 minutes. But what about a sermon lasting 8 minutes?

That's the proposed maximum duration of a homily during worship recommended by Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the Vatican's secretary general of the Synod of Bishops. , he argues that homilies should be short because most churchgoers have a short attention span. He also suggests that preachers should work from an outline, and avoid reading their sermons from full scripts, to encourage better eye-contact.

The sermon, when respected as a communicative form, can still be a very powerful means to reach large numbers of people. When the preacher is good, 8 minutes will seem too short. When the preacher is bad, 8 minutes may feel like an eternity. I'd like to put together a list of 10 homiletical commandments: the do's and don'ts of preaching today. Leave a suggestion below. .

Picture: The pulpit used by the Protestant Reformer John Calvin in St Pierre Cathedral, Geneva.

We return now to the Old Testament for our weekly lecture by Yale University Professor Christine Hayes.

Professor Hayes has been making her way through some of the controversies buried in the book of Genesis, and this week she completes her reading of the first book of the Bible by looking at "the story of Joseph and the descent of the 12 tribes into Egypt, setting the stage for the Exodus in which God is seen as redeemer and liberator."

The lecture is titled "Israel in Egypt: Moses and the Beginning of Yahwism." In summary: "Moses is the first in a line of apostolic (messenger) prophets and Yahwism is initiated. Mark Smith's thesis describing the emergence of Israelite religion through a process of convergence and divergence is presented as an alternative to the evolutionary-revolutionary dichotomy presented in Lecture 2."

to Lecture 7.
about this course.
the course syllabus.
Why is the course on the Will & Testament blog?

Picture: Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law by Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1669), Oil On Canvas, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

The theologian Hans KΓΌng thinks so. As Catholic leaders in Ireland, Germany and The Netherlands deal with their latest clerical sex abuse scandals, Professor KΓΌng, says it's time the church woke up to the negative impact of the compulsory celibacy rule on the quality and quantity of priests. Money quotes:

"Compulsory celibacy is the principal reason for today's catastrophic shortage of priests, for the fatal neglect of eucharistic celebration, and for the tragic breakdown of personal pastoral ministry in many places." The answer, he says, is "the abolition of the celibacy rule, the root of all these evils, and the admission of women to ordination."

Fr Hans KΓΌng is a former , whose license to teach as a Catholic theologian was removed by Pope John Paul II in 1979 after he published a book denying the doctrine of papal infallibility.

I don't often post an open thread, but some of you tell me it's a good idea because it lets you get stuff off your chest without throwing the direction of other threads. It also permits you to make suggestions about subjects we might give some more substantial space to on Will & Testament. Let's see. Expatiate at will (sorry about the pun). Keep it legal. The house rules still apply.

The and preacher died this morning at about 1am. He was 64. This is a very sad day for those of us who counted Derick as a friend and considered him an inspiration. And that is a great many people.

What astonished me most about the interview we broadcast in December, which proved to be Derick's last, was how surprised he was by the expressions of affection he received when he talked about his battle with Leukaemia. Derick seemed not to realise the role he played in so many lives -- as a mentor in the faith, a writer, a teacher, a preacher, a counsellor, and as a friend.

Our thoughts today are with Derick's wife Margaret and their family, who were his constant support and inspiration throughout this journey home. I use that expression, rather than the blunt description of his death or the euphemistic description of his "passing away", because I know that is how Derick understood the death he has been preparing for since receiving his cancer diagnosis. In our interview, he told me that the time he had left was "permission", not "remission"; and he used that time to deepen his own reliance on God, gain clarity about what matters most in life, and inspire many others on the way.

Derick's story was, in so many ways, a simple one: he loved Jesus and wanted to follow him. Those who had the privilege to know him over many years loved him for his sincerity, his humour, his passion for learning, his respect for language, his skills as an orator, his ability to tell a redeeming story, and his willingness to see the face of Jesus where others failed to recognise it.

You can listen again to that very powerful interview on the Sunday Sequence website and read more about the Derick has written .

Update: A note on the has news of a Thanksgiving Service planned for Sunday 28 March at 3pm in the Crescent Church in Belfast. The family home and the funeral service are private.

Welcome back to our weekly introduction to the Hebrew Bible with Professor Christine Hayes of Yale University. This week, Professor Hayes continues her review of scholarly views, begun last week, on the historical accuracy of the Bible, with a specific focus still on the book of Genesis. The class in summary:

"The narratives of the patriarchs and matriarchs are introduced and the covenant between Abraham and God--which ultimately leads to the formation of a nation--is explained. Central themes of the patriarchal stories include: God's call to Abraham, God's promise of a blessed and fruitful nation, threats to this promise (including the story of the binding of Isaac for sacrifice). Finally, after a significant character transformation, the third patriarch Jacob becomes Yisrael ("he who struggles with God")."

to Lecture 6.
about this course.
the course syllabus.
Why is the course on the Will & Testament blog?

Picture: The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio, 1598-1599; oil on canvas; Johnson Collection, Princeton.

Newly-elected Presbyterian moderators are typically pictured wearing a clerical collar, or, at the very least, a shirt and tie. But , who will take up the position in June (as predicted by Will & Testament), is not a typical moderatorial candidate. He often dresses for comfort in a zipped-up fleece or a chunky sweater, sometimes (though only sometimes) with a clerical collar just visible underneath. Which explains why there's a joke now doing the rounds in Presbyterian circles that Church House officials are currently trying to find a moderatorial gown-maker who works with fleece.

There's another thing that makes Norman Hamilton different to other newly-elected moderators: he comes to the position with both name-recognition and a great deal of community and media experience as a result of his mediation efforts during the . Whereas new moderators usually spend most of their year in office working out how to deal with their media role -- and some never get the hang of it -- Norman Hamilton stands a good chance of hitting the ground running.

Moderators are not archbishops: their tenure is limited to just twelve months, and there is only so much any moderator can hope to achieve in such a short space of time. Some focus on internal church issues, visiting congregations and presbyteries and staying out of the limelight; others seek to use their year to build a platform for issues and causes they feel strongly about. I imagine that Norman Hamilton will wish to be an outward-focused church leader, addressing issues of concern to all the community; and I suspect he will wish to press for some modernization within the Presbyterian Church to respond to a fast-changing world. He doesn't take up the job until June, so he has a few months to work out what he plans to do with his year. But even then, a community crisis, a church scandal, or the collapse of a financial institution like the Presbyterian Mutual Society can quickly take over a moderator's schedule.

The current Moderator, Dr Stafford Carson, has impressed many by his calm, intelligent and personal response to the PMS crisis, which built on the hard work of predecessor Dr Donald Patton. Norman Hamilton will be hoping that the PMS issue is resolved before June, both for the sake of savers and investors, and also to enable him to shape a positive agenda for his tenure as moderator. Moderators, like other church leaders, can call attention to social and moral issues that matter, or they can retreat into denominational interests and lose the public's attention. The really successful church leader can do both: they can help to move the church forward to become more engaging, more culturally-literate, and they can earn a hearing from people who wouldn't darken the door of a church. That kind of leader is rare -- very rare.

I'll be talking to Norman Hamilton on this week's Sunday Sequence. You may wish to offer him some suggestions, on this thread, about how he should approach his year in office, or leave a question you think I should put to him.

"The airport is named after one of my heroes and his view on religion was pretty much the same as mine. I thought it was an insult to his memory to have a prayer room in his airport." That was part of the evidence given in court by the self-styled "militant atheist" campaigner Harry Taylor, 59, to explain why he left anti-religious materials in the of Liverpool's John Lennon Airport (pictured).

. It took them just 15 minutes to find Mr Taylor guilt of "religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress" after viewing the in court. The cartoons -- which had been cut from newspapers, magazines and other mainstream publications -- included one showing a smiling Christ on the cross next to an advert for a brand of "no nails" glue. In another, the Pope is shown wearing a condom on his finger. Others featured Islamic suicide bombers at the gates of paradise who are told, "Stop, stop, we've run out of virgins."

The , told the court she "was insulted, deeply offended and . . . alarmed" when she found the images, and contacted the police.

Harry Taylor admitted leaving the images in the Prayer Room, but argued that he had a right to challenge the view of others and to try to persuade people of faith to convert to atheism, just as people of faith had a right in law to evangelize him. He also cited childhood mistreatment at the hands of Christian Brothers, while growing up in Dublin, as the reason why he had become so "strongly anti-religious".

Harry Taylor is now on bail awaiting on 23 April. Religiously aggravated offences carry a potential seven-year prison term.

The have supported Mr Taylor. They claim that new laws dealing with "religiously aggravated offences" amount to a blasphemy law in another guise.

: "This is a disgraceful verdict, but an inevitable one under this pernicious law. It seems incredible in the 21st Century that you might be sent to prison because someone is 'offended' by your views on their religion . . . Mr Taylor struck me as slightly eccentric and he acted in a provocative way, challenging the necessity for the prayer room. He didn't cause any damage and he didn't harm anything, nor was he threatening or abusive. Yet he might still end up behind bars because some Christian has decided they are offended. In a multicultural society, none of us should have the legal right not to be offended. This law needs to be re-examined urgently."