Download PDF version of this page03/11/2008
Press release
Issued by the CBCEW
Statement from the Bishop of Portsmouth on the "Winter Light Festival"
“Bishop Crispian Hollis, the Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth, has the southern side of Oxford as part of his diocese, and had this comment to make about Christmas events in Oxford being renamed as part of the “Winter Light Festival”.
"Once again, this is political correctness gone mad and I am delighted to read that our Muslim and Jewish friends see it that way too. It betrays an ignorance of the significance of Christmas as a time of celebration for all, seeing it merely as a collection of Carol Services. The decision by the City Council offers a gratuitous slight to the Christian community in the city, does nothing to promote racial harmony and promotes, in the name of inclusivity, an exclusion of the traditions of a very significant proportion of the population of the city. I deplore this decision and I hope the Council will think again.”
THIS STATEMENT IS ISSUED ON BEHALF OF BISHOP CRISPIAN HOLLIS BY BARRY HUDD, Press Officer, Tel: 07770 538693.