Clergy trained in coping with terror

CHURCH of England clergy are to receive training in how to cope with the aftermath of terror attacks.

A new project aims to help them explore how “tragic events [can] be related to the narratives of Christian Scripture and doctrine”. It will also help them consider how “the resources of lament and psalmody be deployed in tragic situations”.

The programme, Tragedy and Congregations, was set up before this year’s terrorist attacks but held its first session with curates in the diocese of Exeter last month.

Dr Christopher Southgate, the project director, told Sunday on BBC Radio 4: “We need to help trainee ministers not only to have their systems of human support but also to find ways and places where they can be genuinely honest with God about the cost of what they’re having to do.”

It will also help trainees deal with disasters such as floods and the Grenfell Tower fire.