Winning essays examine church attitudes to animal suffering

L-R Irene Casey, Prof Celia Deane Drummond, Kris Hiuser, Prof David Clough

The subject of Catholic Concern for Animals 2010 essay competition: 'Moral Indifference to Animal Suffering is a Challenge the Church has to Address', drew responses from as far afield as Canada, Tanzania and the USA, including entrants from the Catholic University of America and Yale Divinity School.

The organisers said: "Men and women religious, priests and lay people, young and old, tackled the issue with commendable application, combining compassion and concern for animals with informed and loyal faith that was, at the same time, largely critical of the silence on the issue from church authorities.

"The standard was so high from so many entrants, that selecting one winner was overcome by the need to make a second, runner-up, award."

The overall prize of £500 was won by Kris Hiuser, a doctoral student from Canada at the University of Chester. His two supervisors, Professor Celia Deane Drummond and Professor David Clough, received a £200 cheque for Chester University’s Centre for Religion and the Biosciences. The special runner-up award of £200 was won by Isabel Hill, a Novice with the Sisters of the Assumption, Kensington Square, London.

(Photo on headline page shows Isabel Hill, winner of special £200 runner up award – which she passed on to Vegfam, an overseas charity which funds self-supporting and sustainable food projects without exploiting animals or the environment.)

For more information on Catholic Concern For Animals see: www.all-creatures.org/ca/