A book exploring spirituality across faiths, written with help from Saddleworth groups, has found a supporter in a Catholic priest whose patch covers Oldham. Bharat Sisodia's The Cosmic Avatar: My Journey with Sai Beyond the Miracles draws on more than five decades of personal journals, Saddleworth Independent reports.

The Reverend Philip Sumner, Rural Dean for Oldham and Ashton-under-Lyne, has known Sisodia for 25 years. He said faith communities can sometimes heal religious divisions more readily than the secular world, adding: "Unity is not uniformity but a harmony."