This Saturday, 9 December 2023, sees the Global Call to Action. Westminster Justice and Peace are joining CAFOD and many other civic groups to march and call for leaders at COP28 to commit to urgent action on the climate crisis.
We’re going to meet at 11:50am at St James’s Square, SW1Y 4LE. This is next to the office of BP, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies.
A large march calling for a ceasefire in the war in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory is now going to be taking place in London on the same day as we gather to call for leaders at COP28 to act on the climate crisis.
As a result, the route for the COP28 march is going to be shorter than originally planned:
Once we meet at St James’s Square at 11:50am, we’ll hold a moment to gather with people from different faith and belief groups to pray or reflect on the need for leaders to act at COP28.
There will then be a rally taking place outside BP to call for governments to stop supporting fossil fuels.
Following the rally, there will be a short march that will end just before 2:00pm at Trafalgar Square, with many people taking part in the climate march going on to join the Palestine march.
Along with Christian Aid and Tearfund, CAFOD have written a set of prayers that we will say when we meet outside BP. And, of course, if you’re unable to join us in person to call for leaders to act at COP28, you can say these prayers with us from wherever you are in the world.
We will be there with the Westminster Justice and Peace banner from 11.45am.
A group of Westminster parishioners recently completed a Taster Course in British Sign Language, (BSL) given by Shell Roca, Caritas Deaf Service, at Sacred Heart Church, Kilburn. Shell was an inspiring teacher – she taught us some basic greetings, questions, Mass parts and prayers but more importantly – gave us some understanding of what Deaf people experience in their parishes. It’s estimated that one in six parishioners is Deaf or hard or hearing – they have so much to offer the Church community – whether it is learning about our faith or other skills – but we really need to make our communities more accessible to them.
I always imagined that Deaf people were able to communicate through lip-reading – but in fact it is estimated that only 30-40 percent of speech sounds can be lip-read – even under the best conditions! More than 150,000 people use BSL. It was considered a true language in 2003, but officially recognised as a language with legal status in the UK last year. (Read more about BSL here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Sign_Language )
Shell showed us that BSL isn’t simply English with hand signs. It is a different language with its own grammar and sentence construction, using graceful combination of hand gestures, facial expressions and body language. They might take us quite a long time to time to learn – but at least we’ve made a start!
Shell also explained that there are lots of other sign languages around the world – even the Irish use a different one. (Fr Terry Murray, Parish Priest at Kilburn uses that one) – but that’s another story.
At the end of the course Shell gave us information about where we can take more courses in BSL. Several of us are planning to do that.
During the recent Synodal discussions the main response from Deaf people in Westminster Diocese, was the need for more interpreters, so that Mass and the life of the Church is more accessible to them. Deaf Catholics want to practice their faith, contribute to their parish and be fully part of Catholic Church.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday 10 December 4pm London: Signed Mass at St Mary & St Michael, 2 Lukin Street, Commercial Road E1 0AA
Sunday 17 December 11.30am Signed Mass At Our Lady Queen of Apostles, 141 Woodhall Lane, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 3TP
Sunday 7 January 4.30pm London: Signed Mass Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue, Victoria SW1P 1QH – Entrance to the hall via choir school car park. Mass starts at 4.30pm and there will be the opportunity for confession before Mass starts.Mass is in BSL and in spoken English. Entrance to the hall is via the choir school car park (the Hall is also wheelchair accessible).
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin delivered Pope Francis’ hard-hitting speech to delegates at the UN Climate Change Summit in Dubai today, urging world leaders not to postpone action any longer but to deliver concrete and cohesive responses for the well-being of our common home and future generations. The full text of the Pope’s address follows:
Mr President,
Mr Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Distinguished Heads of State and Government,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sadly, I am unable to be present with you, as I had greatly desired. Even so, I am with you, because time is short. I am with you because now more than ever, the future of us all depends on the present that we now choose. I am with you because the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, a sin that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations. I am with you because climate change is “a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life” (Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, 3). I am with you to raise the question which we must answer now: Are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death? To all of you I make this heartfelt appeal: Let us choose life! Let us choose the future! May we be attentive to the cry of the earth, may we hear the plea of the poor, may we be sensitive to the hopes of the young and the dreams of children! We have a grave responsibility: to ensure that they not be denied their future.
It has now become clear that the climate change presently taking place stems from the overheating of the planet, caused chiefly by the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activity, which in recent decades has proved unsustainable for the ecosystem. The drive to produce and possess has become an obsession, resulting in an inordinate greed that has made the environment the object of unbridled exploitation. The climate, run amok, is crying out to us to halt this illusion of omnipotence. Let us once more recognize our limits, with humility and courage, as the sole path to a life of authentic fulfilment.
What stands in the way of this? The divisions that presently exist among us. Yet a world completely connected, like ours today, should not be un-connected by those who govern it, with international negotiations that “cannot make significant progress due to positions taken by countries which place their national interests above the global common good” (Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 169). We find ourselves facing firm and even inflexible positions calculated to protect income and business interests, at times justifying this on the basis of what was done in the past, and periodically shifting the responsibility to others. Yet the task to which we are called today is not about yesterday, but about tomorrow: a tomorrow that, whether we like it or not, will belong to everyone or else to no one.
Particularly striking in this regard are the attempts made to shift the blame onto the poor and high birth rates. These are falsities that must be firmly dispelled. It is not the fault of the poor, since the almost half of our world that is more needy is responsible for scarcely 10% of toxic emissions, while the gap between the opulent few and the masses of the poor has never been so abysmal. The poor are the real victims of what is happening: we need think only of the plight of indigenous peoples, deforestation, the tragedies of hunger, water and food insecurity, and forced migration. Births are not a problem, but a resource: they are not opposed to life, but for life, whereas certain ideological and utilitarian models now being imposed with a velvet glove on families and peoples constitute real forms of colonization. The development of many countries, already burdened by grave economic debt, should not be penalized; instead, we should consider the footprint of a few nations responsible for a deeply troubling “ecological debt” towards many others (cf. ibid., 51-52). It would only be fair to find suitable means of remitting the financial debts that burden different peoples, not least in light of the ecological debt that they are owed.
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to speak to you, as brothers and sisters, in the name of the common home in which we live, and to ask this question: What is the way out of this? It is the one that you are pursuing in these days: the way of togetherness, multilateralism. Indeed, “our world has become so multipolar and at the same time so complex that a different framework for effective cooperation is required. It is not enough to think only of balances of power… It is a matter of establishing global and effective rules (Laudate Deum, 42). In this regard, it is disturbing that global warming has been accompanied by a general cooling of multilateralism, a growing lack of trust within the international community, and a loss of the “shared awareness of being… a family of nations” (SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Address to the United Nations Organization for the Fiftieth Anniversary of its Establishment, New York, 5 October 1995, 14). It is essential to rebuild trust, which is the foundation of multilateralism.
This is true in the case of care for creation, but also that of peace. These are the most urgent issues and they are closely linked. How much energy is humanity wasting on the numerous wars presently in course, such as those in Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine and in many parts of the world: conflicts that will not solve problems but only increase them! How many resources are being squandered on weaponry that destroys lives and devastates our common home! Once more I present this proposal: “With the money spent on weapons and other military expenditures, let us establish a global fund that can finally put an end to hunger” (Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, 262; cf. SAINT PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 51) and carry out works for the sustainable development of the poorer countries and for combating climate change.
It is up to this generation to heed the cry of peoples, the young and children, and to lay the foundations of a new multilateralism. Why not begin precisely from our common home? Climate change signals the need for political change. Let us emerge from the narrowness of self-interest and nationalism; these are approaches belonging to the past. Let us join in embracing an alternative vision: this will help to bring about an ecological conversion, for “there are no lasting changes without cultural changes” (Laudate Deum, 70). In this regard, I would assure you of the commitment and support of the Catholic Church, which is deeply engaged in the work of education and of encouraging participation by all, as well as in promoting sound lifestyles, since all are responsible and the contribution of each is fundamental.
Brothers and sisters, it is essential that there be a breakthrough that is not a partial change of course, but rather a new way of making progress together. The fight against climate change began in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the 2015 Paris Agreement represented “a new beginning” (ibid., 47). Now there is a need to set out anew. May this COP prove to be a turning point, demonstrating a clear and tangible political will that can lead to a decisive acceleration of ecological transition through means that meet three requirements: they must be “efficient, obligatory and readily monitored” (ibid., 59). And achieved in four sectors: energy efficiency; renewable sources; the elimination of fossil fuels; and education in lifestyles that are less dependent on the latter.
Please, let us move forward and not turn back. It is well-known that various agreements and commitments “have been poorly implemented, due to the lack of suitable mechanisms for oversight, periodic review and penalties in cases of non-compliance” (Laudato Si’, 167). Now is the time no longer to postpone, but to ensure, and not merely to talk about the welfare of your children, your citizens, your countries and our world. You are responsible for crafting policies that can provide concrete and cohesive responses, and in this way demonstrate the nobility of your role and the dignity of the service that you carry out. In the end, the purpose of power is to serve. It is useless to cling to an authority that will one day be remembered for its inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so (cf. ibid., 57). History will be grateful to you. As will the societies in which you live, which are sadly divided into “fan bases”, between prophets of doom and indifferent bystanders, radical environmentalists and climate change deniers… It is useless to join the fray; in this case, as in the case of peace, it does not help to remedy the situation. The remedy is good politics: if an example of concreteness and cohesiveness comes from the top, this will benefit the base, where many people, especially the young, are already dedicated to caring for our common home.
May the year 2024 mark this breakthrough. I like to think that a good omen can be found in an event that took place in 1224. In that year, Francis of Assisi composed his ‘Canticle of the Creatures’. By then Francis was completely blind, and after a night of physical suffering, his spirits were elevated by a mystical experience. He then turned to praise the Most High for all those creatures that he could no longer see, but knew that they were his brothers and sisters, since they came forth from the same Father and were shared with other men and women. An inspired sense of fraternity thus led him to turn his pain into praise and his weariness into renewed commitment.
Shortly thereafter, Francis added a stanza in which he praised God for those who forgive; he did this in order to settle – successfully – an unbecoming conflict between the civil authorities and the local bishop. I too, who bear the name Francis, with the heartfelt urgency of a prayer, want to leave you with this message: Let us leave behind our divisions and unite our forces! And with God’s help, let us emerge from the dark night of wars and environmental devastation in order to turn our common future into the dawn of a new and radiant day. Thank you.
James Holland, Westminster Interfaith Co-ordinator
A warm welcome this month to James Holland as he takes up the post of Westminster Interfaith Co-ordinator. The work of inter-religious dialogue is intimately connected to work for justice and peace so we look forward to working closely together in the months to come.
James writes:
Hello! My name is James, and I have recently taken over from Jon Dal Din as the Coordinator of Westminster Interfaith. I’m delighted to have been appointed and I am very much looking forward to meeting some of you in the coming months.
Before joining Westminster Interfaith, I worked for 3 years as Lay Chaplain at St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College, in North Kensington. My diocesan email is jamesholland@rcdow.org.uk – please do get in touch, even if it is just to say hello!
At time of writing, it is the end of Interfaith Week, and I spent yesterday at a Parliamentary event with the All Faiths Network. Here, the most moving testament to the importance of dialogue was the warmth with which the Muslim representative spoke about the Rabbi, who this year hosted an Iftar in his synagogue.
In a world where we are so often defined in opposition to one another, this subtle embrace was more powerful than any of the other words spoken. As Catholics, we have a role in this conflict, and that is to pray for peace and to promote dialogue. Echoing the words from our fellow Christians at Evensong, we might pray:
Give peace in our time, O Lord, for there is none other that fights for us, but you, O God. Amen
Advent – a season of renewal, of hope in a new age to come.
The ever-moving cycle of the Church’s Year starts once more as we hear the message of hope in the light of Christ enveloping our darkened world.
It would seem there is much to dampen that hope in these dark days of mid-winter. Everything has been put into perspective by the singularly appalling violence in the land of Christ’s birth and could lead us to simply despair. And in our own city and its environs too the mid-winter is looking increasingly bleak. The growing number of homeless on our streets and those trapped in poverty. The ever more hostile policy against those looking for welcome from abroad, many of whom now, after only seven days of being granted refugee status, will shamefully spill out onto our streets looking for shelter.
This new insult to human dignity will surely mean the number of those sleeping rough, at record numbers already, will spike even more, with the shameful lack of inhabitable accommodation to give them a room at the inn. The fight for the very survival of the planet looms too at this time as we follow Pope Francis in campaigning for environmental justice at COP 28. So much, indeed, could lead us away from the light and leave us dwelling in the darkness of night.
Yet for the Christian disciple we have a certain hope that God’s Kingdom of justice and peace will one day prevail.
That must be our heartfelt prayer this Advent.
For the Christian all action for justice and peace starts with hope in his coming Kingdom, and in heartfelt prayer for this.
Then comes action, so necessary at this time of crisis and so much in evidence on our streets and in our communities. This is expressed in finding ways to help concretely and to advocate for the poor, the weak and the voiceless.
We see it in the food banks and pantries, night shelters, refugee vigils, climate vigils and marches, and in the attempt to deliver aid to Gaza and to campaigning for a just and peaceful resolution to this terrible conflict. Such action we see around our communities, be they in schools, parishes, chaplaincies and other organisations.
Action for justice and peace is always most effectively rooted in Christian love, which does not take sides in the conflicts but which seeks true reconciliation through dialogue, a lasting peace through which the dignity of every human person of whatever faith and nation is respected.
The Justice and Peace network can lead the way at this time of crisis as we are schooled through the treasure of Catholic Social Teaching in the search for a lasting peace which is never achieved without justice.
The voice of so many advocating for this peace is a vital prophetic voice which, like the great Advent voice of John the Baptist, proclaims the dawning of a new horizon of hope.
My prayer is that this Christmas we spread something of that hope in the Kingdom to come to those around us and so proclaim the prophetic vision of true and lasting peace.
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, 1st December 2023 Chair, Westminster Justice and Peace
A nationwide project to encourage local action against human trafficking and modern slavery in partnership with police and statutory agencies is being launched at a Catholic parish in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, on Thursday, 30 November. The project aims to mobilise local communities across the United Kingdom to recognise and report the signs of human trafficking to the police and call on all government agencies to ensure their neighbourhoods become slave-free.
Hitchin was chosen as the launchpad for this nationwide project as it has had a long association in the struggle against slavery. It was one of the first towns to set up its own anti-slavery society in 1825, following leading abolitionist Thomas Clarkson setting up the first national society. A monument to Clarkson was erected in nearby Wadesmill, Hertfordshire in recognition of the place where he famously devoted his life to anti-slavery in 1785 while resting at Wadesmill on his way to London from Cambridgeshire. Freed slave and leading abolitionist Henry Garnett also visited Hitchin in 1850 in recognition of the town’s place in the movement to abolish slavery.
The Hitchin event is organised by the Santa Marta Group and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, which also covers Hertfordshire. The Santa Marta Group was set up in 2014 when Pope Francis instructed Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster to lead the work to end human trafficking and modern slavery as an important mission for the Catholic Church across the world. SMG now has partners in over 40 countries, working with leaders in police, the justice system, diplomats, business as well as local communities.
The United Nations currently estimates there are 50 million people trafficked across the world, making over $150bn in profits for criminal gangs. In the UK alone last year 17,000 victims of trafficking were identified, with around 40% being children and 25% of victims being UK nationals. The scale of this crime against humanity led to all United Nations members making the eradication of human trafficking and modern slavery one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8.7 – which calls for immediate action by all UN members to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2030).
Cardinal Nichols, president of the Santa Marta Group, said: “This crime against humanity damages individuals and communities everywhere, for these victims of human trafficking are not remote; they are in our midst, in our local communities here in the UK.
“We are all part of this endeavour. Individuals and local communities can change events through what we do and what we demand is done by the police, government agencies and businesses in our neighbourhoods. I appeal to all of you to take up this challenge. These resources, prepared by the Santa Marta Group, will inform you about human trafficking and show what you can do to bring about the changes that will end this evil trade and help to restore freedom and dignity to so many of our brothers and sisters.”
The aim of the Hitchin event is to start a process that will enhance awareness and understanding of human trafficking and modern slavery around Catholic parishes and other local community groups. At the end of these sessions, these groups will have received awareness and guidance on how to use their individual and collective voices to increase actions in countering this horrific crime in their localities and improve services for victims.
SMG’s new ‘Guidance and Awareness Handbook’ for parishes will be distributed for the first time. It will provide ideas and suggestions on increasing prevention, protection, support to victims, and accountability led by communities but delivered by statutory agencies.
By initiating the conversation and equipping local communities with knowledge on how to spot and combat human trafficking and modern slavery within their own communities, the UK will be brought one step closer to eradicating this crime and fulfilling the aims of SDG 8.7.
This event has been organised through the collaboration of Bishop Paul McAleenan from the Westminster Diocese with the Santa Marta Group. The presentation and subsequent discussion will be led by SMG’s Global Strategy Director, Kevin Hyland, formerly the UK’s first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. This event is the start of a series of events in the Hertfordshire area and across the UK that will continue over the coming year.
‘Awareness and Guidance for Communities’ will take place at Our Lady Immaculate & St Andrew Parish Hall, 16 Nightingale Road, Hitchin, SG5 1QS, November 30, 2023, 7pm – 9pm
World Aids Day Mass will take place in London on Friday 1 December, 6pm, at Farm Street Jesuit Church, Mayfair, in the presence of the City of Westminster Deputy Lord Mayor, the Hon Alderman Cllr Guthrie McKie.
The chief celebrant and preacher will be Fr Kieran Fitzsimmons OFM.
(For those joining the Music Group for this Mass, there will be a practice at 5.30 prompt.)
A display on HIV/AIDS pastoral support has been mounted in a side chapel – available to visit from now until 4 December.
CAFOD partner in Khan Younis supports people with cash so they can buy mattresses and bedding
By Sarah Balwin
Ahead of the potential vote in Parliament on the motion calling for a ceasefire in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Neil Thorns, Director of Advocacy at CAFOD said:
“How have we got to this point? For six weeks we have seen bloodshed upon bloodshed – over 12,000 Israeli and Palestinian civilians have been killed, including several staff from our partner organisations and their families. Politicians from every political party must call for a ceasefire, now – not next week, or next month.
A humanitarian pause does not go far enough. Only a ceasefire can put an end to the killing of civilians, ensure hostages are freed and allow enough aid to meet the huge humanitarian need. Our partners have told us of the unspeakable realities of coping without enough fuel, electricity, water or food.
We cannot sit by and watch as this humanitarian catastrophe unfolds before our eyes. As Pope Francis says, “war is always a defeat”.
LINKS
Donate to CAFOD’s Israeli-Palestinian Crisis Appeal Write to the UK Foreign Secretary: HERE
Hundreds of thousands of people – of all faiths and none – took to the streets of London on Saturday to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The ‘National March for Palestine’ was the latest in a series of rallies in the capital to appeal for peace since Israel launched an air and ground offensive on Gaza following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October. 1,200 people were killed that day and more than 240 people were taken hostage. Israel’s revenge attacks and relentless bombardment have killed more than 11,000 people in 34 days, including over 4,500 children. Water, electricity, food and medical supplies have been stopped. A million people, including hospital patients have been forced to leave north Gaza on foot. Aid agencies warn the death toll will rise as starvation and disease set in.
The head of the World Health Organization told the United Nations Security Council on Friday that Israel’s bombing and siege are already killing one child on average every 10 minutes in Gaza.
Campaigners in Saturday’s march walked peacefully from Hyde Park to the US Embassy across the river Thames in Nine Elms, chanting phrases like “Ceasefire Now”, “In our millions, in our millions we are all Palestinians” and “Free Free Palestine.”
Marching alongside trade unionists, individuals, Buddhist monks, Muslim and Jewish campaigners – often families with children and toddlers in pushchairs – were Catholic, Anglican and Methodist clergy, representatives from Pax Christi, Romero Trust, CAFOD, United Reform Church, Quakers, Methodists, Lutherans and other churches.
One sign read: ‘You can’t build a Holy Land on the mass graves of children’.
Rev Rachel Summers a trainee Anglican priest said: “21 years ago I went to visit Gaza. When I came back I was saying to everyone I met – How are people managing to keep their humanity? These are intolerable conditions. How are people surviving? Peace isn’t an airy fairy idea where people sit around doing nothing. Peace is something that takes strength and courage, and that seems to be what I’m hearing here.”
One Pax Christi placard quoted Pope Francis: “And we ask peace for this world subjected to arms dealers, who profit from the good of men and women.”
A Catholic priest told ICN: “Several of my parishioners are here. We all felt it’s the least we can do. A tragedy is unfolding in the Holy Land. What is happening there is nothing less than ethnic cleansing – another Nakba. I hope and pray it can be stopped.”
London authorities estimate that around 300,000 people took part in the march. Organizers said turnout was as high as one million.
The march went ahead despite criticism from Home Secretary Suella Braverman who described the demonstrations as “hate marches” and suggested earlier in the week that the protest should have been banned by London police given that it coincided with Armistice Day.
British Army veteran and march participant Nadia Mitchell wrote for OpenDemocracy: “Personally, I cannot think of a more appropriate day to demand a ceasefire than on the day we remember the mother of all ceasefires, to remember and honour those who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of peace and an end to war.”
Addressing the rally, actress Maxine Peake said: ” This is not a hate march. This is a cry for love, this is a cry for peace, this is a cry for ceasefire”.
The police said no major incidents took place on the peace march – which had been carefully routed to take place more than a mile away from the Cenotaph where the Remembrance Day ceremony was held, and not begin until more than an hour after it had finished. Hundreds of volunteer stewards ensured people didn’t stray from the designated route.
In stark contrast there were major clashes in Whitehall when a small group of rowdy men, led by the far-right figure Tommy Robinson, attacked police by the Cenotaph while the Remembrance service was taking place.
Matt Twist, assistant commissioner at the Met, says 126 people have been arrested so far. He said when they were stopped and searched, weapons including a knife, a baton and knuckleduster and class A drugs were found. “Thanks to the considerable efforts of our officers, who put themselves in harm’s way, nobody was able to reach the Cenotaph, which was protected at all times,” he said.
Twist added that nine police officers had been injured with two requiring hospital treatment. Clashes with the group also took place in other parts of the city, including Chinatown and near the Houses of Parliament.
The march was organised by Stop the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and other peace groups.
National March for Palestine – Ceasefire Now Saturday 11 November, 12 noon – 4pm, Hyde Park, London
Pax Christi and other Christians will be joining the national ‘March for Palestine’ in London this Saturday, 11th November, to add our voice to demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and a just peace between Israel and Palestine.
Meeting at 11.30am at the Animals in War Memorial which is at Brook Gate, Hyde Park, Park Lane.
Given that things may change, please let Pax Christi know if you are planning to attend and want to join them. Check their website, Facebook Page and Twitter/X feed for updates. Pax Christi
Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission 