Around 100 Young Christian Climate Network relay walkers arrived in London last Wednesday on their way from Cornwall to Glasgow for COP26. They were welcomed by faith communities – and accompanied on their trek – as they stopped for ecumenical services and actions across the capital.
Their first service of prayer for climate justice was held at the Silver Eco Church, St Paul’s Clapham, and included a talk from a local YCCN member; followed by a meal and celebration in the churchyard.
Next morning they walked to Lambeth Palace where they stopped for refreshments and a tour of the gardens. From there they went on to St Paul’s Cathedral, where they were welcomed by Archbishop John Sentamu and took part in a vigil and photo call with Christian Aid.
On Friday they gathered in Arrupe Hall in Farm Street Church for lunch and then prayers and a blessing from parish priest Fr Dominican Robinson SJ in the church, before they set off through the parks for a picture op with CAFOD partners outside Buckingham Palace.
From here they walked to Westminster Cathedral where they were welcomed and joined by more supporters, for an Ecumenical service in the Lady Chapel. Among the congregation, were Pax Christi members who had been holding a Hiroshima Day vigil in the Piazza earlier in the day.
That evening the YCCN walkers went to St Andrew’s Church Short Street London SE1 where they from Hannah Eves about YCCN’s plans for COP26 and their work on climate justice, and from Canon Giles Goddard.
On Saturday morning the group attended Morning Prayer in Wesley’s Chapel and Leysian Mission in City Road followed by tea and cakes – Watch the service here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1J5sqrtTK
On Sunday morning the walkers attended a climate-themed service at St Martin-in-the-Fields, in Trafalgar Square. Lunch was a picnic at St James’ Church Piccadilly.
The new week begins on Monday with 9am prayers at All Hallows by the Tower Church, Byward Street. All are welcome to joined the walkers as they pray for a good outcome to the talks in Glasgow, and for urgent action to combat climate change and safeguard the earth.
St James, Muswell Hill will be the last stop in London for the YCCN team before they set off for Oxford. All are welcome to join them for a climate themed service at 6pm with Wave Church. Wave Church is an inclusive space where people with and without learning disabilities can worship together. It will be inclusive informal and creative. Expect singing with Makaton signing and Bible teaching using pictures and games.
Hundreds of young people are joining the YCCN relay walk to Glasgow – either for a single leg or for a few days. If you’d like to get involved or follow them as they continue their trek to Glasgow for COP26, visit their website here: www.yccn.uk
St John Paul II first called for an “ecological conversion” in 2001 and since then the need for urgent action on climate change has become ever more apparent. The phrase was cited again by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ (2015) and subsequently has given name to a Brighton-based environmental group. It suggests the action to tackle the climate emergency required of Christians is like our constant spiritual conversion – a process, not an event, and always the work of the Holy Spirit.
This is the experience I have had in facilitating weekly meetings on Care for Creation with Catholics from across London and South-East England, including that Brighton based group. The meetings bring together laity, religious and clergy: together this is the Church. I am inspired to hear how Christians are being moved by the Holy Spirit to take action to protect our common home, that precious gift from the Creator.
Some are far along their journey of ecological conversion and have already taken decisive action. Pope Francis has attributed a special place to religious communities who are trialling the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. This website is designed to bring together Catholics from across the world to share advice and learn how to take urgent ecological action. Some communities are examining the meaning of the vow of poverty, committing to buy and live ethically in solidarity with the world’s poor, often going as far as to live almost entirely meat free.
Parishes too are taking action to mobilise their communities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take action on climate change. There are already almost 100 Livesimply parishes in England and Wales, parishes which have received accreditation from CAFOD for their efforts to ‘live simply, in solidarity with people in poverty and sustainability with creation’. Other parishes are cooperating with councils to install solar panels or with local eco-schools to plant community orchards.
Pope Francis has inspired the whole church to take urgent action with his ever more relevant encyclical Laudato Si’. In October the Vatican will formally launch the Laudato Si’ Action Platform to give Catholics the tools to take urgent action for the planet. A month later the Pontiff will travel to Glasgow to call on world leaders at the COP26 conference to act faster.
The Spirit is also moving in the episcopacy. The bishops of the Philippines have appointed an environmental lead for every one of its 72 dioceses. In England and Wales, too, environmental leads are being appointed across the country with the task of implementing newly published environment policies. Bishop John Arnold, as lead Bishop on the environment, is piloting an approach to climate change in his own Salford Diocese led by Dr Emma Gardner and Edward De Quay, an approach which will then be modelled across the country.
Our brothers and sisters in other denominations can also inspire us to act faster as they too respond to the call of the Spirit. I think particularly of the YCCN (Young Christian Climate Network) Relay where young activists are walking from the G7 summit in Cornwall to the COP in Glasgow. Across the country, different Christian communities are welcoming these young walkers who inspire us to tackle the ecological emergency faster. Westminster Justice and Peace, alongside young people from CAFOD, CARITAS and other diocesan groups, are looking forward to hosting them this week on behalf of London’s young Catholics.
It is easy to despair as we watch Europe flood and America burn; the climate emergency that the world’s poorest have experienced for years has finally caught up with the West. However, I am inspired by a wise Sister at one of our meetings who cited Blessed John XXIII: it is time to “throw open the windows of the Church and let the fresh air of the Spirit blow through”. I believe it is that same Spirit which is moving the Church to ecological conversion.
Thus, as we hear the call to change our lifestyles, decarbonise the Church and lobby our political leaders, my prayer is simple, just three words: Veni Creator Spiritus !
Chris Carling is a Communications Volunteer with Westminster Justice and Peace Commission. He has recently completed a European Social and Political Studies BA at University College, London.
The YCCN Relay on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday
Two events are beings hosted on behalf of the Diocese of Westminster in Central London on 6th August to welcome the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) Relay, which is travelling from the G7 in Cornwall to COP26 in Glasgow.
Firstly, there is a vegan lunch at Farm Street Church, Mayfair, at 1pm, followed by a walk to Westminster Cathedral and an Ecumenical Climate Prayer Service at the Cathedral at 3.30pm. There is still time to join in!
The Young Christian Climate Network Relay, walking from the G7 in Cornwall to COP26 in Glasgow for climate justice, reaches London today. There is still time to decide to join in with one or more or the events taking place in the capital during the Relay Residency in London from 4th-9th August. Follow the links for full details. We’d love to see you!
1) The Diocese of Westminster has published a commitment to do its utmost to become carbon neutral by 2030 in its parishes and curial buildings. It has also expressed its commitment to working with schools to encourage them to follow the same path.
The Diocesan plan focuses on 4 pillars:
i) Clean Energy Sources – purchasing gas and electricity from green suppliers. ii) Investment Policy – promoting a path to decarbonisation. iii) Reducing Carbon Emissions – from energy usage in parishes and diocesan buildings. iv) Generating Clean Energy.
The announcement, made on 26th July 2021, is accompanied by more detail on the website here:
and a short, six-minute video from Cardinal Vincent encouraging every parish, school and household to play their part:
2) We welcome the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) Relay to Westminster Cathedral on Friday 6th August 2021 for a Climate Prayer Service at 3.30pm.
The service is preceded by lunch and a blessing at Farm Street Church, Mayfair, at 1pm, followed by a walk to Westminster Cathedral as part of the Relay. The route will take us through Berkeley Square, Green Park, St James Park and past Buckingham Place as a witness to climate justice and a call for action to our political and business leaders ahead of the G7 in Glasgow in November. All welcome to join us and show your support. Sign up with Eventbrite to help us know numbers in advance:
Diocese of Westminster participants at the NJPN Annual Conference 2021, Action for Life on Earth
4) The Global Catholic Climate Movement has changed its name to: Laudato Si’ Movement
“[The] name now is not a corporate label; it is a prayer… When we name the movement now, every time we name it we’re saying a prayer. Laudato Si’, praise be the Creator.”
– Cardinal Michael Czerny, Under-secretary of the Section for Migrants of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
The Diocese of Westminster has committed to do its utmost to become carbon neutral by 2030 in its parishes and curial buildings. It has also expressed its commitment to working with schools to encourage them to follow the same path.
As Pope Francis explains in Laudato Si’, caring for God’s created world and cooperating with the Holy Spirit in this work of creation is everyone’s responsibility, not least that of the faithful.
Taking the lead and setting an example for others is an important part of this work. To that end the diocese has been working for a number of years to transition away from reliance on carbon fuels and to implement policies that will promote a greener future.
The comprehensive plan, which currently includes 14 policies and 43 separate project streams, focuses on four pillars:
1. Clean energy sources: Since 2017, a concerted effort has been made to transition towards cleaner sources of electricity and gas supply for parishes and diocesan offices. We have worked proactively with other dioceses to establish Inter Fuel Management (IFM), a Catholic mutual which sources energy from green sources. Together with Churchmarketplace, another Catholic mutual owned by the dioceses of England and Wales, which increases our collective purchasing power, we rely on these partners to help us find solutions that will enable the transition to a carbon neutral future. Currently, 100% of the electricity supply is from green sources, as over 70% of the gas supply comes from the by-product of biological processes, with the remainder being offset. As the bio gas market expands, we expect that 100% of our gas supply will come from green sources.
2. Investment policy: For a number of years, we have been working with other churches to use our collective investment portfolios to engage with energy companies to encourage them along the path of decarbonisation. Our investment portfolio does not include shares in any major coal producers, producers of oil from oil sands or in companies that do not engage fully with disclosure projects. In the past couple of years we have taken the additional decision to divest entirely by the end of 2021 from electrical utility and fossil fuel companies that have not taken any steps to manage their businesses in line with the Paris Accord (that is, to limit temperature rises to well below 2C above pre-industrial times). We are on track to meet this objective.
3. Carbon emissions from energy usage in parishes and diocesan buildings: There are two simple, but difficult, steps that will be taking to reduce carbon emissions: a) reducing consumption, and b) eliminating carbon being burnt. Reducing consumption requires a change in each of us, a conversion, to understand that it is up to each one of us to reduce energy use. Today, more than ever, priests and people are very aware of the need to reduce consumption and are already taking steps. It is our hope to continue to encourage everyone to reduce their consumption.
Eliminating carbon emissions as a by-product of consumption is more challenging. It will require changing heating systems in all properties, including diocesan offices, residential units, presbyteries, churches and other ancillary parish buildings. Some of these will be easier to change than others. With changes in technology, it will be possible to install heating systems that use clean energy, such as ground source heating, in residential properties. Changing heating systems in our churches can be substantially more challenging because of the size and nature of these buildings, and the historical listing of some of them. However, we are committed to helping parishes along this journey, and will be focusing on helping those parishes that have higher energy consumption at present to find the right solution, such as underfloor heating which uses electricity.
4. Generating energy: With technology continuing to evolve, we hope that it will be possible for us to generate energy using the various parish and diocesan properties. Some clean energy generation, such as solar panels, can be difficult because of the nature of church roofs, particularly on listed churches. However, other sources, such as ground source energy and wind energy, may prove viable options. We already have a number of successful examples of energy generating systems in parishes and other diocesan properties. These sources of energy can help us accelerate the move away from carbon sources, and provide a viable alternative to the benefit of our communities.
As part of the culture shift, we are also embedding these pillars in our decision-making processes. This will affect every project we undertake, including building and/or refurbishing properties.
We have already made some strides along the path to a carbon neutral future. It is not an easy process, but this is a calling and a responsibility for us all. Working together with everyone, as well as anticipated technological advances and changes in government policies, will enable us to achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
The chant: “We come together for our common home”, ran through the liturgies at this year’s annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network of England and Wales (NJPN). It attracted 200 participants to Derbyshire for the first face to face meeting of Justice and Peace activists from every diocese since the pandemic started. The line came from a new hymn written by liturgical musician Marty Haugen especially for the conference, which took the theme, ‘2021: Moment of Truth – Action for Life on Earth’.
A music group led by Colette Joyce, Justice and Peace Co-ordinator in Westminster Diocese, and including pianist Christine Allen Director of CAFOD and Columban co-worker James Trewby on the clarinet, reflected the broad range of participants seeking to mobilise for the November COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. Also, to promote ecological conversion and action in the Church and wider society, all inspired by the papal encyclical Laudato Si’.
Conference chair Christine Allen reminded the gathering that there are now 100 days to COP26 and CAFOD is working with the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) and faith leaders to lobby for global warming to be kept below 1.5 degrees. She reported that CAFOD, “amplifies voices around the world in climate vulnerable situations”. Bishop John Arnold of Salford, lead bishop on the environment for England and Wales, said Churches and faiths are making clear they want action. He has been in zooms with COP26 president Alok Sharma MP, “trying to speak loudly to politicians”. He thanked NJPN “for who you are, what you stand for and what you want, and for keeping Pope Francis as an inspiration in our lives and actions.” “It is important to acknowledge the truth of the crisis of our common home,” he said.
Fr P Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam SDB, Coordinator of the ‘Ecology and Creation’ sector of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, told the conference in a video message: “the planet is crying out and the poor are crying out; we need to open our ears and hear these painful cries.” He felt there is hope and that “this could be a watershed, a moment of change.” He told NJPN that, “you can count on the support of our Dicastery as we work together under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as families, parishes, communities, institutions, to heal and protect mother Earth.”
Keynote speaker Lorna Gold, Chair of the Board of the GCCM and author of ‘Climate Generation: Awakening to Our Children’s Future’, highlighted the “vibrant network of networks sustaining and nurturing ecological conversion right across the world” and turning Laudato Si’ “into a lived reality.” She applauded the role young people have played in stimulating climate action. “Young people have done more in two years than the rest of us have done over three decades” she said. Lorna felt the pandemic is teaching us that we are all connected to each other and to nature and what it means to act together to face a common threat. She felt Pope Francis’ vision of ecological conversion refers to “community conversion” and asked: “What if that process of community ecological conversion was to extend to the entire world of faith communities that still encompass 80% of the world’s population?”
Andy Atkins, head of Arocha UK, underlined how far Churches have come with programmes such as Live Simply, Eco Church, Eco Congregation, Climate Sunday and Fossil Fuel Divestment with Operation Noah. In fact, more than 5000 churches across the denominations are registered with green schemes which “was unimaginable 30 years ago” but “we need to speed up.” He deplored the UK government’s loss of credibility to deal with the crises facing us. “At a time when the government says it is leading the world it has cut its aid budget and has opened the door to fossil fuel development,” he lamented; “we should be saying No More Fossil Fuel Exploitation in This Country!” Lorna felt the 20 October announcement of fossil fuel divestment should include the 18 Catholic dioceses on England and Wales that have not yet announced divestment.
Speaker Mark Rotherham, of the Northern Diocese Environmental Group, felt it essential we transform our current economic system so that it promotes both social equality and environmental protection. “A good life sustaining economy is about slowly down and recognising planetary boundaries” he said. He described the arms industry as “a huge shadow over our nation” and felt that we need to withdraw legitimacy from this draw on global resources and energy.
There was so much more, from Fr Eamonn Mulcahy CSSp developing a critique of anthropocentrism and the technocratic paradigm, taken from Laudato Si’, to NJPN Chair Paul Southgate teaching the conference a Navajo hymn of praise! Young university and school students told the conference they would like “less of fossil fuel companies pretending to care and schools accepting money from them”. They called for Catholics “to challenge the increasingly hostile policy towards refugees”, many of whom are victims of our actions in arms trading and raising global temperatures. One highlighted “the detachment of our education system from real life” and the attitude that “the more money we have the more successful we are.”
An action planning session at the end included dioceses forming Laudato Si’ Action Platform groups, organising Climate Sunday Masses, promoting the Live Simply programme in parishes and schools, and urging divestment from fossil fuels. Columbans and Salesians are among those arranging a 24-hour prayer vigil on 5 November that parishes can join, with intentions fed in from around the world. Many dioceses plan to connect with the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) pilgrimage to Glasgow and the Camino to COP26, setting off in September.
There were more than 20 stalls in the ‘Just Fair’ and around 15 workshops on such topics as: ‘Sustainable Development Goals,’ ‘Conflict and Environment,’ and a ‘Nature Explorer Walk’ with a botanist. Justice and Peace Scotland gave a briefing around ‘Attendance at COP26 – real or virtual’.
Since 2005, NJPN has regularly taken an environmental theme for the national conference and its Environment Working Group, formed that year, helped plan the 2021 conference.
Owing to a late cancellation, Westminster Justice & Peace has a free place to offer to one lucky person from the Diocese who would like to attend the Conference this coming weekend.
‘2021: Moment of Truth – Action for Life on Earth’ is the theme of the 43rd annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network of England and Wales (NJPN). It will take place 23-25 July in Derbyshire with nearly 200 participants and taking Covid precautions.
The Conference is chaired by Christine Allen, the Director of CAFOD, and Speakers include Fr Eamonn Mulcahy, Lorna Gold, Mark Rotherham and Lord Deben. The Conference Mass will be celebrated by Bishop John Arnold, Lead Bishop for the Environment for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.
The offer includes fully paid return train travel – leaving St Pancras Station at 12.05 on Friday 23rd July and returning at 17.47 on Sunday 25th July.
Please contact Colette Joyce, the Justice & Peace Co-ordinator, by 12noon on Thursday 24th July to express your interest. Priority will be given to young adults age 18-30 but please contact Colette anyway if you are older than this as we would like to ensure that the booking is used if at all possible!
One of the principles of Catholic Teaching is the “Preferential Option for the Poor”. This means going beyond treating people equally, but rather working to bring people out of their desperate situations, enabling them to live full and dignified lives. It means we can judge our decisions, and the decisions of policy makers on their impact on those who have the least. It also means, as Pope Francis says, to put the poor at the centre of our thinking
On 6 July the Nationality and Borders Bill entered parliament. The government has said this Bill will produce a fair and just asylum system. But many Catholic charities have said that the proposals are unfair, unjust and will not work. They also do nothing to address the root causes of forced migration and trafficking.
Bishop Paul McAleenan spoke at the latest Diocese of Westminster network meeting for those working with migrants and refugees, saying, “one can look at what is immediately before us, refugees seeking shelter, and address that question, which we should do. We can also be bolder and ask, ‘How did this happen?’ Are we somehow responsible for creating this situation?” For example, when people flee from conflict, we could ask “who supplied the weapons for that war?” And if someone needs to leave their home because it has become uninhabitable due to the changing climate, we know that wealthier countries like the UK have contributed more to climate breakdown.
The Nationality and Borders Bill treats people who have been forced to flee their home, as a problem to be solved, rather than as a product of an unjust global situation. Its aim is national self-preservation and self-interest, rather than compassion, and care for humanity.
Those working in foodbanks, homeless drop-ins and other projects supported by Caritas Westminster, witness first hand how our asylum system forces people into destitution.
The new Bill will make this worse by deliberately dividing refugees into two groups – those who came here under a government resettlement scheme, and those who had to make their own way using unsafe and so-called “illegal” routes. This in itself is discriminatory.
As Bishop Paul said: “Catholic Social Teaching states that each person must be treated with equal care, equal compassion and equal dignity, all are made in the image of God. They are all refugees, all fleeing for whatever reason.”
The Government also claims that penalising those who have been forced to pay traffickers for unsafe boat crossings will put those traffickers out of business. But as Bishop William Kenney, a member of the Santa Marta Group, said of these proposals: ‘Across the world it has been consistently demonstrated that policies criminalising those seeking sanctuary and introducing new border security measures do not save lives but are simply a charter for trafficking’
The Bill includes plans to expand the use of asylum accommodation centres. Centres like the Napier Barracks have been housing asylum seekers in prison like conditions, effectively punishing people who have arrived using “illegal” routes. This could be against article 31 of the 1951 Convention on Refugees. The use of such centres is not only inhumane, but provides little support for people to navigate their way through the complex asylum claim system. It also prevents refugees integrating into British community life, creating more division and suspicion in our population.
Caritas Westminster, along with other Catholic Charities sees three main issues that the Government needs to address:
The asylum system should never penalise people for arriving spontaneously or without documents, or differentiate asylum claims on the basis of how people got here. Most refugees have no choice of how they travel.
Asylum claimants should have safe and dignified accommodation within British communities.
Secure safe routes to the UK and prevent dangerous Channel crossings. We need ambitious, compassionate and detailed plans that will meaningfully expand safe routes to the UK for refugees – until then, people will continue to risk dangerous journeys to reach protection and loved ones.
Responses from Catholic charities with expert knowledge of refugees and the asylum system:
The SVP says: “In a nutshell, only those who have travelled directly to the UK from a country where their life or freedom was at risk will be able to claim asylum on arrival. Those who arrive via a third country will have no opportunity to claim asylum on arrival and will be at risk of being sent offshore, leaving them vulnerable and stripped of their human rights. This approach abandons the principle of international protection and ignores the reality of forced migration. This proposal is unlikely to deter people making dangerous journeys to the UK to find safety.”
“The Refugee Convention does not state that a person must claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. We believe that by penalising asylum seekers based on their mode of transport to the UK and the route they took to arrive on our shores the Government is creating an asylum system lacking any kind of empathy or compassion for human beings in need.”
On the publication of the Bill, Sarah Teather the Director of JRS UK said: “Today is a dark day in British history. Punishing people seeking safety for how they travelled to the UK is a shameful violation of our commitment to international law & puts many more lives at risk. Those seeking refuge on our shores deserve to be welcomed with humanity, and fair process – not a barbaric culture of hostility.”
Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission 