Author: jprcdow

Refugee Welcome! Vigil in Whitehall

Lampedusa Cross Downing Street“What can I do to stop what is happening to refugees?” Joe and banner Whitehall  asked a passerby.  Our posters said things like, ‘Refugees Welcome’,  and ‘If children are sent to sea it’s because it’s safer than on land’.   We were a small number  but got lots of attention as we stood for 2 hours beside Downing Street over  Wednesday lunchtime with the London Catholic Worker to pray for refugees.  We heard the names of the Lampedusa migrationhundreds who have died as they tried to reach places of safety from war and persecution.   Folksingers sang old and new songs of hope and justice.  Scores of schoolchildren passed us curiously and lots of foreign visitors stopped for a while in sympathy.  A Sixth Form college group studying Government and Politics took our flyers.  Our Lampedusa Cross display showed pictures of overcrowded open boats as well as one of the crosses from island carpenter Franco Tuccio.

We didn’t have a simple answer for the passerby.  So we pray and witness during this Refugee Week.  The London Catholic Worker will be vigilling from September onwards either in Whitehall or in front of the Home OfFranco Tucciofice on the first and third Tuesday of the month.  We CAN do this.  Justice and Peace will be praying in Notre Dame de France Leicester Square church on Saturday 25th June at 2.30pm.

 

Barbara Kentish

Lampedusa Cross Pilgrimage Service at Notre Dame Leicester Square

25.06 – Lampedusa Cross Pilgrimage Service (14:30 – 15:30)
Westminster Justice and Peace is hosting a pilgrimage service with the Lampedusa Cross, made from the wreckage of a refugee boat, at the historic Notre Dame de France Church in Leicester Place. westminsterjp.wordpress.com or justice@rcdow.org.uk

A carpenter on the small Italian island of Lampedusa took some wood from a boat that had just brought refugees from Africa and carved some crosses for them to give them hope.  He gave one to Pope Francis on his visit, and now has made them for many throughout the world.  CAFOD has obtained some for our cathedrals and we will hold our pilgrimage service led by one of these crosses during refugee week.  Come and pray this tragic situation which affects us all:  Europeans and new arrivals.  The theme for Refugee Week is Welcome.  Can we  find the space in our hearts to welcome the victims of war and hardship at many of the gateways of Europe?

Volunteer Book-keeper needed

Do you want to help justice and peace in a very practical way?Can you work with simple spreadsheets, add and subtract?    We need someone with financial / book-keeping training to help keep our records in order!  Initially 2 hours a week, but then one hour a week, perhaps working from home, and one bank trip per month.  Please get in touch with the office:  barbarakentish@rcdow.org.uk   or phone 0208 888 4222 (office open Mon, Tues,Wed).

Calais camp – a Franco British dilemma

I have just received and am passing on  guidance on how to offer practical help in Calais, from that excellent organisation, Seeking Sanctuary – see the link,

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=30016

HowevIMG_20150919_145501937er,  I would  argue that we should, as well as showing compassion and welcome, also speak up about the injustice and inhumanity of treating thousands of refugees coming from the Middle East and Africa in the way we do.  One of the  allegories  we often use to explain what Justice and Peace is about is about ‘The babies in the stream’: Seeing babies floating down the river a horrified community jumps in to save them.  They keep coming and the community keeps jumping in. Finally one citizen suggests going upstream to find out what is going on, so as to prevent this horrible phenomenon.  That response is  ‘justice and peace’.

I never thought we would actually see this situation happen, but day after day we hear about worse phenomena than those allegorical babies, as drowning continues on a shocking scale in the Mediterranean.    In the European context, the refugee situation – I prefer to call it a ‘political’ problem not a ‘refugee’ problem, since it seems obvious that a unit of 500 million

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Rally for refugee rights in Calais September 2015

people should be able to absorb 1 million incomers – is caused by the failure of rich countries to coordinate a response .  War and instability in the Middle East,  and failing states in Africa need foreign policy responses, but also a coordinated humanitarian response.  We are closing our eyes if we think these issues will go away tomorrow.

The UK have contributed  around £80m on security and  fencing around Calais (you will see it still going up as  Eurostar pulls away from Calais-Fréthun station), and the French government have provided only for  those applying for asylum in France.  With no policing inside the camp, and no medical or education services  this seems to me to be pretending that there is no problem, that the camp is full of non-persons.  Compare that with the generosity of people we read about in Lesbos and Lampedusa, and Europe presents a very uncoordinated picture.

A Europe-wide policy is needed.   Thirteen aid agencies, including CAFOD, published in early April an excellent, detailed analysis of what needs to happen on  a UK and a Europe-wide level, called SAFE HAVENS.   It remains to be seen whether these measures can be achieved in or out of the EU.   We have a duty to inform ourselves and to vote in solidarity with the poorest, for the Common Good, and for peace.

 

 

 

Lent Cookbook Now Available

Lenten Cookbook

Thank you to all who contributed a recipe (or two!) to our new vegetarian cookbook, which is now available to order in time for Lent. Eating meat puts a huge strain on the Earth’s resources, and also contributes a large number of carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Therefore, we suggest going veggie for Lent. The 40 recipes in this book are a good place to start.

Also available are our ‘Paris Diaries’, a photo journal of our exciting cycle ride to Paris for the UN conference on climate change. It features a written account of the ride as well as an in depth reflection written by our chair Fr Joe Ryan.

Get the books for £3 each or £5 for both. Download an order form here.

Go Veggie For Lent

Fattoush salad

Now that the dust has settled after our 150 mile cycle pilgrimage to Paris for the climate talks, it is important that the pace is not lessened in the fight for climate justice. World leaders must be held accountable to the promises made in Paris, and we should take action in our own lives to reduce our carbon footprints.

The rearing of livestock is a huge environmental burden, not only because of the huge amounts of land required to house animals or to grow the grain to feed them, but also because of the emissions generated by their slaughter, packaging and transport.

Lent is usually a time when we think about giving something up, such as alcohol or chocolate, so why not meat? At Justice and Peace, we thought about ways we could continue to pray and fast for the climate, and came up with the idea of producing a Lenten vegetarian cookbook featuring 40 tasty veggie recipes.

However, we need your help!

If you have a vegetarian recipe you would like to share with us then download the form here, fill it out including the ingredients, method, backstory, any credit if necessary, and a photo (of the dish or yourself or both), and send it back to us at justice@rcdow.org.uk no later than Monday 17 January.

Happy eating!

The Paris Diaries – Cycling Pilgrimage

Danny Bonnett, a wind turbine engineer from Bristol and a cycling pilgrim, shares his experiences of the road to Paris.

London Victoria

The group get ready to take the train to Newhaven

Day 1 – Newhaven to Dieppe

Mileage: almost nil.

Events: a few episodes of queasiness, great hospitality in Dieppe, and a great tour of historic churches – if only we had known how cold it was going to be!  Our hosts were so welcoming it was lovely. Continue reading →

Green Party MEP gives support to Paris cycle ride

Jean Lambert MEP

Barbara Kentish and Fr Joe Ryan with Jean Lambert, MEP

Barbara Kentish and Fr Joe Ryan met with Jean Lambert, London’s Green Party MEP, on Friday 13th November at her London offices to discuss our pilgrimage to Paris as well as our hopes for the climate change talks.

She was very helpful and supportive, giving guidance and providing us with excellent background knowledge of the conference: Continue reading →