Category: Campaigns

23 June 2024 – Walk with Me: Silent Peace Walk Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square

Representatives from the Diocese of Westminster will be joining the Second Multi-Faith Peace Walk – entitled Walk with Me – facilitated by Plum Village UK (Plum Village Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist) and Quakers in Britain. All are invited to come along and walk with us.

Date: Sunday, 23rd June 2024

Time: 3pm – 5pm

Location: Gathering in Parliament Square

What to bring:

  • make and wear/bring a white flower (see video how to make one here)
  • wear clothes that you would wear to a funeral or to mourning to reflect the remembrance element of the walk
  • bring your own prayer to contemplate on during the vigil elements that will be held, if you choose to or write your prayer and use that sheet to create a paper flower to wear with you

To reflect the vigil and contemplative nature of this event, we ask you not to bring any banners, flags, or placards. You are enough.

Reasons for Walking in Silent Witness for Peace

In the face of escalating violence and loss of life in over 100 wars and armed conflicts (Geneva Academy) worldwide (e.g Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar among many others) we hold this event to reflect our shared commitment to nonviolence, reconciliation and a just peace, representing the spiritual and ethical values of all spiritual communities.

As exemplified in Palestine and Israel we witness the increasing destruction of life, starvation, displacement, lack of and attacks on humanitarian aid, hostage taking, unjust detentions, trauma and harm inflicted on children in all these wars and conflicts. We see and experience the escalation in retaliatory violence, polarisation and demonisation taking place right here in our countries as Islamophobia and Antisemitism grows.

Please join us, people of faiths and none, as we move together in silence to remember people killed in war, as we call for the cessation of killing, for nonviolence, reconciliation and a just peace. The peaceful coexistence of those on opposing sides is intertwined with one another. Our peace is interconnected. We have a shared commitment to live in peace and harmony in the world.

All welcome.

This short film below and the information on the Plum Village UK website offers a glimpse into the first Peace Walk on January 21st. The website includes a link to all the prayers and words offered on the day.

Gathering/Route 

We will assemble in Parliament Square, to commence at 3pm with short opening prayers offered by faith representatives and we will walk slowly from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square and back. We will stop at key moments to hold vigil and offer prayers.

Event photo credit: Philip Wood from Quakers Britain

National March for Gaza, Prayers with Pax Christi Saturday 8 June, 12noon

Westminster Justice and Peace will be joining Christians of all denominations alongside Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and secular peace campaigners in Russell Square this Saturday, 8 June, before marching to Whitehall. We will be calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza, and appealing for the UK and US to stop arming Israel.

Pax Christi will be leading prayers in Bloomsbury Square Gardens at 12noon. The march will begin moving at 12.30. The rally is expected to end in Whitehall at around 4.30pm.

With the General Election looming, the organisers want to show all political parties that they must act to #StopGazaGenocide if they want our vote.

Pax Christi

Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Christian peace campaigners in Downing Street rally for Rafah

Emergency rally for Rafah outside Downing Street 28 May 2024. Photo Westminster J & P

Source: Independent Catholic News

More than 10,000 people took part in a peaceful, last-minute rally in Downing Street yesterday, (Tuesday 28 May), in response to Israel’s horrific attacks on the tented refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza yesterday, which killed at least 50 people, mostly women and children, and injured hundreds more.

Speakers demanded an immediate halt to all arms sales to Israel and called for Israel to follow the ICJ Directives. They praised the Jewish peace demonstrators in Israel and all the students who have risen up around the world appealing for an end to the onslaught and justice for the Palestinian people.

One campaigner said: “Our government and the Labour leadership have provided support for Israel as it commits genocide. They have blood on their hands.”

Among the crowds were several representatives from Christians for Palestine.

Colette Joyce from Westminster Diocese Justice and Peace told ICN: “We cannot carry on being complicit while unprotected civilians die in tent camps from military strikes, after having been moved many times already, in search of safety in Gaza.

“We stood outside Number 10 Downing Street today with our banner saying: ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ – because our shared humanity calls out for a better response, one that does not ask the most vulnerable to pay the highest price.”

LINKS

Christians for Palestine UK: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555041637853

Stop the War: www.stopwar.org.uk/

Palestinian Solidarity Campaign: https://palestinecampaign.org/

Sami El-Yousef, Chief Executive Officer, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem – Reflections from the Holy Land: Fr Gabriel Romanelli returns to his parish in Gaza

Interfaith Picnic for Great Big Green Week, 9th June 2024, St John’s Waterloo

Join us on Sunday, 9 June, at St John’s in Waterloo, London, from 1 pm – 4 pm, to kick off the Great Big Green Week. Featuring face-painting, a treasure hunt, recycling rounders, a butterfly puzzle, clothes & toy swap stalls, music, dance, a photo exhibition, and more. Bring a plant-based picnic to share!

Faith for the Climate

Great Big Green Week

Faith for the Climate Workshops

21 May, 5.30-7.30pm: Faiths for Climate Justice Free Online Workshop
22 May, 5.30-7.30pm: Faiths for Climate Justice Free Online Workshop

Choose one of these two dates. More details and registrations here

Do you want to know what “climate justice” means? Are you keen to find out how a justice-centered approach addresses the climate crisis? Are you looking for a welcoming space where you can bring your unique spiritual and/or religious motivations to tackle the climate emergency? If you’re based in the UK, these workshops are designed to help you address these questions and be part of a community of action.

Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) 40th Anniversary Event, 25th May 2024

25 May, 10.30am-3.00pm: CARJ 40th Anniversary Event
Amigo Hall at St George’s Cathedral London SE1 7H.CARJ was established 40 years ago on 16 June 1984 at a meeting of approximately 25 ‘founding members’ from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. To mark this important anniversary, CARJ are launching a new ‘Racial Justice Agenda for Change.’ Open to all and free to attend, with lunch served and a Sung Mass to end the day at 3.00pm. Email your interest to info@carj.org.uk  https://www.carj.org.uk/

25 May, 3.00pm: CARJ 40th Anniversary Mass
St George’s Cathedral Southwark, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7HY. https://www.carj.org.uk/

Catholic Association for Racial Justice

Christians for Palestine march in London, 18 May 2024

Christians For Palestine will be praying and marching again on Saturday, 18 May, for peace in the Holy Land.

76 years since the Nakba began, it is still happening right now with increasing violence. Palestinians are still being slaughtered every day in Gaza and occupied Palestine, and new atrocities by the Israeli military and settlers continue to emerge.

People in Gaza are being ordered to “evacuate”, but with nowhere safe to go, evacuation is really a death march to neighbourhoods already obliterated by the bombing. There are no safe places. No aid whatsoever has entered Gaza for days and people are starving to death. This has to stop. The people in power must be forced to make it stop.

Despite the ICJ ruling and a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire, the UK covenant continues to arm Israel, in violation of international law.

So once again we demand a permanent ceasefire and immediate suspension of all UK arms contracts with Israel.

We’re walking a shorter section of the route this time to make it more accessible

12.15 – Gather at St James, Piccadilly, W1J 9LL

12.30 – Prayers

13.00 – Join march in Parliament Square

NEXT PRAYER VIGIL FOR MIGRANTS OUTSIDE THE HOME OFFICE: MONDAY 20TH MAY 2024, 12.30-1.30PM

A monthly Memorial Prayer Vigil for refugees and asylum-seekers takes place on the 3rd Monday of every month outside the Home Office, SW1P 4DF, 12:30pm to 1:30pm.

Praying for

  • Those who died trying to reach the UK
  • Victims of current wars
  • Those in detention and who are homeless
  • The UK to be a more welcoming nation
may-2024-home-office-vigil.final_Download

Sign up to receive email news & alerts of changes or cancellation at: homeofficevigil@gmail.com

Co-sponsored by Westminster Justice and Peace Commission
London Catholic Worker and
London Churches Refugee Fund

Chaplet of the Holy Spirit – Online Prayer for Peace in the Holy Land, 18th May 2024, 8pm

All are warmly invited to join Westminster Justice and Peace to pray for peace in the Holy Land and other war-torn countries on the eve of Pentecost, Saturday 18th May 2024 at 8.00pm.

The Chaplet of the Holy Spirit was composed in 1892 by a Franciscan Capuchin missionary of the English province in order to give the faithful a means of honouring the third person of the Trinity. It was approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1902.

This Rosary consists of five groups of seven beads each. In each group, the ‘Glory be to the Father’ is said on the seven small beads and an Our Father and a Hail Mary on the two large beads. There are three beads at the beginning for the Sign of the Cross, an Act of Contrition and the hymn ‘Come Holy Ghost’.

There is a mystery for each of the five groups, commemorating the Five Wounds of Jesus , which are the fountains of grace which the Holy Spirit imparts to all.

Mary Pierre-Harvey from St Michael and St Martin Parish, Hounslow, will lead us through the Chaplet.

To join us, please register with Eventbrite or contact the Justice and Peace Co-ordinator, Colette Joyce, on colettejoyce@rcdow.org.uk

Register for Chaplet of the Holy Spirit with Eventbrite

Bishop John Sherrington “deeply alarmed” by amendments to Criminal Justice Bill

Bishop Sherrington, Credit: CBCEW

Source: Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales

Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has released a statement on the Criminal Justice Bill expressing his deep concern about two tabled amendments that seek to liberalise abortion laws. They are set to be debated next week.

Bishop Sherrington also voiced his support for two other tabled amendments, one of which would reduce the abortion time limit and the other that would not allow babies with Down syndrome to be aborted up to birth.

Bishop Sherrington’s full statement is below:

Four amendments have been submitted to the Criminal Justice Bill which relate to the protection of unborn babies and will be debated on 15 May.

I support the amendment from Caroline Ansell MP (New Clause 15) that would reduce the abortion time limit to 22 weeks. As a result of advances in medical practices many babies can now survive if born at 22 or 23 weeks’ gestation. I hope that parliamentarians will support this amendment.

Likewise, I call on parliamentarians to support the amendment tabled by Sir Liam Fox MP (New Clause 41), which will bring an end to the situation whereby babies diagnosed with Down syndrome can be aborted up to birth. This would be a step towards ending the discrimination against babies diagnosed with a disability in our current abortion law.

However, I am deeply alarmed by two amendments to the same Bill, one of which is proposed by Dame Diana Johnson MP (New Clause 1). This amendment, if passed, will remove any legal protection for unborn babies when a woman seeks to bring about her own abortion at any stage of pregnancy. A further danger presented by this amendment is that women could abort their own pregnancies at home through the use of abortion pills at any point in the pregnancy, which could seriously endanger a woman’s health and life. Moreover, the risks of coerced or forced abortion would only increase as the legal safeguards around abortion decrease.

The second amendment by Stella Creasy MP (New Clause 40) includes proposals to decriminalise abortion up to the 24th week for any party involved and carries similar threats to pregnant women and their unborn babies.

The Church recognises the struggle and trauma which may lead some pregnant women to consider an abortion. Such difficult situations require pastoral and medical care for vulnerable women in their time of need. When cases of illegal abortions are prosecuted, it is for the judge to decide the appropriate balance of justice and mercy for all involved.

Our current legislation provides some level of protection for pregnant mothers and unborn babies by keeping abortion within the criminal law. Relaxing abortion legislation further would be a tragic mistake for both mother and child.

As Pope Francis has said: “It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child”. In England and Wales, both unborn child and pregnant mother deserve full protection under our laws, as some of the most vulnerable in our society.

I encourage people to contact their MPs to make their views clear on these amendments.

Bishop John Sherrington

Lead Bishop for Life Issues and Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster

Link: www.cbcew.org.uk/bishop-sherrington-deeply-alarmed-by-criminal-justice-bill-amendments/