Category: Event Reports

Report from the Southern Dioceses Environment Network Meeting, 15 January 2024: Feedback from COP28

Presentation by Neil Thorns, CAFOD Director of Advocacy – ‘Feedback from COP28‘

Neil Thorns, the Director of Advocacy for CAFOD, was the guest speaker at the Southern Dioceses Environment Network on Monday 15th January, 12.45-2.00pm, to give feedback to participants on the UN Climate Conference (COP28) held from 1-12 December 2023 .

Neil was present at COP28 in Dubai and has attended a number of previous COPs as a member of the Vatican delegation

For his presentation, Neil identified four headline outcomes from COP28:

  1. Agreement on a Loss and Damage Fund
  2. The UAE Consensus: Transition away from fossil fuels
  3. Dubai – Baku – Belem Roadmap
  4. Recognition of Food

He reported on each issue in more detail, explaining the significance of each and what it means for Catholics in the UK going forward.

  1. Agreement on a Loss and Damage Fund

‘Loss and Damage’ is when poor communities overseas can no longer adapt to the effects of climate change but need to be able to respond when disasters occur. How do they get the resources they need?Developed countries who have done the most to cause the climate crisis have a responsibility towards these communities. ‘Loss and Damage’ has been kicking around for a long time in climate circles and in climate negotiations and a fund was finally agreed in principle Sharm El-Sheikh last year at COP27.

Operating the Fund was agreed on the first day of COP28 and money was put into it. Not enough money was put in, but what was important was that all the major countries contributed. For example, the US paid around $27 million which is just peanuts! The UK, in comparison has paid $45 million and the UAE $100 million. How that money is spent is going to be really important. It is also significant that ‘Loss and Damage’ will now be included for the first time in the Global Stock Take Process.

The Vatican is very interested in ‘Loss and Damage’ and especially non-economic ‘Loss and Damage’ – e.g. spiritual, cultural sites, language etc. The Vatican strongly supports ‘Integral Human Development’ so will continue to take a major interest in this aspect.

Neil said that people often ask, ‘Why do COPs have to happen annually? There have been 28 of them, are they achieving anything?’ His answer is ‘Yes!’ The pace may be slow, but the important thing is that we keep moving forward each year. The Global Stock Take Process is an important part of this. It is important to get things into the negotiations because then they get monitored and countries are accountable going forward. This was one of the biggest things to come out of COP28 and a big win for the first day.

2. UAE Consensus

Host countries like to get agreements named after themselves and so now we have the UAE Consensus arising as an outcome. COP28 was focused on the Global Stock Take that was agreed in Paris at COP21 in 2015 and came into force in 2020 whereby countries have to submit reports on how far they are doing to meet the principles of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming temperatures below 1.5C by 2050. All eyes were on COP28 to see if an end to Fossil Fuels would be included in the next Global Stock Take. Making a ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ was eventually included in the final agreement. It may not have been expressed in the strongest language – and was not what the Pope called for – but it was the first mention of an end to fossil fuels in a COP agreement. It is true there were a lot of caveats! For example, it didn’t call for taking away subsidies from fossil fuels, but we can start chipping away from this base.

3. Dubai – Baku – Belem Roadmap

COP29 will be in BAKU, Azerbaijan, in 2024 which is another oil state and will feature another COP president with oil company links.

COP30 will be in BELEM, Brazil in 2025 – a city in the Amazon rainforest.

These next two COPs are expected to be about finance. As Neil said, ‘Money makes the world go round!’ and at these next COPs progress of the Climate Fund will be closely scrutinised. A Climate Fund to enable developing countries to make adaptations was agreed in 2009 and set at $100bn per year. This target was meant to be reached by 2020 but is still only partially met. A ‘New Collective Quantified Goal’ has to be agreed this year in Baku to ensure that money gets to those countries for adaptation and loss and damage. Currently we using existing money to meet these commitments. For example, the UK is using part of the Overseas Aid Budget. This is essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul so we need innovative ideas on finance, such as a tax on international shipping. Levels of debt will be have to be addressed and debt cancellation considered as international finance architecture currently makes it difficult for developing countries to get loans, creating debt cycles that prevent spending on climate adaptation. The UK currently borrows money at 1 or 2%, while for Bangladesh it is 7 or 8%. There will also be questions about who pays? Should it be the historic big emitters? Or more recent emitters like Saudi Arabia, who don’t currently have any obligations to pay. A France-Kenya initiative to explore these options will report back to COP30 in Brazil.

4. Recognition of Food

A third of greenhouse gas emissions comes from our food and food systems. Food now needs to be considered in national plans. We can now include it in the whole aspect of deforestation. 150 countries are now pledged to include Food in their climate plans.

What Next?

The Vatican played an important role by talking about ending fossil fuels and talking about food and is in a position to ask for an ambitious Global Stock Take in these areas. The BBC reported on the Pope’s talk, read by Cardinal Parolin as the Pope himself was unable to attend due to illness. Media reports – especially the BBC which has a global reach – have an impact in COP spaces.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67599985

The rate of action is accelerating as we head towards 2025. The UK is heading into an election year and we can use this to promote improvements to our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). We need to let our elected representatives know what we want in terms of climate ambition.

Q & A with Neil

Q. How useful is a focus new tech e.g. solar panels? There are always side things happening alongside COP. More renewable energy deals were done at COP28 than ever before, which is a good thing. People at COP were talking about ‘carbon capture and storage’ but experts say it has very little impact so we can’t rely on it. Solar energy is making a huge difference. Especially in the US Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Bill has had a huge impact in creating green jobs. Tech linked to jobs makes for social change.

Q. What about the Vatican follow-up? Loss and Damage is a priority as I said earlier and talking about ending fossil fuels. The Catholic Church celebrates a Jubilee Year in 2025 and the Vatican is looking into how this can be linked to Brazil 2025 and COP30. Pope Francis said during the Covid pandemic that we don’t come out of a crisis the same. We come out either better or worse. Can we ensure that we come out better, with a better economics and better outcomes for the poorest?

Q. Can we push the CAFOD Fix the Food System even more? The Pope said in Laudato Si’ that ‘everything is connected.’ We have to link food with everything else and seeds is a big part in that. As CAFOD we can make some progress making sure that seeds find a place in the food plans for individual countries.

We then split into small breakout groups to discuss the questions: 
1) What is your response to the outcomes of COP28? 
2)What will you be focusing on for the environment in 2024?

Members of the Network were encouraged by the positive messaging from Neil. Participants asked how they might encourage people to be hopeful but at the same time make things like taking multiple flights socially unacceptable and wanted to be more confident in speaking up for the climate with family and friends. Members are focused on taking local actions, with several planning to taking part in the Christian Climate Action 10-Day Vigil in Lent. Some are involved with Greenpeace.

Participants also agreed that, while we are glad to hear that progress is being made, we need to make it known that progress needs to be faster, especially in this election year. CAFOD and SVP are working together on election material that will encourage Catholics to push for climate action this year.

Colette Joyce, Westminster Justice and Peace Co-ordinator, who convenes the Network said: “We are really grateful to Neil for representing us at COP28 and for his comprehensive reporting and analysis. Knowing that we can have an impact on the international processes helps motivate us to keep going with climate action on a local and parish basis.”

About the Southern Dioceses Environment Network

Future meetings for the Southern Dioceses Environment Network take place this year on:

12 February, 12.45-2.00pm
11 March, 12.45-2.00pm
13 May, 12.45-2.00pm
10 June,12.45-2.00pm
8 July, 12.45-2.00pm
9 September, 12.45-2.00pm
14 October, 12.45-2.00pm
11 November, 12.45-2.00pm
9 December, 12.45-2.00pm

The Southern Dioceses Environment Network is a network for all Catholics and our friends who care about creation and meets monthly online on the second Monday of the month. It also organises other events online and in-person when this is possible. Some events take place jointly with the Northern Dioceses Environment Group, as we all work together to animate the Catholic community in the long-term task of stabilising our climate and protecting our common home. We are inspired by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, especially as set out by Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato Si’, and the teachings on caring for the earth and one another found in Scripture.

Participants include CAFOD and Diocesan staff and volunteers, Laudato Si’ Animators, Journey to 2030, parishioners, clergy, religious and activists. You are welcome to attend as a one-off or to participate regularly. The Southern Dioceses are: Arundel & Brighton, Brentwood, Clifton, East Anglia, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southwark and Westminster.

For the Zoom link, more details, or to be added to the mailing list please email Colette Joyce, Westminster Justice and Peace Co-ordinator, colettejoyce@rcdow.org.uk or call her on 07593 434 905

Southern Dioceses Environment Network

KEY CLIMATE DATES

Christians in National Peace March for Palestine

Source: Independent Catholic News

Up to half a million campaigners of all faiths and beliefs, marched through London on Saturday, from the Bank along Fleet Street towards Trafalgar Square down Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament, appealing for peace in Gaza and the West Bank.

Westminster Justice and Peace joined the Christian bloc, co-ordinated by Christians For Palestine, which included banners from Pax Christi, the Church of England, Quakers, the Columbans, London Catholic Worker, Passionists, Holy Land Trust, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Sisters of St, Joseph of Peace and many more. We walked next to the Jewish bloc, which included hundreds of individuals and members of Na’Amod, International Anti-Zionist Network, Jews for Palestine, Torah Jews, JVL and other Jewish peace groups.

Columban Sisters Kate Midgley and Young Mi helped carry one of the Christian banners. Sr Mi said: “The reason I joined the demo is only a little gesture to show my solidarity towards suffering Palestinians. Because what is going on in Gaza and what Palestinians have to go through at this time is a total distortion of humanity.”

Little Amal – the 3.5 metre tall puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl, who made the 8,000 km journey from the Syrian border to Manchester, in 2021, to highlight the plight of child refugees, led the front of the march, accompanied by a group of Palestinian children.

Speaking in Parliament Square, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, accused the British government of “complicity” with Israel. He said: “I stand before you with a broken heart but not a broken spirit.” He congratulated South Africa for bringing a genocide case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice.

Sinn Féin’s president, Mary Lou McDonald, told the crowd that Palestinian freedom is possible. She said: “When I say this, standing in London, in common cause with you, having walked our own journey out of conflict, building peace for 25 years, this can happen. “This must happen and we will ensure that it does.”

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn thanked South Africa for their bravery bring their case to the ICJ. He pointed out that the weapons used in the onslaught on Gaza are provided by the United States and the UK. Corbyn thanked everyone around the world and especially those campaigners in Israel who are speaking up for peace, justice and hope.

This was the seventh National March for Palestine in London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign since October.

Protests took place in 120 cities around the world on Saturday, including Dublin, Edinburgh, Washington DC, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Rome and Milan.

On Peace Sunday, 14th January 2024, Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal for an end to armed conflicts and a firm condemnation of war as “a crime against humanity.”

“War itself is a crime against humanity. People need peace. The world needs peace,” said the Pope at the Sunday Angelus prayer.

He also mentioned a program he had seen on an Italian TV channel just minutes before, in which the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land had spoken. Fr Ibrahim Faltas said: “we need to learn from John the Baptist how to cry out and show the path to follow.” Jesus, he added, is “the way. He is forgiveness, justice, love, and peace.”

“If we follow Jesus, we will truly have peace and there will be no war,” said Fr Faltas.

He noted that there are over 60 ongoing wars in the world, calling the global situation “utter confusion.” “We want to live in peace,” concluded Fr Faltas. “We want to follow Jesus, so we will have peace throughout the world.”

LINKS

See more pictures and videos on the ICN Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064591363750&ref=bookmarks

Pax Christi: https://paxchristi.org.uk/
Stop the War: www.stopwar.org.uk/
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign: https://palestinecampaign.org/

COP28 Has Confirmed What We Need To Do

COP28 rally in central London, 9 December 2023 Image: Colette Joyce

Westminster Justice and Peace joined many other groups at the Global Day of Action march in central London for COP28 on 9 December 2023

Coinciding with the final days of the climate summit in Dubai, the London gathering brought together Christian groups including CAFOD, Jesuit Missions, Christian Aid, Tearfund, Christian Climate Action, Operation Noah, Green Christian, Laudato Si’ Movement, Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology, and the Quakers.

We also joined up with other activists from Faiths for the Climate and The Climate Coalition, marking the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice on the final Saturday of COP28 by taking part in COP28 marches and rallies throughout the UK.

We were united in calling for action at COP28 before time runs out.

Read the Tablet Report here

The UN climate conference has now concluded and its impact is being assessed. While the negotiations have still fallen short of what is needed, in some ways the conference has exceeded expectations.

Reporting on the outcomes of COP28, Neil Thorns, Director of Advocacy at CAFOD, said:

“COP28 has confirmed what we need to do with an explicit reference to a world without fossil fuels and support to the most vulnerable communities through the agreement of a loss and damage fund.”

Neil recognises there is still a risk of delivering only the appearance of concern, rather than substantive change, but in his positive assessment, “We now have the basis to create greater ambition at our national levels. That is the way we will keep to a 1.5 degree pathway.

“It’s encouraging to see increasing government support to link the climate and food agendas, which should be reflected in future national plans and an urgent plan to transform our food system to provide greater support smallholder farmers.”

Read Neil’s report for CAFOD for COP28

With the Jesuit Missions team outside Farm Street Church, 9 December 2023. Photo: Jesuit Missions

Record Numbers take part in Gaza Peace March

Christian campaigners preparing to march. Photo: ICN

Source: Independent Catholic News

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.

For more information and resources visit Pax Christi’s Israel and Palestine page:
https://paxchristi.org.uk/campaigns/israel-and-palestine/

See ICN’s Facebook page for more pictures: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064591363750&ref=bookmarks

CAFOD ‘Fix the Food System’ Campaign Letter Handed in to World Bank

CAFOD staff and volunteers deliver ‘Salina’s Letter’ to the World Bank HQ in London

Catholic aid agency CAFOD has handed over a letter to the World Bank calling on it to help fix the broken global food system by upholding the rights of farmers to use their own seeds. The letter was signed by 18 Catholic Bishops and over 70,000 Catholics from 750 parishes across England and Wales.

43 Westminster parishes, plus the curial staff at Vaughan House, were among the contributors signing ‘Salina’s letter’ to the World Bank. This represents around 8,180 signatures from our diocese.

The letter from Salina, a farmer in Bangladesh, calls for the protection of the fundamental rights of small farmers like herself to use their own varieties of seeds – a right that is increasingly under threat as big seed companies have come to dominate the global seed market. Her letter – signed in solidarity by over 70,000 Catholics – was handed over to World Bank staff in London and at the annual World Bank meetings taking place this week in Marrakech, Morocco.

‘Fix the Food System’, CAFOD’s food campaign, is urging the UK government and institutions including the World Bank to protect the right of farmers around the world to save, use, exchange and sell their own seeds. In some countries, new seed laws have been insisted on by the World Bank in exchange for financial support, yet these laws prevent farmers from sharing seeds as they have done for generations and instead force them to buy seeds from big agribusinesses.

CAFOD’s Campaigns and Outreach Manager, Helen Moseley, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who signed Salina’s letter. Her message to the World Bank has been heard loud and clear: unfair rules putting pressure on small farmers to buy commercial seeds aren’t acceptable. They can push farmers and the communities they feed into poverty, food insecurity and reduce their resilience to climate change.”

CAFOD campaigners handing in Salina’s letter on 11th October 2023 were received by senior World Bank staff who agreed to meet and discuss the issue.

“It was a very cordial meeting and we explained how much support our campaign has received across the country from ordinary parishioners,” said Father Rob Esdaile, who handed over the letter to World Bank staff and whose own parish, St Dunstan’s in Woking, was one of the 750 parishes who supported the campaign.

Bishop Tom Neylon from Liverpool Archdiocese said: “I support CAFOD’s Fix the Food System campaign because it’s highlighting the situation that small-scale farmers around the world are increasingly finding themselves in. Caught in a huge power imbalance with large agribusiness, even their rights to their own seeds passed down from generation to generation are being threatened.”

Support CAFOD’s ‘Fix the Food System’ Campaign: https://cafod.org.uk/campaign/fix-the-food-system

Season of Creation: Pilgrimages for the Planet along the Thames

Source: ICN, Sr Kate Midgley and Cecilia Bullock

Inspired both by Christian Climate Action and the Laudato Si Movement, on Saturday 9 September we had a ‘Pilgrimage for the Planet’ along the Thames Path. Over 50 people came. Some of us started at Kate’s parish in Bow where there was a prayer and blessing from parish priest Fr Howard James.

They then joined the rest of the group at the Cutty Sark and we all began our pilgrimage to the Thames Barrier.

We were pilgrims from various local parishes: a big contingent from the Chinese Catholic Community, nine religious Sisters from different Congregations (Columban Sisters, Little Company of Mary Sisters, Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa, Sister of the Holy Cross, Carmelite Sister), Fr Richard Nesbitt and parishioners from White City, including a visiting seminarian from Nigeria, Laudato Si animators and members of Christian Climate Action.

We hadn’t asked God for an extreme weather event, but we were given one anyway! It was the hottest day of the year and the sixth day in a row when it was over 30C in London in September!

We began our pilgrimage at the Cutty Sark with a prayer and an invitation to walk the pilgrimage with our five senses wide open to what God may want to show us. And as we walked we paused to reflect on Creation’s Song, Creation’s Cry and Creation’s Call and the message of Pope Francis for the Season of Creation.

We also paused at significant places such as:

-Crowley’s Wharf – where ironworks made ankle-irons, manacles and collars used in the enslavement of African people
-Greenwich Power Station
-The tidal terraces/reed beds – an innovation in flood defence providing a habitat for plants and animals
-‘Tribe and Tribulation/Totemic Sculpture’ by Serge Attukwei Clottey on the meridian line, with its sound recordings from three former slave forts on the Gold Coast. At this point we reflected on Creation’s Cry and also listened to a moving recording of Rev Jon Swales prayer for COP 27
-The beautiful Ecology Park which mimics the original marshland of Greenwich Peninsula.

At this point we reflected on Creation’s Call at this critical time in human history, and also invited all to enter into an imaginative dialogue with an other than human member of creation.

We passed the wharfs where boats arrive daily with sand and gravel aggregates found on the sea bed.

We finally reached the Thames Barrier, where we had the great joy of being joined by another pilgrimage group, coordinated by Barbara Wilson, a parishioner of Corpus Christi, Brixton, and member of Christian Climate Action. This group had walked 17km from the Shell HQ on the Southbank.

It included several Medical Mission Sisters and five Buddhists who found the pilgrimage experience very moving. The group had been reflecting on Pope Francis words: “How can we contribute to the mighty river of justice and peace in this Season of Creation? … We must do this by resolving to transform our hearts, our lifestyles, and the public policies ruling our societies.” These words inspired reflections at their stopping points.

It was wonderful for both groups to join together to share reflections and pray for people of all continents, especially those most impacted by climate change in the global south. We then listened to a powerful recording of Ben Okri reading ‘Broken’ from his book ‘Tiger Work’. Our final song was ‘Let Justice and Peace flow like a Mighty River.’

Sr Kate Midgley is a Missionary Sister of St Columban. Cecilia Bullock is a Laudato Si Animator, a member of Christian Climate Action, and a parishioner of St Paul’s, Harefield

St Alban’s Cathedral Holds Ecumenical Memorial Service for Hiroshima and Nagasaki

6 August 2023, Memorial Service for Hiroshima and Nagasaki in St Alban’s, Hertfordshire

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. On Sunday afternoon, Sunday 6 August 2023, some of the Cathedral congregation gathered alongside members of other local churches, including St Bartholomew’s and St Alban and St Stephen’s Catholic Churches, at the Peace Pillar to remember those affected by those bombings and to pray for world peace.

The Peace Pillar stands at the entrance to Sumpter Yard and was given by the people of Japan in gratitude that the Dean at that time, Cuthbert Thicknesse, refused for the Cathedral bells to be rung with other bells in the city to mark Victory in Japan because it had come at such a cost in terms of destruction and loss of life.

The Cathedral would now like to move the Peace obelisk, now very obscured by the tree and hedge (barely discernible in the picture above, behind the woman in red on the right), to a more prominent location.

We continue to pray for all who strive for peace in our own day.

CAFOD Westminster stalwart Tony Sheen retires

Source: Patrick Kinsella, CAFOD

CAFOD’s much loved Westminster Diocese coordinator Tony Sheen is retiring after working for the Catholic international development charity for 17 years.

Tony’s energy and enthusiasm for tackling injustice and raising the plight of people all around the world has been infectious and the extensive bank of volunteers he has built across Westminster is testament to that.

He joined CAFOD in 2006, at the height of the Make Poverty History campaign. Yet, Tony’s determination and desire to fight against injustice is as strong now as it was back then.

From getting volunteers to speak at Mass regularly, running workshops in Catholic Schools across the diocese, to organising a hugely popular annual family bike ride no task was too big or too small for Tony.

His time at CAFOD was celebrated by over 70 people, many of whom were active or past volunteers for CAFOD Westminster, at the Parish of Christ the King in Oakwood on the 27 July 2023.

Speaking at the retirement event, Tony Sheen said: “CAFOD has become an integral part of who I am. It has been a vocation for me to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers overseas fighting for a more just world.

“Along my journey I’ve been so lucky to have had the support of so many volunteers and visited so many parishes across Westminster diocese. Working with the volunteers and sharing CAFOD’s work in parishes has taught me how important CAFOD is to the life of the Church.

“But our fight for a more just world continues, and I’ll be praying for you all as the struggle continues!”

In 2011, Tony visited CAFOD partners in Brazil visiting the Favelas of São Paulo and this trip has continued to inspire him to this day.

Cica Iorio, CAFOD’s country rep for Brazil accompanied Tony on that trip and said a few words about him at the event:

“I was fortunate to travel with Tony to Brazil and it was a wonderful trip because of his energy and passion. Tony had an open heart, listening and taking in all the stories he heard. The beauty of Tony is that he is all of his volunteers and all the diocese when he undertakes his work for CAFOD.”

Tony shared some lines from a prayer attributed to Oscar Romero:

“We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something and to do it well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.”

But it isn’t just CAFOD where Tony has made his mark, he has also been a tireless supporter of the Justice and Peace Network.

Barbara Kentish, a retired field worker for Westminster Justice and Peace attended the event and spoke about the difference Tony has made to the cause: “Tony has not only given so much to CAFOD, but also to all the issues Justice and Peace campaign on. Tony was fundamental to getting the Westminster Diocese to become Fairtrade and we are so thankful for that.”

Tony will continue to work for CAFOD until the 17 August 2023. It is clear whatever he does next, he will continue to be driven by his passion to tackle injustice.

Justice and Peace Network ‘is needed more than ever before’

l-r: Anne Peacey, Sir John Battle, Christine Allen, Fr Dominic Robinson SJ. Photo: Jo Siedlecka, ICN

Source: Ellen Teague, Independent Catholic News

“Our Network is needed more than ever before,” a former MP and Minister of State at the Foreign Office told last weekend’s annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network of England and Wales. In a talk entitled, ‘Advocacy and Faith Action’, Sir John Battle, an NJPN patron and activist with Leeds Justice and Peace, said: “we need to shift from charitable action to challenging the causes of injustice in line with the preferential option for the poor.”

The 45th annual conference addressed issues crucial to the common good and the well-being of the natural world, with a particular focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Commitments at the end included lobbying politicians and leaders in general, involving the Bishops’ Conference, to remind the UK government of its promises in terms of the SDG goals. “No new oil, coal and gas” was another call and a promise to live more simply as individuals and in our communities.

“Work for justice is part of preaching the Gospel.” Christine Allen, Executive Director of CAFOD said in her presentation. Christine works closely with partners around the world, putting the SDGs into practice. A video was played of partner Caritas Brazil, which was founded by Dom Helder Camara, which embraces the SDG principle of ‘leave no one behind’. Caritas Brazil works to tackle social injustice and defend indigenous populations, “who are the primary guardians of forests and rivers,” and promotes the rights of nature as well as human rights. Christine also gave examples of CAFOD’s work with partners in drought-stricken Marsabit, Northern Kenya and in DR Congo with victims of sexual violence in the context of conflict. All of this was applauded by participants.

In another presentation, Brian O’Toole, Director of the Presentation Sisters Justice Desk for Ireland and England, said the International Presentation Association is committed “to respond to ‘the cry of the Earth and to people kept poor’ and it is doing this by embracing the SDGs in a human rights framework, addressing such issues as women and children, care of creation and indigenous peoples.”

The 2023 NJPN conference gathered Justice and Peace campaigners from across England and Wales, taking the theme: ‘Sustainability? Survival or Shutdown’. Held 21-23 July at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, there were around 150 participants. Justice and Peace activists from 16 dioceses and from National Justice and Peace Scotland, priests from three missionary societies and six orders of religious sisters joined representatives of CAFOD, CSAN, CARJ, Missio, Pax Christi England and Wales, SVP, Archbishop Romero Trust and the Laudato Si Movement to highlight social justice issues, structural injustice, climate change, conflict, and migration.

The weekend included a screening of ‘The Letter’. The film follows the stories of front-line environmental champions from around the world, each of whom is facing the effects of our planetary crisis, as they come into dialogue with each other and Pope Francis and build new bonds to face the future with hope. A ‘Just Fair’ hosted more than 20 stalls, including Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Justice for Palestine, and Global Justice Now. Ecumenical partners included Christians Aware, Christian Climate Action, Green Christian and Church Action on Poverty.

Of the 12 workshops, Columban Missionaries explored responses to people seeking asylum in the UK in the light of the Illegal Immigration Bill. Westminster J&P introduced materials for bringing the Season of Creation into the life of parishes and schools. Other workshops included, ‘Farming in the Future’, ‘How can we answer Pope Francis’s call to live more simply’, and ‘Being peacemakers in time of war’.

The conference chair was Anne Peacey of Hallam Diocese, vice chair of NJPN. The Conference Mass was celebrated by Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, accompanied by Columban Fr Ed O’Connell. Fr Dominic highlighted the Hope that Justice and Peace work brings. He talked about “the huge amount of good work going on”, singling out support for asylum seekers and people in need of food banks and advocacy on decarbonisation, “but we need more”. He called for more integration with local Catholic communities. The Liturgy was led by the Lay Community of St Benedict, and involved children’s contribution of artwork, and hymns with a strong theme of social and environmental justice.

Two long-time supporters of NJPN who died very recently were remembered at the Mass – Brian Davies, former Head of Education at CAFOD, and Mike Clarke, former NJPN Treasurer.

Fr Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development sent a video message to the conference urging participants to promote the SDGs and the Laudato Si Action Platform. “May justice and peace embrace so that the life of all can flourish,” he said.

Tomas Insua of the Laudato Si Movement in Assisi said in a second video message that, “the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth are deeply connected, and I hope this gathering motivates action for our common home, particularly during the Season of Creation in the Autumn.”

Almost eight years have passed since the international community agreed to take bold and transformative steps to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a UN plan to end poverty while protecting the planet. Yet, only about 12% of SDG goals are on track to be achieved by 2030. The international UN SDG Summit, in September 2023, must mobilise the political commitment and breakthroughs our world desperately needs. The NJPN conference showed how people of faith can support that process.

The overall message of the conference was one of Hope. Participants were urged to bring hope by advocating back in their dioceses for the political will to take human rights and sustainability more seriously.

Hope you can join us for next year’s National Justice and Peace Network Conference:
‘Just Politics’
19-21 July 2024
Make a note in your diaries now!

Over the next few days we will be publishing the texts of some of the 2023 Conference addresses.

Recordings of the talks and photos will be posted at: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk

UN Sustainability Goals

Record Numbers Join Home Office Prayer Vigil for Refugee Week

Bishop Paul McAleenan with Newman College students

Source: ICN

Bishop Paul McAleenan, students from Newman College, Brent, and electro-pop band Ooberfuse, were among those joining the regular monthly prayer vigil outside the Home Office in Marsham Street on Monday for an extended service to mark Refugee Week (19-25 June 2023)

The event was given added poignancy following the tragic sinking of the Andriana off the coast of Greece on 13 June. The boat was believed to be carrying as many as 750 migrants, of whom only around 100 were rescued.

A harrowing list of names of those who have died in the last month trying to reach Europe in small boats was read out during the vigil. They included some of the hundreds of people who perished in the Andriana disaster last week, an unknown man who died of hunger and thirst after 13 days adrift at sea off the coast of Spain, and a child electrocuted on a railway line in France.

While Home Office staff came and went, more than a hundred people took part in the moving vigil of prayer, hymns and reflections. Among them was Brother Johannes Maertens from the London Catholic Worker, Robina Rafferty former head of Housing Justice, Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Chair of the Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, and a group of students from Newman Catholic High School in Harlesden.

Electro-pop band Ooberfuse, together with Kurdish refugee folk singer Newroz Oremari opened the vigil with their latest song: ‘Show Me Love’ . Singer-songwriter Alistair Murray led some of the hymns.

Bishop Paul McAleenan, Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees in the Bishops Conference gave the following reflection:

“The reality of the life of a refugee, the hardships and hazards they endure opens this Refugee Week as we listen to the accounts of the latest tragedy off the coast of Greece.

No doubt there will investigations and enquiries into the tragedy, into the events of the preceding hours before the boat sank so that the truth can be uncovered. Those enquiries are important.

Our concern is not simply the events and decisions which took place immediately before that tragedy but the decisions and the policies which have been in place for many, many years which make such tragedies almost inevitable. The term safe and legal routes come to mind again.

We see again the consequences of policies which do not include compassion, the theme of this year’s Refugee Week. We see again the need for international cooperation.

When law and policies increase suffering, compounds trauma, and put lives in danger justice is not served. To advocate on behalf of migrants, refugees, displaced persons, asylum seekers is not simply kindness but it is a plea for justice for the most vulnerable, it is to do what the law should do.

Migrants, refugees, asylum seekers have had to abandon those things from which one has the right to expect stability and security, homeland, family, familiar customs. Our solidarity with them comes from this basic belief, that we have a duty, an obligation towards those who have lost everything.

When they encounter rejection not surprisingly there will be consequences which impact upon their mental and physical well-being. There will also be consequences which impact upon the whole human family. So I repeat that to support migrants and refugees is not almsgiving but an attempt to build fraternity and unity by encouraging the sharing of resources.

In Isaiah a verse describing the manner of the Redeemer in his pursuit of justice says of him, ‘He does not break the crushed reed nor quench the wavering flame’.

If someone has fled their homeland, crossed a desert and a sea and survives and is then detained, denied the right to work, threatened with deportation is it likely that the flame of hope which they managed to keep alive is going to strengthened or extinguished.

That is why we oppose Immigration systems which threaten to destroy hope, which divide people into categories giving different rights to each category.

Whether a person is a citizen, a migrant or a refugee they have a dignity, that innate dignity is our starting point and one which what ever else we must keep in mind.

To say we respect someone’s dignity is one thing, though I don’t think the word ‘respect’ captures the fullness of our obligation. The dignity of a person is so sacrosanct it needs to be protected and promoted, it involves relationship.

To meet a refugee and listen to their experience is very enlightening, informative and moving. We may not have met a refugee in the flesh, nevertheless we can stand with them and for them. That is what we are doing now, making a statement, declaring they are our brothers and sisters.

So I thank you for all you do, for your presence here today at the beginning of Refugee Week. May our prayers and our work bear fruit for the good of all especially those who have nothing.”

The Christian Prayer Vigil is organised each month by Westminster Justice & Peace and London Catholic Worker.

The next vigil is on Monday, 17 July 2023, 12.30-1.30pm.

Watch Show Me Love here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro-J06pc0cQ

Refugee Week Vigil outside the Home Office, 19 June 2023