June 2025 was an exceptionally busy month for Justice and Peace activity in the Diocese of Westminster!
Read some of the highlights in the E-Bulletin below.
There are many more events still to come in the next few months as we continue through this Jubilee Year.
Look out for the Mass Lobby of Parliament on Climate, Debt and Nature on 9th July, a special Prayer Vigil remembering those who have lost their lives in the conflict in Gaza on 28th July organised by Barbara Kentish and the Home Office Vigil group, and Pax Christi’s Commemorations for the 80th Anniversary the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Japan on 6th and 9th August.
These are swiftly followed by the Jubilee of Justice on 20th September in Rome and the Season of Creation from 1st September – 4th October, which this year has as its theme ‘Peace with Creation’. Details about these and many more upcoming events can be found in the Diary Dates section.
We hope you will find something here where you feel you can make a contribution – or perhaps be inspired to organise your own event in your local setting.
On Tuesday 24 June, Westminster Cathedral welcomed pupils from 130 schools across the Diocese of Westminster for a Jubilee Festival of Hope, presided over by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
The festival began with students exploring a range of stalls and workshops set up in the Cathedral’s chapels. Each explored a different theme of the Jubilee Year. CAFOD focused on ‘Managing Debt’, Caritas Westminster on ‘Food Poverty’ and ‘Modern Slavery’, Westminster Justice and Peace on ‘Care of Creation’, Pax Christi on ‘Peace’, the Agency for Evangelisation on ‘Forgiveness’ and the Youth Service on ‘Rest and Worship’. These activities offered pupils an opportunity to engage with the Church’s social mission and deepen their understanding of faith in action.
During the liturgy, students presented their Jubilee pledges to the Cardinal, outlining commitments inspired by their reflections ahead of the festival. St Thomas More Language College also performed their drama piece, The Temptations – Unstoppable, which was originally showcased at the Flame Festival.
The service concluded with a time of Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, bringing the day to a prayerful close.
In his message to staff and pupils in the order of service, Canon Michael Dunne, Chair of the Education Commission, said:
‘Congratulations to all pupils and schools who, responding to the call of Jesus, have discerned together what pledges they can commit to on this festival day, and so receive from today the grace to live what has been pledged.
‘I want to thank very much those who have worked so hard to bring us this Festival of Hope, often in their volunteering beyond work commitments.”
Westminster Justice and Peace in St Andrew’s Chapel, Westminster Cathedral
Refugee Week Prayer Vigil 2025 Bishop Paul McAleenan (l) and Br Johannes Maertens at the microphone
Source: Barbara Kentish
The list of names heard at the vigil on 16 June outside the Home Office were numerous and distressing. They were a selection of people who died trying to reach Europe over the year from June 2023 to May 2024.
The list was followed by a two minute silence to let the tragedies sink in, and then we heard a reflection from Bishop Paul McAleenan, spokesperson on migration for the Catholic Bishops’ conference.
Attended by over 40 people, the ecumenical vigil follows the Christian imperative to mourn the tragic and horrifying deaths happening daily on Europe’s borders.
Bishop Paul, referring to the scripture account of the Flight into Egypt, said: ‘ Rachel mourned for the children killed as Jesus escaped with his family to Egypt. You are all ‘Rachel, mourning for her children, as you lament so many people fleeing persecution and war.’
This is an ecumenical vigil, on the third Monday of the month at 12.30pm. All are welcome.
Next Home Office Vigil: Monday, 21st July, 12.30pm.
There will be a further vigil on 28th July 2025, from the same co-ordinating group and co-sponsored by Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, for those who have died in Gaza over the last year. This will take place at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office off Whitehall, also at 12.30pm.
For information contact barbarakentish11@gmail.com or johanmaertens@hotmail.com
Bishop Paul McAleenan’s Reflection
To understand a person you have to know them. Knowledge of others is a necessary step towards understanding them. Often when migrants and displaced persons are spoken of what rises to the surface is statistics. Statistics reveal the extent and depth of affliction suffered by so many, but we must never forget that migration is about real people. When we encounter them, we know them as they really are and come to understand them.
Today we begin Refugee Week, the theme, ‘Community as a Super Power’. We salute the communities who this week through events and campaigns and initiatives are making a special effort to educate themselves and understand the realities behind migration. We honour the communities and individuals whose language and outlook is not, ‘we must protect ourselves’ but ‘we must listen and understand’. In listening we learn that migration for those without documents and status is not the result of a free decision. Within the term ‘enforced migration’ falls well known reasons, war, persecution, climate emergency, famine.
What about those whose details have been supplied to us whose names are contained within these the handouts we have received? Here we read of the man who left his home in Pakistan to earn money to repay his debts and support his family, of another who left home to earn money to support his disabled brother, and again of the one whose desire was to work so that he could build a roof for his family home.
To have to leave your country so that your family can have decent life is also enforced migration. The resources of our planet as we know are not for the benefit of a few. The principle of Catholic Social Teaching ‘The Universal Destination of Goods’ meaning the earth’s resources must be shared is not a principle for academia and debate but one which must have practical application. In other words people have right to leave their country to seek better opportunities for themselves and their families, they may not want to but they have to.
When migration is not the result of a free decision there is an even greater need to support that migrant, to accompany them, building bridges not walls, to expand channels for safe and regular migration, as Pope Francis, to whom we are so greatly indebted for his leadership on this matter said.
A community ready to welcome, protect, promote and integrate the newly arrived immigrant is essential.
Unfortunately there is not always a welcoming community. We are aware of the events in Northern Ireland last week. Incidents that the PSNI denounced as ‘racist thuggery’.
As we stand outside this building today conscious of the plight of refugees we think also of recently issued White Paper on Immigration We counter the introductory remarks on the White Paper with the reminder that essential work carried out every day by people in low paid, low skilled roles must be recognised and valued. For many migrants such jobs are the first step to becoming fully integrated. Without their contribution, dedication and hard work our hospitals, schools and care homes might not function. Their lives have enriched ours.
As we begin this year’s Refugee Week we implore all those involved in migration issues, be cautious in your words, let them be devoid of attempts to gain party political advantage; have listening and understanding as an essential component in your dealings with compassion in your decisions.
Despite our concerns there is room for hope. Today we express our support and admiration for those communities in our country who in this Refugee Week are implementing initiatives which reach out to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers offering them a welcome.
The Diocese of Westminster marked the 10th Anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ – On the Care of our Common Home’ with an afternoon of celebration held at the FCJ Centre for Spirituality and EcoJustice in Somerston, Euston, on Saturday 7th June 2025.
Fr Richard Nesbitt and John Paul de Quay were our guest speakers, as we also enjoyed prayer, workshops and home-made soda-bread!
Watch the 60 seconds highlight video above!
The event was organised by Westminster Justice and Peace Commission in collaboration with the Westminster Laudato Si’ Animators and the FCJ Sisters.
A very special combined event was hosted by the Southern Dioceses Environment Network and the Northern Dioceses Environment Group on 4th June 2025 to mark the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis Papal Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ – On the Care of Our Common Home (2015).
Colette Joyce (Westminster) and Mark Wiggin (Salford) facilitated the meeting, with prayers led by Bernadette Jordan (Salford) and Siân Thomas-Cullinan (Brentwood).
We calculated that approximately 115 people registered for the event and we estimate 95 attended.
Our guest speaker, Austen Ivereigh, is a well-known Catholic journalist, writer and commentator with a special relationship with Pope Francis.
Austen helped us to reflect on where we have come in the last ten years and what we are being called to do in the next ten.
The publication of the papal encyclical Laudato Si‘ in 2015 galvanised Catholics around the world and in every country to unite with those of all other faiths and none in the common cause of caring for our home planet and all the people on it. Pope Francis urged us to integrate questions of justice into our debates on the environment, ‘so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’ – for they are one and the same thing. (LS, 49).
Austen deepened our reflection on the method that Pope Francis adopts to respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, using a broad SEE-JUDGE-ACT model. The first stage is to enter the crisis and open our eyes to places where there is pain and suffering. What is happening to our Earth? The second task is discernment: finding where God’s action can be seen and what frustrates God’s action. The third was to move to proposals for action in line with the Kingdom, confident that what is aligned with the arc of the Kingdom is never wasted.
He suggested that the Laudato Si’ apostolate can be considered as enabling these three tasks: (a) helping people to see what is happening to our Earth and to help people experience grief and the desire to repent; (b) helping people enter into an understanding of what is happening (as does Laudato Si’ in chapters three and four); and (c) enabling processes of synodal discernment that move through these two stages into concrete actions.
The Great Reformer- Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope (2014). Biography of Pope Francis.
Let Us Dream (2020). Pope Francis reflection on what we learnt during the Covid pandemic.
First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis (2024). An eight-day Ignatian retreat drawing on the wisdom of Pope Francis and the spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Pope Francis and St Ignatius encourage us recognise our triple belonging: to God, to Creation and one another.
Opening prayer: Bernadette Jordan (Diocese of Salford)
Adapted from a prayer by David Kossoff in ‘You have a minute, Lord?’ 1977
Lord, a word. It’s about the world. Your world that you made in six days, Resting on the seventh and being pleased with your work. And rightly so Lord. It is a beautiful world you made. Beautiful. Well, Lord, it’s getting dirty. We’re dirtying it, Lord. You made the seas and the creatures therein, Lord. And we are choking the creatures with filth and oil, Lord. You made all the creatures that fly and swim and live on land. And you looked on them and said, ‘Good.’ Well Lord, there’s quite a few You wouldn’t be able to find. Extinctions have happened and are happening right now. We try to improve on your work, Lord. We make a lot of noise and a lot of smoke. And a lot of what are called waste-products. Pollutants, Lord. Effluents and such. Wonderful gifts you have given us, Lord. Riches beyond imagination Now we have the fastest roads and The fastest cars and the fastest planes. But sometimes we don’t stop to see the wonders that are with us every day. Every Spring you make it all new again, Lord, Every summer it all grows. Every autumn you show us colours to Catch the breath, to swell the heart. Every winter you remind us of your presence. We need reminding, Lord. We litter the place. We clash with the colours. And worse, to be quite honest, Lord, A lot of us don’t notice.
Reflection from Bernadette Pope Francis raised our awareness in his encyclical Laudato Si’ and coming together in celebration gives us hope. The natural world springs back new each year on Earth’s untrodden ground. This fills me with gratitude and thanksgiving. We are called to Hope that is linked to love and to a sense of responsibility for those who come after us. Lord, let us tread lightly on the Earth by reducing our demands and living simply.
Loving God, as we close this time together, we pause to recognise Your presence among us.
In our conversations, in our questions, and in our shared commitment to care for this beautiful, fragile world we carry with us the vision of Laudato Si’ A vision of a world where the earth is treated not as a resource to be used, but as a gift to be cherished.
A world where the dignity of every person is honoured, where the vulnerable are protected, and where justice and sustainability walk hand in hand.
Together, we hold onto the hope of a world that is fairer, greener, and more deeply connected, where communities flourish, creation is respected, and future generations can live with joy and peace.
As we step back into our daily lives, give us the imagination to dream big, the courage to act boldly, and the grace to stay rooted in love for You, for each other, and for our common home. Amen
A mass lobby is an event where lots of people meet with their MPs on the same day to have powerful conversations about issues we care about.
Supporters of more than 100 organisations from across the UK will come to Westminster that day to ask our MPs to take action on climate, debt and nature.
In this Jubilee year, it’s vital that MPs also hear from people of faith. So please come along and promote this mass lobby in your local community and parish.
Colette Joyce, the Westminster Justice and Peace Co-ordinator, will be based at the Faith for the Climate stall throughout the day in the QEII Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London, SW1P 3EE. Call or message her on 07593 434905 if you would like to meet up on the day or assist for an hour or two on the stall yourself.
Catholics in Westminster are also invited to join the Lobby via CAFOD who will also have a strong presence on the day. There are travel subsidies available for those who would benefit from receiving assistance to get to the event. Follow the CAFOD link for details.
If you have joined in with previous mass lobbies, you will know how powerful these moments are and about the uniquely inspirational atmosphere generated on the day.
For those who haven’t attended a mass lobby before, this day will be a unique opportunity to join the Church’s global debt campaign and make our call for the cancellation of the debts of countries hit hardest by the climate crisis, loud and clear. Even if you don’t get to meet your MP you can still be part of a big public act of solidarity and witness that will make a difference.
On the day, the Mass Lobby will end with Mass at Westminster Cathedral at 5.30pm! The Celebrant is Bishop John Arnold, Bishops Conference of England and Wales spokesman on the Environment.
Everyone is welcome to join us for the monthly Memorial Prayer Vigil for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers outside the Home Office, SW1P 4DF, on Monday, 16 June from 12:30pm to 1:30pm.
This month is of particular significance as it takes place during Refugee Week 16-22 June 2025.
The theme of this year’s Refugee Week is ‘Community as Superpower’. Come and raise your voices and swell our community so that together we can have a much greater impact!
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
Sign up to receive email news & alerts of changes orcancellation at: homeofficevigil@gmail.com
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has shared a message for the upcoming tenth anniversary of Caritas Bakhita House, the Diocese of Westminster’s safe house for survivors of trafficking and exploitation.
To mark the anniversary, the Cardinal will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving in Westminster Cathedral on 30th June at 5.30pm, which will be attended by the centre’s staff, volunteers and supporters.
Cardinal Nichols extends the invitation to the faithful and general public, noting: ‘It’s a moment for us to thank God for the new life given through the work of [Caritas] Bakhita House, inspired by the compassion and the love that Jesus has for everyone; as he gave his life, that we might live life to the full.’
Opened in 2015, the initiative began as a response to Pope Francis’ injunction for the Church to contribute to combating human trafficking. Since then, the safe house has offered round-the-clock support to over 200 women, including tailored support plans, access to medical and psychological support, therapeutic activities and support with bringing perpetrators to justice.
Cardinal Nichols reflects: ‘I’m most proud of [Caritas] Bakhita House for the way it builds a community… of women who have been rescued from trafficking and found their way back to healthy, productive lives — along with many of their babies, too.’
“The old rules of war have gone, and this is something to which we should give full attention.” Oliver McTernan, the Co-Founder and Director of Forward Thinking, was guest speaker on Saturday at the Annual General Meeting of Pax Christi England and Wales in London. The experienced mediator in conflict situations called for Pax Christi and other peace groups to highlight the moral and ethical issues in modern warfare. “We are not impotent,” he said, “we have the power to challenge.”
The theme of his talk was ‘Prophets for Peace in a Changing World’. The Chair of Pax Christi England and Wales, from Pax Christi Merseyside, Kathryn Lydon, told around 60 in-person participants and 20 online, that “the world is looking for prophets of peace.”
Dioceses represented included Birmingham, Hallam, Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Southwark and Westminster. Groups represented included the Archbishop Romero Trust, Columbans and the National Justice and Peace Network of England and Wales.
Devoting much of his talk to the Gaza conflict, McTernan deplored Israel’s use of powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to identify targets in Gaza…
A conference on ‘Prospects and hopes for the Papacy of Leo XIV’ will take place in the Medieval Crypt of St Etheldreda’s Church, 14 Ely Place, Holborn, EC1N 6RY, Holborn on Friday, 20 June 2025 from 6pm – 9pm.
Speakers will be: HE the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia, Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Apostolic Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London, Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Parish Priest, Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street and Mary Maxwell, Honorary Secretary, Friends of the Holy Father.
Conference Fee £35 – Including folder of Conference documents.
Please book by sending your name and address to: Anthony Weaver, Retreats Beyond Dover, 19 G Peabody, Wild Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B 4BQ – Tel: 020 7379 7273 or email: retreatsdover@gmail.com
Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission 