Join Pax Christi to reflect on Pope Francis’ World Peace Day Message ‘A Culture of Care as a Path to Peace’.
About this Event
Together we will gather on zoom to pray, share and reflect on Pope Francis’ message ‘A Culture of Care as a Path to Peace’. We will explore what this message calls us to do as peacemakers and how we respond to the call to live nonviolently.
If you have any questions or problems registering for this event, please contact the office at admin@paxchristi.org.uk
This year has been one of unprecedented and continuing challenges. We are all conscious of the need to restore and rebuild our communities here and around the world, accepting that we need new ways of working and relating to each other. The Christian message of peace, through reconciliation, justice and nonviolence, can offer hope and direction in these times. I invite you to seriously consider facilitating a collection for, or making a donation to, the work of Pax Christi at this time as a way to make a practical contribution to continuing the work of peace
Pax Christi National President, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon
Welcome to the first Justice & Peace E-bulletin of 2021.
We begin a new year with so many uncertainties and challenges. We are right in the midst of this dreadful pandemic which is changing so much of the way we live our lives. Our parish communities will each have their own stories of those who are suffering in different ways: physical illness, bereavements, loneliness, depression, lost jobs, increased poverty and destitution, and the inability to come together in person as a parish community. It’s a tough time and is likely to continue to be so for months ahead.
And yet there are so many heroic stories too of living out faith in sacrificial service of those who are victims of the pandemic, often by society forgotten, through the food banks, homeless services, and the different groups serving and advocating for the vast numbers of newly poor here on our streets. The Gospel of Justice and Peace has certainly been proclaimed throughout these last months in our communities and on our streets. If we can say there are graces of this dreadful time they are clearly visible in the social action and advocacy work going on around the Diocese. Here Justice and Peace Westminster has worked closely alongside Caritas Westminster marrying advocacy and action and so bringing to life the Church’s social conscience and mission.
While so much of the work of Justice & Peace has rightly focussed on these immediate and pressing needs the Commission, sub-committees and parish groups have addressed other issues of ongoing importance. In the wake of Black Lives Matter we have seen great motivation in addressing issues of racial justice in parishes, in the Church and society. Racial Justice Sunday on January 31st will be an opportunity to focus on this important issue. Similarly, Peace Sunday, celebrated on January 17th, will challenge us to think outside of our domestic borders to be in solidarity with those overseas ravaged by war and conflict and to examine our own complicity there through passive support of weapons manufacture and investment.
In a similar vein Pope Francis’ call to care for creation will continue to be echoed through how we promote environmentally friendly projects and policies and raise awareness of green issues, all leading up to a diocesan group going to COP 26 in November.
As we begin this new year of such uncertainty and challenge may we make a new commitment to allow the Gospel of justice and peace to take root in all our communities and respond to the Holy Father’s call on New Year’s Day when he encouraged all of us to work for a peace “sustained with patient and respectful dialogue” and “constructed with an open collaboration with truth and justice,” so 2021 may be “a year of peace, a year of hope.” It is up to everyone, Pope Francis says to take “by the hand those who need a comforting word, a tender gesture,” he said, and if “we begin to be in peace with ourselves,” it will spread to “those who are near us.”
May the God of Peace be with you and your loved ones at the start of this new year.
Fr Dominic Chair, Justice & Peace Commission, Diocese of Westminster
In occasion of the five years anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement, adopted in Paris in December 2015 and ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit (12 December), the Vatican Covid-19 Commission (#VaticanCovidCommission) and its partners will highlight through this webinar the need to urge governments to raise ambition for tackling the climate emergency, through the points of view of:
H.E. Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson – Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, on how faith and Pope Francis’ messages can help address the climate crisis;
Prof. John Schellnhuber – Founding Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, on what science is telling us today and what that means for world leaders, civil society and businesses;
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim – Coordinator of AFPAT, on the impact of global warming on communities and the role of youth activism.
The webinar, moderated by Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President: The Club of Rome, will provide a platform for a high-level exchange on the climate crisis in the context of the efforts to build a just and sustainable recovery. Participants will be able to engage with the speakers through a Q&As session.
What is the pandemic teaching us about the call to Justice and Peace? That was the question posed by Bishop Nicholas Hudson last Saturday at the start of an online meeting of the Westminster Justice and Peace Forum on the theme ‘Learning from the Pandemic’. Bishop Paul McAleenan was on the zoom too, along with around 60 clergy, religious and laity. It was great to see such a spread of interest across the diocese – Hertfordshire as well as London – and a few joined in from other dioceses – Southwark, Northampton and Brentwood were the ones I spotted. British Sign Language interpretation was provided throughout by Caritas Deaf Service.
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, based at Farm Street church and the Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, led us through the morning event, helping us “to look back at what we have been learning and look at what we can do to rebuild.”
Anna Gavurin, of the Westminster Caritas Food Collective, was the first speaker. She highlighted that soon after pandemic restrictions came in more than 100 projects sprang up immediately. Catholic parishes and schools were well placed to recognise the hardship in their communities. She reported head teachers driving around with food parcels, supermarket vouchers being distributed by at least 120 parishes and schools, and Church foodbanks seeing a fourfold increase in demand. As well as the humanitarian response, she felt the pandemic shone a light on the causes of food poverty – especially people with no recourse to public funds and no access to, or delays to, benefits. Caritas organised training, helping parishes and schools to see what they could do in their local area. The issue of Justice came more and more to the fore in discussions, “challenging us to think why this is happening.” She learnt the extent to which the Church is a vibrant network, ready to respond in a crisis. Also, that the Church has a voice to influence and is using it. Into the future, Caritas Westminster has developed its Road to Resilience programme: www.caritasfoodcollective.org.uk/road-to-resilience-63.php.
Dr Pat Jones, of the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, talked about one of her brothers teaching in a deprived area of the North-West, and his experience of lessons being disrupted because of a “toast trolley” moving along the corridor outside to feed hungry children. She felt disturbed by that toast trolley and asked, “what has happened to the social safety net?”. Our social and economic systems are broken, she said, and “the pandemic prompts a radical reset for we must not forget what we have seen and heard and must not settle for the old normality.” She highlighted Pope Francis’ call for structural change, with a new emphasis on ‘Social Peace’ “which is built from below”. Pat deplored rising levels of domestic violence during the pandemic and the reduced number of refuges available for women fleeing partners. It was mentioned that the National Board of Catholic Women has responded with its recent publication, ‘Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse’ and see the work of the Bishops’ Conference at www.cbcew.org.uk/home/our-work/domestic-abuse/.
Fr Richard Nesbitt, parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima Parish at White City, highlighted the issue of racial justice and reported having his eyes opened by listening to the multicultural community in his parish. His parishioners spoke of the lack of black people in leadership roles in the Church; racial imagery in artwork in Church and in cards in the repository; little diversity of musical styles. It was pointed out to him that even in the Church’s charity work there was the danger of ‘white saviour’ syndrome. “Most shocking of all” he said “was where some black parishioners regularly experience rejection by white parishioners” at the Sign of Peace in the Mass. He quoted from US priest, Fr Bryan N Massingale, that, “Catholic Teaching on race suffers from a lack of passion”. He clarified what he meant by saying, “no one can doubt what the position is on Abortion – a major marker of Catholic identity – but Racism is marked by low institutional commitment, being tepid, lukewarm and half-hearted – and so not seen as a core component of Catholic identity.” Fr Richard reflected, “this has been a journey of conversion for me.”
Marcelle Smith, gave a Catholic Schools perspective from her experience as a teacher in Colchester. She has been horrified by some materials used in classes which reinforce systemic racism. She called for more teachers from ethnic minorities and better Racial literacy teacher training. When asked about her hopes for the year ahead, she said, “Justice”.
At a break in the meeting two short videos were played which had won a Season of Creation 2020 diocesan video competition. One was from St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Neasden and the other from St Vincent’s Primary school in Ealing. In both of them participants saw the planting of seeds, bulbs and saplings. In the second a young child hoped, “that our work inspires other children to look after our ecosystem”. WOW! I didn’t even know that word ‘ecosystem’ when I was at school! See: https://westminsterjp.wordpress.com/season-of-creation-video-competition/
Colette Joyce, the Justice and Peace Coordinator for Westminster, reported that the four London dioceses – Arundel & Brighton, Brentwood, Southwark and Westminster – are planning to work together and with CAFOD next year on Climate Justice in preparation for COP26 in November at Glasgow. A Columban sister suggested that the question should be examined, ‘Is Climate Change racist?’
Feedback from groups suggested that the pandemic has highlighted for them the sheer scale of poverty and inequality in Britain; public budget priorities which would put military spending ahead of aid; Racism in society and in the Church; and a new awareness of who keyworkers are and their contribution to the common good of society. “So many people are close to the edge and our society’s fragility has been revealed” said one participant. There was a commitment to greater solidarity with vulnerable people and communities and making use of new technology for advocacy work. “How we connect digitally is really important” said another. Very specifically, there was a call to revisit the relationship between the Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) and the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Perhaps Racial Justice Sunday should be reconnected directly with CARJ.
Liam Allmark, of the Bishops’ Conference summed up the learning from the pandemic. Quoting Pope Francis, he said, “this is a moment to dream big, act differently and a time to heal”. In his thanks, Bishop Paul McAleenan referred to the latest publication from Pope Francis ‘Let Us Dream’ where the three chapters take the titles – SEE, JUDGE, ACT. This process – sometimes called the Pastoral Cycle – is a key process for Justice and Peace work. The final prayer came from Laudato Si’. Exuberant hymns topped and tailed the meeting, led by Mary Pierre-Harvey, the Director of Parish Youth and the Caribbean Choir at St Michael and St Martin Parish, Hounslow. The gathering aimed to provide some direction for the year ahead. It certainly did!
This Human Rights Day falls on the 10 December, and Jesuit Missions have asked for your help to take action to help free Fr Stan Swamy SJ from prison.
Fr Stan, a Jesuit priest and human rights activist, has been unfairly imprisoned by the National Investigation Agency in India since the 8 October.
He is 83 years old, in poor health and suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He needs your help.
What you can do
We want to raise awareness about what has happened to Fr Stan Swamy. This can be done in two ways.
Stand with Stan online
On Human Rights Day, we will be posting photos from Jesuit Mission supporters, Jesuit schools and parishes and others all standing with Stan. This will be part of an international online campaign and we are inviting you to get involved.
You can take action and #StandwithStan, by sending a photo of yourself with a poster, or sign that says #StandwithStan (you can download a poster below).
On the 10 December, all the photos of supporters will be tweeted to Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law and Justice in India calling him to take action for Stan on Human Rights Day.
To take part simply download and print our Stand with Stan poster, or create one yourself. Then, take a picture of yourself with the poster and send it to us using the link below!
Bishop Nicholas Hudson, lead Bishop for Justice & Peace in the Diocese of Westminster, writes:
Often, the parish community is the first place of encounter that the poor have with the face of Christ.” So says an interesting document called The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of the Evangelising Mission of the Church. It comes from the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy and is timely, because there is much reflection going on in our Diocesan community as to what it has meant to be a parish in time of pandemic; also what more we must do.
It is in this spirit of openness to conversion that we shall be coming together on 5th December to Learn from the Pandemic. We shall hear, from a rich array of speakers, what we have discovered about resourcing ourselves to meet the needs of the poor; how the pandemic has affected parishes seeking to embrace the New Evangelisation; what has been the impact of the amplified proclamation that Black Lives Matter; how the whole experience has refined our theology. We are grateful to be joined by Anna Gavurin from the Caritas Food Collective; Fr Richard Nesbitt, Parish Priest in White City; Catholic teacher Marcelle Smith, who has been empowering others to talk about racial justice and combating racism; and the theologian, Dr Pat Jones.
The question of the rich young man must remain our guiding light: “Master, what more must I do?” We need to be asking what more we must do, for example, for those who have no recourse to public funds, for those who seek to meet Christ in this time of disarray, for those who are persecuted on account of their race – and more. “What more must we do?” is the question which should guide our Learning from the Pandemic on 5th December and beyond. I hope as many agencies and groups within the Diocese as can will join us in this vital conversation.
OPEN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NEXT WESTMINSTER SOCIAL JUSTICE & PEACE FORUM SATURDAY 5TH DECEMBER 2020 11.00AM – 1.30PM Register with Eventbrite
Join us for an online gathering for everybody in the Diocese of Westminster (and our friends!) to share our experiences of the pandemic so far, provide a vision of hope and offer some practical direction for the year ahead. Our invited speakers will help us reflect on the impact the pandemic has had on our personal lives, our faith community and our pastoral practice.
What are the implications for our social justice-building and peace-making activity?
What have we learnt? Where do we go next?
Speakers helping to facilitate the Forum include Anna Gavurin (Caritas Food Collective), Dr Pat Jones (Catholic Social Teaching Researcher), Fr Richard Nesbitt (Parish Priest, Our Lady of Fatima, White City, London) and Fr Paschal Uche (Assistant Priest, St James the Less & St Helen, Colchester). Chair: Fr Dominic Robinson SJ (Chair of Westminster Justice & Peace). Summariser: Liam Allmark (Head of Public Affairs, Catholic Bishops Conference of England & Wales).
Forum Programme
10.45am Link Open
11.00am Prayer – led by Mary Pierre-Harvey (St Michael & St Martin, Hounslow, Youth and Caribbean Choir Leader)
11.15am Speakers
12.05pm Break
12.15pm Forum Discussion in Small Groups & Plenary
1.00pm Summary and Next Steps
1.20pm Prayer and Blessing
Hosted by Bishop Nicholas Hudson and Bishop Paul McAleenan
Co-sponsored by Caritas Westminster & Westminster Justice & Peace Commission
Accessibility – there will be British Sign Language interpretation at this event provided by Caritas Westminster Deaf Service
New series of online Zoom Gatherings for Justice & Peace activists across the Westminster Diocese for mutual support and sharing of current issues with Colette Joyce, our Co-ordinator, and other Commission members. You are invited to attend the Network meeting local to you, but if the date isn’t suitable please feel free to join any of the others. First time participants and seasoned campaigners welcome.
Saturday, 23rd January 2021, 10.00am – 12.00pm West London Justice & Peace Network Deaneries: Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Upper Thames. Register in advance with Eventbrite
Saturday, 6th February 2021, 10.00am – 12.00pm East London Justice & Peace Network Deaneries: Hackney, Islington, Marylebone and Tower Hamlets Register in advance with Eventbrite
Saturday, 20th February 2021, 10.00am-12.00pm Central London Justice & Peace Network Deaneries: Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, North Kensington and Westminster. Register in advance with Eventbrite
Monday, 8th March 2021, 7.00-9.00pm North London Justice & Peace Network Deaneries: Barnet, Camden, Enfield and Haringey Register in advance with Eventbrite
Tbc Hertfordshire Justice & Peace Network
Our hope is that every Parish will send at least one representative to the gatherings. Parish Priests and named Justice & Peace Contacts for a Parish are especially welcome, as is anyone with an interest in any of our current priority areas – Responding to COVID19, Care of Creation, Climate Justice, Racial Justice, Housing & Homelessness, Ethical Investment, Fair Trade, Cancel the Debt, Food Poverty, Migrants and Refugees, Nuclear Weapons and Peace – as well as anyone who would like to bring another concern to our attention.
Contact Colette Joyce for more information or queries – Mob: 07593 434905 Email: colettejoyce@rcdow.org.uk
Due to unavoidable circumstances, this event has had to be postponed from Sunday 15th November. It has been rescheduled for Sunday 6th December instead.
Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission 