A special evening of prayer and music with guests and an Aid to the Church in Need award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 20 November at the Brompton Oratory, Brompton Rd, London, SW7 2RP.
The chief celebrant will be Bishop Nicholas Hudson.
The Oratory will be illuminated in red to shine a light on Christian persecution, giving hope to those suffering around the world.
#RedWednesday Programme – The Oratory, London
6:30pm: Gathering below Church steps
Be part of the #RW show reel filming. Ahead of group photograph at 6:45pm.
7:00pm: Holy Mass at The Oratory Please join us for sung Holy Mass to remember our persecuted brothers and sisters in prayer. Celebrated by Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster. Concelebrating will be Archbishop Linus Neli of Imphal, India and Monsignor Michael Nazir-Ali.
8:10pm: #RW Award Presentation Presentation of ACN’s #RedWednesday Courage to be Christian Award. Followed by a short update on ACN’s ‘Persecuted & Forgotten?’ report and how you can help.
8:30pm: Reception Enjoy refreshments and conversation with ACN staff and benefactors.
A new series of Faith and Women talks starts on Wednesday, 13 November at 1.35pm in the Cana Lounge in the basement of the London Jesuit Centre, 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AH.
The talks will be about 15 minutes each, with time for questions and answers after, concluding at 2.15pm. The topics are all from the perspectives of women, to reflect the emerging themes of the Synod. Both men and women are welcome to attend.
Soup, sandwiches, tea and coffee will be available in the Cana Lounge café for a modest suggested donation.
Eleni Thwaites will be giving the first talk on Wednesday, 13 November on ‘Women and Power.’
Future topics will be:
20 November – Women and service
27 November – Women and ministry
4 December – Women and the Synod.
For more information email Janet Obeney-Williams on: scooter1janet@outlook.com
The Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 16 November 2024 at 11.00am at St Thomas More Church, 9 Henry Rd, London N4 2LH. The theme is: ‘Practical steps for achieving the Racial Justice Agenda’. The event is open to all members and friends of CARJ
Papers for the AGM (including the Annual Report, the Accounts, papers relating to the Election of Trustees, membership forms etc) here – please notify CARJ if you would want hard copies of the papers sent to you.
Please keep an eye on the CARJ website over the coming weeks (here) for the names of nominated Trustees. There is also a form for you to nominate a trustee to CARJ.
Arrival and registration starts from 10.30am. The business meeting commences promptly at 11am followed by Mass, lunch, and an afternoon of talks and discussion relating to practical step for achieving Racial Justice.
Food and drink will be available across the day.
It is helpful, for catering purposes, to know in advance who is coming. If possible, please contact CARJ by phone- 020 8802 8080 or email- info@carj.org.uk beforehand. However, please feel free to turn up on the day even if you have not booked.
Directions: St Thomas More Church is a short walk from Manor House Underground Station. Anyone who is driving has to enter the complex of streets around Henry Rd by turning off Green Lanes into Gloucester Drive.
To join CARJ or renew your membership, please email info@carj.org.uk for membership form.
‘Coming Home’ – the annual Service of Commemoration for people who have been homeless, who have died in London in the past year, took place at a packed St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square on Thursday. In this very touching service, the names of 129 people were carefully read out – another 64 people who died were not named. The congregation included friends and relatives of the deceased as well staff and volunteers of the various homeless charities.
Organised by St Martin in the Fields, The Connection at St Martin’s, Housing Justice and the Museum of Homelessness, the service began with Simon and Garfunkel’s song ‘Homeward Bound, played by Alistair Murray, John Deacon and Chris Bluemel.
In his introduction, Rev Richard Carter pointed out that these people were originally not homeless. “They came to London looking for a home” he said…
Cardinal Vincent Nichols and the other bishops of England and Wales are encouraging all to join them as they pause for an hour in the middle of their autumn plenary meeting, at 5.30pm on Wednesday, 13 November, to kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament to pray for the dignity of human life and to uphold a culture of life in our countries.
They will gather in the Chapel of the Holy Family at Hinsley Hall, Leeds, to unite in compassionate action in light of the bill passing through parliament that seeks to legalise assisted suicide. The holy hour will end with Evening Prayer before a concluding Benediction.
Cardinal Vincent said: “We offer our prayers this holy hour for the dignity of human life. In particular our focus is on the end of life and praying together in front of the Blessed Sacrament that assisted suicide will not become law in our lands. This would greatly diminish the importance and innate value of every human person, akin to saying that our life is not a gift of God. Instead we would be asserting that life is our own possession to do with as we choose. But we are far more important than that. We are a gift of God – a gift that is freely given. Then, when God is ready, we are called back to him.
“During this holy hour, we pray that many minds and hearts will be open to this beautiful and great truth about the value, importance, and beauty of every human person. We pray passionately that we will not take a step in legislation that promotes a so-called ‘right to die’, that will quite likely become a duty to die and place pressure on doctors and medical staff to help take life rather than to care, protect, and heal.
“When you are praying, please remember those who offer such care and accompaniment to people facing their last days and hours. Especially pray for those who work in palliative care – nurses, doctors, people who are home visitors. They do a wonderful job with care and compassion, but they need more resources. That is what we should be investing in, not a piece of legislation that leaves us vulnerable and under pressure to seek an end to our life.
“This is an important moment in our history. Please write to your MP and express your view to that member of Parliament. Many have not yet made up their minds how to vote.
“May God bless us all, bless our countries, and bless those who make our laws with courage to embrace and uphold a culture of life.”
On Friday, 29 November, the House of Commons will hear the Second Reading of a new bill on assisted suicide tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. This is another attempt to legalise assisted suicide and we need you to contact your MP to voice your opposition.
Please visit the Bishops’ Conference resources on assisted suicide. Here you will find content that explains why we oppose assisted suicide, provides answers to FAQs, helps Catholics to quickly and easily contact their MP, provides further information on hospice care, and more.
Here you can download a simple two-page A4 PDF with suggested readings, intercessions and reflections to accompany your time of prayer, whether this is in church in front of the Blessed Sacrament, or in your own home.
There will be a Holy Hour at Farm Street Church, on Wednesday 13 November 2024, 5.00-6.00pm, with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers for the dignity of human life at 5.30pm.
Members of the Westminster Justice and Peace network are particularly welcome to join us for this time of prayer, either in person or on the parish livestream.
November is the month when we traditionally mourn our dead.
In Justice and Peace we take particular care to remember and lament all those who tragically lose their lives to conflict, terror or hardship. On the third Monday of every month we gather outside the Home Office to pray by name, where it is known, for those who die on the way to seeking sanctuary in Europe. On 7th November, we will join an ecumenical gathering at St Martin-in-the-Fields to remember all those who died homeless in London in the last year. We pray constantly for those who are losing their lives in the Middle East, in Sudan, Congo, Yemen, Ukraine and other wars.
This month may we be people of prayer who seek God’s help and mercy so that we may create a better world without such war and bitter loss.
Dr Timothy Howles, the Associate director Laudato Si’ Research Institute (LRSI) at Campion Hall, Oxford, addressed the most recent meeting of the Southern Dioceses Environment Network on 14 October 2024.
Tim told us that the LRSI is a Catholic institute, set up by the Jesuits, but he is an ordained Anglican priest, and happy to be working in this project in an ecumenical way.
His slides covered the integral ecology paradigm which is increasingly used in Higher Education but with the theological basis found in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’.
Laudato Si’ stresses the need for an ecological conversion for all of us (LS 217) and invites us to care for those who are on the margins (LS62). Scientists are frustrated that their data is being ignored so as Prof Chris Rapley says, “We have to change who people are, we have to give them epiphanies”.
LS25 focuses on the idea of interconnectedness, that “we ourselves are part of nature,” and so have responsibility for the delicate equilibria of the world.
The Institute produces resources and books such “Faith-based participation in natural resource governance”, “Integral ecology approaches to the new science of gene drives”, “Endangered languages in North East India”.
They also host talks such as the upcoming lecture by Dr Vijay d’Souza SJ, who will be in Oxford for a lecture on 13 November, 5.30 – 6.30pm, which is both in-person and on livestream.
Future Meetings
Next month, we are pleased to welcome back Dr Emma Gardner, Head of Environment for the Diocese of Salford, who will tell us a little more about the work she does at the Laudato Si’ Centre, the beautiful project at Wardley Hall, near Manchester. For more details visits:
October 2024 Vigil outside the Home Office. Photo: Pat Gaffney
By Abi Yendole
This month’s Migrants Vigil at the government’s Home Office in London marked three years of monthly prayers there for people who have died trying to reach the UK and for the UK to be a more welcoming nation. An organiser, Barbara Kentish, said. “If only we could say things were better, but alas, we need to pray harder than ever.” The one-hour vigils are co-sponsored by Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, London Catholic Worker and London Churches Refugee Fund.
Brother Johannes Maertens of the London Catholic Worker gave a reflection on his visits to Calais and the work of an arts refugee project that uses maps and art to encourage refugees to tell their stories. He commented that some of the young men he met had been on the road for six years.
The names of people who died a year ago – in October 2023 – trying to enter Europe or the UK were read out and a prayer of repentance said afterwards: “You told us to welcome strangers in our land, but we have hated, humiliated, imprisoned, and killed those who have asked for our hospitality. Forgive us and help us to change.”
Around 30 people attended the latest vigil on Monday 21 October. James Trewby (Columban Justice, Justice, Peace and Ecology coordinator) and Abi Yendole (Columban Faith in Action Volunteer) accompanied the Justice and Peace Committee of 16 Year 10 students and one teacher from St George’s School in Maida Vale to the vigil.
One student said afterwards: “Hearing all the names and stories of those who have died meant I was able to personify every victim; give every victim a face; it was powerful.” Pope Francis has said something similar, captured on the refugee memorial in Dover, that, “every migrant has a name, a face and a story.” Another student said: “As a member of the justice and peace group, going to the Home office to pray for refugees has been a profound and humbling experience. Standing in solidarity praying for those seeking safety and refuge, I felt the weight of their struggles and the urgency of advocating for justice. In the quiet moment of prayer, we offered up hope for a system that could see beyond the borders to the humanity of those in need. It was both a spiritual act of compassion and a call for action, reminding me of the power of community and faith in pursuing change.”
Also present on Monday were representatives from churches around London, Jesuit Refugee Service, London Catholic Worker, Pax Christi England and Wales and Seeking Sanctuary.
Intercessions included the prayer: “We pray for the end of the hostile environment, and the creation of safe, legal routes to claim asylum in this country.”
By Maggie Beirne, West London Justice and Peace Network Co-ordinator
“There is so much going on!” – the positive reaction of one of the participants at this weekend’s meeting online of the West London Justice and Peace Network.
Representatives of 10 parishes were joined by Richard Harries, CEO of Caritas Westminster, which encourages parishes to engage with their own social action projects. Also, Sr Silvana Dallanegra, a Religious of the Sacred Heart and a Development Worker of Caritas Westminster, covering seven deaneries.
Those present talked of their parishes’ efforts organising hustings in relation to the general election; Autumn efforts around the Season of Creation and Fairtrade Fortnight; CAFOD Harvest fundraising efforts; the DEC Appeal and action for the Middle East; and advance preparations for Advent and Christmas. Often big events were organised (eg a Green Living Fair); sometimes the parish newsletter and social media were used as vehicles to encourage reflection, prayer and fundraising efforts; sometimes Bidding Prayers, musical choices, or special liturgical events were planned to mark key events. Some parishes have been successful in drawing in their young parishioners – colouring books for the children’s liturgy; badges to promote Fairtrade and CAFOD; and looking at wider issues of diversity (in their church iconography etc).
Nearly all the parishes have a range of activities linked also to more immediate local concerns – with foodbank collections; winter night shelter arrangements; social gatherings to reduce isolation and so on. Most parish reps also reported how they had followed up in lobbying their local MPs in response to the Cardinal’s recent statement on Assisted Suicide.
The group also discussed common problems and exchanged practical suggestions about the way forward – how to avoid ‘funding fatigue’ when there are competing demands for second collections; should we hand out CAFOD envelopes in person, or is it better to attach them to all the newsletters; how do we get more volunteers to come on board; how do we best coordinate across Justice and Peace/CARITAS/SVP/Laudato Si locally without losing our distinct charisms? There was a lot of information shared about local, national and international resources available to help.
The network was particularly interested to hear more about the bishops’ statement, ‘Called to be Peace Makers,’ issued in May 2024. It is a very strong document sub-titled ‘A Catholic Approach to Arms Control and Disarmament,’ though several of those present had not been aware of it previously. Given how important this debate is currently, resources like this need to be more widely disseminated – both to those in the pews and to the wider world. It was suggested that the Bishops’ Conference might offer printed copies. Some members of the Network are particularly active in Pax Christi and Christian CND and are taking ahead specific projects – including a Nuclear Morality flowchart – and hoping to lobby parliament to move this issue further up their agenda.
So, to finish where we began with “so much going on!” Sometimes parishioners feel overwhelmed about the competing demands and needs for action – and particularly now when the world seems to be in a specially bad place on peace and environment issues, and people’s immediate concerns about cost of living, family, health, or work can be demanding. But three times a year, the network gets together virtually and by putting together all our individual scraps of ‘good news’ and activities, we are amazed at the result. It gives us all the energy and commitment to carry on and indeed increase our efforts for the coming of justice and peace in our hearts, homes and world!
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.
Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission 