Category: News

Westminster Justice and Peace Co-ordinator featured on All Kinds of Catholic podcast

Last month saw the launch of All Kinds of Catholic, a new weekly podcast. The project has been created by Theresa Alessandro who hosts the episodes. A new conversation with a different Catholic guest is released every Wednesday. The dialogue focusses on how each person is living their faith in the world today. Theresa explained: “It is important that the podcast appears on mainstream platforms like Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Youtube, witnessing to the fact that Catholic people, and our faith journeys, are part of the fabric of society.”

Five episodes in, the pod is drawing a growing following of many hundreds of listeners, including some in other parts of the world. Key elements of Catholic culture and practice come to the surface naturally in the conversations. Guests have talked about the Rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the power of our conscience and of justice, the value of groups like the Catholic Women’s League or Laudato Si’ Animators, the witness of a beloved parish priest’s Jubilee celebration and the challenge of talking about our faith at work. People have honestly shared their ‘wobbles’, or more serious concerns about their faith or about the church as well.

It can be difficult to put faith into words and the podcast guests are mainly people who are not in the public eye. Their courage and willingness to share something of their story and their own spirituality is deeply moving. The feedback received so far demonstrates how much the episodes resonate with listeners: ‘I really appreciated what [podcast guest] Maggie said about women in the church. That’s where I am as well.’ ‘We all sat and listened to [Podcast guest] Peter. It was so lovely to hear him talk about Santo Nino.’ ‘Loved the wonderful conversation with Matthew. Such human warmth.’

Upcoming episodes include: another Matthew, who has Nigerian heritage and was born during the civil war; Yvonne speaking from New Zealand; and Eleni, who is both a recent graduate and a recent convert.

Please search for All Kinds of Catholic on podcast platforms. ‘Follow’ the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. Rate and review it, to help other people find it. You can follow the dedicated X and Facebook accounts too: @KindsofCatholic.

Theresa has a wealth of development plans but in the meantime do tune in and keep sharing your thoughts, so you can be part of our deeper listening and conversation about Catholic faith in the world today.

Colette Joyce, the Justice and Peace Co-ordinator for the Diocese of Westminster, is the guest this week for the fifth podcast in the series. You can hear her interview here

LINKS

ALL KINDS OF CATHOLIC: https://kindsofcatholic.buzzsprout.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KindsofCatholic

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/KindsofCatholic

Citizens UK – Schools Event Report – 2 July 2024, Pimlico, London

Photo: Citizens UK

On Tuesday 2nd July, more than 200 young people, teachers and school leaders from all over England and Wales gathered in the parish hall of the church of the Holy Apostles, Pimlico. The event was arranged by a team of teachers and chaplains who work in Catholic schools and are engaged with Citizens UK.

Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Chair of Westminster Justice & Peace Commission, and Colette Joyce, the Co-ordinator, were both present to learn more from the young people and other leaders about the work of community organising in schools around the country.

We gathered to celebrate the existing Community Organising work taking place in our schools, and inspire others to get involved. The event also served to launch a new ‘Catholic Social Teaching and Community Organising toolkit for schools and colleges’.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols opened the event with a discussion of his previous work with Citizens UK and reminded everyone that we are all on a “journey guided by our faith, strengthened by hope, and led by our desire for charity and justice.” Following this, he offered his prayers and blessing for Citizens UK’s organising work in Catholic schools and colleges, including the new toolkit, and agreed to share our work with Pope Francis on his next visit to Rome. There is a hope that a delegation can visit the Vatican to share this work in person.

Raymond Friel OBE, chief executive of Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN), reminded everyone of the upcoming year of jubilee and how schools can be ready to make pledges which links to their work with organising. He explained the connection between love and justice, and reminded everyone of Pope Benedict XVI’s call to have a “heart that sees”.

Anita Motha, chief executive of Million Minutes, celebrated the work of the different campaigns that young people had been involved in as well as reminding the young people that they are the “living catalysts for change”. “You are inspiring!” she told the audience which contained over 100 young people.

Schools and colleges that were featured in the toolkit celebrated and shared some of their work during the afternoon, where they have been living out the principles of Catholic Social Teaching through the model of Community Organising. Andy Lewis, Deputy Headteacher at St Bonaventure’s, East London, said, “It was a real coming together of so much great work – the achievements of these young people are incredible – securing the Living Wage at large companies, reduced bus fares for a whole region, ensuring greater funding for mental health support in schools. However it felt like only the beginning – we will now be working out next steps with the support of key Catholic organisations, and with the blessing of Cardinal Nichols, and look forward, in great hope, to sharing and celebrating this work with the Holy Father in Rome.”

Young people from our Catholic schools, confidently co-chaired the event and conducted a panel discussion with other young people engaged in Community Organising within Citizens UK chapters. One said: “Power can feel limited in this country, especially as we cannot vote, but when we work together we can be powerful,” while another said, “With our energy as young people, there can be a tsunami of change.” One student pointed out that young people are ready to “demolish the divides of our society and rebuild stronger.” and that, “Every win is a win, big or small, persist, try, try, try and try again.”

Download a copy of Called To Action HERE

See more pictures from the event HERE

Westminster Justice and Peace and the General Election

Photo: Ellen Teague

Source: Ellen Teague, ICN

Fourteen Justice and Peace contacts from 10 parishes in Westminster met on Tuesday, 2 July, at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in White City, west London, to feedback on election activity in their churches. They were from White City, Isleworth, Hanwell, Ruislip, Feltham, Enfield, Ponders End, Wealdstone and St Albans. Participants included Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, parish priest of Farm Street and Chair of the Westminster Diocese Justice and Peace Commission, and Colette Joyce, the Westminster Justice and Peace Coordinator.

The evening started with an opening liturgy and a tour of the parish, led by Parish Priest Fr Richard Nesbitt and Hilda McCafferty, who coordinates justice, peace and ecology work. The group was impressed with the multiple initiatives for social justice and care of God’s creation. Even space around the church, once fairly bare, has been transformed into a green oasis promoting biodiversity and composting. Inside the church doors was a display of the parish’s LiveSimply Award, ‘Love in Action’ programme, and Fairtrade project. Around the church, stained-glass windows, created by London artist Mark Cazalet, contained images which reflected the multi-cultural nature of the parish and background outlines of the White City landscape. In two collages, saints of colour – such as Josephine Bakhita, Martin de Porres and Andrew Kim Taegon – were honoured alongside Bernadette of Lourdes and Maximilian Kolbe.

The parish centre is a community hub and it houses a ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ upcycling centre and a foodbank. Single use plastic is banned. On Saturdays it hosts a weekly vegetarian meal, open to the local community.

After shared refreshments, a presentation in the hall was given by Hilda and Fr Richard, highlighting parish advocacy work for Justice and Peace. In 2021, during the UN’s COP26 on Climate in Glasgow, a ‘Parliament in the Parish’ was organised involving local MP Andy Slaughter. He was there again more recently on 17 June for hustings of the Hammersmith and Chiswick Constituency and hosted by Hilda. Around 80 people attended, and issues raised included Cost of living, Disability, and Assisted Dying.

This was followed by feedback from other parish contacts and discussion on engagement with the 2024 General Election. This ranged between encouraging Catholics to attend hustings hosted by Anglican parishes – including St Alban’s Abbey – advertising election materials offered by the Bishops’ Conference and others, to items in parish newsletters and bidding prayers. A few parishes had scant engagement. “The parish team seems to feel it is not appropriate to push a certain agenda,” reported one participant, despite issues highlighted being rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ video encouraging participation in the General Election was valued.

There was a recommendation that J&P people make a note of commitments from candidates on issues of concern to Catholics so that they can be reminded about them after the election. The new government must be held to account.

Colette reported that Westminster J&P will be at the National Justice and Peace Network Annual Conference in July, which will focus on ‘Just Politics’. Next year, that conference will focus on Politics and Peace. In the current tragic circumstances of the Holy Land, Westminster’s Commission is discerning how to make their witness for peace more effective? There will also be work on the 2025 Holy Year and it was noted that CAFOD and CSAN are currently working on resources. For the coming academic year, the Commission’s focus is likely to be on ‘Formation’ and the growth in Justice and Peace Groups.

Fr Richard led a final prayer, “for a new kind of politics which serves the common good.”

LINKS

Westminster Justice and Peace: www.westminsterjusticeandpeace.org

Parish, Chaplaincy and Organisation Justice & Peace Contacts at: https://westminsterjusticeandpeace.org/parish-contacts/

Reflection on leaders debate a week before UK General Election

Source: ICN/JRS

Sophie Cartwright, Senior Policy Officer at Jesuit Refugee Services UK writes:

In this week’s election debate, the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition accused each other of pursuing policies that would grant refugees sanctuary, as if this were a great fault. It laid bare just how low our politics has sunk.

Faced with a question about border control, the Prime Minister touted the government’s plan to forcibly send people seeking asylum to Rwanda. In response the leader of the opposition attacked the Prime Minister for not processing people’s asylum claims because “until they are processed they cannot be returned to where they came from”. He noted that the government could, after all, only remove a few hundred people to Rwanda.

Asked whether processing asylum claims would mean giving most people asylum, he responded that currently everyone is effectively “given asylum” because they can’t be removed. The Prime Minister responded derisively: “Do you know where they’re from? Iran, Syria, Afghanistan”, going on to suggest that because it would be impossible to return people to such countries, we should ignore their claims and forcibly send them to Rwanda.

People claiming asylum, the argument went, are from really dangerous places, so processing their claims would mean we were forced to grant them safe haven. Therefore, we shouldn’t even consider their cases.

The leader of the opposition might have been expected to respond by saying that yes, processing asylum claims would mean that people who have fled brutal regimes and conflict could be granted asylum here, and that is right. Yes, we should be a country that offers sanctuary to refugees. Instead, he focussed on the impossibility of removing anyone without first processing their claims, and the irrelevance of the Rwanda plan, given the small numbers involved.

Throughout the argument, the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition appeared united in the assumption that forcibly removing people who have fled to the UK in order to escape the Taliban was a commonsense policy goal.

In the conversation, removing refugees was the only thing that mattered. The whole argument hinged on what was the most practicable way to do that at scale. Any sense of humanity towards refugees, or legal justice for them, was absent from this discussion.

The Prime Minister even quipped that it would be impossible to “do a deal” with Iranian Ayatollahs or the Taliban, seeming to imply that the chief barrier to removing people was the lack of dialogue with those regimes, not the fate people would face if removed to them.

We have experienced years of increasingly dehumanising language and hostile policies towards refugees. We have witnessed our asylum system, that denies people the sanctuary they badly need and abuses those it ought to protect, become even worse as politicians across the spectrum demonise desperate people who are trying to reach safety. Much of this discourse tries to deny that people in the asylum system have fled danger. In this discussion, the Prime Minister stared that fact squarely in the face, but treated it as morally irrelevant, a logistical problem, albeit a big one, and this attitude remained unchallenged by his opponent.

This is a new low in our political discourse. The very idea that we have a duty to offer sanctuary to refugees, or that it is wrong to forcibly send people into danger has been abandoned. Immigration control is seen as so fundamentally important that human life is not even just less important – it is irrelevant.

This has not come out of nowhere. It has grown from years of vaunting hostility towards refugees. Successive governments have removed asylum seekers’ right to work, consigning them to poverty; expanded and routinised immigration detention, a system of indefinitely incarcerating people purely for immigration purposes; established the hostile environment that weaponises human suffering as a means of immigration control; ghettoised people in containment sites; and banned claiming asylum under the Illegal Migration Act. Throughout, people refused asylum have been intentionally made destitute.

We have seen before the profound dangers of a system that seeks only to remove and control people, without looking at the stories of those involved or considering justice. It led to the marginalisation, detention, and forcible removal of British citizens born in the Commonwealth – the so-called ‘Windrush’ scandal. This is not the politics we want.

We stand with refugees.

JRS UK is politically independent and does not endorse any party or candidate.

LINKS

JRS UK: www.jrsuk.net
Twitter: @JRSUK
Facebook: https://facebook.com/jesuitrefugeeserviceuk

Caritas Westminster Celebrates Refugee Week

Image: Caritas Westminster

Source: ICN/Archbishops House

Caritas Westminster recently hosted a reception ahead of Refugee Week (17th – 23rd June), a festival which celebrates the contribution and resilience of refugees in our communities and around the world.

The reception at the London Jesuit Centre heard from Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, parish priest at Farm Street and Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace alongside Ahlam Hamed, who supports students at St Elphege’s School, Wallington.

Ahlam spoke about the importance of community in welcome and the many different ways in which people can support. She spoke particularly about the Community Sponsorship scheme and the Sutton Deanery Refugee Community Sponsorship Group (Diocese of Southwark) who welcomed her and her family via the scheme.

Hannah Sansom, Community Building Lead at RESET shared her reflections on the Wisdoms Report. RESET supports Community Sponsorship groups to welcome refugees into their local area, and funded the Wisdoms Report.

A group of students from Newman Catholic College shared their ideas for the future, highlighting the need for young people to live in a place where they can feel safe and the role we all have in shaping a better future.

The event celebrated contributions to the Wisdoms Report, a listening exercise led by the Mayday Trust in partnership with Caritas Westminster which was open to anyone who had arrived in the UK seeking sanctuary. Those who took part shared about the need to have control over their lives and to feel safe and secure.

A total of six recommendations we made in the report, which can be read in full HERE

Hannah Sansom, Community Building Lead at refugee charity RESET, said: “This report is hugely powerful and has the potential to educate people on the complexities of seeking safety, what people really need and how important and significant choice, freedom, safety and community really is. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it.”

Westminster Justice and Peace E-Bulletin July and August 2024

For this month’s E-Bulletin we focus on the upcoming Season of Creation.

Each year from September 1 to October 4, the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home.

As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are co-creatures and part of all that God has made. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being of the Earth

The official Season of Creation website and guide is now ready and gives you a lot of content, with suggestions of activities and ways to participate. It is a really helpful guide to have to share with schools and parishes. Season of Creation website – https://seasonofcreation.org/

The E-Bulletin also provides lots of inspirational tips and ideas.

What will you do in your parish?

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Westminster Holy Land Roundtable meeting 29 June, 4-6pm, at Farm Street

Christians for Palestine outside St Paul’s Cathedral

All are welcome to join us for the fourth Roundtable meeting, facilitated by the Westminster Justice and Peace Commission.

Venue: Arrupe Hall, Farm Street Church, 114 Mount Street, London, W1K 3AH

Date: 29 June 2024

Time: 4.00-6.00pm

This month’s meeting will focus on parish responses to the war in Gaza and strife in the Holy Land.

What is happening in your parish – prayers, fundraising, talks?

What would you like to see happening?

With whom can we collaborate? Ecumenical, interfaith, Holy Land charities???

New participants welcome.

Please do come along to find out more or get in touch with the Justice and Peace Co-ordinator, Colette Joyce. Mobile: 07593 434905; Email: colettejoyce@rcdow.org.uk

Report from Second Interfaith Walk for Peace 23 June 2024

Silent Peace Walk down Whitehall, 23 June 2024

Source: Quakers/ ICN

Fr Dominic Robinson SJ (Chair), Colette Joyce (Co-ordinator) and Ann Milner (Hitchin) from the Justice and Peace Commission represented the Diocese of Westminster at an Interfaith Peace Walk in Central London on Sunday 23rd June 2024. We joined Christians from several denominations and members of other faith communities to walk in solidarity in a silent, yet powerful, call for peace. In the face of escalating violence and loss of life in over 100 wars and armed conflicts worldwide, including in Palestine and Israel, Sudan, Ukraine, and Myanmar, around 500 people of all faiths joined the vigil.

Facilitated by Plum Village UK and Quakers in Britain, this second peace walk, held by popular request, reflected a groundswell of calls for peace in London and inspired events in Washington, Los Angeles and France on the same day.

The walk commemorated people killed in war, alongside a call for the cessation of killing and reflected a shared commitment to nonviolence, reconciliation and a just peace.

Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and many more faiths joined the walk from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square and back, weaving a narrative of peace between the city’s key political landmarks.

Without flags, placards, slogans or chants, participants dressed in mourning to remember the loss of life through war.

They carried hand-made white flowers as a reminder that everyone has a role to play in cultivating a more peaceful world.

Prayers were offered by a diverse group of grassroots faith representatives: Lakshmi Vyas (Hindu), Shahin Bekhradni (Zoroastrianism), Maureen Goodman (Brahma Kumaris), Islam, Rabbi Rebecca Birk (Judaism), Rev Sarah Farrow (Christian), Jinali Meisheri (Jain), Sr Dao Nghiem (Buddhist), Cristina De Rossi (Pagan, Wiccan, Druidry), and Koje Freemantle (Baha’i).

Plum Village Buddhist monastics from France attended the walk, which was supported by key aid organisations Christian Aid and the Salvation Army.

Rehena Harilall, co-organiser from Plum Village UK, said: “There are simply no more words left to convey our anger and grief.”

Judith Baker, co-organiser from Quakers in Britain, said: “We walk together because we share a deep love for creation and a common universal language of peace. We share horror at the desecration of creation that war brings. War is failure to love our neighbours as ourselves; failure to seek peace and pursue it; failure of dialogue and diplomacy; failure to uphold the basic principles of international law and ethical norms. But the possibility of peace is always with us.”

Link

Plum Village UK – Buddhist Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh

Quakers UK

Westminster Justice and Peace at the Restore Nature Now Rally, 22 June 2024

Colette Joyce (l) and Fr Dominic Robinson SJ from Westminster J&P with campaigners about to join the march.

Source: Jo Siedlecka, ICN / Westminster Justice & Peace

People of all faiths and none were out in force at the Restore Nature Now march in London last Saturday. Billed as the “largest-ever environmental march”, an estimated nearly 100,000 people from more than 350 organisations took part – ranging from long established wildlife organisations to climate change activists and faith groups.

Led by naturalist and television presenter Chris Packham with actors Emma Thompson and Judi Dench, Megan McCubbin, Steve Backshall, singer Feargal Sharkey, speakers at the rally urged stronger political action to tackle the nature and climate crisis based on five demands: Giving a pay-rise for nature. Making polluters pay. Delivering more space for nature. Putting a right to a healthy environment in law. Ensuring fair and effective climate action.

Christian campaigners gathered before the march at packed service at Farm Street Church in Mayfair, hosted by A Rocha, the Salvation Army, Christian Climate Action, Operation Noah and Green Christian. Rev Helen Burnett, Vicar of St Peter & Paul Chandon, Diocese of Southwark and Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Parish Priest and Chair of Westminster Justice & Peace, led the prayers. A separate Forest Church gathering for children took place in the church grounds.

Participants then joined the march through central London, to the rally in Parliament Square.

Colette Joyce from Westminster Diocese Justice and Peace told ICN: “Pope Francis has urged us all to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor and to respond. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world so we need to act fast now, not only to protect what we have left, but to restore what we have lost. When we help nature we also help ourselves, creating better physical and mental health for ourselves and for future generations. The aims of this rally chime with those expressed in Laudato Si’, and so many Catholics have come out to support it. We know that we need to be in this for the long haul, but we are not doing it alone. The care of our common home is a cause that can unite people like no other. As one slogan said ‘No nature, no us’!”

Tim Cooper, co-founder and Trustee of Green Christian, said: “It was hugely inspiring to see so many Christians demonstrating their love of God’s creation by joining the march. The event should serve as a wake-up call to Christians everywhere. When we voice praise to God for the glory of His creation, we are simultaneously called to address the severe harm being caused to nature by our current lifestyles and priorities.”

Speaking at the rally, Emma Thompson said: “We cannot take any more oil out of the ground. I mean, there’s much argument about it. I know there’s a lot of very complicated economic arguments about it. … we have to leave all the resources in the ground, we cannot bring them out of the ground.”

Chris Packham, who proposed the march and led the coalition of green charities taking part, said political parties’ lack of “substantial promises” in the election campaign to tackle the destruction of the planet was “reckless”.

“I’m devastated by the lack of foresight, intelligence, commitment, understanding and determination to do anything about the single biggest issue in our species’ history,” he said. “At a time when we need bold and brave leadership, we’re not seeing any sign from any of the manifestos that that might materialise.”

Packham said it would be “a bold ask” to expect the march – to put the biodiversity crisis on the political agenda given that it has had “next to no mention at all” in the election campaign so far.

But he said he hoped the day of songs, speeches and slogans for wildlife would show there was a growing coalition determined to force the next government to properly fund nature recovery, with further protests a possibility.

“What the march should do is send a very clear signal to all candidates that an enormous breadth of society is exhibiting a real concern for nature restoration,” he said. “Don’t think we’re going to go away because we will be banging on the door of No 10 on 5 July saying now is the time for action.”

Mary Andrews, Green Christian member and volunteer, said: “Brilliant to be united with thousands upon thousands of nature lovers, to call for its restoration now, at this amazing, family friendly march!”

LINKS

Operation Noah: www.operationnoah.org/

Green Christian: https://greenchristian.org.uk/

Westminster Justice & Peace: https://westminsterjusticeandpeace.org/

Catholic Action For Animals: https://catholicactionforanimals.wordpress.com/

Laudato Si Animators: https://laudatosianimators.org.

A Rocha: https://arocha.org.uk/

NJPN 2024 Conference: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/conference/

Join Jesuit Missions on Monday 8th July at the London Jesuit Centre

Jesuit Missions invites you to..

Join Jesuit Missions on Monday 8th July at the London Jesuit Centre for a talk and Q+A with Professor Alpa Shah of the London School of Economics discussing her book The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India, which considers  the case of the Indian human rights advocate Fr Stan Swamy SJ.

In 2020, Fr Swamy was arrested and jailed after being falsely accused of ‘unlawful activities’ against the state. He died ten months later while still in custody after contracting Covid-19.

The event is free to attend, and refreshments will be provided. In addition, you will have an opportunity to purchase a copy of her book. For more information, visit jesuitmissions.org.uk/events or contact us at info@jesuitmissions.org.uk