Category: News

Cycle to Paris – Sign up now for Phase 1

Checking the route in Paris

Checking the route in Paris

Now’s the time to sign up for phase 1 of ‘Cycle to Paris’, the English leg.  We leave Westminster Cathedral on August 29th and arrive in Newhaven on August 30th.   Download the application form and send it back with deposit.  Application form Phase 1 London-Newhaven

Cycle 100 miles over the North and South Downs, meet parishioners and discuss the urgency of action on Climate Change leading up to the Paris Climate talks in December.

£130 covers accommodation and food and the support van, plus railfare from Newhaven.  Sign up today!

Annual Migrants Mass in Southwark

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The Migrants Mass 2015 was a huge success, with nearly 1500 in the Cathedral, and the banner procession way along the road as they came in.  We were not counting how many nationalities and ethnic groups there were, but the banners just kept coming.  The music was a highlight for me, with Frances Novillo leading. We had hymns from Congo, Slovakia, Cameroun, China and more, but the one that stole the show was the Nigerian chant after the Communion, ‘All I want to say is Thank you Lord’!  It had us all on our feet, clapping and dancing.  Archbishop Peter Smith gave a clear statement of the Catholic position on migration, trafficking, detention and race, flagging up the necessity of balancing the pressures of immigration with the common good.  Along with the Cardinal and several bishops from the London area, the Mass was attended by many London mayors, some ambassadors and 2 MPs.  A reception was provided afterwards in honour of the 175th   anniversary of the Tablet newspaper and the Mass’s own tenth anniversary.    The exotic food supplied by the ethnic chaplaincies and the Justice and Peace Commisions  disappeared quite speedily alas!

May E-Bulletin

  • Thurs 7th May  Theatre of Witness, at 8 pm.  Teya Sepinuck, founder of Theatre of Witness, talks about this powerful performance-based tool for reconciliation.  Includes film, readings and life stories.
    St Ethelburgas, 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG. Call 020 7496 1610 for details and registration
  • Fri 8 May Beyond collaboration – co-creating the new at 11 am. The challenges we face, whether within our organisations, communities, businesses, societies or our individual lives, are increasingly complex. As Albert Einstein said, you cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it. This workshop explores how we can draw on collective intelligence to go beyond the limitations and assumptions of our usual thinking.
    St Ethelburgas, 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG   Call 020 7496 1610 for details and registration
  • Wed 13th May Monthly service of Holy Communion at St Ethelburga’s. This remains consecrated for Christian worship and we hold a regular monthly service of Holy Communion in the nave. People of all Christian denominations are welcome to celebrate. People of other faiths and none are most welcome to attend, and to receive a blessing if they wish.  We use a traditional liturgy from the Iona Community, and the service will include readings and an address from our Chaplain, Revd Dr James Walters, also Chaplain at the London School of Economics. The services are held on the second Wednesday of each month from 1pm to 1.30pm, and refreshments are available after the service.
    St Ethelburgas, 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG
  • Friday 15th May International Conscientious Objectors Day at 12 noon, Tavistock Square London WC1H Organised by: Peace Pledge Union In London each year a brief ceremony is held at the Commemorative Stone, during which the names of representative people who ‘maintained the right to refuse to kill’ are read out and white flower was laid on the Stone for each of the people remembered.  The Conscientious Objectors Stone in Tavistock Square, London was unveiled on May 15 1994 by Sir Michael Tippett, Peace Pledge Union President and a one time conscientious objector.
  • Saturday 16th May NJPN AGM & Open Networking Day 10.30 – 4.00 at CAFOD, Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JB ‘TTIP: A Charter for Big Business   Nick Dearden: Director, Global Justice Now Plus: opportunities to network and get updates from national agencies
    For more information contact Ann at admin@justice-and-peace.org.uk , 020 7901 4864
  • Sun 17 May Beyond belief – A storytelling celebration at 3 pm A day of personal story sharing, dialogue and music celebrating the power of young adults to effect change and build bridges across faiths and cultures.  A lively programme of activity designed and hosted by 18-36 year olds passionate about faith and belief.  Open to all. Beyond belief: Intergenerational dialogue If you are a leader in a faith community and would like to be involved in a dialogue about supporting the younger generation – there will be a dialogue on this topic as part of the above festival in the afternoon (around 4pm).  For more info contact Justine.
    St Ethelburgas, 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG   Call 020 7496 1610 for details and registration
  • Fri 29 May Leadership for peace – learning from indigenous wisdom 10 am Mac Macartney is one of the most inspiring speakers we know on the theme of leadership.  Come and learn from his unique experiences with indigenous elders.
    St Ethelburgas, 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG   Call 020 7496 1610 for details and registration

ADVANCE NOTICE!!

  • Mon 1st June Pray and Fast for Climate at St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square 7-9pm Keep up the momentum in prayer for the United Nations Climate Talks

  • Mon 1 June Bearing witness – the power of storytelling at 6.45 pm.  An evening with film maker Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee exploring the power of stories in witnessing the changes in our world.
    St Ethelburgas, 8 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG   Call 020 7496 1610 for details and registration
  • Wed 17th June Join CAFOD and The Climate Coalition at a lobby of Parliament in London and a chance to tell your MP about the things you love that you could lose to climate change.  The logistics will be worked out so that groups from constituencies can meet their MPs in a straightforward way, and there will also be an ecumenical service where we can join in worship and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, an interfaith moment to reflect our universal mandate to care for creation, craft activities for all ages, and a final rally to celebrate, with music and talks from high profile people. Speak Up For The Love Of#What do you love? Whether it’s your morning coffee, walks on the beach, or your local community, it could be affected by climate change. So come June, we’ll be coming together in our thousands to ask MPs to commit to strong action on climate change to protect all the things we love. It’s our first opportunity after the General Election to tell our newly elected representatives what matters to us in this crucial year for climate action. http://www.theclimatecoalition.org
    When? Wednesday 12pm-5:30pm.
    Where? Palace of Westminster, Kensington, London W8 5HN, Central London.

Gearing up to Climate Change

We ARE on the right track.

We ARE on the right track!

All they need is the bike!

All they need is the bike!

 

 

 

Cycling Pilgrimage to Paris
We have been very busy these last few weeks preparing for the Cycle to Paris project. The Paris Climate talks in December are crucial for the future of all countries, but especially for those most affected by the climate change going on now – countries such as Bangladesh, the Philippines and the Pacific islands.
Justice and Peace  and CAFOD are offering a chance to a small group to cycle to Paris – to increase our own commitment to action, and to raise awareness and commitment amongst others about the need for change on every level.
Find our application form and further information here.

Application form Phase 1 London-Newhaven

Cycle to Paris flyer April 20th 2015

Nuclear weapons and the General Election

Nicola Sturgeon is not the only one raising the question of Trident in the run up to the elections. Martin Birdseye, Justice and Peace representative from Heston in Hounslow, wrote to the Universe last week:
“How shocking to see, in the Easter edition of a Catholic newspaper, a propaganda portrait of a gigantic war machine (“Defence spending is the key to peace in our time” 3rd April 2015). In his article Chris Whitehouse did not tell us that this new aircraft carrier is three times larger than any we have recently deployed. In urging us to maintain defence spending he did not reveal that UK defence spending is the fifth highest in the world, or that our recent good record on overseas aid still only brings it to about one third of defence spending. Even just from the point of view of our security, this ratio should arguably be reversed. From the point of view of followers of Christ, with the Easter message in mind and conscious of our mission to bring love and comfort as opposed to threats and confrontation, it should certainly be reversed.

Chris Whitehouse identifies the time since the end of the cold war as one of increasing danger and threats to our country. In that time, the Warsaw Pact has been disbanded while NATO has pushed right up to the borders of Russia, spending 15 times as much as Russia on defence. In the Middle East the West has reacted with appallingly disproportionate asymmetrical warfare to any provocation by extremist groups or despotic regimes. In terms of civilian death toll the 9/11 atrocity has been repaid more than a hundred fold in Afghanistan. Similar ratios apply to the Iraq war. The net effect has been to devastate these countries, leaving them with ineffective government and vastly greater numbers of uncontrolled weapons. From these two factors come most of the current threats to our security and, probably, the terrible position of Christians in the region.

He completes his analysis by urging that we should retain our nuclear weapons – weapons which cannot be deployed without contemplating things that are clearly opposed to everything else we believe in. Nuclear weapons have been rightly and repeatedly condemned by our church, most recently and forcibly by Pope Francis in his message to the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons” .

You could hardly ask for a more thorough argument, which Westminster Justice and Peace endorses completely.

April E-Bulletin

  • April – Elections … Planning for the General Election In the run up to the election many local church and inter-faith groups organise hustings in their area to enable those interested to meet and question their candidates at first hand. Christians in Politics have launched Show Up at : http://www.christiansinpolitics.org.uk/showup/ See also CAFOD/CSAN briefings, Vocation for Justice questions http://www.columbans.co.uk/resources/publications/vocation-for-justice-magazine/ and the Network of Christian Peace Organisations election briefing on the Pax Christi website, www.paxchristi.org.uk

  • Wed 1st April Pray and Fast for the Climate with our own family and friends in our own community. See our leaflet on Pray and Fast for the Climate. Join in an event or organise your own. April is Care4Creation month, designated by the Catholic Climate Movement, which promotes Pope Francis’s call for prayer and action for climate. See their Facebook page, Global Catholic Climate Movement, and website.

  • Fri+Sat 10th/11th April Festival of Ideas 2015. Open Generation – a project run by the Migrants’ Rights Network – are taking over Rivington Place for a weekend of films, talks, workshops and exhibits dedicated to exploring how young people feel about migration and being part of a global community.
    Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, London, EC2A 3BA (map)
    Book your FREE ticket!
    http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/open-generation-festival-of-ideas-2015-tickets-14663764715?utm_campaign=3ed1b47c40-Open_Generation_Invite3_18_2014&ref=ebtnebregn&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Migrants+Rights+News&utm_term=0_1084a7080c-3ed1b47c40-197822917
  • Mon 13th April Global day of Action on Military Spending and Climate Change
  • Wed 22nd April The Election and Immigration organised by London Churches Refugee Network
    A Meeting will be held on preparing for the General Election at Trinity House,Newcomen Room, 4 Chapel Court, off Borough High Street Southwark,London SE1 1HW
    Speakers: Terry Drummond Recently retired Urban and Public Policy Adviser Diocese of Southwark; Vaughan Jones Director Ekklesia; Louise Zanre Director Jesuit Refugee Service UK. 5.30 Refreshments and Registration. 6pm until 8pm Presentations
  • Thurs 23rd April Climate Change and the Common Good: The Cultural Challenge
    6.30pm (doors open at 6pm)
    St Faith’s Chapel, Crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral
    This public event, organised in partnership with the Diocese of London, will explore the behavioural and organisational changes needed to mitigate climate change.
    Speakers:
    The Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury (keynote)
    Stephen Howard, Chief Executive of Business in the Community
    Laurence Brahm, Author and Social Entrepreneur
    Bryony Worthington, Baroness Worthington and Founder of Sandbag
    Chaired by the Revd Canon Prof. Richard Burridge, Dean of Kings College London
    free and open to all, but registration is essential.
    To register for tickets please visit: climatechangeculture.eventbrite.com
  • Fri 24th April Music Workshop for the St Joseph the Worker Mass. 7-9pm at Amigo Hall, St George’s Cathedral. The workshops will be run by Frances Novillo. To book a place please contact the
    Southwark JPIC Office, Cathedral House, Westminster Bridge Rd., London SE1 7HY
    Phone: 0207 928 9742 e-mail: office@southwarkjandp.co.uk
    web site: www.southwarkjandp.co.uk This is primarily for those who have attended previous practices. Last one before the big Mass!
  • Sat 25th April Southwark J and P 2015 Spring Assembly from 10.30 to 4.00 in the New Barn, Aylesford Priory
    “From prayer to action and back again – learning and doing together”
    A day to meet others, for discussion and discernment of how to work together in the run up to the General Election and beyond. Group Facilitators will include Susan Kambalu (CAFOD), Louise Zanre (JRS), Barbara Wilson (London Citizens), Daniel Hale and James Trewby (Columbans)
  • Wed 29th April Beyond Election Day: Power, Money, Government and Responsibility 6.30pm, St Paul’s Cathedral, London EC4M 8AD
    One week before the election, St Paul’s Institute, in partnership with Theos and Together for the Common Good, will bring together key speakers to help us form this fresh moral vision in a public discussion held under the historic dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. How do we get politics and business working for the common good? What role should personal judgement and mutual responsibility play in our commercial and social decision-making? How can we harness relationships with clear purpose for the long-term benefit of all?
    And… what will make this real – and not just utopian fantasy?
    Speakers: Prof. Craig Calhoun – Director, London School of Economics and Political Science
    Loretta Minghella OBE – Chief Executive, Christian Aid, Conor Kehoe – Director, McKinsey & Company
    This event is free to attend, but registration is essential. Audience questions will be taken.
    To register for tickets please visit: beyondelectionday.eventbrite.com
  • Wed 29th April TAPOL Demonstration to call for free and open access to Papua following successful rallies around the release of Papuan political prisoners in Indonesia last year.
    At the Indonesian Embassy – London,UK, 38 Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HW London, United Kingdom from 12:00 to 15:00

  • Fri 1st May CLIMATE CHANGES EVERYTHING: A VIGIL OF HOPE & SOLIDARITY – Part of the Pray and Fast for the Climate Movement, 6.00pm – 8.00pm – Maria Assumpta Chapel & Milleret House Library, 23 Kensington Square, London W8 5HN
    Join us after the vigil to break our fast and share refreshments.
    RSVP: Fleur Dorrell – jpic@assumptionreligious.org

  • Mon May 4th Mass in honour of St Joseph the Worker. Tenth ‘Migrants Mass’, also celebrates the Tablet’s 175th Anniversary. At St George’s Cathedral with principal celebrant Archbishop Peter Smith. Join workers, migrants and civic leaders in a joyous morning of reflection and celebration in support of all Migrant Workers. Please arrive by 10.30. Buffet lunch afterwards for all, sponsored by The Tablet as part of their celebrations. Parishes are encouraged to take part, bringing their banners by 10.15 to the Amigo Hall adjacent to the Cathedral, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HR

Care 4 Creation Month – a letter from the Global Catholic Climate Movement

GCCM for social networksThe Holy Father’s Universal Prayer Intention for April 2015 is:
“That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God.”

We come together in this coming Easter Season to celebrate creation and our communion in the Body of Christ. In April 2015 we would like to invite your parish community to join Pope Francis’ universal prayer intention for creation and prepare for his upcoming encyclical on ecology and climate change. Our concern for creation is above all a concern for life and what is life-giving.

This concern for creation is especially urgent in this time of climate change. There is a strong scientific consensus that climate change is caused by human action and will very likely have catastrophic consequences if not addressed. Climate change is here and now, affecting all countries, but the poor and those without reserves suffer the most. Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have spoken of the urgent need for action
on this moral issue (see Catholic teachings on climate change: bit.ly/PopesClimate).

The invitation to your parish is twofold:

1. INVITATION TO PRAY:

As Christians we believe in the power of prayer, so we encourage you to include the Holy Father’s prayer intention (“That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God”) into your community’s liturgy throughout April. Also, you can find several resources with a Care for Creation focus attached to this letter and online at bit.ly/care4creationmonth, that you could incorporate into the prayer life of your parish:
Rosary meditations, Holy Hour meditations, litany to the Holy Trinity, daily meditations, etc.

2. INVITATION TO ACT:

Pope Francis told us: “On climate change there is a clear, definitive and ineluctable ethical imperative to act.” So we have prepared a Catholic petition addressed to the world leaders who will meet in a U.N. Climate Summit at Paris in December 2015, to urge them to commit to ambitious, pro-life action and solve the urgent climate crisis. We hope that you can join us in promoting the petition within your parishioners. Instructions are available online at bit.ly/catholicpetition

As Catholics we choose respect for life, and we are called to turn from how we have caused damage to ourselves, others, and creation, to realize how we have missed the mark and inadvertently caused death or destruction, and to make life-giving choices. We ask forgiveness, reconcile and recommit ourselves to life so to begin again. We lift our voices for life and creation, now and in the future, with our faith in Resurrection.

Please visit bit.ly/care4creationmonth for more information and resources, such as posters and petition forms to print and promote in your parish.

Thanks and God bless you,
The Global Catholic Climate Movement

Note: the Global Catholic Climate Movement is an international network of almost 100 Catholic organizations working on the climate change issue, to care for God’s creation, for the poor –who are the most vulnerable to climate disruption–, and for our children –who will face the worst impacts in the coming years–. For more info: http://www.CatholicClimateMovement.global

Gearing up for Climate Change and the UN Paris talks

Gearing up for Climate Change: Paris and the UN Climate talks

2015 Paris group 1

J&P at the Pax Christi France Climate Study Day. l to r Ann Kelly, Barbara Kentish, Christine Lang – environment secretary PX France, Francis McDonagh

Pax Christi France held its annual study day in Paris on Climate Change in March with 200 participants. Present were 3 Justice and Peace members from England, with a view to establishing links ahead of the COP 21 UN Climate talks in Paris in December. Barbara Kentish and Francis McDonagh from Westminster Justice and Peace, with Ann Kelly, administrator of the National Justice and Peace Network, were hoping to add Justice and Peace support to French groups working to raise awareness of the importance of the talks.
Using Pope Benedict’s 2010 message, ‘If you want peace, protect creation’, speakers spelt out what needed to be changed to ensure humanity’s very survival in the coming decades. ‘Never before till this century’, said Dominique Lang, Assumptionist father and chaplain to Pax Christi France, ‘has the human family come together to reflect on its own future on the planet’. Challenges for all Western countries at the Paris talks will be not only to convince climate sceptics, but to raise climate change as a much higher priority on our political agendas, so that agreement can be reached to curtail carbon emissions before global warming becomes irreversible. Participants were reminded that for poorer countries climate change is not a future danger, but present scourge. Countries affected -Vanuatu, Philippines, Tonga, Guatamala and Bangladesh being the most vulnerable – are already suffering flooding, hurricanes and typhoons. It is important to accept that these and other countries of the ‘south’ need to develop, but must be supported to do so without fossil fuels
Bishop Marc Stenger, president of Pax Christi France, together with Christian journalists and scientists, called for an ‘ecological conversion’, amongst Christians, saying,
“We think it is necessary that Christians finally play their full part in the global combat for the respect for life, and become committed both spiritually and practically alongside environmental activists.”
Theologian and biologist Fabien Revol sketched out a Christian approach to the ‘end of a world’, in which hundreds of species have become extinct, resources have become depleted, oceans polluted, and land flooded. The ‘new heaven and new earth’ of Revelation promises Christ’s resurrection of all of creation. Our task is to attend to, to protect and to collaborate with God’s creation in all its becoming and all its integrity.
The French bishops are formulating their plans to welcome possibly thousands of ‘climate pilgrims’ for the Paris talks. There will be an ecumenical gathering in Notre Dame Cathedral on December 3rd, and an interfaith gathering is also planned. Pilgrimages will arrive from Germany, Italy, the UK, Scandinavia, and Africa. Dominique Lang stressed the need for awareness-raising amongst those from developing countries, since some of these are and will be the first to be affected by climate change.
Justice and Peace Westminster has joined the Pray and Fast for the Climate initiative and are planning a Pilgrimage to Paris along with other Christians, inspired by the World Council of Churches initiative, led by Martin Kopp.

2015 Paris BK + M Koppf

Martin Kopp World Lutheran Federation delegate for Climate Conferences

See http://rcdow.org.uk/diocese/justice-and-peace/ for details.

Heston’s Justice and Peace Retreat

Can we forgive, can we forget?

Heston’s Justice and Peace Retreat

At the invitation of Martin Birdseye and the parish priest, Fr Robert Ehileme of the Sons of Mary, Mother of Mercy, Justice and Peace led a parish retreat at Our Lady of the Apostles, Heston, this Lent, on reconciliation. Based around the Pax Christi Peace Icon, on the altar from the start of Friday Mass we explored reconciliation in the context of society and the environment. The small pictures inset into the larger icon gave us stories to reflect on.DSC01643

The Woman at the Well helped focus not only on our basic need for water, but on our true ide the fact that  our identity consists in relating to Christ the living water. The Jacob and Esau picture, showing the dramatic reconciliation of the brothers, gave an opportunity for discussion of conflict issues around the world: ethnic groups, civil wars, rich and poor, nuclear powers versus the rest , and so on. We realised that it is all too easy to forget the injuries we do to others, and Fr R cited the example of what the colonial powers had done in Africa, which has been quickly forgotten, yet young Africans are learning about their own history in universities, without anyone mitigating the bitterness this inevitably arouses.  A good example of where we shouldn’t forget!

The Mass was concelebrated with Fr Francis, assistant SMMM priest, and the Confirmation group joined our ‘Creation walk’ around the parish grounds and the Green, based round the Canticle of Brother Sun of St Francis (another mini-icon), meditating on Brother Sun, the stars and space exploration,  Brother Wind, air pollution and the adjacent M4 motorway; Sister Water, at the lovely water feature outside the church, scarcity, drought, Shell petrol’s pollution of the Niger Delta (Fr Francis had firsthand experience). Very handy that you could see the Shell service station just outside the parish wall! Then Brother Fire, fossil fuels, nuclear weapons, as we saw the planes coming in low to land at nearby Heathrow, with a powerful reflection from Martin who is a longtime campaigner for the ending of nuclear weapons.

The Peace icon, the central image being that of the risen Christ our Reconciliation, is now installed in the Church beside the 14th Station, next to the Risen Christ altar.

Cycling Pilgrimage to Paris

Justice and Peace are uniting with groups of Christians and of different faiths and backgrounds who want to see an international agreement on the reduction of carbon  emissions at the UN Paris Climate talks in December 2015. To highlight the huge importance of these talks we plan to cycle to Paris to take part in rallies of support for climate justice and to meet other people of faith who want to see a change in our profligate use of fossil fuel.

  • Download a flyer for the event here.

Phase 1 London-Newhaven Aug 29-31st 2015

Phase 2 Dieppe-Paris 1st week in December 2015

How to get involved:

email one of addresses below, with the subject heading:

LONDON PARIS CYCLE RIDE

Give us your full name and say:

  • I want to cycle this route or
  • I want to be a welcomer/supporter or
  • I want to donate to the project or
  • I want to know more about Pray and Fast for the Climate

Westminster RC Diocese justice@rcdow.org.uk

Arundel & Brighton RC Diocese aidan.cantwell@dabnet.org

Southwark RC Diocese office@southwarkjandp.co.uk

CAFOD Westminster jstricklin-coutinho@cafod.org.uk

Pax Christi Coordinator@paxchristi.org.uk

And we will keep you posted.