***ACTION OF THE WEEK***
CAFOD writes: - 'Ask your MP to back a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act'
CAFOD and other organisations are calling for new legislation to make UK companies ensure that their activities do not put human rights or our common home at risk. If we are to tackle the climate crisis and global poverty around the world, we must address the destruction linked to UK companies.
More information on the campaign, and the communities that CAFOD work with around the world is available here.
Please stand with human rights defenders who are under threat right now, by urgently sending an email to your MP and asking them to call for a new Business, Human Rights and Environment Act.
Will you email your MP today, asking them to back a new law?
You can do so through CAFOD.
Thank you!
NEWS AND COMMENT
1. Climate/Environment News (includes Actions and an Event)
The climate crisis is making us sick
Laudato Si' Movement, on World Day of the Sick, produced an article praying for those suffering ill health as a result of the climate crisis. In the article they quote Stanford University: - global warming is causing the spread of certain diseases, particularly those transmitted by mosquitoes and other insects, such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya and West Nile virus.
In addition, climatic catastrophes such as floods, droughts and heat waves bring various illnesses, including mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and even suicide.
To read the article in full, and join in with their six prayer intentions for the climate crisis, go to their website.
Action - Tell the Government to stop dumping our waste in Turkey
Greenpeace Mediterranean has uncovered the shameful truth behind the UK’s plastic waste exports to Turkey. The study exposes how our plastic is being illegally dumped and burned across the country - unleashing toxic chemicals into the environment.
This is polluting farmlands and water sources and may risk causing serious health problems for local people - including cancers, tumours and nerve damage.
According to Greenpeace, we are the biggest producer of plastic, behind the USA, and the reason it is being dumped in Turkey is that we have too much of it.
They write: - Across the world governments are taking steps to reduce plastic waste and improve recycling. Two months ago, France banned plastic packaging on most fruit and vegetables and it also has set a target of recycling all of its plastic waste by 2025. And let’s not forget Norway which has a successful deposit return scheme (DRS) - where you pay a little bit extra for drinks, which you get back when you return the bottle. This has been so effective that it has led to a 95% recycle rate!
I went into our local supermarket the other day, just to pick up a few carrots - and everything was bagged or shrink-wrapped. It is very hard now to buy anything loose.
Sign the Greenpeace petition.
Building a workforce for the climate emergency
Campaign Against Climate Change have produced a report, which is an update to the One Million Climate Jobs report. They demonstrate that there are many more than a million good, well paid, skilled jobs that could be created if we get serious and urgently tackle the climate emergency, as the science demands.
To read more about their ideas, and either download or purchase the report, go to their website.
China: hosting the UN Convention on Biodiversity
As previously mentioned, Kunming in China is hosting COP15 in April/May this year. Fr. Dan Troy, who lives in China, and is a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban, has written a good article about the Chinese attitude to their environment, but also the fact that it is likely that the Church in China will be under-represented at the Convention.
You can read the article through our friends at ICN.
Action - No new Coal, Oil or Gas Projects
Friends of the Earth write: - Fossil fuel companies are planning to launch over 30 new coal, oil and gas extraction projects in the UK.
The science is clear: to avoid climate breakdown, there must be no new fossil fuel extraction projects. Even the International Energy Agency reports that new projects aren’t needed. Its Head said that if governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now on. Sign their petition to the Government here.
Philippine Bishops pledge concrete action against climate crisis
I found this positive article through Vatican News, showing that the Church in other countries is making a strong stand. In the Philippines they were very much affected by Typhoon Rai last year when it caused widespread devastation.
The Bishops of the Philippines have pledged to divest all local Church assets from financial institutions and corporations invested in ecologically-harmful activities by 2025, and have agreed to refuse donations from all environmentally “destructive” industries, including mining companies. They also want to lead by example in promoting the use of renewable energy, and other sustainable systems. Read the full story here.
Birds on the Brink
According to an article by Hugh Thomas, through Wicked Leeks, the RSPB announced at the end of last year that there are more UK bird species on the brink of extinction than ever before - one in four species are now on the RSPB's 'Red List' of concern.
The article then goes on to cite what some organic farmers that they deal with are doing to help the situation. (through the article there are links to the RSPB report amongst other things.)
Free Storm of Hope 2022
Green Christian have published their annual brochure, Storm of Hope, which is free to order for your church family. It is designed to appeal to all those new to green Christian thinking. You can order your copies through ruthjarman@greenchristian.org.uk. Please be aware that although it is free, they are hoping that you will be able to give a donation towards printing and postage costs.
2. Fairtrade Fortnight (includes Actions and Events)
Choose the World you Want Festival
Fairtrade Fortnight runs from the 21st February to the 6th March, and Fairtrade Foundation have plenty of diverse events going on. Have a look at what they have on offer here.
Action - Ahead of Fairtrade Fortnight, ask the Government to deliver on climate commitments
Join Fairtrade Foundation in standing with the farmers that they support. Click here for more details.
3. Palestine/Holy Land (includes an Action)
Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomes Amnesty Report on Israeli Apartheid
I won't be covering this in too much detail, as much of the information is in the NW E-bulletin, but the PSC have written the following: - Palestinians have long been using the term apartheid to describe the oppression they face. We at PSC have been at the forefront of amplifying this message in the UK, and supporting the Palestinian anti-apartheid struggle.
Now, after 4 years intensive research, we welcome Amnesty International's long awaited report 'Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity', which provides clear and devastating evidence that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. This includes Palestinians living under occupation, those with Israeli citizenship, and significantly, the majority of the Palestinian people who live in exile as refugees.
"Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act."
- Agnès Callamard,
Amnesty International’s Secretary General
Action: Write to your MP demanding they take action
Join with PSC and email your MP, asking them to bring an end to Israeli apartheid.
4. Beijing Olympics: Let's give Uyghurs hope
ICN reports this statement from Mia Hasenson-Gross, Executive Director of UK Jewish human rights charity, Rene Cassin, on the day of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics:- "Today sees the opening ceremony for a Winter Olympics that has already been dubbed 'the Genocide Games'. When millions of Uyghur people face mass internment, forced labour, organ harvesting, and forced sterilisation, the parallels with the 1936 Berlin Olympics are obvious. It is up to us all not to allow the Chinese government to use the games to whitewash its atrocities in the same way Hitler blinded the world to those of the Nazis."
More details, including information about the Uyghur people, and the Tribunal that was held in London in December 2021, are available through ICN here.
5. William Nolan to be next Archbishop of Glasgow
Bishop William Nolan, President of Justice and Peace Scotland and Bishop of Galloway, has been named the next Archbishop of Glasgow. Quoting an article by Christopher Lamb in The Tablet, Bishop Nolan 'shares Francis’ concerns for the plight of migrants, protection of the planet and opposition to the arms trade, will take charge of one of the UK’s largest Catholic communities. As Archbishop of Glasgow, his position will also give him a voice on the national stage.'
Congratulations to Archbishop-elect Nolan. It can only be good news for the Catholic community of Glasgow, and indeed Scotland as a whole.
More details are also available through ICN.
6. Hear her Cries
On the 8th February. Fiona Bruce MP, the Prime Minister’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, met with home secretary Priti Patel MP to raise continued concerns about the desperate plight of Pakistan Christian girl Maira Shahbaz. As we have reported on before, Maira was abducted from her home in Pakistan aged 14, forced to marry a man much older than her and forced to convert to Islam before she managed to escape. She is now hiding in one room with her Mother and siblings as her abductor has accused her of apostasy. It has been eighteen months now, and Mrs Bruce has asked the Home Secretary for help.
She also gave her a copy of Hear Her Cries: the kidnapping, forced conversion and sexual victimisation of Christian women and girls, a report produced in November by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Catholic charity which supports persecuted Christians. Maira wrote the foreword to the report, which includes cases of abducted Christian girls and women from the Middle East, Africa as well as Pakistan. You can read more through Aid to the Church in Need.
7. Homelessness
The book which has most influenced how we respond to homelessness
An interesting read by Jon Kuhrt through Grace + Truth giving reasons why the Bible is the most influential document in shaping society's response to homelessness. Also by Jon, Kurt, through the same website, is a story about Chris Ward, a former rough sleeper and addict, who turned his life around after an old lady in the church that had tried to help him called him out on his behaviour. Chris eventually went on to work with Jon Kuhrt, and co-wrote a book with him, links to which are also through the website.
8. Modern Day Slavery (includes Actions and an Event)
Pope on Human Trafficking: Keep your indignation alive
ICN reports on Pope Francis' message for the 8th World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking: - Decrying the suffering inflicted on thousands of trafficked women, Pope Francis said: "Human trafficking, through domestic or sexual exploitation, violently relegates women and girls to their supposed role of subordination, in the provision of domestic or sexual services, and to their role as providers of care and dispensers of pleasure, which proposes yet again a model of relationships marked by the power of the male gender over the female. This occurs even today, and at a high level."
The full article is available to read here.
(below image by Luke Teague)
Event - Norwich conference lifts the carpet on modern slavery
Taken from The Catholic Network: - Mark Little MBE is organising a conference in Norwich Anglican Cathedral to shed light on the scourge of modern slavery. “Behind closed doors,” writes Mark, “in remote places and right under our noses in plain sight, some 40 million people are held in slavery and servitude worldwide and one in four of these are children. Even in the UK it is estimated that over 130,000 people are living in modern slavery.”
More details on Mark, and on the Conference, which takes place on the 23rd March in Norwich Cathedral, are available through The Catholic Network.
Diocese takes important step towards tackling Modern Slavery
The Diocese of Salford, jointly with Caritas Diocese of Salford, have published their first Diocesan Statement on Modern Slavery. It builds on Caritas' partnership with the Medaille Trust and Caritas Anti-Trafficking.
More details are available through the Caritas Diocese of Salford website, as well as links to the organisations mentioned above.
Stakeholders must 'come together' to combat human trafficking
ACI Africa reports on the Anti Human Trafficking Webinar that was held in Ghana recently. Sr. Olivia Umoh stated: “We are stronger together. When a spider web unites, it can tie up a lion. This should not be mere wishful thinking. Anyone can do something against human trafficking and the time is now. Coming together to confront this scourge is inevitable. We must come together if we must overthrow this scourge."
More details are available here, including a link to the Webinar.
Action: Business and Human Rights: help stop the abuse
Anti-Slavery have asked us to petition the Government asking for a new law to hold the business and private sector to account when they fail to prevent supply chain human rights abuses and environmental harms.
You can read what they say about forced labour and support their cause here.
9. Refugees/Migrants
Caritas Social Action Network - Napier Barracks
In January 2022, the Home Office ran a consultation on extending the use of Napier Barracks in Kent as accommodation for asylum seekers, up to September 2026. Seeking Sanctuary (CSAN member) is closely involved with asylum seekers arriving in Northern France and Kent. Phil Kerton, founder director of Seeking Sanctuary, shares his observations on the site and its current use here.
Accompaniment: a mutual blessing
For the last few months, Nick Hanrahan has been the guy at JRS who sends items of interest through. Nick has now moved on from JRS, and his final blog has reflected on his last four years there. He finishes the blog with the following words: - For some, this moving on might be the next step in a career or a ‘change of scenery’. For me, it means leaving a place that has changed me deeply and for the better, a place where I have been loved and I hope I have passed that love on. As I leave, I can only pray in thanksgiving and humility that I have given back at least a fraction of the great gift I have received from God placing me at JRS, taking up in the words of St Ignatius:
“You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it.”
You can read all of Nick's words here.
10. Synod News
Synodal Pathway: the voice of young people
There is a newsletter produced weekly through the Synod Resources website. On the 12th February it focused on young people. It is available to read in several languages, including English.
A Progress Report from Germany
According to Mill Hill Missionaries, among the demands made at the three-day meeting were a new moral teaching on sex, including a reassessment of homosexuality; the opening of the priesthood to women; a relaxation of the obligation of celibacy for priests; and a change in the approach to power.
Full details are available here.
Contribute to Synod 2022 discussion online
If you haven't already done so through your own Diocese, you can participate in an online survey here, which has been designed by an ICN reader. The survey will remain open until the 28th February. You can access it through ICN.
11. NJPN Blog through ICN
There are some great blogs to catch up on through Independent Catholic News: -
7th February - Patricia and Michael Pulham are on the Executive Committee of Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND) - 'A Promise Deferred'
Patricia and Michael write about the postponement again of the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
9th February - Chris Hughes is a parish priest at St Cuthbert's and St Joseph's, North Shields in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. He is also co-chair of Tyne and Wear Citizens and a member of Church Action on Poverty North East - 'The Real Living Wage: an essential tool for fixing poverty'
Fr Chris talks about the Real Living Wage and Poverty Action Sunday (27th February)
Grateful thanks to our friends at Independent Catholic News for allowing us to publish on their website. Please sign up and support them if you can.
Newsletters
12. NW NJPN E-Bulletin
Details of the Amnesty International's Apartheid Report, plus Lent resources, and much more. You can read it through the NJPN website.
13. Birmingham Justice and Peace Commission
Well done to Janet, who has pulled together their 50th newsletter! Lots of interesting J & P issues and events.
14. Salesians January 2022
The usual spiritual offering from the Salesians, with their organisation of the month being Mary's Meals.
15. NJPN Newsletter - Spring 2022
Anne Peacey reflects on the implications for justice and peace for the Synodal process, and there is a piece about the Laudato Si' Action Platform. You can read it through the NJPN website here.
16. Columban Campaigns for February 2022
Time to Act for Justice, Peace and Ecology - the Columbans monthly campaign bulletin online, covering the Business, Human Rights and Environment Act, Show the Love and Together with Love.
Read it through the Columbans website.
EVENTS (in chronological order where applicable)
17. 14th -27th February - Church Action on Poverty Sunday
Sign up to take part
18. 17th February - 3pm - Ukraine Pacifists Association and Russian Conscientious Objectors
Sign up here
19. 17th February - 7.30pm - 9.30pm - St. John Vianney's Live Simply Group
Online Meeting on Biodiversity
20. 19th February - 10am - 1pm - PACT
Just People Workshops
21. 21st February - 6th March
Fairtrade Fortnight
22. 24th February - 6pm - 8.30pm PACT - Sir Harold Hood Memorial Lecture
Professor Anna Rowlands - Reimagining Human Dignity in Dark Times
23. 26th February - 10.45am for a prompt 11am start - NJPN Networking Day
The planned follow up day on Mental Health has been postponed due to unavailability of the speakers. We are in the process of looking if we can use this day to produce a Justice and Peace Response to the Synod.
If any organisation has anything they want to advertise during the Networking Session, please email it to Geoff by the 22nd February to enable him to collate it onto the PowerPoint. His email address is admin@justice-and-peace.org.uk
Please register in advance for this meeting on the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZckcumrpzwrHdN0ZBadT25ZQPeDnifN_nNS
24. 28th February - 7.30pm - 8.45pm - Westminster Justice and Peace Commission
Leaving Something on the Table - How Money Doesn't Make the World Go Round
25. 2nd March - Various Times and Locations - Pax Christi/Christian CND
Click here for details
26. 5th March - 10am - 3.30pm Birmingham Justice and Peace Commission
Lenten Retreat
27. 19th March - 11am - Archbishop Romero Trust
28. 8th - 10th July - Student Christian Movement
Reinventing Radical: Courageous Discipleship for a Changing World
29. 22nd - 24th July - NJPN Annual Conference
Hope! A verb with its sleeves rolled up.
Bookings now open. Don't forget it is cheaper if you book before the 20th May!
Actions
30. Make Polluters pay for rising energy costs
Friends of the Earth have asked for our support in emailing the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, asking for a windfall tax on the oil and gas giants, who are making billions in record profits. Details are available here.
31. Vacancies
Peace Museum Vacancies
The Peace Museum currently have two vacancies; they are looking for a Fundraising Strategist and a an experienced exhibition development company.
Details of both are available through their website, with the closing date being 4pm on the 28th February.
THE LAST WORD
32. A Reflection on Candles
Written by Fr. Dominic Howarth (Brentwood Diocese) whilst in Lourdes this week: -
Today in Lourdes I have lit candles for many prayer requests - in thanksgiving, in sorrow, in anguish, in grief, in joy. Each request embraced by Mary. Each candle a little reflection of Christ, the light of the world, illuminating a pathway of hope.
The prayer by the candle speaks about them burning "now or later." In Lourdes, when the candle stands are full, partially burnt candles are moved to make way for new ones. But they aren't thrown away. Instead, they are re-lit in quieter times. So there's a beautiful sense that a candle lit today may be re-lit in the winter, perhaps when it is needed most!
And the melted wax is recycled into new candles. Laudato Si'.
Two final thoughts about candles if they are of any consolation or help today.
As one candle is lit from another it is not as if the first one gets dimmer. Instead, the light spreads and grows. That's an image of our Christian living - every act of love, kindness, generosity and forgiveness is a light lit, an illumination of Christ's love and hope.
And another feature of a candle is that in order to give light, it spends itself. That's such a truth of Christian living - I think of those accompanying the homeless, ill, suffering and hungry, at all hours of the day and night. often at great personal cost. Lights illuminating such hope for others, even as energy is spent. For these quiet heroes of Catholic life, a candle lit for you here today.
Prayers and blessings from Lourdes.
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World Council of Churches
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UK Parliament News
https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/
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