In conjunction with the Leeds Palestinian Film festival and Pax Christi in the Leeds Diocese, we have agreed to host a screening of the final film in this year’s film festival. This will take place on Friday 9th December at Wheeler Hall. Doors open at 6pm.
The film we will show is called Boycott. After the film there will be the opportunity for discussion and there will be a short input from Ben Jamal. He spoke and did the Q&A at the UK premiere of Boycott in London. He is the chairperson of national PSC. We are also hoping to have a number of stalls selling Palestinian goods. Doors will open at 6pm and refreshments will be available until the film starts at 6:30pm Boycott traces the impact of state legislation in the USA designed to penalise individuals and companies that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. A legal thriller with “accidental plaintiffs” at the centre of the story, Boycott is a bracing look at the far-reaching implications of anti-boycott legislation and a tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect their rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech. Not worried about this as it is about the USA? Then WAKE UP – the UK Government currently have legislation going through Parliament to enact some similar measures here! Entry to the film is on a pay as you feel basis. Not able to make this date? – take a look at the festival trailer to see if any of the other films might be of interest. View Festival Trailer
Book a Place
Last year the film we showed played to a full house – so booking a place is recommended. Booking is via an Eventbrite page (no payment is necessary-there will be a voluntary collection when you come to see the film) – just follow this link:
By CAFOD’s Youth Delegation to COP26 in 2021 and collated by Matty Maslen Last year, CAFOD sponsored a youth delegation to travel to Glasgow to attend the UN Climate Summit COP26.
A year on, as COP27 occurs in Egypt, we reflect on what has come from the past year for us personally, and for the climate movement more generally. One of our delegation, Alexander Ugoh, recently took part in a short film produced by Random Acts (Random Acts is Channel 4’s home for the world’s most creative short films): ‘Climate Grief, Climate Groove feat. Billie Marten’. You can view it on YouTube:
During our visit to Glasgow, Alex worked on the CAFOD social media to highlight what our delegation was getting up to. It was from this social media promotion that he was given the opportunity to take part in the short film. “A contact got in touch with CAFOD asking to recommend any young adults interested in being part of a project revolving around climate grief and mental health.” Alex said he was “personally drawn for the project because I’m of Nigerian heritage so, the effects of climate change on the more vulnerable developing nations really touches home for me.” While we were in Glasgow, we took part in mass civil society action. We were part of a crowd of 100,000 people who marched through the streets of Glasgow to demand climate justice.
A few weeks ago, Matty attended a ‘one year on from COP26 march’ in Glasgow. It followed the same streets through Glasgow as we walked as a group. This year’s protest was organised by ‘Fridays For Future Scotland’. Matty said: “There’s no excuse to exclude young people from the conversation. We know what’s at stake and we’re ready to act – let us!” On 12th November this year, there was again world-wide civil society action. Members of the CAFOD Youth Delegation participated in the March in London. CAFOD has a number of resources about COP27 and you can use this link to access them https://cafod.org.uk/Campaign/COP27
Another of our delegates, Chukwuemeka, has written a piece for us about the floods in Nigeria:
NIGERIAN FLOODING By Chukwuemeka Nwachukwu Extreme Weather events on every continent are causing mass devastation, loss of life and livelihoods everywhere. We have seen floods ravaging several countries this year from Australia to Uganda, Pakistan, Guatemala, Vietnam, Florida and now, Nigeria. We’ve also seen record-breaking temperatures across the Globe, here in the United Kingdom we had a record-breaking heatwave. South Africa and East Africa, particularly Kenya, are facing severe drought and famine.
But for Nigeria, due to the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon, many communities along the courses of River Niger and River Benue have been affected by floods. The construction of the Lagdo Dam, located in Northern Cameroon, started in 1977 and was completed in 1982.
At inception, Cameroon and Nigeria had an agreement to build two dams such that when water is released from the Cameroonian dam, the Nigerian dam would contain it and prevent it from causing floods. So, to cushion the effect of possible flooding from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon, the Nigerian government agreed to build a shock-absorber dam tagged Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State. The Dasin Hausa dam was supposed to be two-and-a-half the size of the Lagdo dam, which was built to supply electricity to the northern part of Cameroon and allow the irrigation of 15,000 hectares of crops downstream.
Like the Lagdo dam, the dam project sited at the Dasin Village of Fufore Local Government Area of Adamawa State, was supposed to generate 300 megawatts of electricity and irrigate about 150,000 hectares of land in Adamawa, Taraba, and Benue states in Nigeria. But this Dam was never built by the Nigerian government, and funds meant for it were embezzled. Released water from Dams are controlled. Imagine if Cameroon decides not to release water and the Dam bursts because of pressure? Half of Nigeria will be flushed into the Atlantic; the sooner Nigeria builds a dam the better. There is a flood crisis now in Nigeria with over 33 out of 36 states affected. People are hungry, people are suffering. The cost of clean drinking water has gone up 5x the price. Nigeria is facing the most devastating flooding in the last decade! This will result to severe famine in most parts of the country next year as crops and food reserves have been washed away. The numbers are staggering and increasingly worrisome: – 1.3 million+ persons displaced – 600+ deaths have been recorded – 200,000+ houses destroyed/damaged – 140,000+ hectares of farmland damaged.
Extreme weather events around the world this year show the reality of the climate crisis everywhere. The science is clear! Nowhere is safe until everywhere is safe. The time for action is now! We must drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels. For the government in power, it is about photo-ops and election campaigns now and the citizens affected are left to manage. But with the rising sea level globally, this is a red-hot alert. The flood has worsened the pre-existing humanitarian crisis in Nigeria. Millions of people are struggling to meet basic needs, and many might not survive this latest shock. Our major economic centres like Abuja are at a standstill because supply routes in and out of the city are blocked or destroyed. People are having difficulty working due to long fuel lines; and moving to help those in need is becoming harder and more costly. Nigeria will experience the economic fallout of this flooding for many years.
(Chuks has created a GoFundMe page to support victims of the flooding.)
Data from our USAID Feed the Future program – Rural Resilience Activity, shows that up to 150 farmers in the North East of Nigeria who are enrolled in the Activity have been affected by the flood, and 6000 hectares of farmlands flooded. This has led to the destruction of estimated yield worth of N3.1billion ($3M) across Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Gombe states. We’re beginning to see a sudden rise (over 30%) in the cost of a bag of rice from N32-36k to N46k (approx. $84 to $107). The prices of bread, cereal, oil, beans continue to rise that the average person can no longer afford what we once took for granted. We are concerned that the flood will widen food insecurity, deepen farmer-herder crisis, and communal conflict over natural resources. The water level is rising and it’s scary. The economic, health and infrastructural disaster caused by the floods is of truly catastrophic proportions. The response from the Nigerian Government has been weak, extremely slow, and inadequate. Strong measures must be taken to deal with this and to avoid repeats. This year’s flooding proves that climate change is real. Rise in temperature, rise in ocean levels, excessive rains, are all indicative of climatic changes. The poor, the well to do and the rich are affected alike. We need to stop the blame game and save the planet together.
We’re very happy to welcome Angela Powell as the new Community Participation Co-ordinator for CAFOD Leeds:
I am CAFOD’s community participation coordinator working alongside our volunteers and supporters in Hallam and Leeds dioceses. I feel privileged to be part of the Caritas International family, a movement that harnesses love and spiritual energy to tackle poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. In my role, I encourage and resource the Catholic community to engage in the mission entrusted to CAFOD. I support individuals and parish communities in the diocese to actively participate in acts of compassion that help bring about a better world for all. If anyone would like to find out more about CAFOD or get involved, please email apowell@cafod.org.uk or telephone 07779804247.
REFLECTION ON POPE FRANCIS’ MESSAGE ON THE WORLD DAY OF THE POOR By Angela Powell, Leeds Community Participation Co-ordinator CAFOD
Pope Francis has declared Sunday 13 November 2022 to be the sixth World Day of the Poor, with the theme of “For your sakes Christ became poor” (2 Cor 8:9).
“Jesus Christ… for your sakes became poor” (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). With these words, the Apostle Paul addresses the first Christians of Corinth in order to encourage their efforts to show solidarity with their brothers and sisters in need.
The Pope’s message encourages us to look into ourselves, the decisions we make and consider how best we can use our own talents and resources every day, to create a fairer world where no one suffers from emptiness or despair.
We may be wondering why we are called to celebrate a day of the Poor. In addition to highlighting the joys, hopes, griefs and anxieties of those who live in poverty, the Pope’s message adds another important dimension. The words of Hope echoed from St Paul’s address to the first Christians of Corinth, remind us of the opportunity we have to choose to enrich our own lives in solidarity with our poorest brothers and sisters. In his message Pope Francis highlights“In a word, generosity towards the poor has its most powerful motivation in the example of the Son of God, who chose to become poor”. Here we have an invitation to make a personal decision to follow Christ’s example and become living signs of love in our world today.
Pope Francis knows we are living through difficult times; he notes that the year comes “as a healthy challenge”. We are all aware of the millions of women, children, and elderly people being forced to be brave in the face of extreme poverty and displacement from their homes. The lasting effects of the pandemic, war, conflict, and relentless cycles of drought and flooding affects us all. Many of our brothers and sisters around the world are living each day with fear and the lack of food, water, medical care. In his message, Pope Francis warns everyone “extreme material poverty also corrodes the spiritual dimension, which can be overlooked”. He says “When the only law is the bottom line of profit at the end of the day, nothing holds us back from seeing others simply as objects to be exploited; other people are merely a means to an end. There no longer exist such things as a just salary or just working hours, and new forms of slavery emerge and entrap person who lack alternatives and are forced to accept this toxic injustice simply to eke out a living”.
In these times, it is easy for us to become overwhelmed and wonder how we can respond adequately to this grave situation. This is how the World Day of the Poor gives us hope and is cause for celebration. It’s an opportunity to share what we have with others, to speak out for those whose voices are silenced and to pray together. In doing so, we are choosing to be in solidarity with the poor, choosing to participate in a communal poverty in ways that will free us all, relieve suffering and lead to peace.
In his message, Pope Francis wrote “the poverty that sets us free, is one that results from a responsible decision to cast off all dead weight and concentrate on what is essential. We can easily discern the lack of satisfaction that many people feel because they sense that something important is missing from their lives, with the result that they wander off aimlessly in search of it. In their desire to find something that can bring them satisfaction, they need someone to guide them towards the insignificant, the vulnerable, and the poor, so that they can finally see what they themselves lack. Encountering the poor enables us to put an end to many of our anxieties and empty fears, and to arrive at what truly matters in life, the treasure that no one can steal from us: true and gratuitous love. The poor, before being the object of our almsgiving, are people, who can help set us free from the snares of anxiety and superficiality”.
When St Paul directed the first Christians of Corinth to respond to the needs of the community in Jerusalem who were suffering from great hardship due to a lack of food, he was not asking for acts of charity but encouraging the Christians to make conscious decision to become materially freer, as Jesus had become free for us all. By taking concrete actions to live more simply and sustainably we can enrich our lives and, in the process, remain resolute in our need to share what we can to bring relief and peace to all.
“The words of the Apostle chosen as the theme of this year’s World Day of the Poor present this great paradox of our life of faith: Christ’s poverty makes us rich. Paul was able to present this teaching, which the Church has spread and borne witness to over the centuries, because God himself, in his Son Jesus, chose to follow this path”.
– words in italic are taken from Pope Francis’ message on The World Day of the Poor 2022.
Are you passionate about wanting to eradicate poverty, care for the Earth and experienced at working with small groups? You could be the person we are looking for. We need someone to lead our successful SPARK Social justice project aimed at 18-30 year olds. We have around £10,000 pa available for the next 3 years, which equates to about 2 days per week for someone to provide the services we need to ensure the success of this project.
What we need doing
Often this role can be worked flexibly, with hours and location to suit you. When required, face to face meetings and events will take place within the Leeds diocese and at weekends or evenings. The key qualities and experiences you will need to do this work successfully are:
COMMUNICATING YOUR PASSION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
A commitment to creating a better world for future generations
Experience of taking action for social justice at an individual level, or through paid activities
An understanding and sympathy with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and how these relate to issues of social justice.
WORKING WITH SMALL GROUPS
Experience of working successfully with small issue-based or community development groups.
Experience of setting up small action-focussed groups
A working understanding of what makes for an effective group
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Experience of reporting to and managing communications with different stakeholder groups, including external funders
Creating workplans for the project activities and managing the monitoring and evaluation of project activities
EVENT ORGANISATION
Arranging online events and in-person events to support the project outcomes – especially with creative arts professionals.
Supporting local people in our target age group (what we are calling animators – who will be paid for what they do) to organise their own events online and in-person
Event marketing -including the use of social media advertising.
How to apply
Download the detailed Terms of Reference for the work that we need doing and submit a response as detailed in that document.
The Closing date for submissions is midnight Wednesday 30 November 2022
An initial response will be sent out by the Commission within one week.
Where we wish to take a submission further then we will arrange a time to meet either in-person at the J&P Office at Hinsley Hall in Leeds or via Zoom.
It seems like there are not so many people who are labelled as ‘prophets’ in our times. That was one of the reasons why we decided to organise a Day of Reflection to explore what the prophets in Scripture were all about and where we see prophets in our own time. In times of complexity, confusion, false news, collusion, manipulation and oppression we need those in our midst who see clearly, who still believe it is possible to touch what is real and true, and who can share this vision of hope in the midst of the surrounding fog.
For this day we made our first visit to St Robert’s parish in Harrogate and were made very welcome in their lovely parish rooms by the parish priest, Fr Simon Bradbury.
The day was led by David McLoughlin, Emeritus Fellow of Christian Theology at Newman University. He gave three talks, and these were interspersed with plenty of time for comments and questions, as well as liturgy segments that were integrated across the day.
David’s approach to his talks was to adopt the YCW approach: See, Judge, Act. I would at this point try and summarise the main points that David made but he very kindly provided the full texts of his talks and has given permission for the Commission to publish these as some short pamphlets. You can use the buttons below to download the texts of the talks.
The 3 talks were also recorded, and we hope to make these available as podcasts soon (just as soon as we have worked out how to do it!).
The First talk was entitled “Seeing with Prophetic Imagination”.
At the start of 2021, the J&P Commission became aware, through articles in both the Catholic and national press, that a significant number of Black British Catholics experience racism in their parish communities: ranging from misunderstandings and stereotyping to distancing and discrimination.
We needed to engage with this issue. Our aims were:
to hear the experiences of black Catholics and give their voice a permanent place
to make J&P genuinely inclusive
to ensure that we do not pay lip service to anti racism
to spread awareness and inclusivity through the diocese
to learn from other diocesan experiences
to influence diocesan policy
to spread the word that everyone in our church should feel safe, seen, heard and respected.
We started conversations with involved Black Catholics in the diocese to agree and support an agenda and platform because we were told that you need your own space to talk to one another before you talk to the wider church.
The Racial Awareness group met online for 6 months of listening workshops, facilitated by Graham Brownlee of Leeds Citizens, and they met with the rest of the J&P Commission (by ZOOM) in early September. We were pleased to be together at last, to hear the group’s findings and to look to the future, with the Racial Justice group now being a permanent and effective part of the Justice and Peace Commission.
If we are failing to be an inclusive church, if people from minority groups feel side-lined, excluded or encounter prejudice, then, as one of our members said, the Body of Christ is not being expressed well.
The next step to support the group and build networks, is to have a conversation with CARJ (The Catholic Association for Racial Justice), who have given good support and guidance when this initiative was being planned. The Racial Justice Awareness Group will be continuing its work over the coming months to bring proposals for practical actions and initiatives to be taken in the diocese. These will be clarified in the near future.
ARE YOU INTERESTED?
The group would welcome more people of colour from across the Diocese to join them in their reflections.
Jeff Halper, a Jewish academic living in Jerusalem, is the chair of ICAHD (Israeli Committee against House Demolitions). As part of a speaking tour in England he spoke at the St George’s Conference Centre in Leeds in early September. Over 50 people turned out for a talk by this very engaging speaker. What he had to say was not without controversy – not least because it turns upside down the conventional wisdom of the last 30 years about Israel Palestine!
His basic position can be described as follows:
The “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” has often been presented as one of the most intractable in modern world history. But Jeff Halper’s first point is that this is not a conflict. There are not two sides fighting over some issue that can be resolved through technical negotiations and compromise. Rather, Zionism was – and is – a settler-colonial project.
Jewish settlers arrived in Palestine from Europe with the intention of taking over the country and making it their own. Like all settler movements they came equipped with a narrative of why the country actually belonged to them, and they pursued their claim to entitlement unilaterally. The indigenous Palestinian population (which included Sephardi, Mizrahi and ultra-Orthodox Jews) had no voice in the process; they were not a “side,” but simply a population to be disposed of.
Palestinians are now confined to disconnected and impoverished enclaves scattered over 15 percent of their country. The unequal treatment of Jews and Arabs enshrined within Israeli legislation lead Jeff to label Israel as an ‘apartheid state’.
Settler-colonialism and apartheid, however, cannot be resolved through negotiations and compromise. A people cannot negotiate their fundamental human, national, political and civil rights. The only way out of a colonial situation is through a process of decolonization. What does that entail? It entails a fundamental readjustment to the current reality. It entails the return of Palestinian refugees and their reintegration into society. It entails the dismantling of all structures of domination and control, be they political, economic or ideological and cultural.
It requires acknowledging that the colonized population has the right to an equal say in the construction of the post-colonial polity. It necessitates the formation of a new political system and civil society that guarantees equal rights to all its citizens as well as to the national, ethnic and religious groups that comprise it.
It further demands an equitable redistribution of resources, especially land, the prime target of settler-colonialism, along with an acknowledgment by the colonizers of the suffering they have brought, and consequent reparations. It is such fundamental change that is needed to generate a new, shared political community. And that, in turn, is the only possible way settler-colonialism can be transcended.
At the end of his presentation many people wanted to ask questions – as you probably do if you have got this far. Jeff would be the first to admit that the idea is still relatively new and needs more working out. Nevertheless, he built a very persuasive argument for taking this approach and if you are curious as to how this might be more than ‘pie in the sky’ thinking then I would recommend you to read his book about it: “Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine” (2021) where he sets out in detail the case for viewing the situation in this way and a political vision of the practical measures that could actually bring it about.
By Bronagh Daly, Faith and Creativity Lead at LCI Since its founding in 1857 by the Vicar of Leeds, Dr Walter Hook, the mission of Leeds Church Institute has been to promote religion and education in Leeds. In fulfilment of this, LCI is committed to an understanding of ‘religion’ as ecumenical Christian mission and ‘education’ as learning for the benefit of all. Leeds is a big, busy, diverse city which has been described as ‘two speed’ because certain postcodes and communities within them are at a significant disadvantage. The realities of inequality in city life are of central concern to the mission of churches and because of this, LCI contributes to the ecumenical mission of the city that includes people and perspectives from across Leeds and especially those who are currently at the margins of city life.
Bronagh Daly
Looking back on my first month with LCI, I have been impressed by the level of engagement with the work of the artists we work alongside. Both members of the public and the worshiping communities, who have hosted the exhibitions, have been impacted by the work and have been moved to consider each topic in turn at a more profound level thanks to the links between creativity and faith. Today I have just finished working on a week-long installation at Christ Church, Armley with Hungarian artist, Leon Varga, who created an interactive sculptural piece called ‘The Way Up Is Down’. The see-saw inspired piece was made from discarded church chairs, rusted steel frames and reclaimed grandfather clocks. The artwork addressed themes of loss, grief and time constraints of COVID and is being featured in a short film I am producing that over the next seven months will follow artists as they engage with faith leaders and the wider community. The week before that, I supported Quaker House, Roundhay to host a photographic exhibition called ‘Seeing Asylum’ drawing our attention to the experiences of women held in detention centres here in the UK. The Quaker friends welcomed over 50 people to short talks from PAFRAS Director Karen Pearse and Leeds Beckett Senior Criminology Lecturer, Maria de Angelis who lead on the research which inspired the exhibition. Over the next few months, I will be meeting with artists, poets, musicians and a wide range of collaborators who will be actively supporting dialogue across the city on social justice and human rights issues. I will be planning and organising a wide range of pop up and formal creative events to engage Leeds residents in dialogue around key social justice issues including poverty, asylum, mental health, climate change and housing. One project I am really excited about is ‘Journey to the Manger’ where I will be inviting people from the city to tell me how the Nativity story is relevant to our lives in 2022 which will form the basis of a city centre exhibit during Advent 2023.
Journey to the Manger
If you would like to take part in the ‘Journey to the Manger’ project please email Bronagh at: creativity@leedschurchinstitute.org for more details.