Join the LCI team to say a fond farewell to Dr Helen Reid, who has served as Director for over 10 years.
In May, Helen will be moving on to new adventures as Director of Parceval Hall, retreat house for the Anglican Diocese of Leeds, and we want to wish her all the best in this new role, as well as celebrating her immense contribution to the life and vision of Leeds Church Institute.
We will gather at Leeds Minster for tea and cake, and a short service of blessing for Helen in her work going forward. We very much hope you will join us to celebrate Helen and say a heartfelt farewell from the LCI community.
Use the button to get more information and attend.
By Dr Ann Marie Mealey, Director of Catholic Mission, LTU Being a Catholic University in today’s complex global society is no easy task. With many feeling that values are akin to subjective preference and not at all the result of carefully discerning the truth which involves the sources of morality, it can be tricky to convince some that leadership programmes with a faith element can genuinely enhance skills, ethical thinking and help to create a better global world.
At Leeds Trinity, we have teamed up with CAFOD to deliver a leadership programme that will help students to develop their own leadership style, reflect carefully on some of the most pressing global issues affecting our communities at this time as well as finding out what they can do to help. Understanding advocacy and how it works is a key plank of the University’s strategy. We seek to help students not only to develop skills for their specific careers but also to develop their ability to contribute to the collective conscience of the society. In short, we help students to ‘dream the world differently’ and then show them how to make that dream a reality for the betterment of society – especially those who are most vulnerable. In short, our leadership day invites all students of faith and those of none to join us in trying to understand what unity of mission and purpose might look like in a post-Covid setting. Written during the pandemic when the global community suffered loss, sickness, vulnerability and uncertainly, Pope Francis’s book ‘Let us Dream’ reminds us that: “This is a moment to dream big” […] “to rethink our priorities – what we value, what we want, what we seek – and commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of.” As our Higher Education Institutions face many challenges including those that create an air of uncertainly about international students, funding, research, and the impact of cost-of-living crisis on students choosing to go to university, there is no better time to reflect together on what values the world needs now. Therefore, all are invited and welcome to join us at Leeds Trinity on the 15th of April in order to learn and grow together and to bring the dream of a better world closer to being a reality.
As an encouragement to parishes across the Diocese of Leeds we have produced a compilation of our newsletter articles about Climate Change since the publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Laudato Si‘.
It turns out there are quite a lot!
It includes a Foreword by Bishop Marcus and runs to 52 pages.
We hope that as many people as possible take a look and think to themselves ‘We could do that!’ or that they could adapt some of the ideas presented to work in their own parish community.
Use the button to download the PDF and have a browse.
On 14 March SPARK Social Justice and the J&P Commission, in partnership with Leeds Trinity University, had organised a presentation of the 2024 Romero Lecture. The Archbishop Romero Trust organises this event every year, taking a guest lecturer on a short UK-wide tour.
This year the speaker was Dr Raymond Perrier, Director of the Denis Hurley Institute in Durban, South Africa. Denis was a very engaging speaker and carried everyone along with his energy. To illustrate his theme he took the verses from Isaiah that Jesus used in the synagogue: ‘ I came to bring good news to the poor, to set prisoners free…’ etc. For each phrase, he illustrated how these were demonstrated by St Oscar Romero (assassinated whilst saying mass) and by Denis Hurley, former Archbishop of Durban (who lived until he was 90 but who was an outspoken campaigner against Apartheid during the 1980’s).
Raymond invited questions at the end of his presentation and there followed a lively discussion with the 30 or so people who had come along. A large part of this centred around where else each of us finds the inspiration to keep on working on social justice issues when it feels as if there is so much going wrong in the world: where do we find resilience?
John Battle, Dr Ann Marie Mealey, Amy Kiani, Dr Raymond Perrier & Julian Filochowski We recorded Raymond’s lecture. He is putting this together with his presentation and will make it available on the YouTube channel of the Denis Hurley Centre. So, if you missed the lecture, there will be an opportunity to watch his presentation and listen to what he had to say. We will advertise this when it is ready.
PEACE EDUCATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION By Matthew Maslen, Newsletter Editor In February, I attended a training day at the University of Bradford. It was collaboratively run by PeaceJam and the University of Bradford’s Peace Studies department.
PeaceJam has deep roots in the University of Bradford’s Peace Studies Department, which is where our UK body was originally set up in partnership with British Pugwash. The event was attended by some 30 participants, some of whom had travelled from other northern cities, though most were MA or PhD students of the peace studies department in Bradford. A month on from the training day, the aspect which has most sat with me was the afternoon session on active listening. Although it was delivered in the context of conflict resolution, I think it has impacted my day-to-day conversations since then. For this session, we first discussed features of perceived ‘good’ and ‘bad’ listening. We identified things such as eye contact, presenting as physically open, and giving positive feedback through nodding. The activity itself saw us split into pairs. In the first section, Person A spoke about a favourite childhood memory while Person B sat and actively listened. After Person A had finished, Person B was to summarise and paraphrase the memory back to Person A. We then switched roles. This time, Person B spoke about a peace and justice issue that they were passionate about.
I was surprised to find quite how difficult I found it to actively listen. The part I most struggled with was not jumping in to try to clarify points I was unsure on. While my partner spoke about a topic that they were deeply passionate about and which I was uninformed on, I wanted to ask questions. To refrain was hard. We came back to a large group discussion afterwards, and it seemed I was not alone in this struggle. Another interesting point raised was that often, when the listener relayed back to the speaker, what they had focused on, or found most meaningful, was often different from what the speaker had expected. In the weeks since, I have been reflecting on these two points. In particular, on the extent to which a conversation can change when we ask a question – do we inadvertently derail the speaker’s intention? Does this mean we should always refrain from asking? I don’t think there can ever really be a blanket-answer to concerns like these. But thinking on them has made me conscious of how I engage in conversations. What do you think?
Earlier this month, I was invited to attend the Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony at the University of Bradford, organised by the Peace Studies department. This was the sixth consecutive year that the department had gathered to remember the victims of the Holocaust, and of all genocides since then.
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 was ‘Fragility of Freedom’. At the University of Bradford, this was honoured by a panel discussion featuring Professor Paul Rogers, Tom Woodhouse, Professor Udy Archibong, Dr Becky Alexis Martin, community members, and students of the Peace Studies department.
In 1942, Rafael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer coined the term ‘genocide’. In 1948, the ‘Convention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’ officially codified genocide as an independent crime. Yet, in the past century, there have been 27 genocides across the world.
In reflecting on these, the speakers talked about why genocide has occurred so many times. Dr Becky Alexis-Martin spoke of imperialistic necropolitics: the entanglement of the use of power to “dictate how some people must live and some must die”, with imperialism and colonial legacies. As Professor Udy Archibong said, “racism, hatred and discrimination fuelled these genocides”.
After each of the key speakers had done a short presentation, there was time for questions. Gathering during the current atrocities in Palestine was extremely potent, and one of the most interesting discussions which took place was in response to the question: ‘What do we pragmatically do to protect staff and students?’
Discussion turned to the role of educational institutions in supporting their students through distressing and complicated times in the international sphere. Each member of the panel was speaking with different lived experiences of the current atrocities in Palestine. Yet, all the speakers agreed that the main responsibility of the Peace Studies department, and the university as a whole, to its students and staff is to foster an environment for dialogue.
As Prof. Udi had said earlier: “inclusion is not an afterthought, or something that is nice to do; it is something that is necessary”. Alson with Tom Woodhouse, she spoke of the need for there to be a safe space that allows for “ambivalence and contradiction”. A place where different points of view can be explored and discussed meaningfully. As Fiona Macaulay put it, the job of educators is to teach respectful dialogue and to teach students not to prescribe opinions or perspectives to other people. As Paul Rogers said, it is the “essential mark of a university” to be able to rise above personal feelings.
Dr Becky Alexis Martin summarised it well: universities can protect their staff and students and help prevent future genocides by keeping them informed, educated, and empowered.
The same is true of us all: we must seek facts, question norms, and stand up for what is right.
By Emma Temple, Communications and Marketing Manager, LCI
“Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12)
On Tuesday 6th February, LCI and Leeds Christian Community Trust launched the 2024 edition of the Leeds Lent Prayer Diary.
The launch event at Roscoe Methodist Church brought together the huge variety of organisations who contributed to the diary – all inspired by faith to work for the good of the city.
The diary has been released every Lent for over a decade, a longstanding collaboration between LCI and LCCT to shine a light on the important work of faith organisations in Leeds. Contributors were represented at the event, including SPARK social justice, the Joanna Project, Torch Trust, Space and Kidz Club, among many more.
The theme for this year’s diary is compassion. As well as a Christian value that unites faith organisations in the city, making Leeds a compassionate city is one of the ambitions of Leeds City Council. The work highlighted in the diary this year shows that compassion is alive and well in the city and is lived out in vital services to improve Leeds for the benefit of all.
Dr Helen Reid, Director of Leeds Church Institute, said: “I am thrilled to partner with Leeds Christian Community Trust to launch this diary for 2024. Listening to city voices is at the heart of everything LCI does, and this diary is brimming with passionate and compassionate voices from Leeds communities. These reflections build a vision of a city where everyone can thrive and flourish, and it should make all of us proud to faithfully live and work here.”
Liz Harden, assistant Pastor for Leeds Vineyard church, gave a powerful keynote talk on compassion in the city. “You might be holier than me, but I don’t naturally come clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, or patience. These are not my default settings… no matter how I look at it, I’m lacking in the nature of Jesus without the help of His spirit.”
Liz continued to explore how we are called to do good works through God’s love for us and gave us the important reminder that we need to care for ourselves in order to care for others. The full recording of Liz’s talk will be available on the LCI podcast on Spotify.
After the talk, we shared a simple soup supper provided by Nurture Catering from St George’s Crypt, with grace led by Revd Andy Muckle, chaplain at the Crypt. There was an opportunity to pray together for the city and for ourselves, led by Helen Reid.
The prayer diary is available to order for individuals or churches, to help you pray for Leeds every day during Lent. It includes reflections for Good Friday from Revd Dr Joseph Cortis, Deacon in the Leeds Diocese, and for Easter Sunday from Dr Paul Coleman, Faith at the Margins Lead for LCI.
The Archbishop Romero Trust engages someone every year to do a short speaking tour.
This year the speaker is Raymond Perrier. The Commission is organising a presentation of Raymond’s talk in the Leeds Diocese. As with last year, we are partnering with Leeds Trinity University. The meeting will take place on Thursday 14 March at 7pm at Leeds Trinity University. There is no charge to attend this event, but please register by using the button at the end of this article.
The theme for his talk is ‘Prayerful and Prophetic Resilience in the Face of Injustice – Archbishops Oscar Romero and Denis Hurley’. In other words, what is it that keeps us motivated to carry on with the work of Justice & Peace when there are so many wars and injustices across the world at the present time.
Since 2015, Raymond has been the founding Director of the Denis Hurley Centre – a community centre in the heart of Durban South Africa which brings together different faith groups to help the poor and marginalised of the city. This landmark building has established its reputation as a place of care, education and community, responding to issues of refugees, drug addiction and homelessness.
Raymond is also involved in different networks working to help transform inner-city Durban. He also works as a consultant to the Global Interfaith Network which provides theological resources for religious leaders in the Global South who wish to look at questions of LGBTI inclusion.
For 5 years, Raymond was Director of the Jesuit Institute – South Africa, working to bring a faith perspective to debates on social issues. He also designed and facilitated courses in values-based leadership delivered at several South African and US business schools. For 6 years, Raymond was a trainee Jesuit priest. This included 2 years living and working in a refugee camp in Uganda with the Jesuit Refugee Service serving 60,000 Sudanese refugees with pastoral support and education. After leaving the Jesuits, Raymond became the Head of Communities for CAFOD working with Catholic parishes and schools across the country. Raymond’s initial professional experience was in marketing consultancy, working for Interbrand with companies such as American Express, British Airways, IBM and BP. He developed with Business Week an annual league table of the world’s most valuable brands and pioneered a global consulting practice in brand valuation. He was Managing Director of the New York office of Interbrand with a staff of 160.
Of Indian parents, Raymond was born and educated in the UK. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Theology from New College, Oxford; an MA in Philosophy from the University of London; and an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics. He recently completed a PhD with the University of KwaZulu-Natal writing about Paddy Kearney (the founder of the DHC and a renowned Struggle activist). He is also a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Faith and Community and a frequent writer and commentator in newspapers, on radio and television, including a regular column in ‘The Southern Cross’ (SA’s national Catholic newspaper).