At the recent Commission meeting in early February, we discussed how to take forward the listening event that we held just prior to Christmas. We received very good feedback from the event and at first thought we might do a follow up in March.
However, we agreed that the next similar event should take place somewhere else in the diocese (the pre-Christmas one was at Wheeler Hall). We also agreed that we should take a topic-based approach to the next meeting. So, to give ourselves a little more time to make suitable arrangements, we decided that it should take place towards the end of April – Saturday April 27th 11am to 1pm – with a light lunch included. Look out for further details once we have a venue sorted out!
On Jan 20th about 25 Parishioners from 4 Parishes (Our Lady of Kirkstall, St John Fisher & St Thomas More, St John Vianney, and St Benedict’s) gathered at St Benedict’s, Garforth. All the parishes either have the Live Simply Award, some for many years, or have started on the journey towards it. The purpose was to meet and share ideas for action, not merely in terms of achieving or keeping the award, but because one of the demands of our Christian lives is to care for God’s Creation, the Earth, our common home. Pope Francis has spelt out so clearly that doing this is not an optional extra but a constituent part of being a Catholic Christian – and we recall that Vatican II made a similar declaration with respect to working for justice.
The day began with a brief resume from each of the parishes, giving us all some ideas about what had already been achieved and what the hopes for the future are. A range of very practical activities emerged such as putting solar panels on churches and houses, insulating churches, LED lights and timers for energy and water usage. Most of the parishes were involving children in growing vegetables or flowers that attract pollinators or in making insect homes, bird boxes or even a hedgehog hotel. CAFOD campaigns, appeals and Fast Days are also well supported, as is the SVP with food and other essentials. Supporting refugees and asylum seekers also formed a common theme across the parishes. For some, the passage of time and Covid restrictions meant that a need for renewal was evident in order to actively re-engage with parishioners.
Laudato Si’ makes it very clear that we all need to undergo an ecological conversion. If our patterns of consumption continue as they are and there is no change in our lifestyles and mindset, the planet’s poor will grow poorer, eco-systems will be further disrupted, weather extremes will worsen and much hardship will ensue. Lent offers an opportunity, both spiritually and in practical terms, to focus on a change of heart, a conversion that will open our minds and hearts to the “cry of the poor and the cry of creation”.
In mixed parish groups, participants then addressed three questions.
What are you planning to do for this Lent?
How do we raise awareness about justice issues with regard to the elections?
How do you approach tackling climate justice and global and local Poverty?
Discussion was lively and generated a wide variety of ideas. However, a few key themes emerged. The first was the need for formation and reflection so that theology, spirituality and liturgy become foundational to our actions. In living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor, in fighting for the planet and against poverty, we should not simply be activists but followers of Christ. A few sessions on Catholic social teaching might be one of the activities that we can offer our parishioners during Lent. It is after all one of the foundation stones of our work for justice.
Secondly, we must be courageous in speaking truth to power. We should try to build a relationship with our MP, so that we can meet and respectfully challenge current policy and practice to repair the brokenness of our planetary system. Most CO2 is emitted, and most environmental damage is inflicted, not by us directly, but on our behalf and largely outside of our individual control. As churches and other faith organisations, we need to find ways to respond to this.
If we care about creation, then we need to believe, as Pope Francis says, that human beings can change. He obviously believes in the power of the Holy Spirit, and so should we! We recognise that the global South suffers far more from the effects of climate change, than we do, but they are least responsible for it. Therein lies a massive injustice that we must address. At the same time in the UK poverty is growing as the cost of living is rising. People who just about managed before can no longer do so and are forced to use food banks and often cannot avoid going into debt. Organisations such as Citizens and Church Action Against Poverty are working to raise awareness and seek structural change as well as addressing urgent needs.
Liz Taylor, from St.Benedict’s parish commented: “It was a splendid day: so many enthusiastic, knowledgeable and committed people dedicated to wanting to make a positive change and to support their parishes to do the same. I came away with renewed vigour and determination to re-commit to Live Simply, Sustainably and in Solidarity with those who are poor.”
By Matty Maslen, Newsletter Editor; photo credit to Darren Ornitz, ICAN
From the 27th of November to the 1st of December last year, I had the privilege to attend the Second Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2MSP TPNW).
For this article I’ve written a Q&A with myself, using questions that people have tended to ask me when it comes up…
What is the TPNW, and why was the conference held in New York?
The TPNW is the international treaty which made nuclear weapons illegal. It’s more colloquially known as ‘The Ban Treaty’ because that’s what it did: it banned nuclear weapons. When a treaty is first made, countries sign and ratify it. Then, once 50 states have ratified it, it officially comes into force. For the TPNW this happened in 2021. Once this had happened, the next stage was to hold a meeting with all those who had signed. This meeting occurred in 2022 in Vienna. Just over a year later, the second meeting was convened, with Mexico as the presiding state.
Just to be clear:-
To sign a treaty is to show willing to continue the treaty’s development and a wish to be involved in the process.
To ratify is to go further, to consent to be legally bound by the treaty law.
The meeting was held in New York because the United Nations Headquarters are there. Therefore, although there are other UN locations, such as in Vienna and Geneva, it is in New York that the most countries have a permanent representative.
However, this is not to say that holding the meeting in New York was the most convenient location. Many people, particularly civil society members, had issues obtaining visas and funding, with many ultimately unable to attend.
What was your role?
Originally, I was given a place to attend the 2MSP as a Youth Delegate through the organisation Youth for TPNW. This is the same organisation I attended the 1MSP with. On the Tuesday we had our official ‘Youth MSP’, held in the UN Church Centre. Here we had Q&A sessions with panels on topics such as universalisation, positive obligations, and complementation, which were the ‘buzzwords’ of the week. These 3 concepts were consistently revisited over the week because they are what makes the TPNW unique among treaties on nuclear weapons.
The second half of the Youth MSP consisted of smaller group discussions on what our role is in the disarmament movement, the barriers that currently face us from fulfilling them, and how we can overcome these.
As the official youth events did not fill the entire week, I also applied to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to volunteer with them on the days I was free. I was given a number of roles across the week:
On the Sunday, the Campaigners Meeting was held at Brick Church, the day before the official MSP began. It was a chance for members of civil society to come together and learn about the work that other organisations had been doing over the past year, to hear about the research people have produced, and to gain clarity in what the expectations were for the week ahead. I was able to attend this meeting as a volunteer on the catering team. This gave me a chance to meet hundreds of inspiring people (everyone needed a coffee at some point!). This meeting was actually one of my favourite parts of the week because it was the ‘campaigners meeting’. In other words, the people doing the groundwork in advocating for, and shaping what is still a very young treaty.
Throughout the rest of the week, I helped as a runner to the main MSP, giving me front-row access to the room (the Trusteeship Council Chamber) where state and civil society representatives gave their statements. It was so exciting to be in the middle of official UN-business.
What talks did you attend?
There were also periods over the course of the week when I did not have an official job to do. I used this time to attend any side-events that piqued my interest. (‘Side-events’ refers to any event that was not the main MSP in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.)
I attended a range of talks, including:
– Voices of Civil Society – Urgency of Disarmament – Prevention is the Only Cure – Influencing Nuclear Weapon States.
Experts in various fields contributed to these events, giving me deeper insight into interdisciplinary approaches to nuclear abolition.
Did you attend any events outside the UN building?
As well as talks I also attended other events such as the ‘New Manhattan Project Concert: A Concert for Nuclear Abolition’. This was held on the Monday evening in a theatre room in the Japan Society. It was a multi-media concert with a mix of theatre, film and music including a performance by ‘MARK Harmony’, a group of young singers from the Marshall Islands, whose people and lands are some of the most affected by nuclear testing. The evening was incredibly moving and immersive and is something that I will remember forever. Another event which I attended was a Mass dedicated to Dorothy Day. I was invited by members of Pax Christi whom I met at the conference and Brendan Fay, a well-known Catholic nuclear abolition and LGBTQ activist. The Mass was given by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, also a nuclear disarmament activist. It was really invigorating to see a member of the clergy using their platform and authority to encourage people to act on an issue which is so important. It really hit home how rare it is for us to be called upon in church to take action other than prayer.
We also held a non-violent, peaceful march and rally through the streets of Manhattan, stopping outside various embassies and official buildings, and held a photoshoot with our banners and posters around the city.
What was the outcome of 2MSP?
One of the most significant decisions made during the 2MSP was that a focus will now be made on delegitimising the deterrence theory as the basis for global security. This is a huge step forward for the international community and the nuclear abolition movement, to have the entire justification for nuclear weapons being questioned. There was a consensus that the risks posed by nuclear weapons are continuing to increase. This is the result of four main trends that we are seeing across the international community, but particularly from nuclear weapon states: The 2MSP focused on centring the affected communities. Since the TPNW has a unique focus on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, through articles 6 and 7, it follows that the voices of those who are most exposed to these impacts were placed at the centre of discussions. However, there was also a large presence of states who were there merely as observers – meaning they are not state parties to the treaty as they have not ratified it.
What now for the TPNW?
Currently, we are in the ‘intersessional period’. This is just what it says on the tin: the period between sessions, or between meetings. The next meeting (3MSP) will take place in March 2025, also in New York, but this time Kazakhstan will preside.
Over this period, the states work on what was agreed at the end of the 2MSP. One of the commitments made was that there be an increase in research through the continuation of the informal working groups which were set up as part of the Vienna Action Plan following 1MSP. Between the 1MSP and the 2MSP, these groups went away and carried out research, which was reported back in New York; the same will happen now. One of the ‘youth statements’ asks that youth not be given simply a ‘token place’ within the treaty, but rather that we are involved at all levels as “article 8 necessitates our inclusion”. For this reason, the statement asked that young people make-up 20% of each working group.
One of the major developments we will be watching for in this intersessional period, is the introduction of a voluntary international trust fund. This fund would be used for victim assistance and environmental remediation.
What do we do now?
In this time, between now and the next MSP, we need to work to increase awareness of the TPNW so that we can create a movement to lobby the UK government to sign and ratify the treaty – or at least to agree to attend the 3MSP as an observer. The government will not do this of their own accord, we must put pressure on them.
By Matty Maslen, Newsletter Editor; Sara Forrest, Commission member; and Bronagh Daly, Faith and Creativity Lead at LCI.
At the end of last year, we held an event at Wheeler Hall in Leeds. The title was ‘Listening to the Signs of the Times’.
To begin the event, John Battle read a prayer which called for the Lord to “come set our hearts ablaze with hope”. He then gave a short introduction to the day ahead.
He outlined the three main challenges currently facing the commission:
1. Engagement 2. Realistic Action 3. Capacity
John asked us to keep these in mind as we engaged in our group discussions. We were split into groups and allocated to a table where there were a number of A3 sheets of paper awaiting us, each of which had a different question for us to discuss.
Each of these questions tied into one of the three main challenges John had outlined, and as the prayer he had read out at the beginning asked, encouraged us to be hopeful in overcoming them.
Below, we’ve collated some reflections from attendees:
Sara's Reflection
My group of four were born in different decades and had lived in three continents. The guided questions took us to a place of deep listening and meaningful discussion.
Our interests were different – environment, corruption, poverty. We were united by a belief that Jesus calls us to love and care for the world. We agreed our world needs healing. And that media reports tend to oversimplify complex situations. ‘Solutions’ tend to be based on ‘us or them’, winners and losers. We felt called to make a difference but were unsure how to go about it.
We identified locally led change as effective, but it is often unreported and hard to find. You have to look for it because algorithms chase hits/likes/shares, they favour big organisations. Change that is just succeeds because it is born of including the marginalised. It is practical, often small scale. When other people see it works, they are more likely to change too.
Lunch provided an opportunity to mix with other participants. It was so good to be with working age people!
There was a real spirit of sharing and common purpose. I felt reassured that other people were also looking to express their faith through action and look forward to the next event.
Bronagh's Reflection
I have been a steering group member of SPARK Social Justice for several years, and the creativity built into the delivery model has untapped potential. Bringing young people together to share their ideas, passions and concerns about inequality and social justice through drama, discussion and video content offers a new way to promote dialogue for change.
Ahead of a SPARK youth leadership event, held at Leeds Trinity University on 4th October 2024, I joined the planning meeting and offered to be the graphic note taker for the day. As the Faith and Creativity Lead at Leeds Church Institute, my role is to utilise the visual arts to support Christians, churches and faith organisations to learn for a faithful city.
This creative way of making notes involves listening in a different way. It was very hard to resist joining in the conversation, as I would normally do. I stayed almost completely silent and listened with intent to a wide range of viewpoints and ideas. My aim was to capture the spoken word not just in note form as we see at so many workshops, but to create a more dynamic record of the words that are spoken, almost as the throw-aways.
I recorded images of a pizza being shared, a member of clergy mentioned this as an example of taking turns and a tool used in chaplaincy to bring young people together for discussion.
I delved into the etymology of the word ‘conscience’, a word integral to the teaching of St Thomas of Acquinas that I heard a retired lecturer mention.
I drew a fizzy drink, mentioned by a young person who decided to cut it out in his quest to be a ‘good disciple’ and live a more simplistic and wholesome life.
A doodle of a gift, wrapped up with a red bow, created a focal point for more in-depth conversations when someone talked about how important their gifts are but sometimes go unnoticed. Students expanded on the ‘gift’ idea and talked about the link the gifts of the holy spirit have with their desire for a change to the way young people from marginalised groups are increasingly being welcomed into the university union as reps and ambassadors.
The amalgam of doodles, typography and symbols across the 3 pages offered a new dynamic to the workshops. I reflected on our primordial need as humans to leave a mark. Just as the paint blown against hands in the Gargas Caves 14,000 years ago, the earliest mark making recorded we left a mark that we came together, we created a visual representation of over 40 people coming together to record the hopes and aspirations of young people and their desire to one day become leaders in social justice.
Before the Victorian era, many Christians were illiterate. Stained glass windows in churches and carvings in wood or stone helped to communicate the Good News of the gospels and offered instruction for salvation. Our graphic notetaking follows in that tradition. We connected through a combination of imagery and words, colour and space.
Something special happens to our spirit when we connect with the visual arts. Paintings and photographs can help convey emotions that are often failed by the written word, we are in the main visual learners. Drawing on the art of listening, slowing down the note-taking process to pictorial form takes time. Representing the spoken word as image takes courage. When we share our wisdom in visual form, we connect across languages and cultures.
This intergenerational gathering engaged in the graphic note taking methodology and embraced it with ease. Graphic note taking offered revelation and intrigue.
The images are long lasting and, in a way, become sacred. We hold images differently to how we hold workshop notes in written form. I have been informed that the images we created will be utilised as either a learning resources, or pleasant backdrop for future SPARK Social Justice events. The illustrations of the conversations I created will act as a visual shortcut offering the didactic message of ‘Lead, Empower and Change’ to as wider audience and help to promote the visual arts as a conduit for learning as a faithful city.
Visual summary of discussions
Matty's Reflection
As the youngest attendee, I really enjoyed the intergenerational discussions that the event fostered. It can often be difficult to find the spaces to talk to people outside our own bubbles, be that age-related, ideology-related, lived-experiences, or otherwise.
In the group I was in, this fed into the discussions we held. We talked about the role of the clergy in empowering and encouraging us to bring about meaningful social change.
When we reached the stage of the day where we were asked to sum up our group discussions in 3 words, we first allowed everyone to choose a word to see if we had any common themes. Inevitably, there were: ‘dialogue, broadening, and bridge-building’ were all mentioned. This notion of stepping outside our own perspectives has been my key take-away from the day.
As John Battle had said to us right at the start: “deeper listening all the time” – and we cannot be truly listening if we are simply waiting for our turn to talk.
Our involvement with the last film in this year’s Palestinian Film Festival, on 9th December, was sponsored by SPARK Social Justice – as there are always many younger people in the audience. This year it was sold out. The film was called Israelism and explored how many young Jewish people in the USA are brought up to revere the state of Israel without being fully aware of the situation with regard to Palestinians. It follows the stories of some of these people and how they reject the stories they have grown up with after seeing the situation for themselves on visits to Israel.
For us, as organisers, the event was not without its own drama! We were due to have a post-film discussion with the film’s Director. However, two days prior to screening he had to cancel because his parents were ill. Thanks to the efforts of Tricia Griffin, Film Festival committee member and longtime campaigner about Palestinian rights, we were have the discussion led by Robert Cohen, a writer and blogger on Jewish affairs who lives in Leeds.
In some ways, it was better to have Robert speaking as he was able to give a UK perspective on what was depicted in the film. People asked some hard questions of him – comparing the reaction of people in this country when UK Jews have gone to fight in the Israeli Defence Force against the reaction to Muslims who went to fight for IS. However, it was very striking how the questions were phrased in a respectful way and the discussion was a genuine exploration of positions and issues where it is almost impossible to get beneath the surface in the mainstream media. We are very grateful that Robert took the opportunity to share his expert knowledge.
‘If we don’t learn to live together, we are doomed, this land will be our graveyard’ -these are the words of a representative of the Parents Circle Family Forum. (https://www.theparentscircle.org/en/pcff-home-page-en/)
As helpless bystanders, sometimes we can feel the same. There is no solution unless there is negotiation,
But the journey is going to be a hard one.
The cruelty and violence perpetrated by Hamas on the 7th of October was truly shocking and clearly has no justification. I like others felt especially sorrowful that some of those murdered, supported the Palestinians in the Gaza strip in very practical ways like giving lifts to Gaza residents who are going to hospital.
Then this atrocity was followed by the unprecedented attacks on civilians in Gaza, justified by the Netanyahu government as destroying Hamas. There is no question that the current Israeli government is breaking international law daily. It has been very difficult at times to watch the scenes at hospitals on the Gaza strip and most distressing the premature babies left without any medical help.
A crib in the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem with Jesus resting on rubble from destroyed buildings
October 7th didn’t come out of the blue, it is in the context of the occupation of Palestinian land since 1967, the growth of illegal settlements and the imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails and the arming of Israel especially by the Americans.
While the words eyes are on Gaza, violence continues in the West Bank as settlers attack Palestinian villages seemly with impunity
What can we do in the face of this terrible conflict?:
Never give up hope, as Christians however hard the circumstances, if we believe in the incarnation, that Jesus is with us even in the worst suffering possible, if we believe in the resurrection then there is always hope.
Listen to all those who are suffering from whichever side, educate ourselves about the facts, and use many different sources and be alert to fake images on social media. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-67177744/
Get involved in public solidarity actions e.g demonstrations, Women in Black (in Bradford and Leeds). Watching a documentary about Marwen Bargouti, a Palestinian Political leader in prison now for 20 years, this week, I was very moved by his family saying how important international solidarity was, to know that ordinary people supported the Palestinians
Learn about support and share the many, many examples of non-violence resistance by Palestinian and Israeli groups.
Support humanitarian organisations working in Gaza such as Medical Aid for Palestinians. CAFOD also has work in Gaza.
I’ll end with the brave words of Maoz Inon the son of two Israeli peace activists, Bilha and Yakovi Inon, who were murdered on Oct. 7:
“Let’s call for peace. Let’s call for hope. Let’s call for a complete ceasefire. Let’s call for building bridges. … We must build the future, and this future must be based on equality, on partnership, on peace.”
By Rafael Antonio, Filipino University Student in Leeds
Coming to the United Kingdom was not a simple decision. Like many other Filipinos, who have sought a higher education in countries not of our own, we are considered “fortunate” unlike our counterparts (the OFW – overseas Filipino workers) who instead go abroad for work. Indeed, regardless of intent, both the Filipino student and worker must go through the tedious, expensive, and time-consuming process of securing proper documentation before being granted entry – and then come to the painful goodbye, in which we say goodbye to all we have known and to all we have loved, for how long, we do not know.
Why is that, then? Why would so many bright minds and talented able-bodied workers come to a country not of their own? The answer is as simple as it is sad: Corruption in their homeland. True, many have come abroad to escape it, while others, forced to leave because of it. One can only imagine the surprise and disappointment of some students and workers of Filipino descent when the very same corruption made its presence known in a place they went to, to avoid it.
During May of this year, the city of London was greeted with a bus ad that featured Nurse May Parsons, a British woman of Filipino descent, which celebrated her services to the NHS and achieving a milestone of administering one of the first Covid19 vaccines.(1) “We give the world our best. The Philippines.” the ad proudly stated, or more likely, deliberately misconstrued the current state of the nursing profession in the Philippines.[1]
In truth, the Philippines is currently facing a nursing shortage due to low wages and awful working conditions. This depressing state of work was made more apparent during the COVID19 pandemic, so much so that the Filipino government banned the deployments of nurses bound abroad between April and December of 2020 as a solution to the shortage.(2)
For two consecutive years, the Philippines was ranked to be the worst place to be in during the pandemic.(3, 4) During this period, Filipino nurses were forced to work and operate under deplorable and slave-like conditions. It was not uncommon to hear reports of the various ways they were mistreated in their own country and by their own government – forced to take vaccines of questionable origins, made to work overtime while wearing diapers, the mandatory use of pseudo-medical paraphernalia bought by the government from organizations linked organized crime, denied their wages and payments promised to them at the start of the deployment ban, and the worst fate of the most unlucky being infected by the virus itself and left to die .(5)
The claim that the Philippines is “giving its best” is as striking as it is depressing when one compares the two different realities a nurse from the Philippines may experience. The Covid19 pandemic is now over, but the Philippines is planning to hire thousands of unlicensed nurses to address its shortage.(6)
The ad, in truth, was a marketing campaign by the government of Filipino president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. whose family institutionalized the presence of not only Filipino nurses but of all Filipinos working overseas.(7) It was in the 1970s, that his father the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law – and began bankrupting the country by pocketing the country’s money and international donations, while his military forces caused the deaths and torture of the thousands of who would dare speak out or was suspected of speaking out. As a “solution” to the crisis he brought on, the export of cheap Filipino labor was designed and survives to this day.(8) Millions of Filipinos, since then have said goodbye to their country and families, sacrificing their time and gambling their safety as the institution has become an outlet of human trafficking and abuse both by their working agencies and their employers.(9)
In a better world, the presence of Filipinos working overseas would be done out of a genuine desire to offer their services and help make the world a better place – rather than being forced to leave their native land and families due to the corruption of their leaders and the appalling working conditions that are offered to them.
A better world is indeed still possible. But it needs to begin with us. Two Catholic Social teachings have already laid out the best way of how to make this possible. We must recognize the “dignity of the worker” and practice “solidarity”.
In simple terms, while indeed we must recognize the explementary service/s of Filipinos in healthcare, we mustn’t patronize them in the same manner of the administration of the Marcoses. Instead, we must ensure that their rights both as workers and humans are respected, recognized and fulfilled. By solidarity, we must understand the weight of their efforts, by familiarizing and being more aware of their history and how, we may have overlooked their presence and services to a country not of their own.
Sources and references:
Alibudbud, Rowalt. “When the ‘Heroes’ ‘Don’t Feel Cared for’: The Migration and Resignation of Philippine Nurses amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Journal of global health, May 23, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9126038/.
Arnaldo, Ma. Stella F. “‘the Best’ for Rollout in US, Middle East: Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo.” BusinessMirror, May 12, 2023. https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/05/12/the-best-for-rollout-in-u-s-middle-east/.
Beltran, Michael. “Philippines to Hire Unlicensed Nurses as Shortages Bite.” Nikkei Asia, July 10, 2023. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Health-Care/Philippines-to-hire-unlicensed-nurses-as-shortages-bite#:~:text=The%20Philippines’%20Department%20of%20Health,be%20eligible%20for%20temporary%20licenses.
Bloomberg News. “Why the Philippines Became the Worst Place to Be in Covid.” Bloomberg.com, September 29, 2021. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-27/why-the-philippines-is-once-again-the-worst-place-to-be-in-covid?leadSource=uverify+wall.
Calonzo, Andreo. “Covid Best and Worst: Philippines Hits Bottom Again as Omicron Surges.” Bloomberg.com, January 27, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-27/why-the-philippines-is-once-again-the-worst-place-to-be-in-
Saturday 16th Dec (11am to 1pm at Wheeler Hall) there is an open invitation to a “special event ” of our Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission to reflect on who we are now and our purpose and mission in the Diocese in the light of the Church’s ” Synodal Process” which Pope Francis has got underway with a recent first session at the Vatican.
It couldn’t be more timely. The first decades of this twenty first century have seen the breakdown of the optimisms of globalisation and democratisation (remember the hubristic declaration of “the end of history” and a new American century?). Countries have retreated back into defensive nationalism and new outbreaks of violence, conflicts, terrorism and are scarring our times – not least in producing new generations of refugees. Economic developments are of increasing inequalities, insecure work and deepening poverty and disenfranchisement as democracies come under stress. The answers of traditional “surface politics” no longer cut through. This leads to disillusionment and despair – particularly for the poor. The climate crisis deepens internationally with devastating environmental impacts worldwide. Yet, governments step back from seriously tackling it – jeopardising the future for generations. Here in the UK we face a coming General Election .
Two years ago Pope Francis initiated a Synod of the Church proposing a “long process of listening and discernment…open to all the people of God; no one being excluded to journey together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as missionary disciples” . The Bishops’ letter to the People of God at the close of the first Synod session this October stresses that we address “the context of a world in crisis , whose wounds and scandalous inequalities resonate painfully in our hearts infusing our work with a particular gravity…. reflecting on our common home where the cries of the earth and the poor are becoming increasingly urgent“.
We are all invited to join in the synodal process which is now a call to participate in ” synodal discernment “. The Church’s tradition of social teaching has long advocated the ” see judge act” method of reflecting and taking action; the Second Vatican Council stressed the need to read ” the signs of the times”; ” discernment ” has become a key word in our Catholic practice. But too often this method of ” see-judge-act” and “discernment” has been regarded as an individual and personal process . The hallmark of the present Synod is the need to develop ” collective discernment ” – a coming together to read the signs of the times”.
Central to this method of ” collective discernment ” is real “listening”, a practical skill neglected and devalued in contemporary discourse (not least in political and social practice). An adviser to Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatical Council which emphasised ” renewal in the Spirit” ( “aggiornamento” ) urged the accompanying need for ” approfundimento continuo” – a “continuous deepening” .
Our task now is one of joining to the Synodal process of journeying (synod means “walking together”) through our troubled times is to get together urgently. At the conclusion of the first session there is an invitation of the Synod Bishops “to the People of God” ( letter Oct 25 2023) to ” deepen the listening … to those who have been denied the right to speak or feel excluded,… to victims of racism in al. its forms…to the enthusiasm of youth , to their questions and pleas, … to the dreams , the wisdom and the memory of elderly people…the world in which we live and which we are called to love and serve even with its contradictions demands that the Church strengthen cooperation in all areas of her mission“.
So how does the Justice and Peace Commission, and everyone in the Diocese, develop our work of addressing poverty in our society, press for action on the climate crisis; campaign for nonviolence and peace, address persistent racism, and regard young people not as ” the future ” but as ” the now of the Church” ( in Pope Francis’s words) – as our special Spark Justice project works to deliver?
This open session of ” collective discernment ” and ” deepening listening ” – coming together in the shared presence of the Holy Spirit – is our participation in the new Synod process to help us all better address the challenges of our troubling times and develop our actions.
Join on Saturday 16 December 11:00 – 13:00
Wheeler Hall, Leeds Cathedral
If you can spare a couple of hours then come and join us to reflect together on the signs of the times.
Please use the button to register as we will be providing a light lunch (and a mince pie, of course!) at the end of the meeting.