By Christine Allen, CAFODChristmas Eve is the beginning of the Church’s Jubilee year. The theme is Pilgrims of Hope. Hope defines CAFOD’s mission because we witness hope through the communities we serve, in solidarity with those experiencing oppression, injustice and environmental degradation.In the Old Testament, a ‘Jubilee’ meant a radical reset every 50th year. Based on […]
Catholic Social Thought
aspects of catholic social thought
11 Nov – Together with Refugees
From Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network We wanted to share this amazing initiative put together by the Together With Refugees campaign, entitled “A Fair New Plan For Refugees”. Below you can find an excerpt from their recent newsletter.
06 Nov – 16th November NJPN Networking Day: The Real Living Wage
Saturday 16th November The National Justice & Peace Network (NJPN) brings together J&P activists from across the Dioceses of England and Wales with in-person and online events focussing on various social justice issues. The Diocese of Leeds Justice & Peace Commission is delighted to be hosting this meeting on their behalf at Wheeler Hall, Leeds […]
01 Nov – Conference of Mayors for Peace
by Sean Morris, Commission member Earlier this week I helped a colleague in organising the Executive Conference of Mayors for Peace held in Manchester. The conference is held every two years with Manchester hosting as a Vice President. On Sunday there was a walk of the Manchester Peace Trail. Manchester is a famous city with […]
21 Sep – Acting with compassion – Seeking Justice
How can Christians in West Yorkshire respond to recent riots and racism? How can we build a better society? This was the theme of the recent Caritas Catholic Care Day of Reflection. Caritas Catholic Care focus on social action – what services can and should the Diocese provide to help those in need? This ranges […]
16 Sep – Celebrating Creation Fair
The parish of St. Benedict’s in Garforth was one of the first 20 parishes in the country to receive a LiveSimply award in 2016. However, the award does not mark the end of working to live simply, live sustainably and live in solidarity with the world’s poor. One of their major actions was the creation […]
03 Sep – The Evolution of Love
Sometimes it can be quite depressing when you realise how few people have actually heard of Laudato Si. The fact that it is rarely heard about from the pulpit is also distressing. Yet, the background to taking action on our Climate crisis is a wonderfully positive ‘creation theology’.The title of this piece is the title […]
04 Jul – Hustings @ St Benedict’s, Garforth
By Marg Siberry & Brian Flynn, St Benedict’s GarforthThe recent electoral boundary changes resulted in Garforth becoming part of the new Leeds East constituency, so Churches together felt it was important to provide constituents an opportunity to hear the views of all the candidates on issues that concerned them. The main arrangements for the meeting […]
The General Election – a view from the SPARK Social Justice Community
The non-optional presence of Good Works in the life of a Christian is paradoxically often ignored and focused on in equal measure. Jesus’ core teachings revolve around care for your neighbour, and to ignore this is to ignore Jesus.The Church’s long history of social teaching, formed into our Catholic Social Teaching, is particularly overlooked when […]
10 May – Leeds Citizens Accountability Assembly
By Kathy Shaw – SPARK ManagerSPARK and the Justice and Peace Commission are members of Leeds Citizens and at their Accountability Assembly at the end of April we heard from the potential Mayoral candidates for West Yorkshire. I went with Anthony, one of our SPARK supporters and John Battle Chair of the J&P Commission also attended. […]
05 May – Listening in Cottingley
By Joe Burns, Commission MemberJust prior to Christmas the Commission held a ‘Listening’ event at Wheeler Hall, Leeds. People coming along welcomed the opportunity to share their varied social justice concerns and we determined that, as a Commission, we should hold further events like it.At the end of April, we met at St Mary & […]
20 Apr – Leeds Lives: Bishop Tony Parry
By Emma Temple, LCIOn Thursday 14th March, Christians around Leeds gathered to hear Bishop Tony Parry tell his story of faith at New Testament Church of God.As Dr Helen Reid introduced him, it was clear from the extensive list of communities he’d served and titles he’d held that this was a life whose impact created […]
15 Apr – FAITH IN FOOD
By Joe Burns, Commission MemberThis is the title of an event that has beenorganised by the Northern Dioceses’Environment Group (NDEG). The NDEG firstmet in 2017 to bring together people whoare concerned about the environment andwho are also active in their own dioceses. Itwas inspired by Pope Francis’s Laudato Siencyclical and created an opportunity tobring together […]
08 Apr – Preparing for the General Election
CAFOD and the SVP have joined forces to help prepare the UK Catholic community for the upcoming General Election. Their introduction to this campaign is as follows:The common good is reached when we work together to improve the lives of people both in our local community, and in the wider world. The SVP’s and CAFOD’s campaign […]
31 Mar – A Future For The Global Common Good
By Dr Ann Marie Mealey, Director of Catholic Mission, LTUBeing 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 […]
25 Mar – Living Laudato Si in the Leeds Diocese
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 […]