By Keith Pitcher, SS John Fisher & Thomas More, Burley in Wharfedale Pope Francis’ messages in Laudato Si have been clear in the need for us to protect our beautiful but fragile world. He calls on us, collectively and individually, to: consider the way we look at creation pray about this identify and stop practices […]
Yorkshire
01 Mar – Current Commission Climate Work
By Trish Sandbach, Commission Vice-ChairClimate change has been a Commission priority area even before the publication of Laudato Si (LSI) in 2015. Projects in this arena have been workshops about Laudato Si as well as workshops and active support for CAFOD’s Live Simply award scheme. In 2020 several people in the diocese ‘graduated’ as Laudato […]
14 Feb – CAFOD’s Lenten Walk Against Hunger
By Matthew Maslen It will be Ash Wednesday in a fortnight. This year, CAFOD’s Lenten campaign is the Walk Against Hunger; inviting people to walk 200km during Lent to raise awareness and funds for CAFOD’s nutrition projects. The campaign is particularly focusing on Sierra Leone. Around the world there are 200 million children living at […]
21 Jan – Commission Response to Diocesan Synodal Process
The Commission has responded to the Diocesan Listening Process. However, the question format used for parish meetings and individual online responses did not align with the key points that we wanted to make. We trust that the synodal listening team can incorporate these points into the overall results of the process.These were the main points […]
17 Jan – The Time for Renewal
Pope Francis wrote of the impact of the Covid pandemic in his encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’:”Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing or to refine existing systems and regulations is denying reality”.The Covid pandemic has ravaged families and communities and hollowed out many […]
12 Jan – Work Opportunity with the J&P Commission
Introduction Are you passionate about wanting to eradicate poverty and caring for the Earth, together? You could be the person we are looking for. We need someone to lead our successful SPARK Social justice project for younger adults and who can help the Commission reach new audiences and raise awareness of our work by enhancing […]
10 Jan – Work opportunity with St Monica’s Housing
An opportunity has arisen to work with St Monica’s Housing, a small Leeds charity which currently runs two homes housing single female asylum seekers who don’t have access to public funds.The successful candidate would provide practical support for up to 10 residents in two houses and ensure the general maintenance of the houses in conjunction […]
02 Jan – Congratulations to our Chair
Commission members offer congratulations to John Battle, our Chair, who has been given a knighthood in the New Year’s Honour’s list. However, the fact that he is Chair of the Commission is coincidental to this award! Since retiring from Parliament in 2010, John has been tireless in his efforts to support local communities , especially […]
15 Dec – Comboni Survivors
By John Duffy, Commission member Earlier this year, Bishop Marcus made a public and much applauded apology (on behalf of the Church) to the survivors of sexual abuse at St Peter Claver College over 50 years ago. This group of men has tried over the years to persuade the Comboni Order to meet them, hear […]
05 Dec – 2021 Palestinian Film festival Screening
By Carol Burns, Leeds Diocese Pax Christi member Imagine being 19 years old and having to decide whether to agree to be conscripted into the armed forces for your national service. Imagine then if you decided you couldn’t in all conscience agree to be part of an army that supports indeed maintains the occupation of […]
01 Dec – Commission gains new funding for SPARK Social Justice
SPARK Social Justice, our project engaging with younger Catholics about issues of Social Justice, has just been awarded additional funding by Benevolentia (also known as the Porticus Trust). We are delighted to announce that they have agreed to fund a set of activities over the next 4 years that amount to a total grant of […]
10 Nov – COP26 events around the Diocese
Together for the Planet @ St Benedict’s Garforth By Trish Sandbach, Commission MemberA couple of months ago the Faith and Justice Action Group from St. Benedict’s in Garforth were discussing how to start bringing people together after the separation and isolation of lockdown and restrictions while continuing to observe Covid safety – as the pandemic […]
27 Oct Justice & Mercy with Archbishop Stephen Cottrell
On the evening of 20 October we held the second in what we hope will be an occasional series of online meetings exploring the links between Justice & Mercy. It was given by Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York. As the basis for his talk, he gave a quote from Psalm 85: “Mercy and Truth are […]
16 Oct – Commission sponsors film showing as part of Leeds Palestinian Film festival
The Commission has peace and nonviolence as one of its priority areas for reflection and action. The Israel Palestine situation has been a strong interest for a number of years both within the Commission itself and for the Leeds Diocese Pax Christi group with whom we have partnered. For a third year, the Commission is […]
12 Oct – paid work opportunity with the Commission
Are you passionate about social justice issues? We are looking for someone to provide services to the Commission on a self-employed basis. Most of the work could be done remotely and there is a lot of flexibility around how it gets done. In total it amounts to in the region of 500 paid hours of […]
05 Oct – Conflict & Climate Change Liturgy
The feast of St. Francis on October 4th marked the end of the Season of Creation. The J&P Commission celebrated this feast with a liturgy exploring and praying about the links between Conflict and Climate Change. Using the YCW See, Judge Act approach, short videos were used to find out about the experiences of people […]