Now is the time to start thinking about what your parish could do to celebrate the Season of Creation: Sep 1st through to Oct 4th.Our Climate Crisis is a shared concern and one which needs to be reflected in our prayers, liturgies and parish community actions. We need to reflect on our role as co-creators: […]
Yorkshire
26 Jul – Action for Life on Earth NJPN Conference
By Matty Maslen – parish of St Blaise, Bradford whose attendance was sponsored by SPARK Social JusticeLast weekend, 23rd to 25th August, the National Justice and Peace Network met for their annual conference at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick. The topic for 2021 was climate change, calling the network together to discuss ‘Action for […]
22 Jun – Season of Creation 2021
The Season of Creation in the Church’s year runs from 01 September (the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) through to the feast of St Francis of Assisi on 04 October. This period is also celebrated in a similar style in several other denominations.This year the theme is ‘A home for all? […]
11 May – Commission expresses solidarity with the churches in Jerusalem
As a Commission of the Diocese of Leeds we express our solidarity with the local churches in Jerusalem and their anguish and concern at the ongoing violence there. We wholeheartedly support the statement issued on 09 May by the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, as reported on the Bishops’ Conference website. Palestinians are being harassed, evicted […]
Housing the Homeless
by John BattleChair J&P Commission LeedsThere are scores of empty newly built flats down alongside the River Aire in Leeds City centre waiting for wealthier buyers. Perhaps they should have been handed over to the council to help deal with the housing shortage and to tackle rough sleeping on the streets. In Leeds to be […]
17 Apr ‘A Politics Rooted in the People’ Conference Report
By Joe Burns, Commission MemberThis online international conference, on 15 April, was organised principally by the Centre for Theology and Community, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Katholische Hochschule für Sozialwesen in Germany. However, there was a strong presence and input from people with a community organising background (so, people active in Citizens […]
06 Apr – Addressing Britain’s ‘5 Wounds’
Following our Stations of the Cross liturgy in Holy Week, this Eastertide the Leeds Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission is announcing its new programme to address Britain’s “Five wounds”:The reduction in our International AidThe increase in poverty and inequality at workThe hostile policy towards refugees and asylum seekersThe investment in nuclear weaponsThe lack of urgent […]
We need your money!
The J&P Finances are in relatively good shape, considering the considerable re-orientation of our activities in the last 12 months. The key factors that have led to this situation are:-• We have had grant money for some work and a steady amount of regular income through Standing Orders. Our income will have decreased but not […]
09 Jan – SPARK Social Justice Project Update
By Aoibheann Kelly – Project Director In March 2020, we were looking forward to continuing to deliver a number of interactive workshop sessions to our partner settings, up until July. However, lockdown meant we needed to re-assess these plans – each of the school settings very much wished to continue to set up social justice […]
21 Oct – Update from SPARK Social Justice
As reported earlier in the year the Justice and Peace Spark Social Justice Project quickly adapted to the lockdown restrictions. As schools were closed and everyone was encouraged to stay at home, the SPARK project went online. A series of recorded episodes were produced, with our young people taking the lead, interviewing a number of […]
16 Oct – J&P Sponsors Film and Discussion event as part of Film Festival
The Leeds Palestinian Film Festival provides an opportunity to find out about the Palestine Israel conflict from various angles – and with stories that are rarely told in the mainstream media.Last year we took the step of sponsoring a film called ‘Voices Across the Divide – with voices of Palestinian and Jewish people who had […]
16 Jul – Bishop Marcus signs up to Anti-Nuclear Weapons Statement
By Tim Devereux (St Joseph’s Pudsey & Leeds Pax Christi)Our Bishop, Marcus Stock, has signed Christian CND’s ecumenical statement by clergy for the 75th Hiroshima/Nagasaki anniversary (6th & 9th August); my Parish Priest Father Peter Kravos has signed it; and yes, I did ask them to, and they responded promptly and positively. The statement does […]
07 Jun – Commission endorses open letter following recent murder of George Floyd
The Chair, vice-chair and Treasurer of the Commission have signed a letter put together by the faith leaders involved withLeeds Citizens. The recent murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has had repercussions not only across the USA but across the world. We join with other faith leaders in denouncing racism wherever it occurs and we […]
16 May – J&P Issue Action Group – Climate Crisis
On 28th March 2020 the Justice and Peace Leeds Climate Crisis Action Group met for the first time. The result was an ambitious plan to take the challenge of fighting Climate Change to parishes throughout the Diocese of Leeds. Keith Pitcher talked to us about the experience of Parish of St John Fisher & St […]
09 May – Can we still campaign in a time of lockdown?
By Carol Burns Of course, the answer is ‘yes’ and I am sure many of you are linked to Change.org and Avaaz as well as other campaigning organisations such as Church Action on Poverty or Sabeel Kairos, to name a few that come to mind. I wanted to share a small example of campaigning in […]
15 Apr – SPARK Social Justice goes Virtual
It was only last month that we were reporting on the 300 or so young people who have attended SPARK workshops in the last few months – using drama to explore issues of social justice such as UK poverty and the devastating impact that it can have on people’s lives.With the lockdown, of course, all […]