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 […]
Yorkshire
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 […]
30 Jul – Ideas for the Season of Creation
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: […]
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 […]