“With the signing of the Good Friday agreement, my generation, the children and grandchildren of the civil rights protesters were told we would be the first to enjoy peace in decades. But just because we’re not at war anymore doesn’t mean the shadow of the gunman has left the room” – the prophetic words of Lyra McKee, killed by a bullet on Easter Thursday. 

 

The other lead story in the May edition of the NW NJPN E Bulletin is Climate Change with reports of 16 year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s visit to the UK plus a new Laudato Si Centre for Salford announced by Bishop John Arnold.  Another Bishop in the news, Declan Lang of Clifton, the lead Catholic Bishop for International Affairs, urges the UK government to promote the global abolition of the death penalty. Atrocities in Sri Lanka, UK Arms sales to Yemen, a €13 billion allocation by the EU Parliament for the defence industry, the suspicious death of an environmentalist La Salle lay brother in Peru, ongoing support for migrants in Calais, activist Rachel Corrie killed whilst trying to block an Israeli armoured bulldozer in 2003 remembered, plus a focus on young people with the publication of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit – Christ is Alive! are also covered. Film and book reviews and a wide range of local events plus current news reports make for a packed bulletin.