Portsmouth Diocese Justice Peace and Social Responsibility February 2018 Bulletin
You are the sowers of Change
“Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labour is not mere philanthropy. It is a moral obligation. For Christians, the responsibility is even greater: it is a commandment. It is about giving to the poor and to peoples what is theirs by right. The universal destination of goods is not a figure of speech found in the Church’s social teaching.” Pope Francis 2015
Download the bulletin here
Statement for the National Justice and Peace Network meeting 10.2.18
The Vice Chairperson of Portsmouth Bamenda Committee has issued the following statement:
National Justice and Peace Network meeting 10.2.18
Cameroon currently sits alongside countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Myanmar on an early warning watch list of ten countries and regions at risk of conflict or escalation of violence (www.crisisgroup.org).
For decades the Anglophone population of Cameroon has expressed concern and experienced violence as the central government has repressed their dissent over perceived discrimination and marginalisation of the English-speaking minority (BBC World Service – “Talkabout Africa – Merging Communities in Cameroon”).
There are now many reported deaths and tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons within Cameroon and across the border in Nigeria as a result of the violence that has occurred in the NW and SW provinces. Amnesty International has prepared a document for the UN Universal Periodic Review in May 2018 on widespread Human Rights Violations in the country (www.amnesty.org).
This week there have been calls for transparency regarding the wellbeing and whereabouts of the leaders of the Anglophone “Ambazonian” movement who were arrested in Nigeria a month ago and have not been seen by their families or lawyers since. (BBC World Service Africa Today 5.2.18).
The Archdiocese of Bamenda in NW Province Cameroon and Portsmouth Diocese in the UK have sustained a twinned relationship for 44 years now. This partnership has seen a sharing of spiritual, practical and emotional support. Both dioceses have exchanged Fidei Donum priests; worked on collaborative projects under categories of Faith, Education, Health and Social Welfare; twinned schools, parishes / groups and made cultural exchange visits.
Recently two members of the Portsmouth Bamenda Committee visited in solidarity with their friends in the African archdiocese who have been facing many challenges in the current socio-political situation. They found people living in fear of the unstable atmosphere who have been prevented from going about their daily lives freely by a heavy military presence, curfews, civil disobedience days, sporadic violence and economic hardship. On visiting current projects there was a mixed picture. Efforts had been made to reopen schools following the 2016/7 teacher’s strike and lost academic year but attacks on those establishments by unidentified arsonists were discouraging. Although numbers were still low, attendance was gradually increasing and many people were showing great courage and determination to rebuild and maintain a sense of normality.
Positive progress had been made on a project bringing clean water to 3 remote rural villages and faith communities were demonstrating hope through their collection of stones, sand and bricks for building churches.
Further project details and an account of the Committee trip will be available on the Bamenda and Portsmouth website shortly. Portsmouth’s Bishop Philip Egan is planning to write to our MPs to bring governmental pressure for a positive resolution for all and will be sharing a series of reflections on his own recent visit to Archbishop Cornelius Esua in the Portsmouth Diocese weekly online ‘Enews’.
Crisis Group suggests that early action, driven or supported by the EU and its member states, would generate stronger prospects for peace in the countries and regions identified on the watch list.
Please spread awareness of the injustice and human rights violations and pray for a peaceful resolution to the troubles and upcoming elections in October 2018.
Mrs Jo Overton
Vice Chairperson Portsmouth Bamenda Committee
*** NJPN Action of the Week *** World Beyond War: Olympic Truce
Between Feb. 2 and March 25, 2018, the UN has asked for a global Olympic Truce. Both Koreas have agreed, and the United States has agreed to forego its war rehearsals in Korea during the Truce. But other wars rage on, and South Korea and the United States plan to resume their “exercises” as “normal” after the Truce. We need to take this opportunity to mobilize voices for upholding the Truce and then continuing it indefinitely. Here are activity ideas:
Sign this petition or gather signatures for it offline.
Print out the PDF of signatures on that petition page and deliver them to governments.
Seeking Sanctuary: February Update
The hazards of seeking sanctuary
As we started to prepare this update, news came through of a 16 year old boy who has been blinded in one eye through police use of rubber bullets. The boy was shot during the attack with gas and rubber bullets against refugees who were trying to recuperate their possessions before the police destroyed their tents set up near the food distribution place in rue Verrotieres. He suffered severe injuries to his face and there is a risk for his remaining eye. And on recent form, he’ll sent straight back to the appalling squalor of wasteland where he has been staying. The two friends who accompanied him to make a complaint at the Police Station were themselves arrested for several hours. All this just after the French President’s visit to Calais. It is in the context of reports that the Police have become particularly heavy handed during the daily distribution of food and clothes. It seems that they were determined to break up the tents which provide a minimum of basic shelter and were not hesitating to use pepper spray to render the tents and blankets unusable.
So why the surge in arrivals in Calais, currently estimated to take the number there over 800? In part this is due to a cruel deception on the part of UK and French politicians. The news that the UK had agreed to be more flexible in accepting child migrants under the Dubs agreement and speed up the processing of applications travelled fast, with the result that many young people had their hopes raised, and made for Calais, only for them to be dashed. The new UK/French ‘accord’ has yet to bring any visible results. We are also very disturbed by the inter-racial violence being reported – it is a sad fact that violence increases when those involved lose all dignity and sense of hope. Apparently trafficking gangs run by Afghans are angry when Eritreans get into lorries that they plan to use for profit, or attract attention to areas where they wish to operate. Whatever the origin of this dispute, interest from traffickers seems to have lead to gunfire and several serious injuries.
The result is a growing number of very vulnerable young people who are at risk of being trafficked and sold into modern slavery. (We are often struck by the paradox of the firmness of the rhetoric against modern slavery here in the UK and our failure to denounce the abuse and trafficking of children just 20 miles from our shores). Hence the petition initiated by UNICEF calling on the authorities to reunite children – you will find details here.
Death is also a probability. Back in June 2009, 59 young Chinese were found dead in the back of a lorry in Dover. Since then the total deaths on either side of the Channel have risen to over 200, as people attempt to reach the UK in order to claim asylum – which can be done only on British soil.
And yet in all the squalor of the current situation, human dignity and optimism can still prevail. On his recent visit to Calais, Phil was pleased to see the new Day Centre near the centre of Calais run by Secours Catholique in full operation. People could relax, chat, learn new skills and play board games or get their hair cut in a warm hall, with a video cinema running in a small room alongside and a separate space for women to meet and upcycle damaged garments, which the young men had been proud to show off in a fashion show video. Phil was accompanied by young people from the ‘Bruderhof’ Community in South East Kent, to deliver blankets that they had made and spend time as volunteers with the Refugee Community Kitchen and the Warehouse.
The Catholic Worker House had been filled far beyond comfortable capacity with young people desperate to get away from the recent inter-racial violence. And we were delighted to provide three key organisations with the proceeds (€1320) of a very generous Christmas collection by a Catholic Parish in Suffolk. And for the future, if you are able to organise a collection, however modest, we will recommend NGO’s which can make best use of the money and arrange payment as required.
And so the future – will there be an amelioration of the situation in 2018? Only if those of us who feel passionate about the issues continue to put pressure on those in authority who can make a difference – on both sides of the Channel. The few children who have so far reached the UK were only admitted after huge pressure from those felt it their duty to make their voice heard.
Ben as a local Councillor recently took part in his local Holocaust Memorial Day observance – and was reminded of the remarkable efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton in the 1930’s to bring children out of danger into the UK through the ‘kindertransports’. It’s this kind of initiative that we need again in the turbulent and often intolerant nature of our politics over 70 years later.
Ben
& Phil.
‘Seeking Sanctuary’ aims to raise awareness about people displaced from their homes and to channel basic humanitarian assistance from Faith Communities and Community Organisations via partnerships with experienced aid workers. Our special concern is for those who arrive in north-western France, mistakenly expecting a welcome in the UK. Almost all the 8,000+ migrants in Calais in October 2016 were moved away, hopefully to better accommodation. 1616 unaccompanied minors also left, along with hundreds of vulnerable women and children, hoping that claims to stay in the UK or France would be processed. Many judge that they have been let down, and hundreds have returned to sleep rough near Calais and along the coast. The Grande-Synthe camp near Dunkirk burnt down in April 2017, displacing around 1400 people, over 950 of them moved elsewhere, whilst the rest remain nearby, joined by scores of newcomers weekly.
They need food, good counsel and clothes, which are accepted, sorted and distributed by several Calais warehouses, which also supply needs further afield.
Further information from Ben Bano on 07887 651117 or Phil Kerton on 01474 873802.
See our latest news at www.seekingsanctuary.weebly.com
NJPN Comment in the Catholic Universe: Voices from the Margins by Niall Cooper
Pope Francis says, “If we want to help change history and promote real development, we need to hear the cry of the poor and commit ourselves to ending their marginalisation”.
Much of Church Action on Poverty’s work is rooted in simply listening to the stories and experience of those who live feel marginalised by living in poverty in 21st century Britain.
“See me as an individual, a person, a human being. Don’t think because I’m on benefits you can judge me or make your mind up about me without talking to me.”
“I’m made to feel like a second-class citizen. I’m made to feel embarrassed, ashamed. I’m made to feel unentitled to benefits. Recognise we don’t claim benefits through choice but through need and circumstance.”
The media is complicit in this. A 2014 study of 10 major media outlets found that only 4% of articles gave significant space to the voices of people in poverty. More troublingly, researchers have also found that misleading news coverage of poverty and the benefits system actually prevents thousands of people from claiming vital social security benefits, with up to one in four eligible people either delaying or failing to make a benefits claim because of the perceived stigma attached to doing so.
But are we any better in the churches? There is a lot we can learn from hearing voices from the margins. Take Patrick Philpot, a Salford resident, on and off, for nearly 50 years, who has not had an easy life. In 2016 he left prison with £4.20 and did not receive benefits for 16 weeks. He went to a food bank and a breakfast drop in centre, and there, through Church Action on Poverty became a member of the Salford Poverty Truth Commission. Through the Commission, Patrick has been able to share his twin passions for faith and politics, and draw on his own personal experience of life at the margins to help make a positive contribution to the life of the city – working with a range of civic and business leaders to come up with new ideas to tackle poverty across Salford.
“I had been out of mainstream society for a long time, and I was watching the approach the group took. I saw a group that had potential to have an influence in different areas of society, and they started knocking on doors gently. You can feel the love growing in the group, and see people’s commitment. It’s very simple and it’s what’s lacking, not just in relation to poverty but in British society – simple love and understanding.”
Of course, God is already at the margins, listening to those voices we have not heard or want to hear. St Francis of Assisi, inspiration to Pope Francis and many others, learned this lesson long ago through an encounter with a leper, a person such as he had formerly feared and shunned, but now embraced.
But for Patrick, the reason to be involved is much more simple:
“I honestly believe social care is just about Christian values – not theology or doctrine, but just unconditional love, kindness, compassion and humility. We can’t all have ten jobs and four careers. The truth is, people in poverty must be understood and respected and we have a moral obligation as human beings, that if we see someone less fortunate, to say ‘I can lend a hand’.”
So what are your plans to listen to – and amplify – the voices of those on the margins where you are?
Voices from the Margins is the theme for Church Action on Poverty Sunday, 11 February 2018. www.church-poverty.org.uk/sunday.
Niall Cooper is Director of Church Action on Poverty.
*** NJPN Action of the Week *** Freedom United: Support for all UK survivors of trafficking
Maya’s survivor story, having endured years of trafficking for sexual exploitation in England, shows the importance of adequate support to ensure effective rehabilitation. Maya’s experience was not easy, but if guaranteed long-term support was set out in law in England and Wales, then recovery would not be the lottery it is today.
Join the campaign for guaranteed victim care in the UK.
Lenten Resource: On the Altar of the World- From Liverpool J&P and CAFOD Liverpool
This is the third Lenten Resource jointly prepared by the Liverpool Archdiocesan Justice and Peace Commission and CAFOD Liverpool, providing a complete course for the three years of the Church’s liturgical cycle. All three resources enable participants to study and discuss Pope Francis’ encyclical letter ‘Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home’ in the hope that we will make changes to our lives in the face of the global emergency of climate change.
As with the two previous resources there is material for each week of Lent, starting with the week after the first Sunday but omitting Holy Week. Again, this resource booklet is arranged in weekly sections with each section containing the Gospel for that Sunday, a story either from the UK or overseas, excerpts from Laudato Si’, and points for discussion and action. In this final resource, we focus even more on action – on how we can put our increased understanding into practice.
More information here:
On the Altar of the World -Lent Resource 2018
Lenten Resources from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
For 2018 we have partnered with Hope for our Lent course which is based on the book 40 Stories of Hope.
There are weekly downloads for individual reflection and group discussion, plus for those who prefer daily study during Lent we recommend the 40 Stories of Hope book.
More information here:
WWC: Not just numbers, displaced people need to share their stories
01 February 2018
There are currently over 65 million people around the world who have been forced from their homes, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, but all those who are displaced are not mere statistics.
They are people, something that can be missed by the mass media in reporting on them.
This observation was highlighted in a discussion at the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 30 January when representatives of church groups, the United Nations and a Christian media organization discussed media coverage of refugees at a “tray-lunch” presentation.
The discussion was titled: “Changing the narrative: Media, Migrants and Refugees” under the moderation of WCC director of communications, Marianne Ejdersten.
Participants discussed “Refugees Reporting”, a research and advocacy project conducted in 2017 to support the communication rights of refugees seeking safe passage into and through Europe.
Read the report here:
A message from Lancaster Faith and Justice
I hope you will be able to take the time to read and share the February 2018 Faith &Justice Bulletin which is now available to download here:
https://tinyurl.com/ycun9l7h
Posters and other material including Lent resources referred to in the newsletter can also be downloaded at:
http://www.lancasterfaithandjustice.co.uk/newsletter/
