Speaking Personally: Maggie McSherry
1 Where do you think your commitment to justice and peace comes from?
I was aware that the manner of our experience of injustice and poverty is largely determined by accident of birth but that also injustice and poverty are not accidents but the consequences of structures that humanity has created.
Inspirational friends and public figures that I have been in contact with over the years have helped to give context and purpose to this understanding. During my time in the late sixties at St Mary’s College in Strawberry Hill the Vincentian community created a church of the future – a participatory priesthood of the laity was at that time and in that place a reality. Friends made then have continued to be an example of what we can and should try to be.
When we moved to the wilds of North Yorkshire our parish priest was a Columban who had been in China for many years and whose love for China stayed with him, he always hoped he would return, his ideas and the way he saw church was again inspirational.
We had hoped to develop a Justice and Peace group in my next parish, and Sr Lucy from Leeds Diocese Justice and Peace Commission came to speak, but our parish priest, a retired high-ranking navy chaplain was not encouraging, however Sr Lucy introduced me to the New Internationalist and Traidcraft which I have continue to support for the last forty years. It also lead me to enrol on a unit with the Open University with the unfortunately named “Third World Studies” and later when the boys were grown I did an MA in Development Studies at Leeds University which gave greater understanding of the need for structural change.
2 What are the most important areas of concern today?
The lack of respect and love of people and nations for each other and for the earth upon which we all depend. I don’t think it is possible to separate areas of concern, the connectiveness of our lives which Pope Francis describes so clearly in his encyclical letter “Laudato Si’”-On care for Our Common Home.
Powerful individuals and corporations take upon themselves the authority to slow or prevent progress. A major block to change is often that we don’t believe we can influence decisions. We are hampered in our task also by poor, uninspired, often partisan, leadership.
I am always surprised by the lack of awareness of our own power, our own responsibility – our own part in making the change, but also amazed by peoples’ generosity and how much they want to help.
3 What sustains your commitment?
Inspirational people, those I know and work with and those who work at a greater scale to take on the powerful, those who are prepared to get their hands dirty, their fingers burned. The task is great but if we don’t try what will we leave the generations to follow.
4 What are your hopes for a church like ours for the 21st century?
It is easy to list our personal failings and those of the church but it is the goodness and faith of others that helps me keeps my faith. I always use “we” in the Creed because without the other we are not a community, a community to serve and be served.
The challenges and inspiration of Pope Frances gives us a mandate to be an outward looking church, and this gives endorsement to the groups and organisations within the church to continue asking questions of us all and encouraging bishops and priests to be leaders in questioning the processes and consequences of actions by companies and governments. Within the opening statement in the encyclical letter Laudato Si’ Pope Francis says he “would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home”. This gives me great hope for our church.
Britain’s housing crisis is now a homelessness crisis – Jacob Quagliozzi
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live’ according to an old Irish proverb.
At Housing Justice we reflect up on these words and what that means a lot. Our work with rough sleepers, destitute migrants and those in housing need often makes us think about what ‘home’ really means. To us, it has to be more than shelter, it is about community, relationship and belonging.
2017 was the year in which housing policy in the UK came under the greatest scrutiny and criticism for generations, with the catastrophic scenes of the fire at Grenfell tower scarring the nations memory for many years to come. It was also a year in which many finally admitted that the housing crisis that has plagued Britain for the last decade has become a homelessness crisis.
In recent years at Housing Justice, we have seen this homelessness crisis building to the record levels it has now reached. Last winter 52 night shelters in the Housing Justice Church and Community Night Shelter Network provided emergency accommodation to almost three thousand (2923) people experiencing homelessness. That’s an increase of 53% on the previous year’s figure (and double the number of people receiving support in 2012). We estimate across the entire national network more than 6000 people will stay in a night shelter this winter. Just two years ago, this figure stood at 3,640.
As demand grows church and community night shelters are undergoing a rapid expansion; two years ago, there were 65 shelters operating in the network. Today, there are 107 projects in the Housing Justice Network. Underpinning this huge rise in guests at night shelters is the significant rise in rough sleepers since 2011, (134%) owing to issues such as welfare reform and the ending of a tenancy in the private rented sector.
Our hosting project too has seen record demand. We match people with a spare room to a destitute migrant, more than 50 guests have been hosted in the last 18 months approximately 10,000 nights of shelter. Asylum seekers with a claim in the system are prohibited by law from working in the UK and a large proportion (in fact all of the guests in our project) are not entitled to claim welfare payments. This is a spurning of human potential and talent, a system the government calls “the Hostile Environment”. We pay a small destitution payment of £25 a week to each guest which gives a level of subsistence. We have paid out more than £30,000 in such payments to date.
What I love most about these projects is that they are powered not by corporate donors, government contracts or even by a formalised relationship with church hierarchies. Rather it is the desire to demonstrate God’s love for all and a sense of injustice at the social conditions of our brothers and sisters.
This year Housing Justice will redouble our efforts to lead practical efforts to reduce homelessness in all its forms and to address the issues behind housing need. We’ll be working with projects and with government around issues such as Universal Credit, the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act and campaigning for meaningful change on housing and homelessness policy throughout the year.
2018 must be the year that we all ask ourselves what it is we personally can do to stop this rise in homelessness in the sixth richest economy on Earth.
Every year at the end of January Housing Justice organise Homeless Sunday, a chance for Churches and Christian groups from across the country join together to pray, reflect and plan practical action on homelessness, but also for a united Christian voice to offer solidarity and be a prophetic voice for change. If you missed it this year you could still use the resources to organise an event at any time- see www.housingjustice.org.uk .
Non-Violent Direct Action – Article by Phil Kingston
I find that an intention which begins with a negative like ‘non-violent’ reduces its power. It seems to push me towards an energy of ‘being against’ rather than ‘for’ something. Here is my effort to replace it with a positive term.
Most of my campaigning is about the current breakdown of Earth’s ecosystems which for millennia have nurtured and maintained life, including human life. Now, the destruction of habitats and the pollution of the atmosphere, land and oceans is endangering many life-forms, ours included, and extinguishing some species at a rate not known since the time of the dinosaurs.
Why is this breakdown of stable systems occurring? I stand with Pope Francis’ analysis in Laudato si’ that ‘…. the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit.’ Ls 106
When I acknowledge the reality of what the economy is doing to the earth, I feel helpless, afraid and despairing. When I also acknowledge my complicity in this, I realise that I cannot begin to make a meaningful response without seeking the help of the Holy Spirit. My enemy images of those who promote this destruction, and of the politicians who seem to believe that they are helpless to regulate them, can begin to change if I see them as precious children of God: not easy to do but as Jesus said to the rich young man, ‘Everything is possible for God’.
These experiences and ideas lead me to seek the help of God and campaigning companions in transforming my use of the term Non-violent Direct Action towards Spirit-Guided Direct Action.
NVDA is a cornerstone of two groups to which I belong, Grandparents for a Safe Earth, a secular group, and Christian Climate Action. NVDA includes many actions which go beyond the conventional campaigning of letter-writing, meeting MPs, arranging talks and workshops, and others. We chose it because these other approaches were not bringing the essential changes required by the seriousness and urgency of the destruction referred to above. Our actions, some within the law and some not, attempt to witness to this destruction. Civil Disobedience calls for action which may break a law of the land by seeking to follow a moral or higher law. These two groups have done this on about 10 occasions, most of which have not led to our arrest; and only one to a trial which resulted in a fine and costs for criminal damage.
CCA actions always include prayer and aspects of Christian symbolism. Actions have ranged from kneeling down to pray in the middle of Downing Street on the day when David Cameron went to New York for the UN Climate Change talks; changing the name of the Department for Energy and Climate Change to the Department for Extreme Climate Change; and blocking a road in the Ffos y Fran open-cast coalmine to limit emissions by closing it down for a day. We prayed for employees to have work which nurtures the earth and took any opportunity to engage with them about our concerns.
When Jesus upended the tables of the money changers, he exposed abuses of the poor by ‘a den of thieves’. If he broke laws to expose the powers of his time, will his followers do something similar to limit the damage to God’s creation and trust that ‘the Holy Spirit will renew the face of the earth’?
If you are moved to join this work you can contact us via
https://christianclimateaction.wordpress.com/
NJPN Newsletter Spring 2018
The lead article in this latest newsletter focusses on the homelessness crisis, the work of Housing Justice and the unacceptable increase in the number of rough sleepers.
In the speaking personally column Maggie McSherry reminds us of the inspiration of Pope Francis and many others who have helped develop her passion for justice and peace.
There is also an article which questions the language used when considering ‘non-violent’ action.
Please note also the updated J&P diary of events.
The newsletter is available to download.
Spring 2018
Lenten Prayer Resources 2018
Come back to me with all your heart. Joel 2: 12-18
Prayer resources for use during the season of Lent have been prepared by Anne O’Connor for the National Justice and Peace Network. These may be downloaded for use in parishes, schools and in local justice and peace groups.
Resources include:
- Daily Actions and Reflections based on the Scripture Readings
- Justice and Peace Stations of the Cross
- Stations of the Cross for Young People
LENTEN JOURNEY 2018
Justice and Peace Stations of the Cross 2018
Stations of the Cross for Young People 2018
The February issue of the NW NJPN E BULLETIN has a packed diary of events around the region plus in-depth articles and reports of recent events
Download the bulletin here: NW NJPN Justice and Peace E Bulletin February 2018
*** NJPN Action of the Week *** Amnesty International: The slap heard around the world
Ahed Tamimi is one of approximately 350 Palestinian children – as young as 12 – held in Israeli prisons and detention centres.
16-year-old Ahed and her mother, Nariman, were arrested by Israeli soldiers and she faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted on any of her alleged crimes. This punishment is blatantly disproportionate to her actions.
While in detention, she has endured aggressive interrogations, sometimes in the middle of the night, and threats made against her family.
Ahed is being prosecuted in a military court system that denies basic due process and fair trial rights, and has over 99% conviction rate against Palestinians.
For more information and to sign the petition click here
Holocaust Memorial Day 27 January 2018: The Power of Words
Words can make a difference – both for good and evil.
‘I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I am so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s in me. When I write I can shake off all my cares; my sorrow disappears; my spirits are revived.’ – Anne Frank, written in her diary, 5 April 1944
Spoken and written words from individuals, corporations, community organisations or the state can have a huge impact, whether good or bad. The theme for HMD 2018 explores how language has been used in the past, and how it is used in the present day.
HMD activities could focus on the impact that words had in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, through propaganda used to incite, through slogans written in resistance, and through memoirs written to record and respond to what was going on. The words that we see and hear all around us today – in newspapers, online, in conversations – the words that we choose to use, all have an impact upon us and those around us.
Download a copy of the full Theme Vision here.
Download a copy of the full Theme Vision in bilingual Welsh/English here.
http://www.hmd.org.uk/
A message from Lancaster Faith and Justice
Dear Friends
The latest bulletin from Lancaster Faith and Justice is now available to download
I hope you will be able to take the time to read and share the newsletter.
The newsletter can be downloaded directly here
To download all past & present copies of the F&J newsletters
Click here
NJPN Comment in the Catholic Universe: ‘Celebrate climate success’ – By Paul Donovan
There is much gloom and doom spoken about the demise of the planet, with the growing threats of climate change and pollution. The challenges are great, make no mistake, but there comes a time to celebrate the successes.
Amongst the good news has been the growth of the renewable energy sector.
This has often been due to individuals, schools, parishes and companies having solar panels on their roofs. The power generated from wind energy has also grown hugely over the past decade, with turbines on land and in the seas.
The advance of renewable energy was given even greater impetus by the Paris Climate Agreement of 2016 but make no mistake it has been a people driven revolution. Recent UK governments have done little to help in this area, with the present Conservative administration positively hostile to renewable energy – as evidenced in the last budget, which took subsidies away from the sector.
The efforts at community level to cut pollution and emissions has been evidenced across the land, with schools often at the forefront. One example in East London has been Beal High school, which won the school of the region award from Transport for London for its efforts over the past year to cut car journeys and promote more sustainable forms of travel. The award was made as part of the Mayor of London’s Sustainable Travel: Active Responsible Safe (STARs) programme. The programme encourages people not to drive to school, promoting instead walking cycling and other sustainable forms of travel instead. The school managed to cut car journeys to the school from 17% in 2016 to 13% in 2017. At the same time the number of pupils walking to school increased from 53% to 64%.
On a less optimistic note, one area that seems to be distinctly lagging behind, when it comes to cleaning up its act, is the aviation industry. Aircraft often seem to be the forgotten part of the pollution/climate change equation, but make no mistake aircraft are a major contributor to pollution in all its forms – including sound. The aviation industry generates 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. The policy approach being taken to aviation in the UK mirrors that of the failed predict and provide approach taken on the roads in the 1990s. The most obvious manifestation is the expansion of airport capacity. It is strange to see politicians, who are quite happy to tackle car pollution, advocating airport expansion. It is as though the penny really hasn’t dropped yet.
If we are serious about tackling climate change and pollution, then building more airports is not the answer. Not only do aircraft create pollution but there is the additional car traffic brought into the airport as well to consider. Airports become polluting hubs. Addressing aircraft pollution really does need prioritising. There is no tax on aviation fuel, which amounts to a subsidy for air travel over other forms of transport. Aircraft operators need to be made to pay for the pollution and climate damage they are causing. They need to start showing some social responsibility to the communities which they seek to serve.
Finally, as individuals we all need to look at our use of air travel. In reality, everyone needs to fly a lot less, if pollution and climate damage are to be addressed.
So, there is much that individuals are doing alone and working in community to combat the threats of climate change and pollution. There is still much to do, as the aviation example shows, but it is important to remember that it is not all bad news on the environmental front.
http://paulfdonovan.blogspot.co.uk/
