Pope Francis: First World Day of the Poor
In his message for the first World Day of the Poor, to be celebrated on 19 November this year Pope Francis issues an invitation to:
” the whole Church, and men and women of good will everywhere, to turn their gaze on this day to all those who stretch out their hands and plead for our help and solidarity. They are our brothers and sisters, created and loved by the one Heavenly Father. This Day is meant, above all, to encourage believers to react against a culture of discard and waste, and to embrace the culture of encounter. At the same time, everyone, independent of religious affiliation, is invited to openness and sharing with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity. God created the heavens and the earth for all; yet sadly some have erected barriers, walls and fences, betraying the original gift meant for all humanity, with none excluded.”
Pope Francis, 13 June 2017
CSAN in collaboration with SVP (England and Wales), NJPN, CAFOD, have produced resources to support parishes and groups as they consider how best to become a ‘Church of the Poor’
Download resources here:
Positive Faith videos and website from Catholics for AIDS Prevention
The Catholic Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith and his Anglican Counterpart Bishop Christopher Chessun welcomed people living with HIV, other Christians, theologians and public health sector professionals to Romero House in London on October 11th 2017 for the public launch of a new video series and website from Catholics for AIDS Prevention and Support (CAPS), Positive Faith.
This is a unique project, the product of many years pastoral experience. Positive Faith was devised and produced by Christian people living with and affected by HIV. In a series of videos, people directly affected along with pastors and theologians, discuss HIV and how it interacts with their faith. What’s more, this resource has been funded by an agency of Government – Public Health England (PHE) – as part of their HIV Prevention Innovation Fund. It is the first online resource of its kind anywhere in the world.
Read more here:
Nonviolence Works! Videos of talks
Last week Pax Christi hosted events on the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative
You can watch all of the videos of the talks in Liverpool here
Or on the Pax Christi website: http://paxchristi.org.uk/
Please feel free to share with anyone you feel will be interested in watching the videos.
***NJPN Action of the Week*** Parliamentary Scrutiny of Trade Deals
That this House is concerned about the lack of parliamentary scrutiny and accountability of trade deals to which the UK is a party; and calls on the Government to ensure the right of Parliament to set a thorough mandate to govern each trade negotiation, with a remit for the devolved administrations, the right of the public to be consulted as part of setting that mandate, a presumption of full transparency in negotiations, the right of Parliament to amend and to reject trade deals, with full debates and scrutiny guaranteed and a remit for the devolved administrations, and the right of Parliament to review trade deals and withdraw from them in a timely manner.
More MPs are needed to sign.
you can see if yours has signed here
CARJ Press Release – Race Disparity Audit
CARJ Urban Network welcomes the Race Disparity Audit published by the Government yesterday.
See the press release from CARJ here:
RaceDisparityAudit.CARJPressRelease(LH)
Child Soldiers International: SNP urged to back army recruitment motion
Child Soldiers International has issued the following statement which NJPN has supported.
We are in support of the SNP Youth motion to be debated at Conference on Sunday 8 October, “Raising the minimum age of military recruitment to 18”.
The continued enlistment of under-18s into the British armed forces is a historical anachronism which has no place in a professional modern military or nation which respects the rights and welfare of its young people.
Read full statement here:
NJPN Newsletter Autumn 2017
The lead article ‘Love, listen, find joy… ‘ reports on the recent annual conference. In the Speaking Personally column Frank Regan gives some insight into his commitment to justice and peace . Sarah Purcell, from Church Action on Poverty, reports on the Church of the Poor conversations. There is an introduction to the first ‘World Day of the Poor’ instituted by Pope Francis at the end of the Year of Mercy in 2016. In addition there is an updated diary of events
The newsletter is available to download.
Autumn 2017
News from the North West –October 2017
The October edition of the NJPN NW E Bulletin leads with the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma). There is an extensive diary of NW events plus resources for schools, groups and individuals including a Romero Pilgrimage Walk. For anyone who struggles with the current Mass wording there is an urgent request to invite our Bishops to introduce the beautiful English Mass translation composed in 1998 which the Bishops’ Conference had approved at that time.
Download the bulletin here:
News from the North West – October 2017
Conference 2017: Workshop Presentation and Action Points
Food diversity, life: rooting our Daily Bread in a healthy environment
As described in Laudato Si’ (#129), most people in the world are nourished by the efforts of smaller-scale, usually local, farmers, gardeners, herders and fishers. The minority 30%, mainly in industrialised countries and emerging conurbations in the South, are locked into resource-hungry and unsustainable food chains dominated by corporations. Busting the myth about Big Ag and Biosciences, ‘feeding the world’ is as important as nurturing the reality of food sovereignty and democratic control over localised food systems. The workshop explored underlying causes of the dysfunctional global food system and aimed to highlight some of the myriad diversity of solutions being practised locally at home and abroad, that could provide food for everyone forever, whilst sustaining a healthy world.
Patrick Mulvany: Patrick is an agriculturalist and advocate for resilient, localised food systems. After being in Honduras with CIIR, he worked for many decades with Practical Action -and chaired the UK Food Group- and is now a member of the Food Ethics Council. He has been an advisor to many international NGOs and is an active participant in civil society lobbies on agricultural diversity and food sovereignty in Europe and at the United Nations.
FoodDiversityLife-Workshop
Workshop Action Possibilities
NJPN Open Networking Day: 23rd September 2017
NJPN members hear from Mick Duthie Deputy Director of the Santa Marta Group, on modern slavery.
At this September’s networking day, held in London, special guest, Mick Duthie, talked to us about the work of the Santa Marta Group, which works to eradicate slavery in the UK, by creating a network of bishops, police chiefs and civil society. After introducing himself as a retired policeman, he says, ‘Slavery didn’t end with Wilberforce’. We learn that 48 million people are enslaved around the world.
The SMG links the Catholic Church with police and local residents to work with victims of slavery and human trafficking. In the UK modern slavery was commonly associated with trafficked women working in brothels. The victims were not supported well enough by the police, would be rescued but then just left isolated and helpless. Now the gender mix is 50:50, with lots of youngsters in forced labour. Slavery is present in services that we see around us such as car washes, nail bars, companies that lay driveways. Out of sight, far from big cities, are enslaved workers in fisheries and agriculture. The rise in numbers Mick Duthie says is down to increased awareness and reporting, but also economic conditions, as it grows harder and things grow more expensive, wages are the most expensive thing for any business.
The stated priority of SMG is to support the victims. But Mick Duthie’s priority is also stamping out slavery as a criminal activity, because of its links with organized crime. There are currently concerns that cleaning services in schools have been infiltrated. There was some discussion about the conditions which have given rise to increasing numbers of victims of slavery, such as economic conditions here and in the countries of origin, where vulnerable people are forced to take desperate measures to support their families. There was some discussion on whether modern slavery could be considered to be at the one end of the spectrum that also contains zero hours contracts, Sports Direct, Uber drivers and Deliveroo, even if in these cases the workers are free to leave and not indebted.
Following the morning meeting a group of us set out towards Waterloo roundabout, over Westminster Bridge, and queued outside Westminster Abbey for evensong commemoration of the birth of Blessed Oscar Romero. Romero is the patron of NJPN which was among many organisations such as Pax Christi, Tear Fund, Housing Justice formally represented.
The service began with a recording of Archbishop Romero speaking in a homily, in which he addresses the army and the police, ‘Brothers and sisters, you are part of our own people.’
In his sermon, Rowan Williams reminded us of Romero’s words on poverty and possessions. Everything we own we have borrowed from the poor, we are in debt to the poor. Resonating very well with our morning session, he spoke of Romero’s words on slavery, that God wants, ‘liberation to reach everywhere so that no slavery exists in the world. No person should be the slave of another.’
Read more here:
