NJPN members will be joining with other faith groups for Interfaith prayer at 11.00 am at Hinde Street Methodist Church, Hinde Street, London W1U 2QJ.
We will then join the march under the banner ‘No Faith in Trident’… but do bring your own NJPN/peace/Church/community flags etc.
On reaching Trafalgar Square we will assemble at the foot of the steps of St. Martin in the Fields as a visible sign of our opposition to the replacement of Trident.
Joan Sharples, former fieldworker colleague in the diocese of Shrewsbury writes as follows:
Mike Simpson, who contributed to Justice and Peace in Shrewsbury Diocese over nearly 30 years, died at the weekend.
To appreciate Mike’s great contribution to justice and peace, it is necessary to think back to the world of the mid-eighties, where the Cold War was the focus of international tensions, there was still apartheid in South Africa, Ireland had its troubles and Central America was the locus of violent civil wars. In a world before email, Skype, and the Internet, it was difficult to know what was really going on. Mike Simpson, who has died after a prolonged period of ill health at the age of eighty-five, did much to raise awareness on human rights in Latin America and was involved with many other justice-and-peace issues.
When he took early retirement from teaching English at Malbank High School in Nantwich, his parish priest, Fr Jack Warnock, asked him to start a justice-and-peace group in the parish. Mike agreed, as long as it could focus on Latin America. He never did things by halves and before long his work had spread far beyond the parish. He circulated monthly letters written by Fr John Medcalf, a priest working in war torn Nicaragua giving graphic account of the effect of the country’s civil was on ordinary campesinos. These went out to aid agencies, solidarity groups, clergy, trade unions justice-and-peace activists all over the country. Before long he was organising speaking tours for catechists, trade union leaders, women’s, religious, and priests under the name of the Las Casas Network, named after Bartolome de las Casas the sixteen century Dominican, who, appalled by the oppression of the indigenous in Latin America, ‘spoke truth to power’ to the church in Rome and to Spanish rulers.
In 1989, Mike was appointed Justice and Peace worker for the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, the first to hold a post which he later shared with Ann Gill and Joan Sharples. He retired from the ‘money’ in 1995 but continued to work with Joan for another ten years until his health problems prevented this. He excelled at networking, with many of the contacts he made becoming long-standing friendships. Generous and committed himself, he expected the same generosity and commitment from others, attracting expert speakers from a variety of contexts to the nine biennial Justice and Peace Conferences held at Crewe between 1889 and 2005, each attended by several hundred people. People found them informing and inspiring.
Mike coordinated the final years of the December Group; the British Liberation Theology Consultation and Celebration; and Colombia Forum, which provided an analysis of human rights in that troubled country and organised speaker tours for human-rights workers, journalists, and priests. He also supported the work of national justice and peace. None of this would have been possible without the support and help of his wife, Margaret.
Mike described his own inspiration as attempting to be a ‘follower of Jesus of Nazareth’, attempting to ‘realise the gratuitous superabundance of the Kingdom’. He was particularly fond of a reflection on hope by Brazilian theologian, Rubem Alves, which contains the lines:
Let us plant dates, even though those who plant them ŵill never eat them…
we must live by the love of what we will never see
This is the secret discipline.
It is a refusal to let the creative act be dissolved away in immediate sense experience,
and a stubborn commitment to the future of our grandchildren…
Such disciplined love is what has given prophets, revolutionaries and saints
the courage to die for what they envisaged.
They made their own bodies the seed of their highest hope.
Mike planted dates, many, many dates.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be finalised. Please contact Joan Sharples joansharples@phonecoop.coop for funeral arrangements. Messages of condolence can be sent to Mike’s daughter, Niamh Vernon, 4 Rose Farm Barns, Dairy Lane, Aston-Juxta-Mondrum, Cheshire CW5 6DS.
The requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Louise Zanré will be celebrated on Monday 29th February at 10.30am at Farm St Church. The principal celebrant will be Fr Provincial Dermot Preston SJ. All are welcome to come and give thanks for Louise’s life and to mourn her passing. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
JRS UK would be grateful for prayers for Louise, her sister Dina, her colleagues and all the many refugees who loved her. She will be greatly missed.
Family flowers only please, and donations in memory of Louise to Jesuit Refugee Service.
span: Monday, February 29, 2016 – 10:30
Farm St Church
Farm St
London
W1K 3AH
United Kingdom
The very sad news of the death of Louise Zanre has touched so many people and NJPN sends its prayers and thoughts to her family and friends.
Her colleagues and her extended refugee family will miss her commitment, her calm and compassionate nature and her wonderful example of care and concern as she worked for justice for many vulnerable people.
Louise was a consultant for NJPN and attended many of our meetings and we could always rely on her for sound and reasoned advice.
Louise was due to contribute to the NJPN column in the Catholic Universe this coming weekend. Replacing that article will be a ‘speaking personally’ contribution originally printed in the NJPN Newsletter of Spring 2014.
Louise’s funeral will take place on Monday 29th February at 10.30 am at Farm Street Church. Louise’s sister Dina has asked that donations be sent to JRS-UK in place of flowers
The following statement has been issued by Jonathan Parr, Assistant Director JRS UK:
JRS UK is sorry to have to inform you of the death of Louise Zanre, former Director of JRS-UK. Louise’s death was unexpected, but she had been unwell for some considerable time. She had stepped down from the post of JRS Director at the beginning of this year, although she was continuing to work with us and contribute her great experience
JRS-UK would be grateful for prayers for Louise, her family, her colleagues and all the many refugees who loved her. She will be greatly missed.
May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
NJPN Conference 2016 will take place from 15-17 July.
The conference will address the following issues:
• How can communities, politics and business work together for the common good?
• What role should personal judgement and mutual responsibility play in commercial and social decision‐making?
• How can we engage people at the grassroots with clear purpose for the long‐term benefit of all?
• How can we help to encourage a fresh moral vision of a society that has the common good at its heart?
Booking forms can be downloaded here.
CONF 2016 Booking Form (Word doc)
National Justice & Peace Network Open Networking Day, 13 February 2016
Hunger, homelessness and destitution were the main themes when the National Justice & Peace Network hosted an open networking day in the Methodist Central Hall in Manchester in February. The main input came from Liam Purcell from Church Action on Poverty and Dave Smith of the Boaz Trust.
In the morning, after a prayerful reflection focussing on hunger led by members of Salford Diocese J&P committee, Liam introduced END HUNGER UK. This is CAP’s latest campaign hoping to end food poverty and hunger in UK by the end of 2020. Liam reminded us that adequate food for everyone is a human right and together we considered some of the implications this. For instance the government is legally required to ensure food security for its citizens and can be held to account for not doing so. END HUNGER UK is a coalition of several groups with a focus on food provision; CAP is acting co-ordinator. In table groups we discussed the various reasons people are without food and resorting in greater numbers to food banks. Benefit delays and sanctions were the most usual but also low pay, job insecurity, no free meals in school holidays were offered as secondary reasons. This session finished with suggestions for ways of supporting the campaign.
People had come from various parts of the country to the meeting to join locals from the Greater Manchester area. Lunchtime offered a welcome break to chat, to read some of the written reports posted on the walls and also to browse Julian Filochowski’s book stall. He is winding this up so there were good bargains as well as free books available.
The afternoon session focused on the Boaz Trust which serves destitute refugees and asylum seekers in the Manchester area. Dave Smith who founded the Trust in 2004 gave us the background to this and showed how much it has grown over the years. Now run by a steering group of 8 it was registered as a charity in June 2015. Last year it provided accommodation for 1,328 people: two thirds were male and mainly singles from various countries. They are not currently taking people from Europe. Dave said the Trust is providing an immediate response to peoples’ problems but a long term political solution is needed. Maybe even more necessary is a change in people’s hearts and mind with regard to asylum. Helpful weekly Lenten reflections and prayers are available on The Jesuit Refugee Service website.
During the day there were reports from the environment and media NJPN working parties as well as from various agencies and diocesan J&P Commissions. Attendees from Westminster Archdiocese spoke of the consultation currently taking place as to the future direction of justice and peace. It was felt that the voices of lay people were being heard. There was some discussion about conference themes for 2017 & 18 which was interesting as for many like myself, Swanwick is the main annual opportunity for personal involvement with NJPN.
There were also reports from various agencies with dates of events during the year:
Stop Trident Rally Feb 27 –it was suggested you join the Faith section to show faith communities care. Take an NJPN flag to wave!
Romero Trust 15 -19 March Romero Week – a lecture by Francisco de Roux JS March 15 – Edinburgh, March 16 – Leeds and March 17 Manchester Also a National Ecumenical Service on March 19 St Martin-in –the Fields London 11 am
A Pilgrimage to El Salvador is planned Nov 7 -19 . This will probably be the last.
Pax Christi March 8 International Women’s Day. Help to celebrate women peacemakers by writing to women you know and some you don’t – there are postcards to send and suggestions on Pax Christi website
May 21 AGM in Leeds
CAFOD are planning an MP correspondence action for the World Humanitarian Summit in May.
ACAT – Action by Christians Against Torture have moved their AGM on Oct 15th from Bristol to London
Housing Justice Alison Gelder highlighted CHAS (Catholic Housing Aid Society) Diamond Jubilee this year. J & P groups are asked to hold one event during the year to reflect on the current housing situation and commit to taking an action to make a difference. There will be small group resources available on the Housing Justice website before the end of March.
It was an interesting informative day and may inspire some of us to travel further for an open day in future.
A LENTEN JOURNEY is written for NJPN by Anne O’Connor as an aid to Lenten prayer and reflection.
You can download it here:
A LENTEN JOURNEY 2016
2015 saw the flow of refugees to Europe, already creating tragedies in the Mediterranean, increase exponentially. We have become used to seeing the images of processions of desperate people streaming along roads, boarding trains and being blocked at borders, and hearing of the daily toll of deaths of people fleeing war, persecution and the impacts of climate change drowning in the seas in their attempts to reach Europe.
On 6 September 2015 Pope Francis called on ‘every parish, every religious community, every monastery and every sanctuary in Europe … to host a family…’. There was an outpouring of good will across the continent and in our own country, particularly after the images of the death of Alan Kurdi were picked up by the media. This forced the UK government, slow to react to calls to take in more refugees on the grounds that it was by far the biggest funder of aid in the refugee camps in countries bordering Syria, to promise to resettle 20,000 vulnerable refugees from the camps in the UK over the next 5 years, i.e. about 4,000 per year.
In response to this the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales asked for a someone to be appointed in each diocese to co-ordinate offers of help and support and to work with the civil authorities to assist in the welcome of those being brought in as part of the resettlement programme. Several of those co-ordinators are Justice and Peace workers or commissions, while other J&P people have been getting involved in their local areas. As we enter 2016, what has been the experience so far, and what is needed as we go forward?
There has been a generous response financially and in offers of help, but how best to direct this help has been an issue.
In relation to the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), dioceses are working with Local Authorities who are responsible for resettling the refugees. Liverpool is aiming to set up local support groups to co-ordinate activity on the basis of local authority areas. Volunteers will be needed to create welcoming communities for these refugees.
While initially much attention was given to offering accommodation, spare rooms are not necessarily appropriate for those under the VPRS, and rules relating to accommodating refugees can make this difficult. Arundel & Brighton diocese are hoping to appoint a Project Worker to look at setting up hosting schemes and other ways to utilize offers of support.
However, as well as being woefully inadequate as a response to the scale of the need, the resettlement programme does raise the question, are we creating two classes of refugees, with asylum seekers already here facing delays, obstacles and destitution either because of failures in the system, or because their claim has been refused and they are appealing the decision? People are therefore being encouraged to support the many projects already in existence around the country by e.g. befriending, language classes, drop-in centres, material help – to find out more go to your diocesan co-ordinator (links below) or J&P contact or contact NJPN.
Others have been working to offer support to those on the move and in camps across Europe, and particularly those in Calais. Southwark and Westminster J&P have been supporting a group, ‘Seeking Sanctuary’ which has been helping migrants in Calais for some time. People are generally encouraged to give financial help, which can be done via CAFOD and CSAN. If you wish to donate material goods or volunteer to help, the website www.calaisaid.co.uk has updates of current needs and how to organise goods.
Over recent months we have seen the initial popular outpouring of sympathy for those trying to move across Europe turn to fear and xenophobia as the European Union has failed to rise to the challenge of a coherent response to welcome and resettle them, focussing rather on how to keep people out. As well as a practical challenge, this also raises questions about the fundamental values of the European Union and the UK. So there is a need for Justice and Peace people to engage with politicians to seek a just response to what is a long-term issue. In a letter to David Cameron from several NGOs in January these principles were set out:
-The UK should take a fair and proportionate share of refugees, both those already within the European Union and those still outside it.
-Safe and legal routes to the UK, as well as to the European Union, need to be established.
-There should be access to fair and thorough procedures to determine eligibility for international protection wherever it is sought.
Read the full letter here, and use it to write to your MP/MEP
Where do you think your commitment to justice and peace comes from?
One of my first year modules at university was modern American history. I was deeply moved by the gross injustices highlighted by the Civil Rights Movement. Segregation in South Africa was high on the agenda too and I joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Thereafter, with a growing family, my sole involvement was buying Fair Trade coffee from a stand at church. But the seed was sown – years later I became a Traidcraft Key Contact.
We moved to Greater Manchester in 1984. The first week in our new parish something extraordinary happened: a stranger turned round after Mass and asked me to help form a J&P group! We were all novices but quickly learnt. I offered to put together a regular news sheet for parishioners. I later took this to a diocesan J&P meeting and was invited to edit the fledgling Shrewsbury Diocese newsletter, The Daily Pressure, eventually joining with Liverpool under the new name MouthPeace. In 2006 fellow commission member Marian Thompson became editor, freeing up my time for writing/presenting resources for schools, Confirmation and parish J&P groups.
In June 2012 our new Bishop announced the enforced redundancy of all diocesan commission paid workers. Commission members sub-divided the workload of our former Co-ordinator to keep J&P afloat. I took over the monthly e-bulletin to ensure a point of contact for parish groups. In August 2013 most of us, myself included, received letters terminating our involvement. I was approached by NJPN to join their media team and now produce a monthly e-bulletin for five dioceses in the North West.
What for you are the most important areas of concern today?
The disbanding of J&P Commissions and compulsory redundancies of workers is a worry. Wherever cuts are made for financial reasons J&P seems to be the first casualty, despite its broad range of issues being crucial, not just for ourselves but for generations to come.
It sickens me that the UK government proudly promotes the sale of arms to oppressive regimes yet ignores the link with situations that force desperate people to risk everything by fleeing their homelands. No refugee chooses this path lightly. As the Somali poet Warsan Shire says: ‘no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.’
Today the richest 1% of people own more than the rest of world combined. This cannot be right. UK Government policies penalise the very poorest, for example the draconian bedroom tax and proposed changes to the tax credit system. For many food banks are essential for day-to-day living, but this merely papers over the cracks and fails to get to the heart of the problem. Rather than targeting the poor, why not introduce legislation to recoup money from companies who dodge UK tax by using off-shore accounts?
What sustains you in your commitment?
I believe there is good in everyone. For us to live in harmony with our fellow men and women, and with the world God has created for our stewardship, we must strive towards the common good. Margaret Thatcher once declared: ‘there is no such thing as society.’ On the contrary – through caring social interaction we harness what is best in humankind. When we put the needs of others before our own we are living the gospel message. I see many small acts of kindness by ordinary people that give hope for the future.
In recent years there’s been an encouraging rise in ‘people power’ through marches, letter writing and online petitions. Governments and corporations are taking notice of public opinion and modifying their policies accordingly.
The power of forgiveness inspires me. The Forgiveness Project www.theforgivenessproject.com and the initiative set up for victims of crime in England and Wales, Why Me? www.why-me.org bring together victims and perpetrators to aid understanding. Forgiveness is central to Jesus’ teachings. If we sincerely forgive seventy times seven times (Matthew 18: 22) we can experience peace in our hearts.
I’m encouraged by the success of Hope not Hate www.hopenothate.org.uk challenging the rise of extremism in the UK. Building bridges between different faith communities, celebrating what we have in common, is essential to achieving peace. In my home town, Altrincham, we have a thriving Inter Faith group that enables different congregations to socialise and discover more about each other.
What are your hopes for a Church like ours for the 21st Century?
The Church is in a time of flux: an ageing and diminishing priestly population; dwindling congregations; challenges to long-held views. Whilst some see this as a cause for concern I think it provides an opportunity for the Spirit to revitalise the Church in a new and exciting way. To facilitate change priests and people alike must heed the signs of the times and respond wisely. We need a fuller collaboration between clergy and laity, appreciating the many gifts lay people offer; the acceptance of married men to the priesthood; a greater respect for women so we will no longer be second class. Women make up more than half the congregation yet, although the glass ceiling has been broken in many areas, we still live in the shadows within the Church. True equality will only be achieved when women are admitted to the diaconate and ultimately to the priesthood.
We also need a heartfelt and lasting commitment to young people. At present little is done to encourage and inspire them and they see no relevance in church-going. This must change if the Church is to survive. Whilst many teenagers feel a strong sense of social justice, their enthusiasm and gifts are under-used in parish life. J&P can play a key role in Confirmation preparation leading to involvement in the local community and the wider world.
Above all, I pray for a Church where everyone feels welcome: an open, accepting, non-judgemental Church with a place at the table for all.
Anne O’Connor has been involved in Justice and Peace as a lay volunteer since 1984. In addition to producing newsletters and e-bulletins she has written drama, poetry, action sheets, Stations of the Cross and a J&P based Confirmation Programme for young people, plus seasonal material and prayer reflections for adult groups. She is a regular contributor to the NJPN column in the The Universe.
The next NJPN Open Networking Day will take place on Saturday 13 February 2016 from 10.30-4.00pm, at Methodist Central Hall, Oldham Street, Manchester M1 1JQ.
NJPN is working in partnership with Church Action on Poverty who will present their ‘Right to Food Campaign’
There will be opportunity to hear about justice and peace activities from groups around the country. Representatives of Catholic/Christian Agencies will report on their work and suggest practical ways of becoming involved in campaigning for social justice.
Tea and coffee will be provided, please bring your own lunch.
For further details contact
Ann Kelly Tel: 020 7901 4864
Email: admin@justice-and-peace.org.uk
