As we approach the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 which unleashed the horror of nuclear warfare, the August edition of the NW NJPN E BULLETIN leads with a wide range of peace resources and events, including the film ‘Oppenheimer’, currently on general release, and ‘The Mistake’, a challenging play by Michael Mears touring in September and October and acted by Mears and a Japanese actress.

The Balfour Project announce a forthcoming podcast documentary “KEYS: A Troubled Inheritance” which intertwines the atrocities of the Holocaust for the Jewish people and 75 years of Nakba (catastrophe) of the Palestinian people since 1948. The podcast is devised, produced and narrated by journalist and broadcaster Mike Joseph with interviews of Jewish and Palestinian people who share painful and harrowing memories. 

There are reports of Pax Christi’s recent AGM and also the July NJPN Annual Conference on the theme ‘Sustainability? Survival or Shutdown’. 

Following weeks of catastrophic shifts in weather pattern: excessive heat, fires and floods Joseph Kelly urges concern to be accelerated into urgent action.  This plea is echoed by young people for World Youth Day, held this year in Lisbon in the first week of August where Pope Francis will join them. 

As the Government’s controversial Illegal Migration Bill becomes law, Ian Linden and Jesuit Refugee Service launch scathing criticisms, with JRS calling the Bill “anti-refugee and anti-human.”

Reports indicate major concerns about the effect of the Covid pandemic and missed schooling on children plus an inspiring account of a Liverpool Secondary School’s initiative to support the student’s mental well-being, led together by staff and students.

We pay a tribute to Brian Davies, formerly of CAFOD and known and loved by many, who died recently.

Please look at the diary page and also the first four pages of the bulletin which contain additional dates and events.

Best wishes

Anne O’Connor

NW NJPN Justice and Peace E Bulletin August 2023