|
May 19th - Our Spring Assembly - Aylesford Priory
Bishop
Pat Lynch's excellent homily
from the Mass for Migrants held in Westminster Cathedral on May 7th
is now available to read and there as an audio recording at:
http://www.rcdow.org.uk/diocese/default.asp?library_ref=4&content_ref=3778
or
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=20348
A small selection of photos from the day is also available
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catholicwestminster/sets/72157629621439572/
May 21st - Feast Day of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter
Pax Christi is encouraging us to celebrate the feast day of Franz
using some of the resources they have available, including a
Powerpoint of his life.
Another excellent video resource is Conscientious Objector based on
the poem Edna St Vincent Millay. Resources at http://www.paxchristi.org.uk/litgy1.php
May 22nd 2012 – Voices from the Margins
Launch event for a new report on Faith, Hope and Love amongst people
who are homeless by Revd. Gill College. Can people hold on to faith
when they are homeless? Does hope completely vanish? Are there
people who give them love and support? Come and hear what 140 people
interviewed in a day centre say, from their experience. Where does
faith fit in for them? What have the people interviewed to teach
about sharing faith, hope and love, in that context ?
6.45pm at St Mary-le-Bow Church, Cheapside, London EC2V 6AU
An open letter has been sent to the London
Olympic Organising Committee
expressing concern at the excessive involvement of Armed Forces
in the Games. Contact
http://www.paxchristi.org.uk/press1.php
to read.
Report on the Catholic
Migration Forum Seminar - Amigo Hall December 1st.
The link below gives a
full report on a most interesting day and includes links to
inputs from
Bishop Pat Lynch
and Sr Eugenia
Bonetti MC (Union of Major Superiors) ‘Counter-Trafficking
Office’ Rome.
Also
to a podcast from Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland of Scotland
Yard's Trafficking and Prostitution Unit.
http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/Home/News/Human-Trafficking-Seminar
'Big Society? - Fair Society? - Just Society?'
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation: Autumn
Assembly
Our Commission for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of
Creation Autumn Assembly was held in the Amigo Hall of
Saturday, 22nd October 2011, with over fifty attending.
We were particularly pleased to welcome Bishop Patrick
Lynch and Bishop Howard Tripp.
The day started with table discussions which gave
everyone the opportunity to discuss matters of interest
and each table then gave feedback to the whole room.
The first speaker was Daniel Hale from Progressio,
accompanied by
Semhar Mengis,
one of their
young volunteers. They gave us a world view speaking on
‘Building the Really Big Society’.
Their presentation was followed by Barbara Kentish from
Westminster J&P who gave the Southwark launch of ‘100
Days of Peace’, an initiative to involve all schools and
parishes in creating a legacy of peace during and after
the Olympics. Leaflets are available of request from our
JPIC office. There is more information at
www.peacelegacy.org.uk
Bishop Patrick with Francis Davis
At lunchtime we were most pleased to host a book launch.
‘Catholic Social Conscience: Reflection and Action on
Catholic Social Teaching’ sets out, in a collection
of essays, to explore the possibilities for a renewed
Catholic social conscience in these times of change.
 In
the afternoon we listened to two excellent speakers on
the topic of ‘Big Society? – Fair Society? - Just
Society’. Francis Davis, who is one of the editors of
the book which was launched at the meeting, is a fellow
of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University, and a director
of the Las Casas Institute on Ethics, Human Rights and
Social Justice. Alison Gelder is Director of Housing
Justice and a member of our JPIC committee.
The day concluded with a question and answer session
with a panel comprised of Bishop Patrick and all the
day’s speakers.
The Big Society - A call to true
Apostolate"
"Why does the Lord want you to work for Justice and peace?"
Go to our Resources page to read or
print these two new articles
2011 Migrants Mass:
On Bank Holiday Monday, May 2nd a congregation of
some 1,500 people - many from London's diverse ethnic
communities - attended the annual Mass for Migrant Workers,
held this year at St George's Cathedral. Archbishop Peter
Smith was chief celebrant and about 60 priests from across
London concelebrated.
The service began with a colourful procession of banners
from dozens of parishes and Catholic organisations. At the
Offertory, as well as the bread and wine, migrant workers
brought up symbols of their work such as hammers and
briefcases.
Bishop Thomas McMahon preached the homily which was greeted
with a round of applause at its conclusion. |
 |
_______________________________________________________________________
Text of Pope Benedict's Homily on World Day of Peace
January 1st 2011
10th January 2011
|
More Than Gold have a free
DVD available.
To help your Church capture the
potential of the Games.
Fast-moving and with music by
Delirious?, the creative
production shows what's been
done at past Games and what
churches like yours could do
here.
There are two versions, each
designed for a different
audience.
Church version (3 mins 39
secs) for services, home groups,
etc, opening eyes to the
opportunities the Games offer.
Leaders version (6 mins
24 secs) as above but with
additional background and advice
on the next steps.
To watch, order or download go
to
www.morethangold.org.uk/dvd
1st December 2010
|
Catholic Social Teaching Web Site
www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk
The launch of the LiveSimply website
marks the arrival of a valuable tool for
schools, parishes and beyond. The site
will provide a resource for people to
work with in deepening their
understanding of the faith.
Once described as the Church’s best kept
secret, the social teachings offer a
blueprint for those working for justice
both inside and outside of the Church.
The site focuses on the six themed areas
of human dignity, community and
participation, care for creation, life
and work, peace, and solidarity.
Contributors include South African
Archbishops Desmond Tutu and Kevin
Dowling, Archbishop Vincent Nichols,
Archbishop of York John Sentamu, Ellen
Teague, Mary Colwell and Bruce Kent.
The launch of the site comes at a timely
moment with Pope Benedict recently
stressing the urgent need "for
commitment to educating Catholic laity
in Church social doctrine".
1st
December 2010
|
|
|
 |
Welcome to Archbishop
Peter Smith and thank you for the encouragement in your
homily: "I
have no doubt that the faith of the Church is alive and
active today. It is manifested in the lives of so many good
and holy laypeople, in the vibrant life of our parishes and
religious communities, and in the dedicated and selfless
ministry of our priests and deacons. It is being fulfilled
day by day in the work of our Catholic schools and colleges,
organisations such as CAFOD, the Justice and Peace
Networks....."
10th June 2010 |
Thank you
to all who joined us at Aylesford on May 22nd. for our
Spring Assembly on "Grassroots Social Justice" Our speakers
from the eight organisations gave us a great insight to the
work being carried our in our parishes and communities and
our keynote speaker, John Battle, was as inspirational as
always. Our picture shows John Battle with Fr Michael
Scanlon at the end of the afternoon. 
11th June 2010
|
 |
“Meeting God in Friend and Stranger: fostering mutual respect and
understanding between the religions”
is a new
teaching document on interreligious dialogue from the Bishops’
Conference of England and Wales. Our own Archbishop Kevin had a
leading role in its development and production. See our Local Events
page for details of a workshop.
Choosing the Common
Good
The keenly
awaiting document from the Bishops' Conference, developing the
Church's position on topics relevant to the incoming government, is now
available
Correspondence with Gordon Brown
Following the publication of Caritas
in Veritate, our chair Fr Michael Scanlon wrote to the Prime
Minister sending him a copy of the Holy Father’s encyclical and
inviting his thoughts. In his reply Gordon Brown pays tribute
to the Pope’s concern for peace and justice throughout the world
and also thanks Fr Michael for the practical steps being taken in
the Catholic communities to encourage justice and peace.
"If You Want To Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation" is the theme of
Pope Benedict’s message for the celebration of the forty-third
World Day of Peace.
To
download the Holy Father's message
 14th December 2009
The Wave - climate change protest.
|
On 5th
December more than 50,000 came together in London to demand action on climate
change at The Wave, the biggest ever UK climate change march. Not
only did Ed Miliband (Secretary of State for Energy and Climate
Change) hear us, but Gordon Brown invited 24 Wave supporters to 10
Downing Street after the event to hear their demands. |
|
Some started from Grosvenor Square and walked
a 3 mile route
passing the Houses of Parliament and crossing Lambeth Bridge to come
back over Westminster Bridge. Others started at the ecumenical service in
Westminster Central Hall led by Archbishops Vincent Nichols and
Rowan Williams.
Passing
Piccadilly Circus
7th December 2009
Our Autumn Assembly
 |
The main topic of
our Autumn Assembly, held at St Peter's, Woolwich“
on 17th October was "The Changing Face of Britain” celebrating
25 years of CARJ (Catholic Association for Racial Justice).
The pictures show
Bishop Howard Tripp with Haynes Baptiste, one of the
speakers from CARJ and Bishop Pat Lynch with |
 |
Margaret Ann Fisken,
the Chair of CARJ, Tony Lobo and Richard Zipfel.
Other speakers were Mr Pat
Winston, head teacher from St Paul's Academy and Petra
Kjell, Environment Policy and Advocacy officer from
Progressio who spoke on "Water, Climate Change and
Copenhagen. |
2nd
November 2009
Report from National Justice & Peace Network conference 2009
On the
Road Together: A~Mazed by Migration
A summary of
the report on the Open Space debate from the conference is now
available to download please click
Also Bishop Pat's homily "Our
mission to, with and for migrants today: the context, the
principles and the pastoral strategy"
and the views of all the keynote
speakers
 .
If you have
difficulty downloading or printing any of the above we are happy
to post copies from the office.
14th October 2009
Holy Father’s
Video Message to Climate Change Summit
Pope Benedict sent a video
message to participants in the UN summit on climate change,
which was held in New York on 22 September.
Speaking in English his message started: "I wish to reflect
today upon the relationship between the Creator and ourselves as
guardians of His creation. In so doing I also wish to offer my
support to leaders of governments and international agencies who
are meeting at the United Nations to discuss the urgent issue of
climate change….”
28th September
2009
Tobin Tax
developments
Foreign minister
David Miliband was named by his French
counterpart as a supporter of a Tobin tax on financial
transactions in a move designed to show growing support for a
clampdown on excessive bank profits.
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said in an
interview that Miliband agreed on the need for a new tax on
financial transactions to fund
development.
For more information
follow this link to The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/17/miliband-tobin-tax-french
see also our
September 21st 2009
Pope Benedict
urges leaders to be responsible stewards of creation
World leaders should address
global environmental issues "with generous courage", that Man is
called to responsible governance of creation and the current
model of global development needs transformation, Pope Benedict
said yesterday.
August 27th 2009
Government slashes support to
asylum seekers awaiting a decision.
The government has announced that
it is cutting its cash support to destitute asylum
seekers waiting for a decision. Currently, single asylum
seekers over the age of 25 receive £42.16 a week, which
is 30% less than a single person over the age of 25 who
is resident in the UK. The government is planning to
reduce this to £35.15 per week from October, leaving
asylum seekers with only £5 per day to live on.
Donna Covey, Chief Executive of
the Refugee Council said:
“ These changes mean asylum seekers will receive a
little over half of what the government says is the
minimum people need to live on.... Surely a more
practical solution would be to allow those that can to
work and contribute to the growth of our economy, rather
than penalising the poorest and most vulnerable?”
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stopcuts
for more information and a draft letter to send to the
Home Secretary.
August 24th 2009
|
August 19th
2009 Bruce
Kent leads a peaceful demonstration outside the American
Embassy calling for health care provision for the 50 million
Americans who have inadequate cover.
|
 |
Look at our
Resources section to read
or print the new Papal Encyclical “Caritas in
Veritate” together with comments from various sources.
|
|
|
