2015-09-E-news-final - Diocese of Leeds: Justice and Peace

Transcription

DIOCESE OF LEEDS: JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION
NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2015
Web www.leedsjp.org.uk
mailto:jandp@dioceseofleeds.org.uk
This edition is full of ‘things to do’ now that the Summer holidays are over.
Book a place by going to our
website www.leedsjp.org.uk
or email us
jandp@dioceseofleeds.org.uk
Page 1
GAZA ONE YEAR ON
by John Battle, Chair of the Commission
(This article first appeared in the Universe in July 2015
We are used to the pace of twenty four hour news bulletins covering events as they happen anywhere on the
planet. The ubiquitous media eye focuses, fast tracking events round the globe but it also moves on rarely
sticking with or following through as other dramatic turns demand instant attention. Tragedies and conflicts are
painful to dwell on past the first shock. But the consequence of this is serious neglect of the aftermath. So often
natural disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods get the short term attention but then the media show moves
on and people locally are left to suffer and pick up the pieces of their lives as best they can.
It is a year on since the bombardment of Gaza last year where 1.8 million people (half who are under the age of
18) are locked into a strip of land, cut off from the rest of the world and increasingly lacking the basics for
survival. Some years ago I visited Palestine with the House of Commons International Development Select
Committee not to interrogate the nature of the political conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Territories,
but to examine the real level of poverty, malnutrition and
perinatal deaths in the Palestinian communities.
Tragically the actual figures revealed Palestinians were worse off
than many poor African countries. An economic blockade
enforced by a huge wall and policed gates has not only prevented
daily essentials getting into Gaza, it has stopped any Gaza goods
such as fruit and vegetables from being exported. Gazan
industries such as agricultural and fishing have been fatally
undermined. Today after nine years of an economic blockage by
Israel, tightened in 2007, food prices are soaring, there is mass
unemployment and over 10% of children under five in Gaza are
suffering from chronic malnutrition. Over 400,000 children in Gaza are classed by the UN as “food insecure”. The
collapse of the economy as a result of the blockade and the destructive bombing has left 80% of the people of
Gaza dependent on aid to survive from day to day.
In reality the Gaza people are slowly dying of starvation in a huge enclosed prison camp no larger than the Isle of
Wight. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) tries to get vital medical help to the most vulnerable Palestinian
communities in Gaza and the West Bank (working in partnership with UNWRA the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees) and is presently appealing for resources for basic food support. They, and CAFOD’s work in Palestine,
deserve some support now. The media interest may have waned but the suffering people of Palestine need our
attention and solidarity more than ever.
I encourage every parish to send someone to our conference on 26 September so that more people in the diocese
can reflect on the tragic issues affecting this special region for Christians.
SABEEL YORKSHIRE - Working For Peace for the People of Palestine and Israel
People ask what the word Sabeel means; it is Arabic and it means ‘the way.’ It can also mean a spring or channel
of living water.
Started by Palestinian Christians, Sabeel promotes non-violence and reconciliation and works for a just peace for
the people of Palestine and Israel. Friends of Sabeel UK is working in Britain to support that vision.
Page 2
Sabeel believes that justice and peace in the Middle East will only happen with the cooperation of all the faith
communities in the region. Sabeel, a grassroots ecumenical liberation theology organisation based in Jerusalem,
encourages this cooperation. Its work involves:




Exploring the meaning of the Gospel in the Palestinian situation.
Supporting the Palestinian Christian community.
Working for a more accurate international awareness of the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Organising tours and witness visits
Here in Leeds, Friends of Sabeel Yorkshire arrange regular talks, discussions and workshops open to all. To go on
our mailing list to receive notification of our events please contact Madeleine Andrews madand@talktalk.net
Forthcoming meetings of Sabeel in Yorkshire:
Wed 30 Sept: 2.15 - 6.00 pm Kairos Britain: Taking Action for Palestine
The afternoon will include:

An introductory film to Kairos Palestine

An overview of the history of the Kairos Britain movement

Analysis of the situation in Palestine and Israel

Workshops on taking action (including campaigning with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions)
Venue: Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel, City Square, Leeds LS1 5EB
Wed 25 Nov: 6.00 - 8.00 pm Bethlehem: Keeping Hope Alive
Gifts for Christmas will be on sale.
Venue: Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel, City Square, Leeds LS1 5EB
SILENT VOICES
St Anne’s Cathedral, Leeds, 04 Sep through to 19 Sep
This thought-provoking photography exhibition shows everyday life in the
village of Bil’in in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine as seen through the
eyes of the children who live there.
This exhibition was shown in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool at this time
last year. We have secured it as a prelude to our conference on 26 September.
If you are in Leeds during this fortnight then come along and take a look
Page 3
REFUGEE CRISIS – A LESSON IN COMPASSION FROM TURKEY
An Antidote to some of the more horrible rhetoric that appears in so many UK newspapers.
A couple in Turkey swapped lavish nuptials with their friends and family for the bread line with thousands of
Syrian refugees.
Fethullah Üzümcüoğlu and Esra Polat doled out food to 4,000 Syrian refugees for their wedding reception on the
border town of Kilis. The bride wore an elaborate white dress, with a tiara perched on her headdress, and the
groom sported a white tuxedo with black trim. They stood behind large food trucks distributing meals to hungry
Syrians. The couple had decided that instead of hosting their friends and family for a traditional banquet
reception, they would feed the victims of the bloody civil
war next door.
“In south eastern Turkey there is a real culture of sharing
with people in need ... They love to share their food, their
table, everything they have,” they explained. The idea
came from the groom’s father, who volunteers for a
Turkish relief organisation called Kimse Yok Mu (KYM). For
the past few years, KYM has distributed daily meals to the
thousands of Syrians who have flooded across the nearby
border. He approached a representative of the
organization and proposed that the family would cover
part of the costs of feeding refugees for the day. “I thought
that sharing a big delicious dinner with our family and friends was unnecessary, knowing that there are so many
people in need living next door,” he said.
Kilis has been a central crossing point for the flood of Syrians arriving in Turkey. The city’s official population is
108,000, but it hosts 123,000 Syrians. Early on, it was set up with a camp with containers for temporary shelter,
but many refugees live in the urban areas where access to humanitarian assistance can be unreliable. The number
of Syrians now living in Turkey is nearing 2 million, and in July, the government announced it would build a new
refugee camp in Kilis to handle the influx
The newly married couple were pleased with their decision to forsake a personal celebration for one with a
greater good. “It’s like sharing a dinner with your friends and family who have this kind of thing on a daily basis—
or sharing something with people who don’t even have the most basic things,” Avci says.
Read the full story on the web:
. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/04/the-most-generous-bride-of-earth-couple-feeds-4-000syrian-refugees-on-their-wedding-day.html
Would you be willing to host a Commission Meeting in your parish?
In the last 12 months the activities of the Commission have really taken off again.
We are keen to build on this and engage with and involve all areas of the Leeds diocese.
We normally meet at Hinsley Hall in Leeds. Going forward, we would like every alternate meeting to be
somewhere else in the diocese and use it as an opportunity to find out more about the social justice concerns
across the diocese. Could your parish or group host such a meeting?
Drop an email to jandp@dioceseofleeds.org.uk to let us know you are interested.
Page 4
Laudato Si’: Fresh Challenges; Fresh Methodologies
Dr Ann Marie Mealey, Leeds Trinity University
Ann Marie is Senior Lecturer inTheology and religious Studies.
She is also a member of the Justice & Peace Commission, is a theological advisor to
CAFOD and represents Leeds Trinity University at Leeds Citizens
Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ opens by acknowledging that the earth is much like the poor: neglected,
exploited and uncared for (#2). In order to address some of the most pressing ecological questions of our time,
the Pope wishes to address ‘every person living on this planet’ (# 3). This is a bold and brave statement, especially
given that when a similar phrase (‘all persons of good will’) was used in Gaudium et Spes, some felt that the then
Pope was pandering to the demands of secularism. But such a charge cannot be made here, since part of the
encyclical has as its main focus an attempt to bring the religious voice into dialogue with the world concerning
care for the environment. Since the earth is shared, it makes sense to attempt a solution in dialogue and in
communication with everyone.
The Pope draws upon rich theological resources and statements
that have been made by his predecessors and stresses that we
ought to approach care for the environment with awe and wonder
(# 11). He states that ‘[i]f we approach nature and the
environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no
longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our
relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters,
consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their
immediate needs.’ (# 11 )
In terms of its methodology what is perhaps very new in this encyclical is the stress on finding solutions to the cry
of planet in the local, in the cultural, in the specific. As Pope Francis points out, ‘[a]ll of us can cooperate as
instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements
and talents.’ (# 14) This sentiment is also repeated elsewhere in the encyclical several times. The challenge that
this presents to the Church and the world is the stress on finding local solutions to universal problems. A
hermeneutic of the specific, of the local and cultural is being espoused here, which might be adopted and used in
other areas of Theology too.
A further challenge presented to us by this encyclical is the ‘throw away’ culture which the Pope is seeking to
address. We see things as disposable or as having only market/economic value. We must refrain from treating
things as ‘rubbish’ – either human or non-human. There is a call in the encyclical to adopt a new framework or a
new horizon of interpretation that sees human life as sacred and that moves us away from a consumerist
mentality towards one that reveres and respects nature and invites a kind of sincere simplicity in relations to the
web of life. The encyclical challenges us to find a way of using resources and reusing them again, moderating
consumption of non-renewal resources and making their use efficient (# 24). This kind of cycle of reusing
resources presents a huge challenge to the current society which is, as the Pope points out, used to discarding
certain things as rubbish.
Another key challenge presented to us by Laudato Si’ is the need to combat a kind of ‘mental pollution’ (#47) that
is brought about by the media and the information overload which comes with much of our mechanisms of
Page 5
communication. The Pope calls for the ‘voices of the sages’ to be heard amidst the frenzy of modern technological
communications. And he is right. ‘Real relationships with one another, with all the challenges they entail, now
tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at a
whim…’ (# 47) Although the Pope is not saying that the media is without virtue, he is stressing that the key to
right relationships is not to be found in mechanisms that allow us to dismiss the other at our convenience. If we
are to address the environmental crisis as a common world, right relationships are central. This presents the
Church and the world with yet another challenge: how can we find ways of allowing the voices of wisdom to
emerge amidst the busy and claustrophobic world in which we live? Parishes, governments and communities of
all kinds will have to address this issue if we are to find sustainable ways of living together as part of a shared
world, earth and community.
What is both challenging and compelling about this encyclical is that it stipulates that ‘on many concrete
questions, the Church has no reason to offer a definite opinion’ (# 61) and that ‘honest debate amongst experts’ is
required to address the ecological challenges which we face (# 61). The sense of humility shown here is quite a
new methodological approach to questions of truth, understanding and human living in relation to each other and
the earth, but it is also encouraging. There is a sense that the Pope is extending a genuine invitation to the people
of world (and particularly those with expertise, power and influence) to dialogue concerning questions of climate
change, pollution, water, human life, plant life, etc. ‘[N]o branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be
left out’ (#62), says Pope Francis, as all sources of wisdom must be considered in the face of the environmental
crises. This is a huge challenge for humanity and for those engaged in the search for truth concerning the
environment; however, it is also compelling and motivational that the Church is calling on ‘everyone’ (as seems to
be the methodological approach of the document) to be a part of the solution and of the restoration of
relationships needed to heal the earth, its habitats, its waters, and its preferential people: the poor.
DIOCESE OF LEEDS JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION
HALF-DAY CONFERENCE “LAUDATO SI AND THE LEEDS DIOCESE”
AND THE AGM OF THE COMMISSION
St.Benedict’s Parish Centre, Aberford Road, Garforth, Leeds LS25 1PX
(If you don’t know it then St.Benedict’s is about a mile from the M1/A1 link road if you are coming by car. The
Parish Centre is only a 2 minute walk from Garforth Railway Station by public transport)
10:30 – 13:30 “Laudato Si and the Leeds Diocese” – Climate Change Conference
13:30 – 14:15 Lunch (which will be provided)
14:15 – 15:15 Diocese of Leeds Justice and Peace Commission AGM
People are very welcome to join us for both or just one element of this event.
Confirmed speakers at the Climate Change Conference include:
Ellen Teague, catholic journalist and activist, speaking about ‘Laudato Si’
Prof. Andy Challinor, Professor of Climate Change Impacts at Leeds University, speaking about his work on the UK
Food Risk Assessment.
Is it time to find out more and do more about Climate Change?
Page 6
THE ACTA 4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2015
This year’s national conference of ACTA in being held in Yorkshire and may be
of interest to many in the diocese who are interested in Social Justice issues:-
To Change the World – a Challenge for every Parishioner
Saturday31 October 11:00 – 4:00pm
Leeds Trinity University LS18 5HD
More information and details on how to book can be found on their website:www.acalltoaction.org.uk
Eileen Fitzpatrick, National Chair for ACTA comments:
“We could not be more thrilled; to have managed to get these two speakers both of whom have agreed to stay
with us throughout the day, answer questions and share in workshop discussions is a coup. The theme of the day
will fit with Pope Francis’ wish that our beloved Church is outward looking, caring and above all treasures the
world we live in.”
The Keynote speakers are:Jon Cruddas “Catholic Social Teaching: What is Justice?”
John has been Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham since 2001, increasing his majority at
the May General Election. A Catholic himself, he has looked to the Church’s social teaching
for big ideas which are radically inclusive and go far deeper than party politics. In his hands
these texts cease to be worthy documents and become prophetic pointers to fraternity,
tenderness and fidelity..
Jenny Sinclair “The Common Good: Building Community”
Jenny, raised an Anglican, in her mid twenties had a conversion experience and was
received into the Catholic Church. Four year ago she felt moved by the Spirit to found a
project and network called Together for the Common Good. It is now her vocation to act
within that network to cultivate dialogue between all people of good will and encourage
them to work together, across political and belief traditions, for the common good.
Page 7
EVENTS
13 Sep 15
Tue 22 Sep
Sat 26 Sep
15
Wed 30 Sep
Sat 31 Oct
Sat Oct 31
Sat 07 Nov
15
RACIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY
There is still time to do something about this Sunday in your parish.
This year’s theme aims to prompt conversation and reflection on the theme of hospitality and
sanctuary. Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have prepared an information pack including
liturgy and discussion ideas. It has been written by Inderjit Bhogal, of the Leeds Church Institute.
Go to the events page on our website if you are interested in downloading the pack (PDF).
WHAT’S THE GOOD NEWS FOR CREATION
Leeds Church Institute 7:30pm
As part of a new series about the environment, Ruth Valerio from the charity ‘A Rocha UK’ will
speak about the theological basis for the protection and restoration of the natural world. To book,
phone 0113 391 7928 or email events@leedschurchinstitute.org.
GOD HAS BROKEN DOWN THE DIVIDING WALLS
An event jointly organised by Leeds Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission and Leeds Pax Christi.
10:30-13:30 Oxford Place Centre, Leeds
As part of the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, this half-day conference will provide
opportunities for finding out more, praying about it and reflecting on what actions we should be
taking as concerned Christians. Click the link on the home page of the website to book a place
30 SEP KAIROS UNBOUND TRAINING DAY
2pm - 6pm Mill Hill Chapel, City Square, Leeds
A day for Kairos supporters and activists to engage with Kairos Britain and the Call to Action.
During the day you will find out more about the international Kairos movement, including its roots
in Kairos Palestine, and how you can campaign, advocate and pray for peace and justice in
Palestine and Israel.
Book a place by visiting their website www.kairosbritain.org.uk
THE ACTA 4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2015 – “TO CHANGE THE WORLD – A CHALLENGE FOR
EVERY PARISHIONER
11:00 -4:00pm Leeds Trinity University LS 18 5HD
See the Block Advert for this event in the newsletter
SVP REGIONAL POVERTY CONFERENCE
10:00 – 4pm St.John Fisher Voluntary Academy, Oxford Road, Dewsbury
Their keynote speaker at this event is Dr.Ann Marie Mealy, Senior Lecturer in theology at Leeds
Trinity University.
LEEDS J&P COMMISSION CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE and COMMISSION AGM
St.Benedict’s Parish Centre, Aberford Road, Garforth, Leeds LS25 1PX
Climate Change Conference: 10:30 – 13:30 and AGM 14:15 – 15:15
See Block Advert in this newsletter.
‘Like’ our page on Facebook and ‘follow’ us to help keep up to date with the key
campaigns that the Commission is supporting.
Please forward this email E-News onto anyone else who you think might be interested. Even better, get them to
send us their email address so we can add them to our contact database.
Page 8

2015-09-E-news-final - Diocese of Leeds: Justice and Peace

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