Mission for justice 'between the Sundays'

A weekend of integrating faith with action for justice and peace led John Battle, a former MP and Minister of State, to reflect that “we are asked to do something in between the Sundays”. A long-time member of Leeds Justice and Peace Commission, he chaired the 2013 annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN) for England and Wales last weekend in Derbyshire, where keynote speaker Megan McKenna underlined in four presentations the centrality of Justice, Compassion and Mercy to the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus. “Do we truly hunger and thirst for justice?” asked the US theologian, who is an Ambassador of Peace for Pax Christi International.

During one talk, focusing on the mission statement of Jesus about bringing ‘good news to the poor’, Megan invited participants to call out what ‘good news to the poor’ might mean; they responded with “food”, “water”, “shelter”, “the possibility of change”. She felt that many Christians have “spiritualised Jesus” and lost his radical call for justice, which, she felt, is quite distinct from charitable outreach. The theme of the conference 'Breaking open the word' invited those taking part to get back to the scriptural roots of work for peace and social justice and to be more creative in communicating this message through word, scripture, art, literature as well as traditional forms of campaigning. John Battle said that we live in a time of 'austerity of vision' and that we need new tools to help us challenge the economic austerity within our society. We must do this as a serious faith commitment seven days a week, linking in to our weekend worship. Better use of social media was one suggestion, particularly Twitter.

The 35th annual conference saw around 300 justice and peace activists gathering from more than 20 Catholic dioceses of England and Wales and from Catholic agencies and religious orders which are members. The event was organised by NJPN in conjunction with Hallam Justice & Peace Commission. Young people’s programmes were organised by Y-Kids of Merseyside and by the InReality Youth Team from Hallam Diocese.

Practical ideas for promoting justice and peace came in 16 different workshops. Alison Gelder, Director of Housing Justice, focused on ‘Austerity Britain – what is happening and what can we do about it?’. She highlighted the negative impact of recent benefit changes and helped participants plan practical action back in their dioceses and parishes to support vulnerable groups, such as disabled people facing benefit cuts. Protecting the ‘Welfare State’ was a recurring theme at the conference. Columban Father Peter Hughes focused on ‘Global warming and rising sea levels’, pointing out that Britain and other countries are likely to be negatively affected by climate change in the coming decades, particularly poorer communities. He pointed to church organisations, such as Operation Noah and Christian Ecology Link, which are pushing for decarbonisation of church communities. The student movement, People and Planet, recently launched a campaign to push UK universities to reduce their carbon footprints.

Pax Christi’s British section led two workshops on the theme of human security and how we can better communicate this vision for our world today. Pat Gaffney, General Secretary, led these workshops which used the new Pax Christi DVD ‘Give Peace a Budget’. Participants shared their own understanding of security - moving from a military/fear based model to a more human, live-giving model which indicates where resources are needed and how existing political choices need to change. Participants also reflected on images, quotations and pieces of sculpture, such as the Tree of Life made from weapons left after war, to discuss how we can be more creative in talking about models of security with others in our communities who are not involved in peace and justice work. At the same time they also listed the true costs of war - beyond basic financial costs - naming psychological damage, environmental destruction, family breakdown, erosion of trust for the future as some of those things which we need to surface in challenging those who say that war works and solves problems.

Other workshops include: CAFOD Hungry for Change; Progressio - Women and fragile states; Racism; Gender; Music as an expression of social justice; Working with allies in a secular society; Asylum Seekers and Refugees, organised by the Jesuit Refugee Service. An Eritrean Coffee Ceremony on the lawn was very popular on the sunny Saturday afternoon, as was an early morning Tai Chi session at the same location early that morning.

Congratulations were sent over a telephone link to peace pilgrims who had arrived in Central London after a two-month trek from Iona to hand in a petition against Britain’s Trident nuclear missile programme. The petition asked the Government to stop plans to renew Trident - a cost of up to £100 billion - and spend the money on education, the NHS and social welfare. The conference cheered as loudly as it could to support the walkers in London.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, sent greetings to the conference, calling on participants “to enrich the world with their own testimony of a faith that collaboratively and fruitfully promotes the true common good as well as the respect for the dignity of every human person”. It was read out by Anne Peacey, NJPN Chair and member of Hallam Justice and Peace. The main conference mass was celebrated by Fr Shaun Smith, Chair of Hallam Justice and Peace.

For more information see:

www.justice-and-peace.org.uk,
www.columbans.co.uk
www.housingjustice.org.uk
www.paxchristi.org.uk
www.justpeacepilgrimage.com