JPIC religious condemn Government plan to send refugees to Rwanda

JPIC group picture

Professor Anna Rowlands was guest speaker at the JPIC religious (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation) annual conference which took place last weekend, (14-15 May 2022) at High Leigh CoE Conference Centre.

This was the first 'in person' meeting for two years and was a hybrid conference with 12 members joining via zoom.

Anna's presentations were based on her extensive study of Catholic Social Teaching, particularly on Pope Francis' writings, his encyclicals especially 'Laudato Si' 'Let us Dream' and his latest, 'Fratelli Tutti'.

Through poetry, quotes and articles from well-known 'justice' activists, Anna inspired and enthused the conference to renew our commitment to all aspects of social, ecological & economic justice, what Pope Francis terms 'integral ecology'.

In Fratelli Tutti, Anna expounded on Pope Francis' interpretation of the Good Samaritan - the heart of his encyclical - offering a reading of this story in the radical social tradition of interpretation that 'justice' activists like Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Day, Ivan Illich and Simone Weil and our JPIC conference, support. This is the love of neighbour that builds the common good, with no fixed limit, no closed circle, no final border or boundary to a community. None is excluded. The participants were moved to send a resolution to the prime minister and home secretary condemning as morally wrong, the latest government policy to send refugees and asylum seekers to Rwanda, adding to their uprootedness. The central message of Pope Francis in Laudato Si' is the model of 'kinship' - sisters and brothers all - with Earth as our common home. There is no 'other'.

Anna referred to this time as a good moment to be revisiting the principles of Catholic Social Teaching because there is a notable resurgent in the principles of CST in global politics: human dignity, the common good, care for creation, a fairer distribution of wealth and material goods, the dispersal of power, and solidarity.

In the last decade the idea of the common good has re-emerged in social movements spanning the whole political spectrum - from radical Left, to Centre, to Right. For Green movements, it has been a way to think about a common life and a common habitation of an imperilled earth; for anti-racist movements, dedicated to Black dignity and a different kind of racial future, it is a way of speaking of a common humanity beyond racial divides; for left wing populists it has been a way of thinking about a grassroots struggle towards a more equal future, operating as a language that sees politics as formed through a collective sense of struggle.

In a quote from his latest document 'Fratelli Tutti,' Pope Francis gives the pertinent reminder:

"Jesus' parable calls us to rediscover our vocations as citizens of our respective nations and of the entire world, builders of a new social bond. This summons is ever new, yet it is grounded in a fundamental law of our being: we are called to direct society towards the pursuit of the common good… By his actions, the Good Samaritan showed that "the existence of each and every individual is deeply tied to that of others. Life is not simply time that passes; life is a time for interactions."

Pope Francis has talked about being brave enough to name the fact that striving for a vision of a time and place based on the common good, built through encounter, will mean being willing to face suffering and the costs of deep accompaniment. Anna pointed out that Simone Weil argues that only those who can look the history of force and violence in the face and know not to respect it can speak of the love and justice of the Gospel. It brought to mind the suffering people in Ukraine.

It was a good message to ponder on as the conference ended on Sunday morning with a special Mass, to remember and pay tribute to Fr Aodh O'Halpin, Columban priest and regular attender at JPIC, who died this year. Adoh was a member of the working group for over twenty years. He was much-loved and is greatly missed. Also remembered was another regular attender with a passion for justice and human rights, the late Sister Isabel Kelly, FMSJ. May they enjoy their heavenly home!

Professor Anna Rowlands is the current holder of the St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Durham.