Justice & Peace Advisers
Specialist Adviser: David Thomson
DABCEC, 4 Southgate Drive, Crawley West Sussex RH10 6RP.
Tel: Crawley (01293) 651155. Email:
david.thomson@dabnet.org Priest Adviser: Fr Kevin Dring
JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION:
The Commission exists to keep the diocese aware of problems of injustice and violence, at home and overseas; to assist in the work of reflection on these problems in the light of the Church's social teaching; and to foster and encourage action for justice and peace at every level of diocesan life.
Events
See Pastoral Team Noticeboard for event information by clicking here
In addition to those listed, you may be interested in a sponsored walk in aid of WaterAid that will take place Saturday, 9th June. For details of this, click here
The Longest Day
One other event of particular importance will be "The Longest Day". A host of the entertainment industry's brightest stars are coming to town to dazzle Crawley's Hawth Theatre in a spectacular charity benefit show, "The Longest Day" on 21st of June at 7.30pm. The Longest Day, as the show is called will be a mixture of music and comedy, with some serious bits, and is being presented by the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group. This local charity provides practical and emotional support to people held in the detention centre at Garwick. For more information, contact www.gdwg.org.uk . It is one of a number of local events being held during Refugee Week 2012. Tickets (£15/£10) for the Longest Day are now available from the Hawth Box Office www.hawth.co.uk. Only 600 tickets are available - and they are selling fast. To view the advertising poster, click here
NJPN Annual Conference
Advance Warning: The National Justice and Peace Network will hold their annual conference in July. Entitled " A New World Order - China Today and Our Response" the conference will take place in Swanwick, Derbyshire. For full details, click here
J&P P Monthly Newsletter
To view the lastest J&P Newsletter, click here
Annual Justice and Peace Assembly 2012
The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton hosted its annual Justice and Peace Assembly on 21st January 2012 at the Christian Education Centre, Crawley. The title of the Assembly was"Slaves to Branding" and focused attention on the exploitation of overseas workers in the clothing industry. For more information and to download the talks click here...
Last Year: Assembly 2011
The annual Justice and Peace Assembly organised by the Diocese of Arundel & Brighton took take place on 22nd January 2011 at the Christian Education Centre on Southgate Drive, Crawley. The key talk at the Assembly was given by Oliver McTernan, an expert in conflict resolution and interfaith work, and a regular broadcaster on the BBC. For a full report, click here
At the Assembly, an Action Plan was compiled by attendees and an updated version for 2012 is now availabe here. The plan is in the form of a timetable of events focussing on four aspects of human rights which acknowledge the fact that the year 2011 marked the 60th anniversary of the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights
J&P Training Day
A Justice and Peace training day, entitled Practical Engagement in Justice & Peace, was held at Amigo Hall, St George's Cathedral, Southwark on Saturday 10th September. The organisers (Archdiocese of Southwark) have been able to obtain four workshop facilitators, all of whom have many years experience working in the J&P environment. The workshops were on:
Starting a Parish J&P Group (session led by Tricia Zipfel)
Reinvigorating a J&P Group (session led by Rosemary Read)
Encouraging Area Groups (session led by Phil Kerton)
Involving Youth in J&P (session led by Fr Martin Poulson and James Trewby)
If you were unable to attend, materials from the day are now on the front page of the Southwark JPIC web site www.southwarkjandp.co.uk (scroll down to the links).
The livesimply network website for Catholic Social Teaching
The livesimply network has a website dedicated to Catholic Social Teaching. The website is a valuable resource for parishes, schools and people wishing to deepen their understanding of the faith and explore the link with social justice.
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.
Campaigning
Indefinite immigration detention
The UK is one of the only countries in Europe that detains immigrants indefinitely. Immigration detention without time-limits is not new in the UK, but only recently has detention for extreme periods become routine. In April 2006 when, following media criticism of Home Office failures to follow existing policies on the deportation of foreign ex-offenders, a new policy of a presumption of detention was introduced for people due to be deported after serving prison sentences. As a result, detention was no longer used primarily for people about to be removed; instead, the priority became to detain ex-offenders, even where intractable obstacles to removal existed.
The impact on civil liberties of this routine indefinite detention dramatically exceeds that of the proposed 42 day detention of alleged terrorist suspects.Yet indefinite immigration detention has received a fraction of the wider discussion devoted to detention under anti-terror legislation.
The Detained Lives campaign demands that the government sign up to EU law and introduce a time limit on detention.If detention must be used, it should be as a last resort for people who can be deported imminently.The government should follow the example of community-based alternatives to detention that have been successfully used in Sweden and Australia.
Find out more about this issue and how you can help raise awareness of this injustice from the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group http://www.gdwg.org.uk/index.php. The group currently requires two new Trustees for more information click here...
Climate Change
This is a key justice issue as it hits the world's poorest communities first and hardest. For information on campaigning and acting on Climate Change then visit the following organisations:
CAFOD's Climate Justice Campaign is calling on the rich world to take greater responsibility for tackling climate change. Please visit this CAFOD campaign link for more details.
Operation Noah founded by Christian Ecology Link in 2001 it is a Christian campaigning group that focusses solely on the issue of Climate Change enabling churches and individuals to take action here and now. At a recent ecumenical event in London, speakers chose the subject of: "Climate change both a challenge and a curse for Christians" as their main theme.
INVITATION TO VISIT NEW CEL WEBSITE www.greenchristian.org.uk
For more information about Operation Noah, then click here
Peace and Justice
Pax Christi is an international Christian peacemaking movement based on the gospel and inspired by faith. They have a number of key current peace campaigns. Click here for a link.
Poverty in the UK
Housing Justice is a new network for those working with homeless and vulnerable people. They have produced a useful document on current homeless issues called Rough Sleeping: Compassion v Coercion. For a copy of this plus further information on housing justice campaigninig click here
Child Poverty is still a reality for 3.9 million children in UK. The budget did not really tackle this issue and it looks unlikely that the government will meet its own target to halve child poverty by 2010. Why not take action by writing to your MP. For more information on visit www.endchildpoverty.org.uk
"How come it is always the money of the poor that is lost? How come the money of the rich is always saved?...When it comes to alleviating poverty, there are no resources. But when it comes to saving the rich, there are always resources."
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiga
Becoming a Fairtrade Diocese
If you want to find out more about how you can help the Diocese to retain Fairtrade status, click here
Racial Justice Charter
Racial Justice Sunday was on 13th September 2009. It provided an opportunity for all Christians in Britain and Ireland to focus their worship, prayer and action on racial justice by:
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Celebrating human diversity.
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Rejoicing in how far God's people have travelled together.
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Recognising that there is much further to go both in the Church and in the world.
What are the aims?
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To raise awareness and deepen understanding of the diversity of culture and experience both in society and in the church.
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To become more inclusive, outward-looking and welcoming.
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To encourage all Christians to tackle injustice, not ignore it.
Make sure your church remembers racial justice!
For more information, click here
Pope's Monthly Mission Intention
To find the Pope's Monthly Intention for this month, click here
