Blog

7 Nov – Jesus the Bringer of Good News

by Sara Forrest, Our Lady of Kirkstall Parish

Our Lady of Kirkstall Parish Retreat

Our Retreat was organised by the Parish Live Simply group and the programme was developed from the CAFOD Jubilee booklet. There were two themes within the event:

Jesus the Bringer of Good News

Jesus – Lord of Creation

We started with a Jubilee Mass said by Fr Michael. This was followed by coffees/teas and biscuits. Sir John Battle then gave a keynote address. An impactful story from his Men’s Walking group involved a young man with learning disabilities living on his own in a block of flats. After he didn’t arrive one week John went to check he was OK. When he found him the young man told him he was living in a tent. He had been sanctioned (benefits stopped) by DWP for not attending an interview.

He told John that he’d been too scared about being conscripted by DWP into the Ukrainian Army to fight Russians to attend. John then took him to the Job Centre and explained the reason why and got the benefits reinstated. John’s love and care had been Good News.

The shared lunch consisted of a varied array of savoury foods and leftovers were taken home to avoid food waste.

Approximately 20 attendees then attended two 45 minute workshops based on the two themes. Workshops comprised prayers, spiritual readings and discussions followed by making a personal pledges to do something extra.

For Bringing Good News, Cherie, an Anglican Church Warden on the Hawksworth Estate (in one of the most deprived areas in UK) told how after being told by God to feed his people she started, with the blessing of the Vicar, a food bank and kitchen on the estate. She and her fellow volunteers have expanded their services to include baby items, period products, household products and Warmth packs. A truly inspiring lady and talk.

One of the S V P conferences then listed the different types of help they had given over the previous 12 months. The range of help given surprised parishioners e.g. paying the food pantry weekly subscription of £6 for a young mother of three children when she couldn’t afford it at the end of some months. Information about the S V P Support Centre on York Road, the Food Pantry run from the Tinshill Shop and about the Butcher Hill Shop were also given.

The beautiful posters created in earlier workshops provided a colourful backdrop of God Lord of Creation in the other workshop. The prayers and lively discussions focussed on thankfulness and the many ways individuals can chose to consume less and reduce their climate impact. For example one participant was keen to keep bees in their garden but could not do so because their landlord wouldn’t allow it.

The pledges were brought forward during the closing prayers before being taken away by individuals.

Happily a couple of people were contemplating joining the S V P as a result of the retreat. As both conferences need new members this was great!

Useful Links

SVP Leeds – St Vincent’s Centre

St Mary’s St Andrew’s Food Project

Vinnie’s Pantry, Tinshill

Butchers Hill Shop

Our Lady of Kirkstall Parish

CAFOD Jubilee Parish Resources

7th November 2025 |

31 Oct – Advent Eco-Fair

Advent Eco-Fair

a Laudato Si event for the winter season of creation

Saturday 13th December 2025 10am-3pm

Hinsley Hall, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 2BX

To book a (FREE!) stall for YOUR parish, environmental initiative, charity or eco-business, ‘repair cafe’, allotment produce or bake-sale, fairly-traded goods for ‘stocking fillers’ and Secret Santa, arts and crafts demonstrations etc. please contact Rowan at communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk

Rowan is particularly looking for activities, especially ‘things to do, make and craft’. Also, given the time of year (just long enough before Christmas for people to be looking for eco-presents for stocking-fillers and Secret Santas!) she is hoping to invite local retailers who share our sustainable ethos, so we are asking any local businesses with a sustainable ethos to get in touch. Some events charge for a stall, but this is completely free to promote sustainable endeavours in our community.

We’re close to public transport and have plenty of free parking!

Morning coffee (and cake); afternoon tea (and more cake!)

31st October 2025 |

28 Oct – This World is Ours!

This world is ours; This world is everyone’s!

Saturday November 15th

Merrion Gardens, Leeds, LS2 8JE

A big event planned in Leeds on Saturday 15th November to mark the mid-point of negotiations at COP30 in Brazil. Groups and organisations are invited to join together under the umbrella of the Yorkshire and Humberside Climate Justice Coalition. A chance to bring the positive messages of climate justice to the attention of the media. Similar events are being planned on the same day across the UK in a show of unity, solidarity and love for our beautiful planet and all who live here.

In Leeds – meet at Merrion Gardens 17 Merrion Street LS2 8JE from 12 noon. Entertainment, music, food and stalls are provided. From 1pm a march will set off from Merrion Gardens around the city centre circling back until about 5pm.

If you know of anyone in your community who would like to be a speaker or provide music, dance or poetic inspiration get in touch with Kathy at SPARK

Assemble 12 noon for community and campaign stalls, speeches and music. March with us at 1.30, then return for more speeches, music, stalls. We also have indoor space at St John's chirch next door, should the weather be too terrible! We are living through a polycrisis: inequality, climate breakdown, nature collapse, rising authoritarianism, rising hate & global conflict. HELP BUILD A UNITED MOVEMENT Bring your banners! Bring your placards! March with us! Add your voices! Hear speeches from those on the frontline, and those who are fighting for a fair, inclusive, sustainable society. We come together to send our message to Westminster and to world leaders gathered in Brazil for COP30. Get involved in the fight for a fair future. Hear from across our network. The far right try to divide us an distract us from the real causes of our problems. It's time to unite and speak with one voice - we are all in this together and we will be heard!

28th October 2025 |

21 Oct – A Christian Firsthand account of life in Israel Palestine

by Joe Burns, Commission Member

Rev Ashraf Tannous is a Lutheran pastor who spoke at Leeds Minster on Sunday 19 October in an event organised by Sabeel Kairos in partnership with the Minster.

He is a pastor in Bethlehem and talked about his own experiences as an Arab Palestinian Christian living under Israeli occupation. His life is complicated as he has married someone who resides in Jerusalem – and getting between the two places requires special permissions and many lengthy waits at Israeli checkpoints.

Rev Ashraf spoke with passion about the history of the region and his own history. He said that his ancestors were living in the region when Jesus was alive and so he can trace his ancestry to the earliest Christians.

His message was clear: Israel has for a long time worked to reduce Palestinian lands through illegal settlements, the construction of the so-called ‘security’ barrier and the genocidal actions that the Israeli Government has undertaken in Gaza.

He was also very clear about the actions of the UK Government. How can the UK, he asked, recognise the Palestinian State whilst at the same time supplying armaments to Israel? Such actions amount to complicity in the genocide of Palestinians.

It’s complicated. We know that.

However, we must not fool ourselves that the UK Government is doing enough to address the injustices suffered by Palestinians at the hands of the right-wing Israeli Government.

Media attention is limited – not least because the Israeli Government will not allow journalists into Gaza. Events like this provide the only real means of hearing what is happening on the ground from people who experience it every day.

In the Q&A at the end of his talk someone asked how he maintained Hope.

He replied with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

‘If you have Faith but not Hope then you are sick.’

When he mentioned Bonhoeffer, the other quote that came to my mind was

‘Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act’.

That is one of the reasons why the Commission, now through SPARK Social Justice, sponsors one of the films each year at the Leeds Palestinian Film Festival.

A prayer bookmark from Sabeel Kairos

Another question related to the best way to counter the arguments of Christian Zionists. His reply, basically, was that they were misinterpreting the bible.

He recommended that people should consult the works of Palestinian theologians. One example is a book called “The Cross and the Olive Tree” (ed. John Munayer & Samuel S Munayer)

I must give a mention the first part of the event. This was a middle eastern lunch supplied from Real Hope café. When I arrived at the Minster I was wondering how they were going to do lunch as the café area just to the right of the entrance was already full (and, worryingly, there was no sign of food there!).

In a leap of imagination they had put tables out down the central aisle of the Minster and people wandered down and found a seat after being served their food at a serving point. Given that there were about 80 people there, it was an impressive feat of organisation!

21st October 2025 |

16 Oct – If you are shepherds…

By Luis Orlando Perez Jimenez SJ

Fr Luis, who led the SPARK retreat day on Saturday, also did an event just for SPARK members on Friday evening – a ‘Conversation of Hope’ which was had over a meal at a community centre in Headingley in Leeds.

The focus on Friday evening was to hear from Fr Luis Orlando Pérez Jiménez SJ, who shared how his work as a lawyer at the Jesuit Human Rights Centre in Mexico City had deepened his spirituality and understanding of sustaining hope and building resilience. Fr Luis spoke of how the voices of hundreds of women, whose children have been forcibly taken, are the channels of hope and God’s grace in our world today.

(The following is an extract from one of the talks given by Fr Luis Orlando during the SPARK retreat day at Hinsley Hall on 11 October 2025)

Over the past sixteen years, more than one hundred and thirty thousand people have gone missing in my country. One hundred and thirty thousand lives — and behind each of them, a family, a mother, a story. The disappearance of people began to rise sharply when the then-President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, declared a “war on drugs” in 2006 — a war that two more presidents have continued. This war has been promoted and financed by the government of the United States.

And what has been the outcome? A country filled with pain, fear, and violence unlike anything seen in modern Mexican history — and all of it unfolding in what was supposed to be a time of democratic openness.

Those who tend to disappear are poor people, young people, often between sixteen and thirty years old, living in marginalised neighbourhoods. It is happening across the whole country. The groups responsible for these disappearances are of two kinds: people who work for the Mexican state — police, soldiers — and members of organised crime. And often, both sides collaborate. They protect one another and, together, maintain a system of almost total impunity.

Hundreds of mothers have come together in groups to search for their loved ones. One of them is Doña María Herrera, whose two sons — Raúl and Jesús Salvador — disappeared in 2008. While she was still demanding their return, two more — Gustavo and Luis Armando — were also taken in 2010.

Now in her seventies, Doña María has spent more than a decade speaking out with unshakable faith in God.

A few years ago, I accompanied her to a meeting with a bishop and several priests. She reminded them of the parable of the Good Shepherd — the shepherd who leaves his flock to search for the one sheep that is lost.

And then she asked,

“If you are shepherds, why have you not gone out to look for the sheep who are missing?”

There was silence in the room — a heavy, uncomfortable silence. No one dared to answer. Doña María said,

“God is the first to go searching. God goes out not knowing where to begin, but still goes. That’s how we started too.”

I have reflected deeply on her words. Perhaps through Doña María’s voice — and through the voices of hundreds of mothers like her — God is speaking to us, just as He once spoke through the prophets of the old testament.

To “search,” in their experience, means organising spaces to share knowledge, to learn how to find their missing sons and daughters. These women see themselves as co-workers with the Good Shepherd, searching for His lost sheep.

Through this work, these mothers have moved from distrust to rebuilding social trust, and above all, to sustaining hope.

I believe the key reason these mothers can keep hope alive is their encounter with God, made real through the presence of people of goodwill — those who choose to accompany them, to stand by them.

In our extended mass in the afternoon, Fr Luis commented on the Gospel reading, which was the story of the Visitation.

Like Mary, that young woman from Nazareth, who, as the Gospel tells us, “set out as quickly as she could” to visit Elizabeth in the hill country. What a beautiful image.

Mary goes to meet Elizabeth because she is full of God — full of His Spirit. She moves because she allows God to move within her. In other words, Mary is open to being led by that “Spirit from above.”

And that encounter — that meeting — changes everything.

The act of setting out, of letting someone wait for you, already begins to build relationship.

There is a quiet beauty in waiting — in preparing to receive another person — and then, the meeting itself: a greeting, a cup of tea, a roof and a table. Nothing extravagant.

Again, the Spirit of God is simple and grounded. It goes straight to what matters most.

Imagine Elizabeth’s joy — not in gifts or grand gestures, but in Mary’s presence before her. Two women meeting, two friends, their hope resting in God’s promise to transform their lives.

Mary’s prayer — the Magnificat — overflows with gratitude. It draws our eyes toward those who suffer, toward those whose faces are hard to meet: the children starving in Gaza, the mothers in Ukraine mourning their sons, many of them now widows.

And when their faces meet ours, what can we say?

What prayer rises from our hearts?

Where is that Spirit from above calling us to go?

The full text of Fr Luis’s talk and homily are available as a downloadable PDF.

Use the button below to download.

Download the PDF

16th October 2025 |

13 Oct – Season of Creation: St. John Vianney

by Tony O’Brien and St John Vianney Parish

Season of Creation at the Parish of St. John Vianney in North Leeds.

Our parish is currently gathering evidence for CAFOD’s LiveSimply Award. One of our nine actions is ‘to embed within our weekly and cyclic liturgies opportunities for collective prayer and reflection on living simply and our ecological conversion’.

Last year the parish LiveSimply team agreed a programme of liturgy with Canon Dennis, our parish priest, to celebrate the Season of Creation. After our LiveSimply team review with Canon Dennis, we agreed to repeat the same programme in our cycle of collective worship for this year’s Season of Creation (1st September – 4th October).

This included:

Blessing our (embryonic) Laudato Si Garden and the grounds of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHOM), which took place on 7th September after the 9.30 mass. Fr. Peter Rosser, a visiting priest, was pleased to do this for us and encouraged parishioners to participate.
An outdoor mass was planned for Wednesday 17 September (12 noon) at the IHOM, but unfortunately the inclement weather meant that Fr. Yemane had to celebrate the mass inside the church. (The weather last year was fine)
The altars at both churches (IHOM and St Paul’s) were adorned with flowers and plants for the weekend of 20-21st Sept. These were prepared by church’s flower arrangers, members of the LiveSimply team and school children.

Parishioners were invited to bring Gifts of Creation to all six weekend masses over weekend of 20-21 September. Flowers, plants, seeds and fruit were brought and tokens were presented at the Offertory.
Prayers of the Faithful for all masses were prepared by members of the LiveSimply team highlighting care for creation, the environment and global injustice.
The monthly Celebration of Later Life mass and SVP lunch was held on 25th September at which the gifts of creation were distributed among the attendees. We shared the purpose of the Season of Creation with everyone and the gifts were really appreciated.

Parish prayer groups were invited to publicise their focus on the Season of Creation in their prayer and reflection meetings during the month.
All these actions were publicised in the parish LiveSimply September leaflet with references to the ecumenical Season of Creation and Church teaching in Laudato Si’.

We really appreciate all the efforts made by clergy and administrative staff, the mass welcomers and parish teams responsible for our parish participation in this year’s Season of Creation. We are happy to share our experiences with other parishes on their LiveSimply journey.

In addition, on Sunday 5th October we held our annual Celebration of Hospitality and Belonging at St Paul’s after the 10am mass. This again proved to be a very happy and joyous occasion, sharing food and conviviality, whilst celebrating the qualities of warmth, community and inclusion.

13th October 2025 |

7 Oct – Pilgrims of Hope despite the storm

by Marg Siberry, Commission Member

Jubilee 2025 Pilgrims of Hope

Saturday, the 4th of October, the feast of Saint Francis, St Benedict’s Garforth.

Even Storm Amy didn’t dampen the spirits of pilgrims as they gathered at St Benedict’s, Garforth to celebrate the end of the Season of Creation as the next ‘station’ on the diocesan Jubilee pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage opened with the celebration of the new Mass for Creation, recently approved by Pope Leo to mark the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si – Care for our Common Home. In his homily, parish priest Fr Henry Longbottom, reminded us that the teaching and example of St Francis can still speak to the challenges facing us today as we strive to live in right relationship within and as an integral part of God’s creation.

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Excitement built after Mass as parishioners had been invited to bring their pets for a special blessing in the parish grounds. Instead, because of the inclement weather, the parish centre offered welcome shelter, becoming the happy focal point where very well behaved dogs, plus a very young kitten, gathered round Fr Henry to the delight of their families. Fr Henry read St Francis’ Canticle to Creation before blessing all the animals, including all those gathered – the two legged variety!

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The parish CAFOD/LiveSimply group had planned a reflective pilgrimage walk around the parish allotment as a significant part of this special day, but instead produce from the allotment was brought into the church. As we prayed the opening prayer, we were encouraged to be mindful of people who have to leave their homes because of drought, floods, famine, conflict, and climate change.

The unique design of St Benedict’s enabled pilgrims to process round and especially appreciate the ‘Creation Windows’, depicting Christ’s presence within all aspects of creation and within all the ‘seasons’ of our lives.

As well as giving thanks for the manifold gifts of creation, the liturgy focused on the call to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people who are poor. The first ‘station’ celebrated the parish receiving the Livesimply award before moving to a wheelbarrow full of vegetables from the allotment for the second station. The third station was at the baptismal font, its flowing water reminding us not to take for granted the gift of fresh water.

We then moved to the altar and the ambo where resplendent displays of flowers, grown by a parishioner and also in the allotment, celebrated the beauty and diversity of creation. As part of the parish livesimply commitment, we try to grow flowers for church rather than buying ones that may have travelled many miles by air.

St Benedict’s primary school had also brought their harvest donations to demonstrate their commitment to give thanks by sharing their gifts. These gifts of food will be given to the St Vincent’s Centre. The children present also had their own quiz enabling them them to explore and discover the different produce from the allotment spread around the church. Afterwards children were invited to colour a leaf and write a prayer of thanks for the hard work of the parish allotment group.

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We were pleased to be able to welcome small group of lay Franciscans who had joined us to celebrate the saint’s feast day. They followed a long-held tradition of displaying a Franciscan habit surrounded by candles and explained how St Francis wanted to free himself of all attachments.

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We ended the mini-pilgrimage at the Creation windows where we were invited to reflect for a moment before gathering again in the parish centre to share friendship and a simple meal of soup and bread. As well as the buzz of conversation there was a quiz that highlighted facts about climate change and people were offered a summary sheet of the key points from Laudato Si. We hope that our mini pilgrimage will encourage us all to reflect and act, as individuals and as a communities, to help reverse the effects of climate change.

To learn more about becoming a LiveSimply parish follow the link below:

https://cafod.org.uk/campaign/livesimply-award

The next diocesan Laudato Si event will be an Advent Eco-Fair at Hinsley Hall on Saturday 13 December 2025.

For more details or to request a (FREE!) stall for your parish, environmental charity, ‘repair cafe’, allotment produce, fairly-traded goods, arts and crafts or eco-business etc, please contact communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk

7th October 2025 |

3 Oct – There is Another Way

SAVE THE DATE: FILM SCREENING OF ‘THERE IS ANOTHER WAY’

We will be showing this film on Friday 21 November 2025 (doors open 6:30pm) at St Chad’s parish hall, Otley Road,Far Headingley, Leeds, LS16 5JT

For a third year in a row, SPARK is sponsoring one of the films in this year’s Leeds Palestinian Film Festival. It is very difficult to know what we can do about the ongoing genocide in Gaza. All deaths are to be mourned whether Palestinian or Israeli. However, there is a genocide going on in Gaza and it needs to be called out and we need to be clear that what the Israeli Government is doing in Gaza is morally repugnant.

Showing solidarity with Palestinians through supporting this film festival is a very small action that we can take, but it is something that has been repeatedly mentioned by Palestinian visitors in recent years. It shows both that we care and that we want to understand the reality of the situation beyond the propaganda messages put out by Hamas and the Israeli defence Forces.

The film this year has been chosen by the Leeds Diocese Pax Christi group in consultation with the Film Festival committee. It is called “There is Another Way”. The film follows the members of Combatants for Peace. This organisation, nominated for two Nobel Peace Prizes, is an extraordinary bi-national group of former enemy combatants – Israelis and Palestinians – working together during an ongoing armed conflict. Confronted with the devastation and escalating violence of October 7th and the war in Gaza, the very core of the movement faces great challenges in showing that there is another way. The first question they must move past relates to their own beliefs…is this possible?

SPARK is making this happen with financial support from the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion

3rd October 2025 |