An opportunity has arisen to work with St Monica’s Housing, a small Leeds charity which currently runs two homes housing single female asylum seekers who don’t have access to public funds.The successful candidate would provide practical support for up to 10 residents in two houses and ensure the general maintenance of the houses in conjunction […]
Yorkshire
02 Jan – Congratulations to our Chair
Commission members offer congratulations to John Battle, our Chair, who has been given a knighthood in the New Year’s Honour’s list. However, the fact that he is Chair of the Commission is coincidental to this award! Since retiring from Parliament in 2010, John has been tireless in his efforts to support local communities , especially […]
15 Dec – Comboni Survivors
By John Duffy, Commission member Earlier this year, Bishop Marcus made a public and much applauded apology (on behalf of the Church) to the survivors of sexual abuse at St Peter Claver College over 50 years ago. This group of men has tried over the years to persuade the Comboni Order to meet them, hear […]
05 Dec – 2021 Palestinian Film festival Screening
By Carol Burns, Leeds Diocese Pax Christi member Imagine being 19 years old and having to decide whether to agree to be conscripted into the armed forces for your national service. Imagine then if you decided you couldn’t in all conscience agree to be part of an army that supports indeed maintains the occupation of […]
01 Dec – Commission gains new funding for SPARK Social Justice
SPARK Social Justice, our project engaging with younger Catholics about issues of Social Justice, has just been awarded additional funding by Benevolentia (also known as the Porticus Trust). We are delighted to announce that they have agreed to fund a set of activities over the next 4 years that amount to a total grant of […]
10 Nov – COP26 events around the Diocese
Together for the Planet @ St Benedict’s Garforth By Trish Sandbach, Commission MemberA couple of months ago the Faith and Justice Action Group from St. Benedict’s in Garforth were discussing how to start bringing people together after the separation and isolation of lockdown and restrictions while continuing to observe Covid safety – as the pandemic […]
27 Oct Justice & Mercy with Archbishop Stephen Cottrell
On the evening of 20 October we held the second in what we hope will be an occasional series of online meetings exploring the links between Justice & Mercy. It was given by Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York. As the basis for his talk, he gave a quote from Psalm 85: “Mercy and Truth are […]
16 Oct – Commission sponsors film showing as part of Leeds Palestinian Film festival
The Commission has peace and nonviolence as one of its priority areas for reflection and action. The Israel Palestine situation has been a strong interest for a number of years both within the Commission itself and for the Leeds Diocese Pax Christi group with whom we have partnered. For a third year, the Commission is […]
12 Oct – paid work opportunity with the Commission
Are you passionate about social justice issues? We are looking for someone to provide services to the Commission on a self-employed basis. Most of the work could be done remotely and there is a lot of flexibility around how it gets done. In total it amounts to in the region of 500 paid hours of […]
05 Oct – Conflict & Climate Change Liturgy
The feast of St. Francis on October 4th marked the end of the Season of Creation. The J&P Commission celebrated this feast with a liturgy exploring and praying about the links between Conflict and Climate Change. Using the YCW See, Judge Act approach, short videos were used to find out about the experiences of people […]
30 Jul – Ideas for the Season of Creation
Now is the time to start thinking about what your parish could do to celebrate the Season of Creation: Sep 1st through to Oct 4th.Our Climate Crisis is a shared concern and one which needs to be reflected in our prayers, liturgies and parish community actions. We need to reflect on our role as co-creators: […]
26 Jul – Action for Life on Earth NJPN Conference
By Matty Maslen – parish of St Blaise, Bradford whose attendance was sponsored by SPARK Social JusticeLast weekend, 23rd to 25th August, the National Justice and Peace Network met for their annual conference at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick. The topic for 2021 was climate change, calling the network together to discuss ‘Action for […]
22 Jun – Season of Creation 2021
The Season of Creation in the Church’s year runs from 01 September (the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) through to the feast of St Francis of Assisi on 04 October. This period is also celebrated in a similar style in several other denominations.This year the theme is ‘A home for all? […]
11 May – Commission expresses solidarity with the churches in Jerusalem
As a Commission of the Diocese of Leeds we express our solidarity with the local churches in Jerusalem and their anguish and concern at the ongoing violence there. We wholeheartedly support the statement issued on 09 May by the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, as reported on the Bishops’ Conference website. Palestinians are being harassed, evicted […]
Housing the Homeless
by John BattleChair J&P Commission LeedsThere are scores of empty newly built flats down alongside the River Aire in Leeds City centre waiting for wealthier buyers. Perhaps they should have been handed over to the council to help deal with the housing shortage and to tackle rough sleeping on the streets. In Leeds to be […]
17 Apr ‘A Politics Rooted in the People’ Conference Report
By Joe Burns, Commission MemberThis online international conference, on 15 April, was organised principally by the Centre for Theology and Community, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Katholische Hochschule für Sozialwesen in Germany. However, there was a strong presence and input from people with a community organising background (so, people active in Citizens […]