Report on the day by Kathy Shaw, SPARK ManagerReclaiming Histories: Slavery, Race and the ChurchesJointly funded by the Centre for Religion and Public Life at the University of Leeds, Leeds Church Institute and United Society Partners in the GospelAims:The event aimed to promote deeper learning and discussion about racism within churches, considering the impact of […]
30 May – Jubilee for Schools – Making the Jubilee Pledge
by Sharon Matthews, CAFOD Community Participation Coordinator (Education Focus)It doesn’t seem that long ago when, back in January, we celebrated the Jubilee Year Launch Day for schools and colleges. A flurry of activity saw pupils and teachers across the nations come together to mark the start of this landmark moment in the Catholic church.Pope Francis […]
24 May – From Rerum Novarum to Pope Leo XIV via Leeds
by John Battle May 2025 at Church HouseTwo recent distractions; hearing echo loudly in the Eucharistic prayer at Mass after the Consecration the phrase “together in the FULLNESS of charity” and seeing our new Holy Father Pope Leo XIV hold up a copy of his namesake predecessor’s foundational encyclical” Rerum Novarum”. (1891).I have been trying […]
21 May – Conversations about Nonviolence
By Carol Burns, Leeds Diocese Pax ChristiAt a packed Wheeler Hall on Saturday 17th May, Mahmoud Zwahre, a Palestinian activist from the West Bank, currently a scholar at Coventry University, spoke both eloquently and passionately about his experience of non-violent – or ‘unarmed’ – resistance in the West Bank. He has been active in the […]
15 May – Habemus Papam!
by Kathy Shaw, SPARK managerCardinal Robert Prevost has been elected pope and will be known as Pope Leo XIVPope Leo XIV holds dual citizenship in both the US and Peru where he served as a bishop. He spent much of his career as a missionary in South America where he is fondly remembered as a […]
12 May – Jubilee Debt Campaign
by CAFODJubilee Debt Campaign in this Holy YearAs we mourn Pope Francis and pray for the new Holy Father, and the Cardinals, who will be gathering to elect a new Pope, we continue to celebrate the Jubilee Year Pilgrims of Hope. We recall that, in his letter for the Jubilee Spes non confundit, Pope Francis invited us […]