Sister Bridgetta Rooney reports on the Annual Justice and Peace Assembly
Sister Bridgetta Rooney reports on the AnnualJustice and Peace Assembly hosted by the parish of the Most Holy Trinity atCorpus Christi, Cleethorpes on 18 October 2024
The diocesan Justice and Peace Assembly day in Cleethorpes attracted 55 people from all parts of the Diocese. Our day opened with arousing Mass followed by an address by the Mayor of North East Lincolnshire,Cllr Steve Beasant, about the poverty he encounters every morning on his walks around Grimsby and his attempts to put civic pride into the area.
Lord Maurice Glasman, Director of the Common GoodFoundation, then outlined the work begun in the area under the banner of theCommon Good to try to get people to act together to improve life in this part of the diocese.
Following a fish and chip feast the afternoon was spent in workshops. There were five with two sessions each, except the workshop onScunthorpe and North Lincolnshire looking at ideas for furthering justice and peace initiatives in the area.
The Stella Maris workshop focussed on the work done atImmingham and Grimsby ports and what can be done by all to make life easier for those who have to travel the world for months on end without seeing their families.
Eco Church, an interdenominational environmental initiative run by A Rocha and the CAFOD initiative of Live Simply were aimed at encouraging churches and their congregations to follow a more eco-friendly lifestyle, focussing on Worship, Teaching, Building, Land, Community and Global links and Congregation’s lifestyles.
A third workshop, led by a visitor to a local immigration detention centre who tries to foster hope and uplift spirits in what is often a very tense atmosphere and where it is difficult to know how to measure any success.
The last workshop was attended at both sessions by mainly people from Lincoln to hear about Cities of Sanctuary. These are cities across the whole of Britain who have welcomed refugees and asylum seekers and helped them find homes, schools and voluntary work. It is hoped that Lincoln could become such a place.
The ecumenical Justice and Peace Group for Grimsby Cleethorpes and Immingham were really delighted to host the day and to meet so many other workers in the vineyard, and would be happy to do so again in the future.
Watch a video of the day bellow, including
We’re extremely grateful to Lord Glasman for visiting on the Day of Atonement, when he would normally have been celebrating the Jewish festival with his family.
Some memorable quotes
Fr Andrew Cole, chairing the event: “We're here to stand at the threshold of society, to stand at the edge, the periphery - not to be so engrossed in it that we are as one with the powers that be, but to be missionaries prophets to them.”
Highlights from Maurice Glasman’s talk
“The reason I’m here is my gratitude to the Catholic church, because they gave me something that I couldn't find anywhere else. That's Catholic social teaching. Catholic social teaching is built around the idea of active participation to negotiate a common good.”
“A really important part of the story is the resurrection. The old bones can walk again… This town can be redeemed by its faith and by its action… I believe in what Pope Francis hassaid and in what Catholic social thought has said: that our redemption will come from the periphery; our redemption will come from the abandoned places. The Church carries a very heavy burden for society: to reach out, to build a common good, to find others.”
“We are in a new era [when] the teaching of the Catholic church has never been more vital for how we think and how we act”
“The state can't solve all our problems; the market won't solve our problems. Only we can do it. [We’ve heard about civic pride - let’s] talk about ‘civic power’… about having the confidence to act together to change things.”
“Fr Andrew, you spoke about the ‘body of Christ’ and the ‘kingdom of God’. I think in that idea of the body and the kingdom you've got an idea of people having relationships with each other that are not just contractual… not just about what I get and what you get. It's also covenantal - it's bound together through the generations in an obligation to improve things.”
“Does anybody remember 1997? The slogan of Labour was ‘Things can only get better’. I'm here to tell you that nothing about that sentence is true! What we know is that things can certainly get worse, and there technically isn't a limit to that. So what's required is a kind of tragic courage. This is the point: it’s hard. The lives you' reliving are full of heartbreak.”
“[But] the resacralisation of the world is the way. There is no ultimate desecration. All can be redeemed.”
“The first obligation of the parish is to is to serve God and to pray. I've seen parishes diminished by social action… The really sacred thing in community organising is actually based on the confessional, which is a ‘one-to-one conversation’. You make space for people to talk, and forpeople to be able to share what is causing them grief, and you build from there... Don't instrumentalise to action; instrumentalise towards relationship,and the growth of the parish. Through that you will build a common good.”
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