ONE WORLD WEEK

One World Week: 23rd- 30^th October 2011

‘Celebrating Diversity’ Evening

at Polish  Club Albion Street -

(Round the corner from the Polish Church)

on Thursday 27th October at 7. pm

Experience the JOY of different cultures :-smiles from Malawi, exotic food from the Philippines, Indian spices, Italian Cuisine, Irish Dancing, Polish Costumes, African drumming,  International songs and much more come and contribute to the DIVERSITY of the evening, think about

and spend some time praying about

‘LIVING FOR ONE WORLD’

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REPORT JUSTICE AND PEACE CONFERENCE 2010

OUR DAILY BREAD

FOOD SECURITY, PEOPLE AND PLANET’

Organised by the National Justice and Peace Network July 2010 and attended by about 400 delegates from all the diocese of England and Wales

KEY IDEAS - gleaned from all speakers and witnesses at the conference

MAIN SCANDAL 6 million people go to bed each day hungry.This is not due to scarcity of food but to bad distribution ( Europe consumes 1/4 of the world’s food and WASTES 1/3!

Food security is linked with food sovereignty - 70% of people are still fed on locally grown products - so this is where support is needed and the way forward  if we are going to feed 9 million people -people should have a say and stake in their  own food supplies.but for all LIFE = LAND =SOIL +WATER

LAND  used for food is decreasing because of

1.  desertification due to climate change

2. growing of bio fuels

3. mining

4. land of poor people eg in Africa is being bought by china to grow commercial crops and bio fuels

5. more land used for food for animals because of increased meat consumption

SOIL is the key and is the conserver of WATER ( the best and biggest dam)

kept healthy by

1. Water proofing farms - traditional methods often conserve water

2. Bio diversity - different crops guard against drought , pests -mono culture whether of cereals or potatoes leads to famine.

The so called ‘ GREEN REVOLUTION’ ( which remarkably won the Nobel peace prize!) Relied on chemical fertilisers and pesticides and  only succeeded in the most favourable conditions of climate and soil and concentrated on monoculture of wheat and rice.  Places where these could not be grown were not affected nor was the growing of vegetables There needs therefore to be encouragement to grow other traditional crops eg millet and the myriad types of traditional vegetables and pulses

3. Organic food is more productive nutritionally per acre also uses more labour which will be in plentiful supply with population increase

3.Chemical methods and GM foods kill the soil  are a WAR ON THE ENVIRONMENT .           The use of HIGH TECHNOLOGY in farming brings a short term gain but             LONG TERM DESTRUCTION of species ( especially when terminator seeds are                                                                                         given) and of soil

4.Hunger is increasing among small scale farmers in poorer areas ( the majority)  get into debt to the large suppliers of seed eg Monsanto - which patents seeds ( God’s gift!)  and many have committed suicide

WATER

1.  Methods relying on chemical fertilisers and  pesticides consume 10 times as much water as traditional methods

2. meat production consumes 1.500 l of water per kg plants  consumes 500l per kg

3 Healthy soil conserves water in its Humus

SO THERE WAS AN ALMOST UNANIMOUS AGREEMENT

AGAINST GM CROPS AND HIGH TECH FARMING as a solution to food security

RECOMMENDED ACTION

AS INDIVIDUALS

1. simple things like GRACE BEFORE MEALS could focus our attention on the fact that               THE WORLD COMES TO US ON A PLATE

we should become aware of where each item of food comes from and the people involved and cost to the environment

2.Avoid wasting food - plan ahead - don’t buy more than is needed - resist the temptation of ‘bogof ‘ offers -use leftovers- don’t be fooled by ‘ sell buy dates ‘

3. Adopt the LOAF principle Locally grown -  Organically produced - Animal freindly-       Fairly traded

4. Eat less meat - look for grass -grown meat

5.grow your own in gardens and allotments

RECOGNISE OUR POWER

1.  AS CONSUMERS  -

. Corporations and super markets will listen to persistent challenge                                Retailers compete on value but also on values

2 AS VOTERS write to MPs’s and members of the government ask them to consider the long term affects and not  subsidise Monsanto or  other Multi National Companies out to make a quick buck

Get the local authorities to  ENCOURAGE FOOD GROWING in schools -many schools now have gardens and involve pupils in growing their own food for consumption and sale

4. AS A WORLD WIDE CHURCH - we have a mission form Christ to share with others especially with the poor We should raise awareness and encourage our priests and  our Bishops to speak in the pulpit on these matters and see that

MONEY HAS REPLACED RELATIONSHIPS

A COSMIC WALK teaches us about  unity of all creation - the Incarnation began with the ‘BIG BANG’ and continues through TRANSUBSTANTIATION in the EUCHARIST which enacts our ‘Oneness’ with each other and all creation through Christ

( that is why our celebration of the Eucharist was the summit of our weekend and of our sharing of food and fellowship with each other - all 400 of us from all different walks of life and ages, from infants to octogenarians)

LIST OF SPEAKERS and WITNESSES KEYNOTE

Alastair McIntosh from Isle of Lewis now based in Glasgow spoke movingly of life as a child on the island and the resilience of the inhabitants during the Seaman’s strike of 1966 advocates people rather than  Corporate power and works for Community projects

Shay Cullen Irish Columban Father in Philippines for more than 4 decades set up Preda Fair Trade - a farmers’ cooperate that dries otherwise wasted mangoes to sell in UK supermarkets campaigns for environmental protection and tree planting

Elizabeth Dowler professor of food and social policy University of Warwick is member of food ethics committee and of Iona Community spoke on ‘reconnecting to sustainable food systems from consumer’s perspective and advocates making food system fairer and healthier.

Vandana Shiva a physicist and very charismatic and internationally  renowned speaker on sustainable development and social Justice from New Delhi. She wowed us by her enthusiasm for fighting destructive development projects in India and promoting diversity and use of native seed and the empowerment of women

OTHER SPEAKERS AND WITNESSES

Patrick Mulvany - agronomist; David Howlet working to enhance human health and food security in sub Saharan Africa; Alison Austin who led a environment team for  Sainsbury’s and has an OBE for services to the environment ; Pat Gaffney from Pax Christi spoke about Olive growing and Peace in Palestine. Diana Mills spoke about LAMP -Latin American mining Monitoring Programme supporting women in mining areas in their fight for water and land. Diana Katerregga a refugee from Uganda; Tom Onyango CAFOD J&P Officer for East Africa responsible for CAFOD’s sustainable livelihoods work; Sally Leigh worker for Housing Justice and some one who overcame anorexia; Annmarie Hulley a school caterer who educates school children on where food comes from and enables them to grow their own; Victor Barry a traditionalist farmer from Cornwall supporter of Transitional network; Ruth strange who set up a whole- food shop  ‘Sound Bites’ in Derby .

THE JUSTICE AND PEACE GROUP

FEBRUARY 2010

Last year Pope Benedict issued his long awaited encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ on the Church’s Social Teaching commemorating 40 years since the publication of Pope Paul’s ‘Populorum Progressio’. The deep and far reaching new encyclical shows once again how close to the heart of our Pope are the issues of Justice Peace and the integrity of the environment and thence his support of Justice and Peace Groups world wide The first meeting of the J and P group in this parish took place on 2nd September 2002 as a result of the interest engendered at a meeting organised by the UCM which was addressed by Peter Van Cauwelaert of CAFOD .It was attended by Fr Kieran and 11 Parishioners began by meeting regularly and undertook many varied projects on a local and national and also the international level, working with the Diocesan J&P Commission and with Churches together and .CAFOD at deanery, regional and National level and other organisations as occasion arose.

Although the regular meetings as such no longer take place, the involvement of Parishioners in J&P initiatives has continued calling upon th cooperation of many Parish organisations such as the UCM and KSC SVP and the Parish Council ( now Parish team) itself for their support. Some actions such as the monthly coffee morning at Toddington for a school in Tanzania, and the Ethiopia Fund are ongoing and flourishing ( the monthly amount sent to the sisters in Ethiopia topped £330 in December. Also ongoing is our support each year for Peace Sunday,, CAFOD fast days etc, Christian Aid week, Women’s World Day of Prayer and One World Week, when we hold our now annual ‘Celebrating Diversity ‘ evening .

We are also active in Fair Trade Fortnight and I would like to remind all that we are now, along with the diocese, 3 FAIR TRADE churches and as such have to keep our promise to offer Fair Trade products at all coffee mornings and meetings Since our inception special Cafod campaigns such the Jubilee Debt Campaign and the Trade Justice movement. have kept us very busy These action came to a head in 2005 with our support of the impressive MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY CAMPAIGN. when we had an ecumenical Prayer Vigil focussing on Aid , Trade, Debt and the Health of the Planet and prayed for several who were going from Dunstable to take part in the White Chain around Edinburgh .taking with them the signed sashes for the big rally Since then we have supported the ‘Unearth Justice’ campaign promoting ‘clean gold’ when we took our petition on Gold chains to the local jewellers who passed on our concerns to the Jewelry manufacturer such as Hinds and H .Samuels As a result these companies signed up to Cafod’s 12 golden rules.

On a smaller scale we lobbied for the people of the Philippines in their fight to make the big mining companies aware of the wishes and needs of the local people and their environment Last year we became very concerned about climate change and its impact on the world’s poorest people. We held a month of prayer and awareness raising throughout September called the ‘Call of Creation’. . This culminated in a massive signing of ‘hands’ bearing the slogans ‘ Our climate is in our hands’ and ‘our climate is in your hands’ the latter being sent to the PM to encourage him in his fight for ‘Climate Justice’ in Copenhagen.

Four Parishioners attended ‘the Wave’ rally in London just before the Copenhagen meeting. In spite of all the protests and the efforts of Gordon Brown and Ed Milliband the meeting in Copenhagen ended without the signing of any major, lasting or accountable agreement by the leaders of the 192 countries represented. Nevertheless the coming together of so many heads of government was itself something of an achievement . But it all goes to show how much we need to pray God’s help and guidance if we are to act as good stewards of his creation and avert the catastrophic effects of climate change on our planet for the sake of future generations and also how much we need to be aware of our own contribution to global warming ourselves to live more simply and sustainably and urge others to do so. That is why we try to emphasise the prayer days such as the recent World day of Prayer for Peace: ‘if you want to cultivate Peace protect creation’

Another occasion for prayer is in Lent when one evening the Stations of the Cross at St Mary’s during Lent. Most centres on Justice and Peace issues. In past years we used those composed by Archbishop Oscar Romero published to mark the 25th anniversary of his martyrdom. This year we hope to attract a large crowd as it will be the 30th anniversary of his martyrdom. Also this year we celebrate the Cafod’s Golden Jubilee which marks the 50th year of Family fast Days It was just 50years ago that two women from our diocese, members of UCM and Catholic Women’s league had the idea of helping a poor country by a day of fast in which the whole family could take part, denying themselves some food to give to a region suffering famine. This has so expanded that Cafod is now among the chief aid agencies of the world netting about £40m annually for its work in helping the world’s poor both in times of emergency but constantly through its various enterprises in conjunction with people on the spot, working for ‘Caritas’ world wide .

We hope to mark the jubilee collecting a record amount in the Fast day envelopes this Lent. The UCM is also sponsoring a Parish initiative - to buy an Orchard in a third world country. Watch out for ‘THE TREE’ that you can buy fruit for. We hope this initiative will inspire others to organise more fund raising events in this jubilee year . How about a Parish hunger lunch? Lately we have neglected other Justice and Peace issues nearer to home such as the plight of the Homeless and refugees We did raise awareness along with the UCM in 2008 of the plight of the modern day slaves those women and children trafficked into sexual slavery.

Some parishioners also attended the excellent Conference organised by the diocesan J&P Commission nearly two years ago in Luton on the subjects of Sexual trafficking, Campaign for Racial Justice, and Cafod and Climate change. There is to be another next October. Meanwhile we will have an opportunity to express our views on these and other issues such as the family, and sex education and to challenge our prospective parliamentary candidates in the run up to the general election this Spring This will be an opportunity for the whole Parish to unite and work with other Christians. Throughout the years we have continually written to Andrew Selous on matters of Justice and Peace and we would like to thank him for his support and interest in our work. I would like to thank the people of all three Churches of this Parish for their support of me personally in this work Long may it continue! God bless you all. Agnes Milne