The September issue of the NW NJPN E Bulletin leads with a stirring reflection from Sr Katrina Alton, National Chaplain to Pax Christi England and Wales given at the start of a silent vigil at the recent DSEI Arms Fair, followed by a challenge to the UK Government to recognize Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide by priest, peace campaigner and poet Rev’d Jon Swales. This plea is echoed by a statement from July’s NJPN Conference which calls for “a Just Peace – a peace that refuses to dehumanise, that dismantles injustice, and that centres the common good of all people.”  Jon Swales’ powerful poem When stone learned to speak links the statues of those commemorated in Parliament Square with the mass arrests of protestors.

The current proliferation of St George and Union Jack flags has caused feelings to run high with graffiti and malicious messages appearing on walls and buildings. A report from the Religion Media Centre gives a positive take on the situation from an Iman in Birkenhead who, despite hostility from local people, says: “We are British. Now is the time to say we do belong here. We’re embedded in this country and we’re a part of the fabric of society.”

Upcoming events include the Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, World Day of Migrants and Refugees and the Season of Creation with resources and prayers.

Continuing the theme of ‘Throwing Open the Doors’ during this Jubilee Year, NJPN are hosting a  webinar entitled: NJPN – ‘Throwing Open the Doors to Children Living in Poverty in the UK’ on September 18. Guest speakers include Liam Purcell, CEO of Church Action on Poverty, Paul Morrison, Policy Advisor for Joint Public issues Team and Carol Cross, Trustee of the CAUSE Foundation (Helping families across Teesside)

We include tributes to Kathy Galloway, Minister, feminist, social justice leader, writer, poet and former Leader of the Iona Community who died recently. 

There are details of two plays coming (briefly) to the local region: The Telling, the imagined testimony of Hildegard von Bingen and The Invaders’ Fear of Memories, a one-man play by Ben Rivers which brings to life his own great-grandfather’s story. With songs in Ukrainian, Yiddish, Hebrew and Arabic woven throughout, the play confronts us with the tragic cycles of history in which we are still caught. It could not be more relevant in today’s violent world.

There’s also a packed diary of events across the NW and beyond.

Please read and pass on to others.

Anne O’Connor

NW NJPN Justice and Peace E Bulletin September 2025