Our Lady Queen of Palestine….pray for us… (Her Feast Day is celebrated on the last Sunday in October) ‘God of Comfort, send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine. You are the Advocate of the oppressed and the One whose eye is on the sparrow. Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression. Let hearts mourn rather than militarize.’ Full prayer by Rose Berger:  https://shar.es/ag0QF4 (From Sojourners website)   Dear Friends,   Two weeks on and it is nothing but bad news in Palestine. There are so many articles out there, and the news is changing pretty much hourly, that it has been hard to keep up. I have tried to include a diverse selection of pieces. We have also had some very sad news amongst our own. Anne Peacey our Chair writes: –  NJPN is very sorry to share the sad news that Geoff, our Administrator, is seriously ill in hospital. Please could we all pray for Geoff, his family and his many close friends. Thank you. (Very appropriate today as it is the Feast of Our Lady of Palestine, and Geoff spent several holidays out there seeing friends and helping with the olive planting/harvesting). Details of our Networking Evening on the 21st November are below, and we are hoping that as many of you as possible will be attending. It will be your chance to discuss your burning issues, and share your successes with others. Our next e-bulletin should be out around the 12th November. Any articles for inclusion will need to be received by the 10th November please. God bless, Sharon

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” I am just one person,” said 7 billion people… (on the cover of The Eco News)   Dear Friends,   I hope that you have had a good September, and have managed to celebrate the Season of Creation in some way. It seems bizarre to think that whilst members of communities all around the country are trying to do things to help the climate in their own little way, we have a Government that seems to be reneging on their climate promises. More about that in the Climate Section below – and I make no apologies that again the main focus is on the Climate. We have a very important Action of the Week with a deadline of this Thursday, the 5th October at 12 Noon. Please note it is for senior and local UK Church leaders from any denomination or independent church, as well as open to members of UK Catholic and Anglican religious orders, heads of lay communities and senior leaders of UK-based Christian charities.  Last Saturday we gathered in Birmingham for our Open Networking Day on The Windrush Generation. It was a very interesting day, and Ann Farr’s report on it is linked below. To me, though, the great thing about these days is meeting with like-minded people and hearing about the good work that is going on elsewhere. There is always something to be learned from both the speakers and the attendees. The next edition will again be in three weeks time, around the weekend of the 14th/15th October. If you are wanting anything advertised in the next edition, please make sure that I receive the information by Friday 13th October. Many thanks to those of you who send articles in. Stay safe, and have a good few weeks, Sharon

NJPN E-Bulletin 1st October 2023

Dear Friends,

We’re back! Thank you for your patience during this time. It has been a very busy few weeks, but the Conference is now a distant, but very good memory – and plans are afoot for the next one! More on the Conference later.

We are now in the Season of Creation, and in my parish we will be having Masses around the creation theme this weekend. This is the third year running we have celebrated it, and it is something that young and old alike engage in. We have a cloth ‘river’ running down the altar steps, and in the porch we have some large, flat stones, that one of our teenagers has decorated with creation-themed quotes. These will be brought down the aisle in our offertory procession, and laid ‘in’ the river. I find it quite amazing the ideas that come to the fore.

Something else that has also amazed me is the number of people who turned up to a Social Action Evening at our church on Friday. From being a church that struggled to find volunteers for anything, we ended up with 60 people engaging with our Diocesan Caritas Director, and some representatives from CAFOD. It was a thinly-veiled attempt to launch Live Simply, but it was remarkable that so many people wanted to get involved in general outreach – those that, due to busy lives, are usually unable to get involved in anything. Everyone sensed that need to do something and be part of something…..All we have to do now is channel their enthusiasm
before it wanes!

As you can imagine, after so many weeks of no e-bulletin, there are
multiple articles that I could share, but this particular one will be dedicated, topically, to the Climate/Environment. There are plenty of actions and events that you can get involved with – and many without leaving your armchair!

The next edition will be out in three weeks’ time, the 1st October. The reason being that we are holding one of our Open Networking Days in Birmingham on Saturday 23rd September (more details below). I hope to be there (although don’t fancy getting the train at 4.25am!). It will be good to see some familiar faces, as well as some new ones!

If you are wanting anything advertised in the next edition, please make sure that I receive the information by Friday 29th September. Thank you.

Enjoy what I hope will be the last of the very hot weather,

God bless

Sharon

NJPN E-Bulletin 10th September 2023