The NW NJPN E BULLETIN for May 2026 is packed with events, online and in person, plus a wide range of resources for events in the Justice and Peace calendar for the coming months.  Regular guest contributor Rev’d Jon Swales, in an article for Jon Kuhrt’s Grace and Truth blog, comments on the UKIP march in Leeds last weekend.  He says: “something feels fractured in the UK right now. There is a new hardness in the air. You can feel it on the streets, hear it in conversations, see it in our politics.” Christian leaders in Leeds have issued a strong statement emphasising a “God-given duty to stand up for people of all faiths and none who are victims of racism.”

The conflict in Sudan has now reached its third anniversary. It continues to exact a devastating toll on the country and its people. It has led to one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with reports estimating that around 12 million people have been displaced and some 150,000 killed. Bishop Paul Swarbrick, Lead Bishop for Africa for the Conference of Bishops (England and Wales).  He said: “The people of Sudan are owed peace. Let us not forget them. Let us continue to pray, to speak out, and to act in solidarity, so that hope may prevail over suffering.”  UN Women, the United Nations organization for gender equality, has produced a chilling report on the violence suffered by women in Sudan as a result of the war.

James Gordon Reid Haveloch-Jones reflects on ‘The God who Sings: Music and Cosmic Reconciliation.’  He suggests that “to pray for the peace of the Holy Land, to bless rather than curse, to care for the earth and for one another: these are acts of resistance against the world’s dissonance. They are the notes by which we join the great song of reconciliation that God is still singing over creation.”

Dr Gee Walker MBE, the mother of Anthony Walker, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 2005, visited St Mary’s Catholic College in Wallasey, Wirral, to deliver a powerful talk to the school’s Year 9 students – details on page 13.

We have a packed diary of local and national events and details of the 48th Annual NJPN Conference in July on the theme ‘Just Talk’.

Please read and pass on to others.

Best wishes

Anne O’Connor

NW NJPN Justice and Peace E Bulletin MAY 2026