Justice & Peace
Justice and Peace Groups exist in a number of parishes in our diocese and come under the Diocesan Caritas Group chaired by Father Adrian Tuckwell. The remit of each Justice and Peace Group is:
Prayer – Study - Action
We seek to study and learn about injustices that exist locally, nationally and internationally. We pray about such injustices and seek to raise awareness as to how we and others can act individually and collectively to provide support, for example, for local food banks and asylum seekers ineligible for government assistance, and how we can address the consequences of global warming. We publicise and encourage support for CAFOD campaigns, such as the ‘Fix the Food Chain' campaign last year, and the CAFOD Harvest and Lenten collections We use CAFOD and Christian Aid resources to inform ourselves about current injustices, and draw upon the spiritual resources of these organisations to support our prayers for Justice and Peace.
Members of our group are involved with the Tyne and Wear Citizens group, an alliance of organisations that seek to address injustices in our region, such as poverty and racial injustice, and campaigns on issues such as the need for green spaces and the payment of a living wage. In addition to supporting events such as Peace Sunday and Holocaust Memorial Day in our parish, we have recently undertaken to pray for and study ways of supporting and promoting Pope Francis' call for Catholics to 'Live Simply'. Together with many others in our parish we have been engaged in collecting signatures for the petition in support of St. Leonard’s pupils, and other school pupils, whose education has been severely adversely affected by their school buildings being declared unsafe and closed.
We would very much welcome new members to the Durham Martyrs Justice and Peace Group. If you are interested in obtaining further information about the group, or wish to join the group, please contact Marjorie, the Parish Secretary at the Parish Office (tel: 07483 369 561), who will put you in touch with one of the members listed below: Frances Armstrong, Mary Earnshaw, Rob McKay, Pat Conway, Carol O'Brien