Justice and Peace News

The Peace Prayer Vigil is a call to prayer for peace for the 2012 Games, for London and for Peace.  Come for all 12 hours (plus closing service!), or for part.  See the dawn in on Trafalgar Square, with singing, prayer, reflection.

There are many ways you can get involved in the 100 Days of Peace season.  Start by attending the Prayer Vigil at St Martin in the Fields on June 8-9, bringing friends and fellow parishioners.   You can steward, to help to make this ambitious programme run smoothly.  

More than 85 people turned out on a chilly March Saturday to pray for peace at the site of the Olympic Games. We came from parishes in all three Olympic Dioceses of Westminster, Brentwood and Southwark, as well as visitors from as far away as Germany and Malawi. There was a strong contingent from the Brazilian Chaplaincy who headed up our walk carrying the Peace flag.

It has been announced that representatives of the Armed Services are to be given prominent roles in the Olympic welcoming and victory ceremonies. Westminster justice & Peace and Pax Christi have responded in the context of the Olympic Truce and the spirit of international friendship represented by the Games

You are invited to join the 100 Days of Peace team on a walk around the Olympic site to pray for peace for the Games on Saturday 31 March 2012. Meet at Bromley-by-Bow station at 10.45am for prompt start at 11.00am. Please help us to guage numbers by contacting the office in advance if you intend to come along. The walk is free. We will finish with a picnic lunch at Three Mills.

16 parishes in the 3 'Olympic' Dioceses (Westminster, Brentwood and Southwark) have signed up to host the Pax Christi Peace Icon between 8th June and 27 October 2012 as part of the 100 Days of Peace initiative. The Icon will offer a powerful focus for prayer and reflection before, during and after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The care of God’s creation is the focus of a new leaflet about the Diocese of Westminster's environmental mission.

As the convicted murderers of Stephen Lawrence now prepare to appeal, Catholics reflect on the progress of racial justice in the UK, and call for this prophetic work to continue with renewed vigour.  

Father Joe Ryan has been visiting the Occupy London street camp since last October and has twice been asked to preach at interfaith services.  Father Joe has always seen one task of Justice and Peace as to speak out for the voiceless. Here he speaks for those who will never earn any bonuses.