St James’ Justice & Peace Group

Minutes of meeting held on 22nd April 2015 at 7.45pm

7 attendees: DB = Diana Betts, PL = Peter Lowe, MM = Mary O’Mahony (Chair), AM = Angela Martin, OC = Owen Clutton, GT = Geraldine Thompson, RW = Roger Wright (Secretary).

Apologies were received from: June Adams

Agreed actions shown in bold red type.

The meeting opened with a prayer for Justice and Peace.

1.       Minutes of last meeting

It was decided to give Fr David a chance to settle in before we ask him to review the dates for special collections relating to the Foodbank, Manna Centre and the J&P project.

Two plant experts had agreed to help on the plant stall.  These would be Mel Deasy (6pm) and Joe Falzon (11am).  RW would ask Anne Said to help at 9.15am.

No response had been received from Fr Ivan since we emailed him a month ago.  RW had emailed Fr Tom to ask him if he had any news or could contact Fr Ivan himself.  It was likely that Fr Ivan was travelling over his vast area of mission so email responses would be difficult.

2.       J&P collections

See minute 1.

3.       Traidcraft Stall

The next stall is scheduled for the coming weekend.  The rota was agreed as follows:

6pm             DB and OC

9.15am        GT and RW

11am           AM and DB/GT

4.       CAFOD Climate Change Campaign

RW had spoken to Fr David and he agreed in principle to the campaign being publicised in the parish.  Fr David is happy for the CAFOD postcards addressed to political leaders to be brought to the attention of congregations through a short talk at the end of Mass.  The cards would be available on tables at the back of church, or outside weather permitting, and in the hall after Sunday Masses.

Although Fr David was not happy with the idea of having cards distributed on the benches, RW would ask again if that might be possible for 6pm Mass (in case of inclement weather).  He would ask the parish office to look at 30-31 May as this would be the very last weekend that CAFOD could accept the cards for presenting to Parliament before 17 June (the day of lobby).  More people would be required to help if we are to catch parishioners at each door and in the hall.

MM, RW and PL agreed to speak at the 6pm, 9.15am and 11am Masses respectively.

RW asked if anyone would be able to support CAFOD at the lobby on 17 June.  PL would hope to take a day’s leave for this.  Perhaps other parishioners could be persuaded nearer the time.

CAFOD would like parishes to produce bunting to help decorate the lobby event and make a splash.  A template and instructions for making this had been provided.  MM would ask the uniformed groups, Monday Craft Club, and perhaps Children’s Liturgy to contribute triangles for the bunting.  She might also enlist pupils at her school.  RW would check with CAFOD to see if they were approaching primary schools direct about this.  The idea is to express thoughts about what we love and might lose because of climate change with simple messages and images.

5.       Parish project

A letter of acknowledgement had still not been received from the Jesuit Missions about money raised for Zambuko House at the quiz night.  OC agreed to contact Paul Chitnis and remind him of its importance in keeping the parish informed.

6.       New initiatives

It was agreed to hold another “Leave the Car at Home Weekend” this September if Fr David agreed.  The most suitable date would seem to be 19-20^th September and permission for this would be sought in due course.

In the absence of Breda Ford at the meeting it was agreed to leave the subject of refugee assistance but the terrible events occurring in the Mediterranean during recent weeks suggested this was a subject that J&P should not ignore.

7.       Any other business

DB asked if we could promote the tree sponsoring scheme again.

RW mentioned an excellent prayer help provided online by the Jesuits called “Pray As You Go”.  It can be found at www.pray-as-you-go.org.  There is an app for iOS (iPhone) but not Android.  OC was also able to recommend this feature.

8.       A prayer for Peace

Help me to find my role in building a path to peace.

Teach me to ask the question

who is my sister, who is my brother?’

with the same love and passion as Jesus.

Give me the courage to speak up and act for

my sisters and brothers whose lives are broken by violence.

In the name of the Father, …

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 9.00pm.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 27 May 2015 at 7.45pm.