Justice and Peace activists told to be 'a swarm of mosquitoes'

“We are mosquitoes buzzing around and making people feel uncomfortable” a Birmingham-based scholar in the practice of Black Theology in grassroots communities told justice and peace activists last weekend.

Professor Anthony Reddie quoted the African proverb, “If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito”. In his talk: ‘Theologising Brexit: Deconstructing the myths of racial purity, White marginalisation and urban poverty in Britain’ he challenged his audience of over 200 people, attending the annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN) in Derbyshire, “to transcend boundaries and borders that are being put in place” and to resist xenophobia”. Wearing a tee-shirt, ‘Black History is British History’, he urged his listeners to, “tell a new story about ourselves as British people, and not one focused on the imagined glories of the past”.

Professor Reddie, whose latest book is ‘Theologising Brexit: A Liberationist and Postcolonial Critique’, warned about the narrow factional nationalism of Brexit and felt “the people who are likely to suffer most after 31 October will be the poor”. He found hope in grassroots church communities whose faith has prompted them to broaden their outlook and be more inclusive of people who are on the margins of mainstream society. “The Churches are more seriously engaged with social justice now than they were 30-40 years ago” he said.

The conference theme was, ‘Forgotten People, Forgotten Places: Being Church on the Margins’, and former MP John Battle, Chair of Leeds Justice and Peace Commission, chaired the weekend in Derbyshire. He highlighted beacon churches that are inclusive with a lively panel discussion involving a church community at Hodge Hill in Birmingham and another at Sunderland Minster. Participants were delighted to hear of Hodge Hill’s outreach to the local community as “street connectors”, accompanying isolated and vulnerable people and holding open events outside the church and in green spaces, sharing food and friendship. Sunderland Minster has a mission of hospitality to welcome refugees and Revd Chris Howson, an Anglican priest who works closely with the sanctuary-seeking community in Sunderland and is also a university chaplain, urged participants to “build kingdom communities” locally as well as support justice and peace internationally. His book, ‘A Just Church: 21st century Liberation Theology in Action’ aims to help Christians evolve their own way of demonstrating the relevance of Church in today's contexts, such as widespread poverty, militarism and the climate crisis.

Speaker Revd Dr Deirdre Brower Latz, Principal at Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, also gave examples of “faithful, active churches” which reach out to people on the margins. A key feature is hospitality, but in addition she mentioned church projects offering woodworking, self-esteem classes with prostitutes, and English language initiatives with refugees.

John Battle highlighted how Pope Francis is a huge inspiration for positive action, having called for “a Church which is poor and for the poor”, and it is a Church which tackles structural injustice as well as offering charity. He quoted St Oscar Romero at the end of the Conference: “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.”

At the conference Mass, Fr Peter Scally SJ, of the Catholic Chaplaincy of Manchester University, lamented that, despite the leadership of Pope Francis, the mission of Justice and Peace is sidelined in the Church in Britain. The example he gave was of the Archdiocese of St Andrew in Scotland that “got rid of its J&P post”, but, in England and Wales, the dioceses of Brentwood, Portsmouth, Shrewsbury and Wrexham are amongst those that have also dispensed with J&P fieldworker posts in recent years. His view that J&P voices are pushed to the margins in the Church received nods of agreement around the hall.

Beautiful liturgies throughout the weekend were led by Colette Joyce, parish catechist in Hounslow Parish, Westminster Diocese. The opening and concluding hymn of the conference was ‘Love Each Other’ by Graham Kendrick. Another favourite was ‘The one who does justice will live in the Lord’ by Sheena Field. In the final liturgy participants were asked to move to the margins of the room, but gradually move towards the centre and eventually sit down again as various issues were listed. One was ‘being in trouble with the Church for your J&P work’!

Workshops covered a wide range of issues, including ‘Christianity, Poverty and Politics in an Age of Austerity’, ‘Working with refugees in a hostile environment’, ‘Becoming an inclusive Church: Disability’ and ‘Reimagine our Common Home and listen to vulnerable yet resilient communities’. Workshops on ‘Women’s Voices on the Margins’ and ‘Becoming an inclusive Church: Sexuality’ prompted deep discussion on gender and Gospel values. Inclusive Church, an ecumenical education charity, was present at NJPN for the first time this year. One workshop was youth-led and focused on young people’s hopes for the Church and their place in it. “Young people want to learn more about their faith and about the Bible but in a fun way” said one. “We want an active community, not just a place where you go for Sunday Mass” said another. After reflecting on “forgotten” people in today’s world, the young people organised a collection for a charity supporting refugees living in limbo in Northern France.

In a final session John Battle highlighted “leaves” on a tree poster which identified priorities for J&P work in the future. ‘Keep churches open in poor communities’, ‘Church needs to support social action projects’ and ‘Plant more trees and more ecological education in seminaries’ were placed alongside challenges to the Catholic Church. ‘More just Church structures’ and ‘Dissolving institutional misogyny in the Church’ were supported by the gathering and ‘Ensure parishes have active parish councils’. John Battle underlined the need to challenge poverty over the summer as we’ve hit “the holiday hunger season”.

The ‘Just Fair’ hosted 23 organisations including York Ecumenical J&P, Medaille Trust, Missio, Pax Christi, SVP, Columban JPIC and Catholic Women’s Ordination. Fairtrade, Palestinian and eco-friendly goods were on sale, plus information and opportunities for action ranging from challenging last week’s illegal demolitions of Palestinian homes in south east Jerusalem to supporting Shared Interest to signing up to become a member of the NJPN. J&P groups, religious orders, and caring groups mingled over a glass of wine – fairly traded of course! In line with NJPN’s eco-commitment, the conference was largely vegetarian, and the use of re-usable mugs was encouraged.

This 41^st NJPN Conference – 26-28 July 2019 - was organised in collaboration with Church Action on Poverty (CAP), which is undertaking a three-year project to challenge the Churches about where they put their resources. A new resource ‘Poverty and Justice’ is available. Leeds Justice and Peace Commission has run successful pilots of the workshops with excellent feedback from church members. Anne Peacey, chair of NJPN, welcomed the ecumenical nature of the conference and the presence of Justice and Peace activists from nearly all the dioceses of England and Wales. Throughout the conference the twitter hashtag #forgotten2019 was used for feedback and photos and participants urged to use social media more to spread news of Church work with people and in places “on the margins”. A final prayer of the conference came from Church Action on Poverty: “You call us Holy Spirit to shine into the darkness, you call us into the world to change it. Give us the strength to follow where you call.”