Taking up the ‘poor church’ challenge

Becoming “a poor Church for the poor” requires the imaginative leap of seeing the world through the eyes of people living in poverty, Fr Timothy Radcliffe told a conference at Leeds Trinity University last Saturday. The former Master of the Dominicans was speaking at a 260-strong gathering that explored Pope Francis’ expressed desire and how to realise it.

The day, organised by the Las Casas Institute, brought together theologians and Christians actively involved in charitable and social justice programmes. Discussions about the refugee crisis and homelessness dominated the working groups.

Fr Timothy related how in the sixteenth century the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas taught Spaniards to see the world through the eyes of the Native Americans they were persecuting. He said this imaginative approach could be fruitful today.

Jesuit Fr Michael Czerny, a secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, took up the theme, referring to a tendency by most people to render the poor invisible. “We deliberately lock them out of our sensibilities,” said Fr Czerny. The conference was the brainchild of the former Labour MP John Battle who wants it to spark a national debate in the Church with more conferences planned around the country. To receive a post-conference action pack featuring a DVD of the main speakers write to jandp@dioceseofleeds.org.uk