A tribute to Rosemary Read

Rosemary Read died unexpectedly and peacefully at her home in Derby on Sunday evening 18 March. What a very dear friend and loyal colleague in the mission of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation we have lost. Serving President of the National Council for Lay Associations and a serving member of the Executive of the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN), she has also given many years of service to the management bodies of Pax Christi and Progressio. In recent months she has chaired the planning group for July's NJPN annual conference on China and was down to co-chair a Catholic People's Week in August.

I first knew her in the mid 1980s when she was involved with CAFOD's development education campaigns. She would attend training conferences and then bring the resources back to her diocese of Nottingham where she was the Justice and Peace fieldworker. How hard she worked, visiting parishes and schools, and pushing the formation of groups and the pastoral cycle process of linking action into sharing experience, social analysis and theological reflection. Development education and social justice formation were Rosemary's great passions.

But it wasn't all heavy going, for Rosemary loved having fun and presenting justice work in a positive and participatory way. For over six years she was NJPN's national fieldworker - funded first by the Chigwell Sisters and then by nearly every diocese in the country and some religious orders. She would want Brian Davies, former Head of Development Education at CAFOD, thanked for the support he gave her with this work. Before the finance gave out she provided training workshops around the dioceses where needs had been identified and helped to set up new Justice and Peace commissions. She was very involved, for example, in advising Westminster Archdiocese in the setting up of its commission eleven years ago.

Last year, Rosemary was a keynote speaker at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Columban newsletter, Vocation for Justice. She spoke about being very blessed in her life to have had experience of living in Kenya, visiting Zimbabwe and Zambia because of her Jesuit connections, going to Central America through CAFOD, living and working in an inner city parish in England, and visiting Peru with the Columbans. For as many Columbans in Britain and Ireland as are travelling to her funeral in person, many others in Latin America and Asia have sent heartfelt messages of condolence to her family. They thank God for, in the words of one, this "wonderful and dynamic woman".

In her talk, Rosemary delighted that Justice and Peace activists have contributed towards ending apartheid, cancelling significant poor country debt, pushing the Tobin Tax, building peace in Northern Ireland and getting fair-trade products more widely used. And, by the way, she nearly always wore fairly traded clothes. She felt it was a massive achievement that "it is almost OK to mention Justice and Peace with 'ordinary' Catholics", and everyone present laughed with her. She felt thousands of Catholics now get involved in campaigns, writing to MPs, MEPs and local councillors "and telling them that we do it as a matter of faith". In fact, she said, "we are a faith that does justice". She welcomed the growth of Catholic social justice organisations, such as Housing Justice and the Catholic Association for Racial Justice but was also pleased that, "we've become more ecumenical and more inter-faith". She put enormous effort into networking and had great respect for missionary organisations who work at the coal face of many difficult issues in the global south. The last time many of us saw Rosemary was at CAFOD's recent 50th anniversary mass at Westminster Cathedral - smiling and talking to the hundreds of people she knew there from around the country. Indeed, companionship and solidarity meant a great deal to her, and she loved to give regular affirmation to friends and to share meals with them.

She was a trustee for Progressio for seven years - which is no short stint. Director Christine Allen says that "in that time she consistently brought the voices and perspective of the members and supporters of the organisation to the table".

Christine and Rosemary visited Peru together a couple of time with the Columbans, once as part of a Parliamentary Human Rights delegation. Christine reports that, "she wasn't afraid of banging the table to stress her points, but then she'd usually dissolve into peals of laughter and ensure that there was no tension, so that what remained was a shared commitment and then we could get on with the task at hand".

Rosemary was very committed to the work of Pax Christi and had deep respect for those she saw as trying to wage peace rather than war. One of her last conversations was with General Secretary Pat Gaffney. In 2004 she spent three months in Israel/Palestine as an accompanier with the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel and visited several times in the years since then. She told of standing on a hospital roof in Bethlehem and feeling dismay at how the Israeli-built wall around Bethlehem was expanding. In her words, "the person standing with me said it was easier to go to New York or London than to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, only six miles away". When back home she did everything she could to raise awareness of the Palestinian situation and support their livelihoods. She urged schools in Nottingham Diocese to purchase olive wood cribs made in Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations and consider crosses from the same workshops as gifts to Holy Communion children. Palestinian olive oil was pushed at every opportunity.

One issue that concerned Rosemary was Justice in the Church, and she called on lay people to take more responsibility. "We have to grow up" was the way she put it. She was deeply saddened by the situation of priests - and she knew a number of them - who have had to leave their priestly ministry in order to marry, and that women still largely speak from the fringes of the church. She committed herself to promoting a more inclusive and loving Church. She felt inspired by the Emmaus story. "Jesus was recognised in the breaking of the bread, but perhaps it was when his sleeves fell back and the disciples saw his wounds" she reflected; "that is what it is like for us - amidst celebration there is also the pain of going on and on and on in working for justice".

The love and respect so many people throughout the world have for Rosemary must be a great comfort to her family. Julian Filochowski, a former director of CAFOD and Chair of the Archbishop Romero Trust inserted a special bidding prayer for her into last Saturday's annual Romero service at St. Martin in the Field's church, Trafalgar Square. He has described Rosemary as "a determined, dedicated and utterly reliable companion in the struggle for justice, peace and the integrity of creation; yet one who laughed and joked with joy and humour". In her humility, she would certainly have laughed to know that her name would be mentioned this year alongside that of Oscar Romero. Many of us involved with the NJPN were in tears, remembering that she sat alongside us at last year's service.

She raised her children - Andrew, Simon, Carolyn and Joanna - largely on her own and they have remained an incredibly close family. They describe being quite shocked as teenagers at their mother's activism - all remember being taken to Greenham Common protests against nuclear weapons - but they are immensely proud of her compassion and life's mission. And Rosemary was immensely proud of them when three generations of the family - she with her daughters and grandchildren - attended The Wave, the December 2010 march through London calling for action on climate change. A photo of the family standing around their home-made banner with the word 'LOVE' prominent was dear to Rosemary, and she told everyone about her grandchildren speaking about the march on local radio with her the following day.

Writing last year, Rosemary spoke of being drawn to Justice and Peace work many years ago when her children were small and she compared their security with that of children around the world facing hunger and war. She supported humanitarian aid but was compelled to ask: "What lies behind the floods, the malnutrition, the violence? How can the situation be changed? What can we do to change it?" And then "Where is God in all this?" She felt God's spirit is alive and active in us, and in all around us, including people of all faiths and of no faith. "Let's spot the signs of the Kingdom and work with them" she said. She took up the same mission as Jesus himself, to bring good news to the poor, and gave her life helping other Christians to have the same conversion experience.

Perhaps Rosemary took on too much. All the running around to planning meetings and events around the country probably took their toll on a 71-year old with the energy, drive and hope of youth. She was active locally too as the Catechetical Coordinator at St. Mary's Church in Derby. Yet Rosemary wouldn't have had it any other way. Her active mission was lifelong and compelling. The day after she died, colleagues in the National Council for Lay Associations were waiting for her to chair a meeting in Birmingham. She never came through that door. Many of us find it hard to believe that Rosemary won't be coming through the door at our future Justice and Peace events, especially July's NJPN conference, but she will certainly be with us in spirit.

Rosemary Read's funeral Mass will be held 12.30pm on Friday, 29 March at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Burton Road, Derby DE1 1TJ. This will be followed by a woodland burial at Stapenhill Cemetery, Burton, DE15 9AE. By family request, black need not be worn.

Tribute from Progressio:
www.progressio.org.uk/blog/news/rosemary-read-tireless-campaigner-justice