Bishop Kenney: 'EU is probably the most successful peace project in history'

Bishop Kenney

"The European Union is a peace project, and probably the most successful in history". Bishop William Kenney, auxiliary in Birmingham, was speaking at Saturday's quarterly meeting of the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN) in Milton Keynes on the theme, 'The Future of Europe'. For 17 years he was Bishop of Stockholm, for eight years the Head of Caritas Europe, and he is the current President of European Justice and Peace. With this background he favours Britain's continued membership of the European Union (EU) and is against the referendum on EU membership pledged by Prime Minister David Cameron if he wins the next general election. "If we have a referendum then we need to put a positive case" he said; "all sorts of things will go wrong if we leave the EU".

Bishop Kenney pointed out that the four founding fathers of the EU were all Catholic and were inspired by the experience of two World Wars and Catholic Social Teaching. In fact, the EU flag of 12 gold stars on a blue background is thought to have been inspired by the halo of stars of Virgin Mary images. Promoting peace in Europe has been built on dialogue and dependency between states, he said, and he suggested that educating young people for peacemaking must be an on-going priority.

When Bishop Kenney was urged to ask the Bishops of England Wales to give more leadership on lobbying the British government to cancel plans to renew its Trident missile system, he said he was "prepared to go back to the Bishops' Conference and raise the issue again". J&P workers felt the government should be encouraged to save money by cutting arms budgets rather than social services, particularly abandoning plans to spend at least £70 billion on Trident, which also undermines peace initiatives.

The EU has made tremendous advances in such as areas as setting minimum standards of living and healthcare, in Bishop Kenny's view, and he lamented that Britain opted out of the Working Hours Directive. Caritas Europe is engaging with EU work to tackle human trafficking "since there is evidence that slavery is growing". J&P activists were prompted to keep in touch with their MEPs and to support the rights of immigrants "who are my sisters and brothers".

The lack of funding for J&P work in the Catholic Church across Europe was a key factor impeding effectiveness in advocacy and education. "Find me 100,000 euros over the next three years and I could solve the European J&P crisis" said Bishop Kenney. When questioned about the loss of several diocesan fieldworkers over the past year, the latest being the Leeds diocesan fieldworker, he asked NJPN members to raise questions in the individual dioceses. He himself was committed to supporting J&P and youth work in Birmingham Archdiocese. Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton Diocese called into the meeting. He said he was "very supportive of J&P", but acknowledged it is the "poor relation" when financial resources are being allocated.

Around 30 representatives of diocesan commissions, agencies and religious orders attended the meeting. They included activists from Cardiff, Lancaster, Nottingham, Plymouth dioceses, with a sizeable group from the host diocese of Northamption, including the diocesan CAFOD office. Agencies included Housing Justice, the Archbishop Romero Trust and the Catholic Bishops' Office for Migration and Policy. Religious included J&P Religious Links, Columban JPIC and London Jesuit Volunteers.

There were reports from the NJPN Ethical Investment Working Group and Environment Working Group. The first called on individuals to check their personal pension funds and to urge their dioceses to have an ethical investment policy. The second expressed concern that a reduced number of J&P fieldworkers will mean less activity on the vital Catholic Social Teaching imperative of 'Care for Creation'. The group urged involvement in Climate Week (4-10 March), supporting Operation Noah's lobbying to green Britain's new Energy Bill, preparing for Creation Time in September and pushing the Live Simply Parish Award.

Anne Peacey of Hallam Diocese, the NJPN Chair, thanked Bishop Kenney warmly for his presentation and long-standing support. She reported that NJPN's annual conference 19-21 July, 'Breaking Open the Word' will be led by theologian and Pax Christi ambassador, Megan McKenna. It hopes to attract around 400 participants.

For more information see: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk