Booking now: Annual Justice & Peace Conference 'In the Shelter of Each Other the People Live'

Sarah Teather, Director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK, John Grogan MP, Rev Al Barrett, Rector of an ecumenical partnership in Birmingham and David McLoughlin from Newman University will be the main speakers at this year's Annual Justice & Peace Conference, which takes place at the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick from 20 - 22 July 2018.

The theme of the conference is: 'In the Shelter of Each Other the People Live'. How do we build a church and a society with the marginalised, the excluded and the most vulnerable at its heart? What does 'home' mean for those who are homeless or struggling to keep a roof over their heads, for those who have fled their homes, for those who are rejected or don't 'fit in'? And for the comfortable and secure, is it a space to defend or to open in welcome? Can we recognise that it is only in relationship with each other and with the earth that we share that we can all be truly 'at home'?

Rev Al Barrett is Rector of Hodge Hill Church, a CofE-URC ecumenical partnership in east Birmingham. He lives on a diverse outer estate on the edge of the city, and has been involved in a journey of community-building there, with friends and neighbours, for the last 7 years. He writes and teaches a bit, blogs irregularly at www.thisestate.blogspot.com, and recently finished a PhD, seeking to develop 'a radically receptive political theology in the urban margins'.

David McLoughlin teaches at Newman University. He is a theological resource person for Caritas Europe, CAFOD, Pax Christi, the J&P network and various groups of Religious. He is a founder member of the Movement of Christian Workers and an active member of their Birmingham revue of life group for 30 years. He explores the relationship between theology and everyday life and offers radical readings of the Bible for Christian activists.

Sarah Teather has been Director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK since January 2016. She served for 12 years as MP in north west London. She stood down in 2015 and worked with JRS International, visiting refugee projects around the world, before taking up her present post.

John Grogan MP, a Catholic, was elected in 2017 as Labour MP for Keighley and Ilkley, previously been MP for Selby before boundary changes abolished the seat. He is committed to issues of social justice and peace, voting against Trident renewal.

The Conference will be chaired by Housing Justice.

Fr Colum Kelly, Apostleship of the Sea port chaplain for Immingham will celebrate Mass.

To register to attend, go to: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/conference/. (If you receive Vocation for Justice a hard copy of the form will be enclosed with the next issue going out this week.?