National J&P Network - 40th Anniversary Conference

Sarah Teather

'In the shelter of each other the people live' - 40th NJPN Conference 20-22 July

Around 200 people of all ages are booked to attend the 40th conference of the National Justice and Peace Network next weekend in Derbyshire. The theme is: 'In the shelter of each other the people live' and it will explore how we build a church and a society with the marginalised, the excluded and the most vulnerable at its heart?

There are four keynote speakers:

Sarah Teather, Director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK, has huge first-hand experience of the plight of refugees and grassroots responses in the UK.

David McLoughlin, a senior lecturer in theology at Newman University, will explore the relationship between theology and everyday life and offers radical readings of the Bible for Christian activists.

Catholic Labour MP John Grogan MP is committed to issues of social justice and peace, voting against Trident renewal.

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 seven years.

Workshops include: Housing Need in Britain (Housing Justice), Those in peril on the sea (Apostleship of the Sea), Empowering people in poverty (Church Action on Poverty), Impact of imprisonment (Prison Advice and Care Trust), Exploring other faith traditions (Columban missionaries), Human trafficking (Medaille Trust), Responding to knife and gun violence (Pax Christi), Share the journey (CAFOD), Abolishing nuclear weapons (Christian CND); Celebrating people with learning difficulties (Faith and Light Community), What does 'home' mean for nature? (Mary Colwell), Catholic Travellers (Fr Dan Mason).

Saturday evening will see a showing of a film about Archbishop Oscar Romero, called 'The Claim'. The Archbishop, who was martyred in 1980, will be canonised later this year and is a patron of NJPN. Justice and peace activists continue to draw inspiration from his work and witness.

There are 29 organisations with stalls in the Just Fair. The conference has been organised in partnership with Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice, the Prison Advice and Care Trust and Apostleship of the Sea. Fr Colum Kelly, Apostleship of the Sea port chaplain for Immingham, will be main celebrant at the conference Mass.

Food at the conference will be provided following the LOAF principles - that is Locally sourced, Organically produced, Animal friendly and Fairly traded.

Children and young people are a vital part of the NJPN conference. There will be a crèche for children under five and a programme for five to 11 year olds. 12 to 16/18 year olds will explore the conference theme in an active and thought-provoking weekend.


Link:

www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/conference/

A few places still available.