Just Talk - National Justice & Peace Conference

Pax Christi group at the conference

'Dialogue is not a tactic or tool, but it's a way of life - a journey of the heart that transforms everyone involved, the one who listens and the one who speaks.'

These words of Pope Leo XIV, on display in the Prayer Room, encapsulate my experience of this years's National Justice and Peace Conference, 'Just Talk', which invited its participants into a process of 'deep and patient listening: reflection; and response'.

When asked, in the opening session, 'What breaks your heart in the world today?', there was no shortage of answers. People shared their pain at the divisions in our world; the unfair distribution of wealth; the dehumanisation of immigrants and other minorities; the rapid growth of AI; the lack of public space to allow protest to be heard…

Brian O'Toole, Director of the Presentation Interprovincial Justice Desk, articulated the lack of confidence felt by many in holding difficult conversations with those who have different opinions; whether that be across the Christmas dinner table or across political, cultural and social divides.

In the remainder of the weekend, speakers told stories - good news stories - of relationships that had crossed boundaries, that had, in Liz Archibald's phrase 'mixed up the wrong people'. Liz described how concern over a detention centre brought together people from different faith communities.

Two young men from Northern Ireland, from different sides of the religious divide, reflected on how their perceptions and relationships with 'the other side' had changed over the years. Chairing that session, Sir John Battle mused that their presence together as speakers on the stage at a J&P conference would have been impossible twenty years ago.

Workshops on Saturday covered a range of issues.

Fay Pretty from PeaceJam UK spoke of her work developing critical thinking with young people aged 5-30 and Michael Thompson from Tyne & Wear Citizens shared his experience of engaging fruitfully with all shades of politicians.

Brian O'Toole explored the impact of social media, fast moving news cycles, algorithms and artificial intelligence. Azan Hasan from the J&P Research project in Newcastle led a workshop on Resilience and Dialogue in Conflict Zones.

Peter McDonagh and Joselyn Taylor led a fascinating group on 'Deaf Awareness: The Beauty of God's Word in Sign Language'. They spoke about the history of Sign Language - until the 1970s people were encouraged to lip-read rather than use sign language - but in fact this does not work very well. Most Deaf people can only understand about 30 per cent through lip-reading.

There were also workshops on interfaith dialogue, militarism, racism and an OutoftheBox workshop.

Just Fair stalls in the sports hall represented 24 charities, campaign groups and religious orders - offering information and goods: books and cards - there was a chance to stock up on olive wood carvings, dates and olive oil from the Holy Land.

There was a Quiet Prayer Space and many of us explored the beautiful gardens.

After Mass on Saturday on Saturday evening - accompanied by the wonderful music group, and supper, there was a Ceilidh in the main hall accompanied by Drop of a Hat.

By the end of the conference, I felt more confident, more able to 'speak love from the heart' and take the risky step of talking to those whose views might differ to mine, finding what we share in common and making connections which might enhance relationships and bring a better world into being.

Note: an online post-conference Catch-Up will take place on 18 September. Details to follow.

LINK

NJPN: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/