News on Laudatio Si, NJPN, Christian environmental groups, initiatives such as Green Christian, peace movements such as Pax Christi & Christian CND, and statements on JPIC from the Pope, the Vatican, and dioceses.
The COP26 UN climate change conference due to take place in Glasgow in November has been postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Dates for a rescheduled conference in 2021, hosted in Glasgow by the UK in partnership with Italy, will be set out in due course following further discussion with parties.
Neil Thorns, Director of Advocacy at Catholic aid agency CAFOD, said: "We have to...
Pax Christi International have appealed to President Trump to lift sanctions against Iran, Syria and Gaza during the COVID-19 pandemic in the following letter. They point out that these regions are already suffering desperate shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies and if sanctions continue the impact of the pandemic will be devastating.
Dear President Trump:
W...
Gabriela Fanucciu won Joint Third Prize Article in the Columban Competition 2020 - Tackling our Throwaway Culture. She writes:
When trying to put out the disaster of deforestation, plastic only fuelled the flames.
In 1959, a Swedish engineer inadvertently set in motion one of the most detrimental chain reactions of the last century. His invention of the plastic bag seemed ...
Columban Competition 2020 - Tackling our Throwaway Culture
Second Prize Article
Are we really stewards of the earth or destroyers?
By Evelyn James
We are now living in a world where many people are exploiting the earth through ignorance, without paying any attention to their actions. Are we really stewards of the earth or destroyers; one may say?
The throwaway soci...
Migrant workers are disproportionately at risk of COVI-19, because of worse access to health care and poor working conditions warns human rights group.
The Geneva Council for Rights and Liberties, has written to the World Health Organisation (WHO) raising its concerns and urging that action is taken to address the disparity in the way migrant workers are treated.
In the letter to th...
Theresa Alessandro director of Pax Christi writes: 'In these difficult times, Pax Christi members are inspired by the drastic measures we are all prepared to take, in order to try and save the lives of the most vulnerable in our communities. We see bright glimpses of the gospel being truly lived.
We endorse the call of Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, for a global ceasefir...
First Prize Article
Throwing away our throwaway culture
By Kit Bell
I think about our "throwaway culture" every day before bed, when I take off my makeup with a cotton pad. I have considered buying a reusable set, but I just never get round to it. It's alright, though - when I throw my cotton pads in the bin, they're gone, right? They aren't my problem anymore.
One of th...
In their recent competition, 'Tackling our Throwaway Culture', the Columbans invited students to produce a short video on a topic relevant to Catholic Social Teaching and Columban mission in 16 countries around the world. Around 100 young people entered between Britain and Ireland, and in England more than 20 schools were involved.
The winning video was produced by Chloe Laberinto from St...
"Water is not for possession. It is a basic human right...where there is water, there is life." (Pope Francis).
The official advice to all citizens in countries affected by COVID-19 includes a statement that people should protect themselves by frequently washing their hands to eliminate viruses that may be on their hands and avoid infection that could occur when touching their eyes, mouth...
On the evening of 19th March, Pax Christi Director, Theresa Alessandro, attended a meeting of Leicester City Council. Pax Christi is working with Leicester CND and Community of Christ friends on a project to encourage Leicester City Council to endorse the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. This is an initiative of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - ICA...
A pupil from All Saints School in Sheffield, Kit Bell, has won the writing section of the Columban Young Journalists Competition in Britain on the theme, 'Tackling our Throwaway Culture'. John Vidal, former Environment Editor at The Guardian felt Kit's article was a "strong" entry with "good links made between poverty and environment". Ruth Gledhill of The Tablet liked that "it started with a p...
In recent weeks, Dom Vicente Ferreira, Catholic Bishop of Brumadinho in Brazil, was in Europe speaking about the continuing impacts of the catastrophic tailings dam collapse there in January 2019, which killed 272 people. The iron ore mine at Brumadinho is owned and operated by a Brazilian mining company, Vale, in which British investors Aviva, HSBC, Legal and General, and others, have investme...
'People not Walls' is extremely concerned about the risk of the coronavirus spreading through the migrant population of Calais and the North of France and the risks which this entails for others.
The flow of migrants converging on the Calais region, where they survive in precarious conditions, poses the question of a growing health risk.
There are already a few confirmed cases of co...
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was joined by Bishops, MPs and Peers for a prayer vigil calling for action on climate change outside Parliament on Wednesday morning.
The event was part of a global prayer chain which is seeing people around the world praying for action to tackle the climate crisis, every day between the start of Lent and the COP26 climate summit taking...
