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Diocese of Leeds Justice and Peace Commission (1)

Category: Education

27 Apr – SPARK visit to St Augustine’s

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by Kathy Shaw, SPARK Manager

I had a lovely visit to the parish of St Augustine of Canterbury in Harehills on Sunday.

The Youth Mass was a joy; young people led the readings and responsorial psalm and sang solo with skill and confidence.  Some spoke of their own experiences of faith in moving testimonies, including a young man who had not been raised in a faith background but had recently found his place in the community of St Augustine.  The church offers specific masses for Zimbabwean, Ukrainian, Portuguese and Nigerian parishioners as well as the whole community.

598f027f-9e5c-46ae-b332-1804ed0eb2b6 8bdae178-acec-46bf-9574-dc948cce2966 After Mass, team building activities for all ages were led by the irrepressible energy of Cassandra James, a recent and welcome addition to the J&P Commission.  I spoke to a number of parishioners who all spoke of the diversity and family sense of this parish, the young people were repeatedly assured that as the light of the world they were the future of the church, and they would be the leaders to come.

My happy place is never behind a microphone at the front of a crowded hall, but in response to a request from Cassandra I spoke briefly about our work.  There were several young adults from Notre Dame and at university and our leaflets may lead to further conversations.

Cassandra James Screenshot_20260316_182240_Photos It was a joy filled occasion which truly celebrated the place of young people at the centre of this parish.  An example to those across the Diocese who say it is hard to involve young people and teenagers … come to St Augustine’s or talk to Cassandra!

15 Apr – Dilexi Te Reading Group

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Come and join others in their 20’s and 30’s to explore Pope Leo’s first key document, Dilexi Te, ‘On Love for the Poor’, over drinks each Thursday.

The sessions, which will run over 6 weeks, will include prayer, have a little input giving an overview of the chapter (in case you only got the chance to skim it) and allow time for sharing reflections with others in small group. While we’ll be taking the document seriously, and what it’s asking of us as individuals and as a Church, but the atmosphere will be relaxed, informal and hopefully enjoyable! So sign up and come to as many as you can make.

Dilexi Te, ‘On Love for the Poor’, is a document started by Pope Francis, and completed by Pope Leo that helps us better appreciate “the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor”, a summons that Pope Leo recognises not all take as seriously as we should.

Sessions will be on zoom from 7-8.15pm from the 30th of April and each week until the 4th of June. 

Register to take part DT Reading Group Poster

12 Apr – Shining A Light on Food Sustainability

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Shining A Light on Food Sustainability NJPN  

🗓️Saturday 25 April

🕙10.30am -3.30pm

📍St Mary’s Church, Bramall Lane, Sheffield, S2 4QZ

Continuing the theme of ‘Shining a Light’ on issues of concern, you are warmly invited to attend an open meeting hosted by the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN) 

There will be input from Professor Peter Jackson, Co-Director of the University of Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food and from local community projects.

There will be opportunity for discussion about justice and peace activities from around the country, including suggestions on practical ways of becoming involved in campaigning for peace and social justice.

 

Register Here Look out for further details at: https://www.facebook.com/njandpnetwork/

Screenshot 2026-04-10 151333

28 Mar – Just Talk

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SPARK are offering full or part bursaries to people under 30 living in the Catholic Diocese of Leeds, with a closing date of 30 April for anyone interested to have got in touch.

‘Just Talk’

In a world of disinformation, sound bites and echo chambers, our conference will explore how we promote genuine communication and encounter through areas such as the media, arts, education, diplomacy and political engagement led always by the Spirit of Truth.

Our aims

- to increase participants understanding of how language and other forms of communication are used or misused in our current context

- to help participants challenge disinformation and divisive rhetoric, change narratives, foster dialogue and encounter, and speak truth to power.

In celebrating 60 years of Nostra Aetate Pope Leo XIV said the document

“opened our eyes to a simple yet profound principle: dialogue is not a tactic or a 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.”

Screenshot-2026-03-15-194327 Key details 

 

  • A full or part funded bursary is available, dependent on the number of applicants
 

 

 

  • 24th to 26th July 2026 title “Just Talk” at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire
 

  • Applications for a bursary or support with travel costs must be received before the closing date of 30 April.
 

 

JUST FAIR

To open our ‘Just Fair’ on Friday evening we will be hosting a Fair Trade Wine Reception. This is a great way to get to renew old acquaintances, as well as make new ones.

There will be more than 20 stalls, with different agencies displaying resources/selling goods, as well as information and ideas about practical action throughout the weekend.

If you are interested in booking a stall, please contact admin@justice-and-peace.org.uk

MEALS AT CONFERENCE

This year, there will be a choice of meat or vegetarian at all meals. We would encourage you to choose the vegetarian option if you can, following our environmental principles and in the main being better for the planet.

We do ask, though, that you make it clear when booking if you will be following a Vegetarian diet so that we can pass the information onto the Hayes. Please also advise when booking of any dietary intolerances to enable the Hayes to
cater adequately for you.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Children and young people are a vital part of the NJPN conference. There will be a programme of activities for 5 to 11 year olds. 12 to 16/18 year olds will explore the conference theme in an active and thought provoking weekend.

NJPN is committed to the protection of children, young people and vulnerable people. People of all ages and backgrounds are welcome and encouraged to attend conference.

26 Mar – Conversations of Hope

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by Kathy Shaw, SPARK Project Manager

Earlier this month I was invited to join a meeting with the Leeds Muslim Youth Forum to talk about our work and ways to counter the divisive messages our young adults receive on social media and elsewhere. This ties into our SPARK Conversations of Hope and also continues the themes of Pilgrims of Hope 2025.

Spark banner I had a lively conversation with about 15 young people, topics such as responding to racism and challenging injustice and poverty. One member of the group gave me inspiration in her explanation about the best way to engage people in our target age group.

Respectfully, she assured me that older people are happy sitting round a table and talking about social justice issues, but the best way to catch interest with the under 30s is to focus more on visual messaging.

The group gave me examples of effective TikTok reels and are in the process of completing a documentary and film project so are very tuned into this.

On Friday 13th March a group of people, brought together through a belief in inter-faith work, gathered at St Richards’s church in Seacroft hosted by Reverend Anne Russell. The evening was part of a wider community response to this being an area targeted by Reform and where there is an active campaign against people seeking asylum who are accommodated in this parish.

Cassandra James The wonderful Cassandra James brought a group from St Augustine’s Parish in Harehills and by the end of the evening there were nearly 60 young people and their leaders from around the local area. Group discussions focussed on current concerns and aspirations for young people and an activity around interfaith connection, what role can young people play in reducing prejudice, what helps people from different faiths build trust with each other. As the youngest member of our group wisely told us, “In all our faiths, there is love”. We could all experience that truth throughout this evening. I was grateful to be there and hear the wisdom of young people who spoke with confidence about the importance of their faith and what Ramadan and Lent means to those who share these beliefs.

A young person from a local sports group led the call to prayer (Azaan) and after prayers the Iftar, where we all shared wonderful food together. It was a memorable and inspiring evening. Connections and friendships were made and hopefully will be sustained, as we would love to do another similar event, maybe something outdoors in the summer.

iftar

9 Mar – PeaceJam Youth Leadership Training Residential

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by Matty Maslen, SPARK

Youth Leadership Training Residential

In February, PeaceJam UK hosted our first in-person Youth Leadership Training Weekend. We welcomed 13 members of our Youth Team, aged 14-26, to Bradford for three days of learning, creativity, and community building.

The PeaceJam UK Youth Team meets every month online, to discuss issue areas that members are passionate about. Together, we explore ways that members can create positive change in their own settings, be that at school, at home, or in their local community.

Media (38) This year (academic year 2025/26), the topics our members are passionate about include:

  • Youth involvement in politics
  • Inadequate youth support services
  • Mental Health impacts of social media
  • Wellbeing in education
  • Disability awareness
  • Homelessness
  • Impacts of AI
  • Media misinformation
Over the course of three days, our members worked together to further develop their thinking on these issue areas into tangible Social Action Projects. With the help of facilitators, both internal to PeaceJam UK and external, they explored some key components of community-based social action.

Media (41) We had the pleasure of hosting three incredible workshop leads:

  • Lauren Kelly ran a zine-making workshop, demonstrating how creative communication can increase the accessibility of information on topics that can often seem overwhelming. Some of our members are now planning to include sine-making in their own social action projects as a way of sparking conversations and brining people together.
  • Sudhir Selvaraj led us in a River of Life activity, shining light on the importance of making space for self-reflection when undertaking projects we care deeply about.
  • Josie Tothill ran a workshop exploring how to bring people together for a common cause, using values as the foundation of community building.
Media (43) A highlight for many of our Youth Team members was our trip to CATCH (Community Action to Create Hope) in Leeds. Here our young people found inspiration in the responsibility they saw the CATCH volunteer undertaking. Seeing young people, their own age and younger, responsible for looking after the space, the farm animals, and welcoming visitors like ourselves, reshaped for many of them what 'youth empowerment' and 'youth-led' can mean. As one of our Youth Team reflected: "young people can have an impact, and not just negatively". When young people are able to claim agency, and are supported to enact meaningful change, the ripples are felt throughout the community.

Media (42) Our Youth Leadership Training Weekend wasn't full of traditional Leadership skills workshops. Yet our Youth Team reflected they were feeling more confident and capable to undertake their projects when they returned home. Through a focus on creativity, play, and fun, they presented ideas to the group, curated a space where they each felt supported to be vulnerable, and made genuine connections with each other. As one member said, "we're a friendship group now".

Media (39) This was our first Youth Leadership Training Weekend, and from the feedback of those who joined us, we're planning to make it a core part of our annual Youth Team. This year our meet-up was made possible by: the generosity of our workshop-leads volunteered their time and expertise; the University of Bradford and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture for providing venues; Rotary Club of Jersey who funded travel for two of our attendees, and the Leeds Justice and Peace Commission’s SPARK Social Justice Projectwho made a donation towards catering costs.

Media (40)

14 Feb – Conversations of Hope

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by Kathy Shaw, SPARK manager

Earlier this month I was invited to join a meeting with the Leeds Muslim Youth Forum to talk about our work and ways to counter the divisive messages our young adults receive on social media and elsewhere.  This ties into our SPARK Conversations of Hope and also continues the themes of Pilgrims of Hope 2025.

I had a lively conversation with about 15 young people, topics such as responding to racism and challenging injustice and poverty.  One member of the group gave me inspiration in her explanation about the best way to engage people in our target age group. 

Respectfully, she assured me that older people are happy sitting round a table and talking about social justice issues, but the best way to catch interest with the under 30’s is to focus more on visual messaging. 

The group gave me examples of effective TikTok reels and are in the process of completing a documentary and film project so are very tuned into this. 

Following on from my visit, we are looking at inviting young adults and friends to an Iftar on 6th March.  This is the evening meal at sunset that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan. 

Lent and Ramadan will both begin on 18th February, a time to celebrate community and spiritual connection; the 6th  March has been chosen as a date near to International Women’s Day.

Save the date – 6th March!  Details to follow.

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30 Jan – We Rise 2026

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We Rise 2026

Sat 21 Feb 2026 11:30 AM - 6:00 PM

Cardigan Community Centre, 145-149 Cardigan Rd, Burley, Leeds LS6 1LJ

Join Global Justice Youth’s annual activist conference, We Rise, to learn from inspiring international speakers, join collaborative workshops and meet likeminded people.

This year’s line-up already includes

  • Rahila Gupta, chair of Southall Black Sisters and co-author of Planet Patriarchy: Global Tales of Feminism and Oppression
  • Pallavi Pundir, journalist and researcher on gender and democratic movements in Asia
  • Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now and author of Pharmanomics: How Big Pharma Destroys Global Health
  • Keir Milburn, co-director of Abundance thinktank, author of Generation Left and Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green Democratic Future
  • Professor Paul Routledge, author of Space Invaders: Radical Geographies of Protest, scholar of global social movements
  • Alyssa Elliott, founder of Indivisible London, campaigner against Donald Trump
szm71jwtciu4lgztuw8n Young people are leading resistance to the far right, the genocide in Gaza and fossil fuels all across the world. While extreme nationalism rises in the US, UK and globally, it is being challenged on the streets and in new political movements by leaders like Zohran Mamdani and Zack Polanski who bring together climate justice, internationalism and the urgent need to fight inequality and make our lives affordable. In the global south, Gen Z-led revolts have toppled autocrats from Nepal to Madagascar.

At We Rise we’ll hear strategies with incredible international speakers on the front lines of each of these struggles. We’ll be bringing together organisers from across the world to share lessons from the last year of youth led resistance. We’ll be planning what to do next and how we can make 2026 a year of solidarity and global justice.

We Rise is for anyone under 30 who believes that another world is possible. With a range of panels, interactive workshops and creative sessions there’s something for everyone.

BOOK NOW AND GET A FREE TICKET

Select tickets – We Rise 2026 – Cardigan Centre, Leeds

22 Jan – SPARK Opportunities

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SPARK is a faith informed social justice group for people aged 18-30 in the Yorkshire area, a project of the Diocese of Leeds Justice & Peace Commission. SPARK Social Justice is about exploring the connections and supporting younger Catholics and other Christians in the Yorkshire area in taking action on the issues that they care about. 

 

Spark Social Justice Logo Here are a few opportunities for young people shared by SPARK

Columban Schools Competition

background-200925 The Columban Missionaries in Britain are inviting students aged 13–18 to enter the 2026 Schools Media Competition. The theme of the competition is, “Becoming a refugee is never a choice. But how we respond is.” United Nations Secretary General Secretary, António Guterres.

Columban missionaries internationally have priority of supporting Migrants and Refugees. The Columban’s are looking for students in Britain (aged 13-18 inclusive, parental permission required) to submit an original piece of writing or an original image on the theme. They invite young people to explore perceptions of people seeking sanctuary in Britain, considering practical examples of welcome and solidarity. The competition aims to increase young people’s compassion and understanding of journeys of displaced people seeking safety in another country.

How can we respect diversity and respond with love to those seeking refuge and safety? Can we be inspired by real-life stories of resilience and hope, Scripture, or Catholic Social Teaching?

How can we empathise with the experience of individuals and families being separated from the place they call home? The competition closes on the 14th of February 2026 and competition winners will be announced on the 9th of March. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners, and the first prize is an impressive £300! Students will find the Columban Competition website a useful resource: https://www.columbancompetition.com/

Be inspired by some of the powerful articles written by young people in previous competitions – follow the link here: https://columbans.co.uk/filter/schools-media-competition/ https://columbans.co.uk/education/17074/columbans-launch-schools-competition-2026/

Food Bank Donations

542818190_18340294369165029_6529176155668491585_n menu+logo 550730785_18341258113165029_466711247916857194_n All Hallows Church, just down the road in Headingley does great work in the area as a hospitable community-based centre of activity.

They run numerous activities supporting local people in need, including a wonderful food waste café, Rainbow Junktion.

Christmas 2025 was not only a very special day but 60 plus volunteers managed to feed 200 people a delicious dinner, distribute surplus food to families AND have everything cleared up by 5pm, amazing work!

Donations

At this time of year, the Foodshare is always a little thin on the ground for donations.

They are currently supporting over 100 families a week, and they rely on the kind donations of the local community to keep providing these parcels. Tinned goods, long life milk, biscuits and toilet roll are always welcome, so if you can add a couple of items for us to your weekly shop, please do! We are also in need of clean, matched Tupperware so we can give people meals to take home.

DO YOU WANT TO COLLECT SOME ITEMS FOR ALL HALLOWS?

Tasty tins of food, long life milk, sugar, biscuits, toilet roll, kitchen roll, tin foil, Tupperware or plastic containers with matching lids

Make sure your donations are in date please!

West Yorkshire Citizens Assembly

MaRO_quotes_-_Social_media.2e16d0ba.fill-1200x630 West Yorkshire Citizens 2026 Delegates Assembly

Wednesday January 28, 2026, 7:00 PM to 8.30PM

Woodhouse 135 - Lecture Theatre The Rose Bowl, Leeds Beckett University City Centre Campus Leeds, United Kingdom LS1 3HB

West Yorkshire Citizens is a diverse alliance of more than 20 organisations, including education, community and faith groups, working together to create meaningful change across our region.

In a world that feels increasingly divided, the act of gathering our different communities together and uniting around campaigns is something that will hopefully breathe hope into our community organising.

The Delegate Assembly will be asking you to listen to new stories behind the campaigns and vote for Citizen’s priorities for 2026. Potential campaigns include:

· Mental health

· Tackle racism on public transport

· X

It’s important to recognise that it takes more than 1 or 2 people to organise a community or effect social change, so SPARK needs at least three people to be eligible to vote at the Assembly.

You can be there representing SPARK, affecting the choices made across our region and go on to act on the issues the delegates care most about. The broad representation in Citizens membership give us the power to listen, organise and drive real change.

- If you want to attend, contact Kathy sparks.jandp@dioceseofleeds.org.uk 07756 717 032
SPARK Transport subsidy available.

- Find out more about Citizens Community Leadership Training

15 Jan – Art of Hosting Training

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by Iesha, SPARK social justice

Iesha has been an active contributor to SPARK for several years, attending our Leadership Conference at Leeds Trinity University, going on to motivate fellow students to understand more about poverty in our local area and collecting donations for Rainbow Junktion. Iesha shared her perspective and expertise as a panel member at a Real Living Wage event. She hosted our first Conversations of Hope in October and is an active member of several social justice groups around the city.

IMG_2635 The Art of Hosting Training offers support to a “community of practice”, viewing meaningful conversation and connection as a pathway to systemic change. Over 100 local people have been part of this training so far and Iesha was offered the opportunity of full sponsorship through Mike Love at Together for Peace. Her thoughts about this unique experience in the beautiful Sussex countryside can be read below.

"I returned recently, for an incredible three-day Art of Hosting training at Ashburnham Place 🌿

It was more than a workshop! We explored how we gather, listen, and co-create meaning together. Throughout the days, we learned not only the methods of participatory leadership but also the art of storytelling, how personal narratives can open hearts, shift perspectives, and lay the foundation for collective insight. 💡

What stood out most was the practice of deep listening, during triads. Taking time to truly hear each person, beyond their words, created spaces of trust and understanding that transformed ordinary conversations into moments of genuine connection. 👂

IMG_2399
Feeling grateful for the community, the beauty of Ashburnham, and the shared commitment to leading with presence, empathy, and purpose. I’m looking forward to bringing these practices and a little of that football energy into my work and continuing this journey of hosting conversations that matter! 🧠

Thank you SPARK Social Justice for constantly investing in my leadership journey!" 📈

525B22E6-BC70-4891-9EAE-00A5F0038178
In between the deep dialogues and quiet reflections, there was also a wonderful but chaotic game of football! Full of laughter, friendly competition, and spontaneous teamwork. Somehow, amidst the shouts, missed goals, and muddy shoes, the essence of hosting showed up again: collaboration, adaptation, and the joy of co-creating something in the moment. That playful chaos felt like a mirror to the real work of facilitating; dynamic, unpredictable, but deeply human. ⚽

The people I met, from every corner of the world, brought such rich experiences and wisdom. Listening to their stories (and playing side by side!) reminded me how powerful it is when diverse voices come together with openness and care. 📖

29b5719c-3a8d-4f2f-9ab2-83e6a600a328 #ArtofHosting #Storytelling #DeepListening #Community #Collaboration