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Tag: hope

4 June – Hope in Turbulent Times

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from Middlesbrough Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission

Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture:

Wednesday May 13th at 7.00p.m. via Zoom

“Hope in Turbulent Times”

SPEAKER: Sir John Battle

Fr Anthony Storey Fr Anthony Storey

Sir John Battle Sir John Battle

We are delighted to welcome Sir John Battle as this year’s speaker for the Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture.

Father Anthony Storey was a priest in the Middlesbrough Diocese who was a founder member of our Justice and Peace Commission. Born in the East Riding of Yorkshire, he spent the majority of his time in ministry in Hull and was for many years Hull University Chaplain. Latterly he was parish priest in Cottingham.

‘Storey’ as he was affectionately known was a charismatic and inspiring priest for whom justice and peace were central to his life and work. He inspired many people throughout his time in both university and parish. He was a man with an immense love and knowledge of the countryside and of people. He often said that the two most important things in life were to ‘Love and to plant trees’.

A passionate ecumenist he became the first Roman Catholic priest to preach in York Minster since the Reformation.

Each year since his death in 2007 we have held a lecture in his memory exploring different issues related to peace and justice, the environment and to the common good.

The title for this year’s lecture comes from recognition of the current turbulent times we are living in and the importance of finding hope both within our communities and in wider society.

The lecture will be on Zoom at 7.00p.m. and we are repeating the timing of a weekday evening which seems to work well. To register for the lecture, please email Barbara Hungin at bhungin@yahoo.co.uk

 

Over the next few months, we will be looking more at how we can join with our friends at Middlesbrough Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission - working together for the common good in our common home.

22 Apr – Hope in Turbulent Times

Posted on by admin
from Middlesbrough Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission

Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture:

Wednesday May 13th at 7.00p.m. via Zoom

“Hope in Turbulent Times”

SPEAKER: Sir John Battle

Fr Anthony Storey Fr Anthony Storey

Sir John Battle Sir John Battle

We are delighted to welcome Sir John Battle as this year’s speaker for the Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture.

Father Anthony Storey was a priest in the Middlesbrough Diocese who was a founder member of our Justice and Peace Commission. Born in the East Riding of Yorkshire, he spent the majority of his time in ministry in Hull and was for many years Hull University Chaplain. Latterly he was parish priest in Cottingham.

‘Storey’ as he was affectionately known was a charismatic and inspiring priest for whom justice and peace were central to his life and work. He inspired many people throughout his time in both university and parish. He was a man with an immense love and knowledge of the countryside and of people. He often said that the two most important things in life were to ‘Love and to plant trees’.

A passionate ecumenist he became the first Roman Catholic priest to preach in York Minster since the Reformation.

Each year since his death in 2007 we have held a lecture in his memory exploring different issues related to peace and justice, the environment and to the common good.

The title for this year’s lecture comes from recognition of the current turbulent times we are living in and the importance of finding hope both within our communities and in wider society.

The lecture will be on Zoom at 7.00p.m. and we are repeating the timing of a weekday evening which seems to work well. To register for the lecture, please email Barbara Hungin at bhungin@yahoo.co.uk

 

Over the next few months, we will be looking more at how we can join with our friends at Middlesbrough Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission - working together for the common good in our common home.

Hope in Turbulent Times – an online talk

This is the Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture that is organised every year by the Middlesbrough Diocesan Justice & Peace Commission. This year the lecture will be online and the speaker is John Battle, our Chair. If you would like to receive the zoom link for this lecture then please email bhungin@yahoo.co.uk

This gives me hope

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by Sara Forrest

I take hope from….

The Lord’s Prayer,

especially the phrase ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ I realised this when I was listening to news reports from Gaza, Ukraine and the Sudan where there is little sign of reconciliation or dialogue with the aim of healing past hurts.

This is an every day reminder that we can, and should, forgive others and move forward in order to live as well as God intends. This can be hard though.

The phrase ‘lead us not into temptation’ is so relevant for an internet enabled world of 24/7 temptation. Unsubscribing to feeds that show content we’re not comfortable and or emails that bombard us with ‘special offers’ reduces the temptation we face. I now spend more time and money mindfully, so I consume less - Live Simply.

The Hail Mary,

especially ‘pray for us sinners’ which reassures me that I’m not meant to be perfect but I am worthy of prayer and support.

The Penitential Rite,

especially the phrase ‘I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do’. This reminds me that my choices have consequences.

If I accept that I did make a choice I may make a better choice next time. I can learn and live better. I know that sometimes other factors influence the outcome but that’s awareness helps me to learn too.

The Beatitudes

As a teenager I spent many hours discussing what each statement meant to discern how to live well as an adult. I particularly remember ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ provoking debate about career choices, job content being more important that pay. And how we spent what money we had, the difference between what we needed and what we wanted, and reducing jealousy when others had ‘more’.

Another clear memory relates to ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ when we talked about relationships, for example ‘was it better to keep quiet if someone in your friendship group really irritated you’ or should you exclude them. Firm conclusions were difficult. But with practice I got better at telling people about how I felt about what had happened and learnt how develop maturing relationships.

I have little influence over politics and the big choices made on my behalf but these prayers and Gospel reflections enable me to make conscious choices that have a positive influence on the quality of my relationship with God and others. I feel blessed that my faith gives me these regular practical reminders that help me live a better life.

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
This gives me hope.

10 Nov – Faith in action in this Jubilee year

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by Angela Powell, CAFOD Community Participation Coordinator for the diocese of Leeds and the diocese of Hallam

A Jubilee Year, starting and ending with Christ

At the start of this holy year, we were inspired by Pope Francis calling us to act as tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.  We reflected and discerned ways in which we might journey together as pilgrims of hope. 

Notwithstanding the challenges we all face in our lives today, we leant into our faith and broke open scripture, to take positive steps to enrichen our lives and that of others.  Our Jubilee prayer has led to compassionate acts of kindness and is enabling us to become more visible to others, particularly those looking for ways to be closer to God.  As Catholic communities we are living out our faith values and improving the lives of many of our sisters and brothers around the world who suffer because they are denied the freedom that comes with peace and the justice and safety of being able to share in the gifts of creation intended for all.

CAFOD is most grateful for all your prayerful and generous responses from more than 50 parishes around the diocese, to Fast Day and emergency appeals. To see how these donations are bringing hope in current times see the news section of the news section of CAFOD’s website https://cafod.org.uk/news is regularly updated. A post on 2 November explains our partner’s response to the current crisis in Sudan and one on 30 October explains the vital role the Catholic church has played in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the cuts in global aid. You can also read about people featured in past Fast Day appeals, on 14 October we published an update on Abdella from Ethiopia, whose story we featured during the Lent 2021 appeal.  

Fr Gerard with members of St Aelred of Rievaulx parish community, Harrogate, collecting Fast Day donations from parishioners in October 2025. Fr Gerard with members of St Aelred of Rievaulx parish community, Harrogate, collecting Fast Day donations from parishioners in October 2025. Hope starts with Christ, and this hope ripples out towards us and, through our lives, to others, as well as creation itself.  As we come towards the end of the holy year, we will enter a time to prepare for a new way of the Lord. With thanks we can draw on knowledge of our enriched experience of Jubilee Year 2025.  During Advent, our prayer can help us discern what is important to bring forward in a living hope, actively recognising Christ is at work in the world and we can all join in this work, participating in the creation of a better world for all people as God intended.

 

For more information about CAFOD’s work contact Angela Powell, CAFOD Community Participation Co-ordinator, apowell@cafod.org.uk

30 Sep – A religious (but soggy) experience

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By Joe Burns, Commission member

A few weeks ago I wrote an article to promote a mini-pilgrimage of Hope, in celebration of ten years since the publication of Laudato Si. I remarked at the time on the lack of water in the canal, due to the prolonged dry spell.

Well, no such problem when we actually did the pilgrimage on Saturday 20th September as it rained the whole way.

20250920_132008 Our numbers were depleted for various reasons. However, we gathered under a tree in the canal basin to say a prayer and to be welcomed by John Battle, Chair of the Leeds Diocese J&P Commission, who reminded us of some of the key messages of Laudato Si. Then we set off along the canal towpath. It is a remarkably peaceful way to get to Kirkstall, despite being so close to the city. Because of the rain, our surroundings seemed especially green and heightened our perceptions of God’s creation around us. 

20250920_141452 The family of swans that Paul and I saw on our first visit were still there – and it was good to see them in a canal that looked as though a barge could travel along it. Despite the rain there were lots of conversations as we walked along and it seemed that in no time at all we were leaving the canal and crossing the Leeds and Bradford road to get our first glimpse of the abbey.

20250920_152406 Once in the abbey we headed to the church and gathered in the vicinity of where the high altar would have been. We were joined at the abbey by a few more people who had been unable to make the walk itself. We held a short prayer service before retiring to the café for a hot drink before setting off on our homeward journeys.

20250920_155002

12 May – Jubilee Debt Campaign

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by CAFOD

Jubilee Debt Campaign in this Holy Year

As we mourn Pope Francis and pray for the new Holy Father, and the Cardinals, who will be gathering to elect a new Pope, we continue to celebrate the Jubilee Year Pilgrims of Hope. We recall that, in his letter for the Jubilee Spes non confundit, Pope Francis invited us all to be

“tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.”

His model was the biblical Jubilee of the book of Leviticus. Taking place every fifty years, the Jubilee marked a great societal reset - land returned to its original owners, debts were cancelled, relationships restored, and creation renewed (see Leviticus 25). 

Cancel Debt Choose Hope We celebrate this Jubilee Year in a world where injustice, conflict and abuse of creation are sadly still prevalent. Just as the biblical Jubilee sought to transform economic and community life to reflect the values of God’s Kingdom, so we too are called to advocate for change today.

Central to this is the call for debt justice. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis called for richer countries to cancel the debts of poorer nations who are struggling with immense debt burdens, saying:

“More than a question of generosity, this is a matter of justice.”

CAFOD is part of a worldwide Caritas campaign this year calling for action on the global debt crisis. There is a petition that is being signed in 160 countries, calling on world leaders to take urgent steps in this Jubilee Year. You can sign the petition at cafod.org.uk/debtpetition and also invite others in your parish to sign by ordering paper copies at cafod.org.uk/cancelthedebt

As part of CAFOD’s parish materials there is a letter from Father Charlie Chilufya, a priest based in Kenya, to parishioners in England and Wales. In the letter Father Charlie explains the impact that the debt crisis is having on the Kenyan people, since Kenya is spending five times on repaying foreign debts as it spends on hospitals and schools.

“Families are foregoing medical care and children are losing access to quality education.”

 

Pope Francis spoke about the debt crisis and the need for action in the Jubilee Year many times in the last year of his life. Join parishes, schools and the whole Catholic community to respond to his call, at cafod.org.uk/cancelthedebt.

Finally, during May we will celebrate Volunteers week, and we give so much thanks to all volunteers in the Church.  You all make such a difference, and we couldn’t do what we do with you.

Pilgrims of Hope - Jubilee 2025

21 Mar – Oscar Romero Lecture

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by Kathy Shaw, SPARK Social Justice

Oscar Romero lecture - Excavating Hope on 13th March at Leeds Trinity city centre campus

Presented in the Leeds Diocese by SPARK Social Justice working in partnership with Leeds Trinity University

Fr Luis Orlando Pérez Jiménez (speaker) supported by Julian Filochowski, Chair of the Archbishop Romero Trust

Fr Luis Orlando Pérez Jiménez is a Jesuit priest from Mexico and has vast experience of work in the field of human rights in Latin America.  He worked as a lawyer at the Human Rights Centre in Mexico City and his work with the Jesuit-run Centre exposed him to the plight of thousands of mothers who had lost their children because of forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings committed by Mexican military forces and organised crime. Now a doctoral student at the University College London Institute of the Americas, Fr Luis is researching these grave human rights violations, which have claimed over 100,000 victims in Mexico, and the culture of impunity surrounding it.

The title of the lecture “Excavating Hope” reflects the desperate and dangerous work undertaken by 240 networks of mainly women across Mexico who are seeking answers and hoping to find the bodies of their loved ones.   They connect locally and regionally to share information and support, building a community in the face of great challenges.  This high-risk activism can and does result in threats and on occasion the risk of death.  Simply being seen to support the search for the “disappeared” can be enough to bring consequences from organised crime, or corrupt government and police officials.

20250313_195440 Fr Luis spoke powerfully of faith, hope and love. The critical connections and relationships sustaining these 2000 women searching for their loved ones, should be mirrored in our experiences of Church, “ relationships are the key, if you don’t connect with someone, where is the reason to come back?”

Oscar Romero brings an inspiration of collective action through a united community, as a “a Prophet of Hope”.  Fr Luis spoke about Oscar Romero, a privileged Archbishop who could have stepped back from the atrocities he witnessed but instead was inspired to action by the community he served.  Fr Luis described his own experiences and the inspiration he has through his faith and through being with people who had few material benefits but were determined to fight for their rights.  He challenged us to be part of the solution, “be a witness” and in doing so “to encounter God, the source of our hope”.

A person standing on a rock  

Rev'd Jon Swales read his poem at the event echoing the key themes of the evening. 

 

Rev’d Jon Swales is an ordained Priest in the Church of England and founder of Lighthouse West Yorkshire, a church community with a special focus on those struggling with addiction and mental health issues in Leeds.  Set up in 2014, Lighthouse now supports over a hundred people with multiple and complex needs, working closely with both St George’s Church and St George’s Crypt. Jon was recognised in the 2022 New Year’s Honours and was awarded an MBE for services to the city, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Alongside this Jon is involved in theological education and is currently a tutor with Leeds School of Theology, St Hild and Niagara School of Missional Leadership.  Jon is passionate about peace making and climate justice and seeks through prayer and activism to be a prophetic witness to the church.

image for excavating hope Oscar Romero Lecture Hope leans forward,

tender,

listening to the whispers of creation

groaning for renewal.

It does not turn its face from shadows

but gazes through them,

finding in the darkness

the first faint glimmer of dawn.

There is a holy audacity in hope—

a quiet trust and boldness,

knowing the story is held

in hands not our own,

nail scarred hands that invite us

to weave and work with them

a future of beauty and grace.

Hope speaks where

fear falters,

narrating a kingdom ,

telling a story

where the scattered are gathered,

where the weary find rest &

the exile a home.

It does not retreat,

nor stumble

beneath the solemn,

world-weary weight.

It moves with sacred purpose,

a searching grace,

a steady faith.

Hope is a spring,

a foretaste,

an existential refreshing

a momentary liberation

that lifts us from despair.

Hope knows the wounds of this world,

but counters fear

with holy persistence, &

holy resistance,

declaring that there is not a hurt

he will not heal.

Hope,

a gift,

a call to action,

a quiet confidence that moves towards the pain—

not alone,

but with hands outstretched,

pulling the darkness of this world

towards the light of Christ.

Hope leans forward,

Tender,

‘Be ready,

Greet it with a kiss.

An evening of inspiration which will resonate with those attending for many weeks to come.

Find out more:

An article about Romero written by Rev'd Jon Swales:

https://www.cruciformjustice.com/post/oscar-romero-a-saint-for-a-world-on-fire

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