{"id":12501,"date":"2025-09-09T14:20:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T13:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leedsjp.org.uk\/?p=12501"},"modified":"2026-10-06T09:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T08:46:17","slug":"10-sep-walking-and-reflecting-as-pilgrims-of-hope-in-our-world-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/2025\/09\/09\/10-sep-walking-and-reflecting-as-pilgrims-of-hope-in-our-world-today\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Sep – Walking and reflecting, as pilgrims of hope, in our world today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\nby Angela Powell, CAFOD community participation co-ordinator Leeds<\/em>

It was a privilege to walk with pilgrims from across Leeds diocese on the first leg of St Marks\u2019 Way<\/strong>, part of the National Jubilee Pilgrimage of Hope in this holy year.\u00a0 I joined volunteers and supporters, and at the pilgrims Mass at the Cathedral we were reminded of what it means to be a pilgrim. We carried with us an ancient statue of St Peter,<\/strong> who was born near the sea of Galilee and some of us began by reflecting on the suffering in the region and other parts of the world.\u00a0

We walked, reflected and talked about what we can do to be beacons of hope in our suffering world. St Peter was one of the first to be called to discipleship by Jesus, he became a charismatic leader, raising his voice and spreading the word widely. We may not all be leaders, but we can play our part by living our lives in ways that help others to see and become aware of God\u2019s universal love.<\/strong>\u00a0

\n\"IMG_4452\"\n\"IMG_4456\"\nJesus showed us how, and we can do this by showing special concern and solidarity for the vulnerable, marginalised and those who suffer.\u00a0 This Harvest, CAFOD\u2019s Family Fast Day Appeal<\/a> is reminding us about the ways we can fund Life-Saving Water for those who are unable to access what they need to live dignified lives in a changing and challenging climate. In Southern Ethiopia, the climate crisis is threatening lives.

Once, rains fell reliably, fields were green, and water was close by. Now, the seasons are unpredictable, and long droughts are forcing women like War\u00e9 to walk for hours each day \u2014 even while pregnant \u2014 just to find water for drinking, washing, and livestock.

\n\"images\n
\u201cIt was very traumatising,\u201d War\u00e9 says. \u201cWhen I was pregnant, I had to go fetch water in the mountains. Sometimes I felt so weak I could fall down, so I worried about my child.\u201d

<\/blockquote>Yet, War\u00e9 refused to give up. Guided by her own faith and uniting with her neighbours, she took action. With support from CAFOD and local water expert Abbiott, they built an underground water tank to collect and store every precious drop of rain. Now, over 300 families have safe, clean water just a few steps from their homes.

This is the Gospel in action: love made real through compassion, courage, and community.<\/strong> As Catholics, we are called to be stewards of creation and stand alongside our sisters and brothers affected by climate change. Your prayers and generosity make this transformation possible.

But many more communities still walk miles for water.

\nCAFOD is very grateful for all the support it receives from the very generous communities in Leeds diocese.\u00a0 Last Harvest the parishes raised more than \u00a310,000<\/strong> and we are sharing ideas and resources to help parishes respond in solidarity, again this year when the Family Fast Day falls on 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0October 2025<\/strong>.

\n\"Untitled\nPope Leo XIV urges us to recognise those experiencing poverty as \u201cwitnesses to steadfast hope”, precisely because they embody it in the midst of uncertainty, poverty, instability and marginalisation.

Can you help at this Family Fast Day? please give what you can so more families can access clean water, stay healthy, because a better world needs all of us.

Donate today at\u00a0cafod.org.uk\/envelope<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>or call\u00a00303 303 3030<\/b>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,5,104],"tags":[20,317,463,464,465],"class_list":["post-12501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-social-thought","category-climate-change","category-international-development","tag-cafod","tag-climate","tag-family-fast-day","tag-harvest","tag-water"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12501"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19913,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501\/revisions\/19913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c4652100.myzen.co.uk\/jp2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}