📸 Journals From Jerusalem - Day One

⛪Today was spent visiting some of the holy sites in and around the Old City of Jerusalem associated with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These places are often bustling with Christian pilgrims but they have not been visiting over the past fifteen months because of the war, although small numbers have started to return more recently.

✝️A memorable part of Day One was joining the Franciscans on the Via Dolorosa. Every Friday at 3pm they process and pray the Way of the Cross, walking the path Jesus took on Good Friday through the city from the Church of the Condemnation to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

🕯️We offered our prayers while following in the footsteps of Christ's Passion for peace and inside the basilica, in view of the empty tomb, lit candles praying that the light of hope may shine through the darkness.

We pray that the deal brings much needed respite for the people of Gaza, most crucially unfettered access to aid to alleviate the unimaginable humanitarian consequences of this war, and we pray that Israeli hostages who have been separated from their families may return safely home.

Today is the Day of Prayer for Justice & Peace in Scotland! 🕊️

You can watch Archbishop Nolan's reflection on forgiveness, reconciliation and peace below. 👇

Listen out for the Archbishop's letter being read at Sunday masses today. ⛪

What will you do to build up God's kingdom of love, justice and peace in 2025? ✝️

📸 A look back on 2024 at Justice & Peace Scotland...

✨Our highlight of the year is of course "Hope For Peace For Gaza: A Conversation with Fr Gabriel Romanelli". Alongside SCIAF and the Archdiocese of Glasgow we were honoured to host Fr Gabriel in Scotland in April 2024. Thank you to all who joined us at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for the talk, at St Andrew's Cathedral for the mass, or who shared the joint declaration for peace issued by Archbishop Nolan and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to mark the occasion.

✝️In August we coordinated a Christian Peace Witness vigil at Faslane Nuclear base where Archbishop Nolan was joined by leaders from the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church to voice our joint opposition to the existence of nuclear weapons. The event coincided with the commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings - the 80th anniversary of which we will mark in 2025.

💰Our ongoing Fair Work in Social Care campaign in collaboration with the Church of Scotland took us to Holyrood in September, where we met with Michael Matheson MSP and put forward our case for better pay and conditions in the social care sector.

🚌Alongside Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees we have lobbied the Scottish Government throughout the year to uphold their commitment to provide free bus travel for people seeking asylum. A highlight of this campaign was our joint parliamentary briefing sent to MSPs ahead of a debate on the budget in December, from which our reminder that the holy family were once refugees was directly referenced during the debate by seven MSPs in the Chamber.

🪧We have been present at many peaceful demonstrations in 2024 including those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, an interfaith vigil at the Scottish Parliament during COP29, and various solidarity gatherings outside Dungavel Detention Centre.

⛪And finally we have travelled to numerous schools and parishes across the country to talk with young people and parishioners about Catholic Social Teaching, human dignity, and our mission to build up God's kingdom of love, justice, and peace by putting the principles of CST into action.

🕊️"If you want peace, work for justice." - Pope Paul VI