📢ANNOUCEMENT: Journals From Jerusalem in RC Diocese of Galloway and Motherwell Diocese.

We are delighted to announce that Anne-Marie Clements, our Catholic Social Teaching Engagement Officer, will be speaking at two in-person events this Lent, sharing stories and reflections from her recent visit to Jerusalem while accompanying Archbishop Nolan for the Holy Land Coordination 2025.

The talks will feature stories heard first hand from the Christian communities of Jerusalem and the West Bank along with reflections on the urgent need for peace and an opportunity for discussion and Q&A. All the details are in the flyer below. 👇

🇻🇦LETTER FROM POPE FRANCIS URGES US TO USE OUR WORDS TO ACHIEVE PEACE AND DISARMAMENT

🖋️The Holy Father has written to the editor-in-chief of an Italian daily newspaper asking the publication and all those in communications to amplify his appeal for peace and disarmament.

📝Writing from Gemelli Hospital, Pope Francis stresses the importance of using words to either build peace or bring disharmony. An excerpt from his letter reflecting on the importance of words states:

💬"They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends. We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, calmness, and an awareness of complexity.

While war only devastates communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts, diplomacy and international organisations are in need of new vitality and credibility. Religions, moreover, can draw from the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, the hope for peace.

All this requires commitment, work, silence, and words."

🕊️This picture taken during a Christian Peace Witness Vigil at the site of the UK's nuclear weapons last summer shows how Justice & Peace Scotland and our fellow partners working for peace seek to use our words to disarm through scripture readings, prayer and song.

There are two things we can learn from the Pope's latest message:

1️⃣To use our words in a way that is in harmony with Gospel values. Use them to speak truths, to speak out against injustice, and to speak up for peace. If we are using our words to disagree or question, we should do so in a way that is grounded in mutual respect and recognises the dignity of those with whom we communicate.
2️⃣Disarmament is the key that unlocks true peace for all and we must actively strive for its realisation by advocating for alternative solutions to conflict, such as dialogue and diplomacy, that replace warfare and death with fraternity and justice.

☘️O God, who chose the Bishop Saint Patrick to preach your glory to the peoples of Ireland,
grant through his merits and intercession,
that those who glory in the name of Christian
may never cease to proclaim your wondrous deeds to all. ✝️

✨HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY✨

💬Tell us in the comments... What Catholic women inspire you and why?

🕊️ We'll start with Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and the embodiment of what it means to live out the call to Catholic justice and peace.

She was a woman deeply committed to sharing her understanding of God’s love with the world. Her work emerged from a commitment grounded in Catholic liturgy, characterised by charity and advocacy. Day’s commitment to amplifying her voice, as well as those surrounding her, was clear in her writing and ministry. Day lived out her reading of scripture by digging at the heels of injustice through peaceful protest and demonstrating her compassion and her refusal to be silenced. Though gentle in her treatment of others, there was nothing gentle about her advocacy for change. May her words inspire us to be agents of God's love, justice and peace in the world:

"What we would like to do is change the world - make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute - the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words - we can, to a certain extent, change the world."

📸Photo credit - Vivian Cherry

❓How much do you know about human trafficking?
❓Did you know it is the fastest growing international crime and the second largest source of illegal income in the world?
❓Did you know that incidents of human trafficking or modern slavery have been recorded in all 32 local authorities in Scotland?

Caritas Award students from St Anthony's and St Mark's Rutherglen have been collaborating on a project with Justice & Peace Scotland in recent months to learn, pray, and act in response to this significant human rights issue which Pope Francis has called "a crime against humanity."

Human trafficking is the the acquisition or illegal movement of a person by means of deception or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. The group have lead an awareness raising campaign in their parish over the past two weekends to engage more people on the topic. This has involved designing posters, preparing presentations, creating social media content, and engaging with fellow parishioners during all Sunday masses. The group's aims are simple:

1️⃣ Motivate their parish community to engage with the issue of human trafficking by linking it to our faith, gospel values, and the principles of Catholic social teaching.
2️⃣Inform people about the work of organisations like Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland who identify, recover, and support people in situations of exploitation and modern slavery.
3️⃣Spread the word beyond their own parish through their online social media campaign.

👍You can help them achieve as wide an audience as possible by liking and sharing this post and using the app from the Unseen & the Modern Slavery Helpline to report concerns about human trafficking.

🌟A huge congratulations to the Caritas Award students who have dedicated themselves to working with Justice & Peace Scotland since September. We are incredibly proud of your hard work, and it is truly inspiring to witness young individuals embodying the call of our Catholic faith to address the justice and peace challenges facing our world.