cmmNJPNe‘hot North West Justice & Peace E-Bulletin – March 2015 The monthly e-bulletin for the North West, linked to the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN), is produced jointly by the dioceses of Lancaster, Liverpool, Salford, Shrewsbury and Wrexham. Please send diary dates to
[email protected] Download earlier bulletins at: http://jpshrewsbury.wordpress.com/e-bulletins/ GET POLITICAL IN 2015 Ellen Teague writes: The Spring issue of Vocation for Justice - the newsletter of Columban missionaries in Britain which focuses on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation - urges that we ‘get political’ in 2015. 2015 is a crucial year for the planet and its people. It’s a time for inspiration to be more political and engage with the justice, peace and ecology issues that matter to us. When it comes to our planet’s health, “2015 could be a decisive year in history,” Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, told a CAFOD gathering in London in November. He hoped Catholics around the world could muster the spiritual and political clout to be involved in building the movement for social and environmental justice. In September 2015, world leaders decide on new goals for sustainable development, and in December, in Paris, a new climate treaty. Pope Francis is preparing the first ever encyclical focused solely on the environment and it is widely anticipated that it will urge international cooperation and action to address climate change. Religion offers a spiritual, ethical base on which people can sustain hope and work for long-term change. In Britain, at home we have the General Election in May.