HIGHLIGHTS

During the conference everyone came together in unity to pray for the situation in the middle east. A statement from the J&P conference was issued:

“This conference is alarmed by the escalating conflict in Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. We support fully Kofi Annan’s call for an immediate ceasefire. We offer solidarity to all; regardless of race and religion; who are suffering because of the actions of those who use violence as the means of settling differences. We acknowledge that there are deep seated historical differences in this confrontation. We call on our government to use all its influence and every means at its disposal to ensure that this conflict is resolved through political and not military means (so as to protect civilian life and bring about a return to normality).

Human Trafficking

Sister Lucina Wogan told of the appalling consequences of sex trafficking worldwide with some 10 per cent of the world’s population involved in prostitution. “The only freedom of choice that women living in poverty have is between suffering in poverty or suffering in prostitution,” said Sister Lucina.  Having painted a stark picture of the suffering of young girls being raped and treated as commodities, Sister Lucina then gave an inspiring account of how the Sisters of the Good Shepherd had through its Sharing Fair initiative given women a way out of this suffering. The projects in Thailand and India enabled women to learn crafts, make items for sale and gain an education. They were to earn a living for their family and thereby escape the clutches of the male sex traffickers. Sharing Fair continues and needs to be spread further, to learn more about their work contact: Sharingfair.europe@ zustersdegoedeherder.nl

Sister Lucina Wogan

Ethical Investment

Sister Helen Costigan speaking on the topic; “The Theological underpinning of Ethical Investment”, described the difficulties of needing to maximise returns on investments to advance the work of her order against the requirements of promoting the common good.

Sister Helen raised the issue of constructive engagement, suggesting that in most situations the question is not a simple case of right or wrong. She argued that sometimes it can be better to stay engaged in order to get a company to change its policy and position. “There is no such thing as a squeaky clean investment, there are shades of grey”

Sister Helen quoted the example of the decision by the Church of England to disinvest from the tractor company Caterpillar because it sold its bulldozers to the Israelis for use against the Palestinians in the occupied territories. The decision underlined some of the difficulties of deciding whether to simply disinvest or stay engaged in order to obtain change.

Fr. Jim O’ Keefe ended the conference on a very positive note, urging us to pray:

“Prayer is the very beat of a compassion heart. It is a hospitable gesture to invite our neighbours into the centre of our hearts, to welcome people in, to pray is to enter into  a inner deep solidarity with our fellow human beings so that in and through us they can be touched by the healing power of God’s spirit”

“Our prayer becomes their prayer, our cry for mercy becomes their cry, we are changed by it, because we are changed by it we envisage things differently, because we envisage things differently we make different choices, because we make different choices the world changes, pray absolutely, fundamentally, the willingness to be lead by the spirit of Jesus  into all these changes is the ultimate sign of hope, made flesh and blood in the Eucharist”

Fr Jim O'Keefe