MARCH/APRIL 2008

March 30th, 2008

Editorial We were very happy to welcome Bishop Terry at our Core Group meeting at the end of February. This gave us an opportunity to tell him

Editorial We were very happy to welcome Bishop Terry at our Core Group meeting at the end of February. This gave us an opportunity to tell him about the aims and work of the Commission and to ask him to send a message to our readers which you will see below. We look forward to further meetings with him. Poverty and Homeless Action week in January was supposed to mobilise public opinion within the churches and beyond to put pressure on our political leaders to bring about change. However as Church Action on Poverty notes, the least well-off are a third less likely to vote than their affluent counterparts and four times less likely to become school governors. There is a role here for individual Christians and Churches to press not just for an end to child poverty but also towards the goal of ending poverty across all generations in the UK by 2020. Inequality in Britain is at a 40-year high. It cannot be right that boardroom bosses can award themselves multi-million pound bonuses at the same time as their workers still fall below the poverty line. Ten years ago the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales commented in The Common Good: “There must come a point at which the scale of the gap between the very wealthy and those at the bottom of the range of income begins to undermine the common good: this is the point at which society starts to be run for the benefit of the rich, not for all its members.” Perhaps it is time for our bishops to speak again and to insist on a change. Our next meeting will be on May 3 at English Martyrs, York where our speaker is to be the well-known activist Bruce Kent, He is a wonderful speaker so please make a special effort to come. And finally, the Commission have instituted an Annual Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture and we are delighted that the speaker at the inaugural lecture on 17 May will be Paul Vallely. Further details can be found on the last page of the newsletter. Chris Dove

Note: the views expresses in this newsletter do not necessarily coincide with those of the Commission A Message from Bishop Terry As Christians we should know that justice is the bare minimum we owe to one another. It arises out of our natural interdependence. Justice cannot be avoided; it is the foundation of so much else, not least of all peace. Without justice there can be no peace and without peace there can be no civilising society. This is what you might call the natural imperative, but there is more, there is the divine imperative which urges us beyond justice and peace, but certainly presupposes it – namely, the Gospel. No one can take the Gospel to heart without acquiring a thirst for justice and peace. Nor can this ever be merely an academic exercise or remain in the realm of theory.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour. [1]

Jesus came to proclaim to us the good news of salvation, of freedom, of healing, of truth, of dignity, of respect. Some have wanted to interpret this good news solely in terms of the hereafter – pie in the sky when you die. However, this salvation is for all human kind and for all time. It is also for the here and now. Didn’t Jesus tell us that the Kingdom is here already, that it is overtaking us? The good news is both spiritual and material; it is both for hereafter and the here and now.

Father all-powerful, we praise you for your presence and action in the world. Your Spirit changes our hearts; enemies begin to speak to one another, those who are estranged join hands in friendship and nations seek the way of peace together. Your Spirit is at work when understanding puts an end to strife, when hatred is quenched by mercy, and vengeance gives way to forgiveness.[2]

For us Christians, justice and peace are fundamental, but there is much, much more. Justice and peace are only the beginning. In Christ and through his Spirit we aspire to something even greater, beyond our imagining:

In that new world where the fullness of your peace will be revealed, gather people of every race, language, and way of life to share in the one eternal banquet with Jesus Christ the Lord.[3]

May that new world come, and may we be part of it!
+ Terry

Poverty in Britain A Joseph Rowntree Report in December 2007 said that the British government’s approach to tackling child poverty is in urgent need of a rethink. The number of children in working families that need to escape poverty is rising; half of all children in poverty are in working families, suggesting more needs to be done to tackle the problem of low wages. “Progress on child poverty has stalled at a level that is only half way to the target set two years ago. Tax credits may be working, but they are not enough on their own, yet the government’s budgetary and legislative programme set out in autumn 2007 contains no substantial new ideas about what should be done.”

DID YOU KNOW? the UK has proportionately more poor children than most rich countries one in three UK children lives in poverty – 3.8 million children 2.2 million pensioners are living in poverty 7.2 million working age adults in the UK are living in poverty 70% 0f Bangladeshi children in the UK are poor. women are the majority in the poorest groups London has a higher proportion of people living in poverty that any other region in the UK.

How is poverty calculated? Poverty is calculated as 60% of median income after housing costs. This is the measure of poverty used by most researchers, the EU and the UK governments. In 2005/6 the 60% threshold was worth: £108 per week for single adult with no dependent children. £186 per week for a couple with no dependent children. £223 for a single adult with 2 dependent children. £301 for a couple with 2 dependent children. Save the Children says that the government is 14 years behind its target of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it completely by 2020. Save the Children classes the worst deprivation as that which forces families to live on £19 a day, after paying housing costs. Source: Church Action on Poverty Having touched on the problems of poverty in this country, the following news items give us an insight into the wider picture. UN cannot afford to feed the world The United Nations has warned that it does not have enough money to stave off global malnutrition this year because of a dramatic upward surge in world commodity prices. Using voluntary contributions from the world’s wealthy nations, the World Food Programme (WFP) feeds 73 million people in 78 countries, less than a tenth of the total number of the world’s undernourished. Its agreed budget for 2008 was $2.9bn. But with food price increases around the world of up to 40% this past year, plus serious hikes in fuel costs, that budget is not enough even to maintain current food deliveries. The shortfall comes at a time when many people, particularly in urban areas, who had thought that their food supply was secure, are now unable to afford basic foodstuffs. The head of the WFP, Josette Sheeran said, “There is a new face of hunger. There is food on the shelves but people are priced out of the market. There is vulnerability in urban areas and food riots in countries where we have not seen them before.” Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines are all involved in varying degrees of desperation. WPF officials say the extraordinary rise in global prices of basic foods were caused by a “perfect storm” of factors: a rise in the demand for animal feed from more prosperous people in India and China; the use of more land and agricultural produce for biofuels; and climate change. “For the poorest populations, 50% to 80% of income goes on food purchases” according to OXFAM. “We are concerned now about an immediate increase in malnutrition in the poorest countries, and the landless, the farm workers there, all those who are living on the edge.” And of course the lower the world food reserves, the more nervous the markets become, and the increased volatility is particularly detrimental to the poor who have small assets. The impact of climate change will amplify that situation. Record flooding in West Africa, a prolonged drought in Australia and unusually severe winter snowstorms in China have all had an impact on the world’s food production this past year. It is expected that the climate change factor will get bigger and this increases the anxieties for markets. Source: The Guardian weekly 29.02.08 Agriculture in the 21st century An article in Le Monde noted that biofuels and increasing meat production are taking the staple foodstuffs from the poor. The higher cost of oil adds to the cost of sea transport, which now accounts for a third of the price of grain, and it boosts the appeal of biofuels, so that sugar, maize, manioc and oil seeds are diverted from the food market. In some African countries palm oil is linked to the price of crude oil and local shoppers can no longer afford it. Because of higher standards of living, people in Brazil, China and India have acquired new tastes. In less than a generation, meat consumption in China has more than doubled, with a direct impact of demand for grains as more and more grains are being fed to animals. If economic growth in emerging countries continues, this trend will do so too. Every year the world has an extra 28.5 million mouths to feed; global population is expected to increase from 6.5 billion people to 9 billion people in the second half of the 21st century, so there is little chance of a drop in demand. To the three factors usually cited – rising population, economic growth and global warming – is added an equally important fourth: continued application of misguided policies. According to the World Bank, for the past 20 years world leaders have ignored agriculture. Although three-quarters of the world’s poor live on the land, agriculture receives only 4% of public aid. The Bank now acknowledges that increased agricultural output and poverty reduction depend on public investment in rural infrastructure: irrigation, roads, transport and energy. We will all have to produce more. Some recommend giving more land to farming, but global warming and urban sprawl are actually reducing the available space. It would also be possible to boost output, but intensive farming uses more water which is becoming a rare and precious resource. This leaves genetically modified plants – but their use is disputed. Agriculture is going to be a big problem in the 21st century. Source: The Guardian weekly 29.02.08 Climate Change The latest science suggests that a stated target of 60% cuts in emissions of CO2 by 2050 is woefully weak. The talk now is of making this 80% and the Christian environmental organisation, Operation Noah, after discussions with such bodies as the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and others, is calling for a 90% cut by 2030. Such a target is realistic in the light of the recent statement by the former UK government Chief Scientist, Sir David King, that global warming constitutes a much bigger threat to our society than terrorism. If every country in the G8 pledged a minimum of 10% of its annual military budget to the transformation of its energy economy it would go a long way towards helping to ward off this huge threat to our future security. Source: Mark Dowd. The Tablet 9 February Note: A recommended series of websites offering ways of checking and reducing our carbon footprints include the following. If anyone has tried some please let me know your opinion as to their value. www.carbonfootprint.com climatestewards.net/index.php actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index Many carbon calculators offer you the chance to make a payment to offset your carbon use. There is an argument that offsetting just excuses continued “carbon indulgence” in the rich world. However funding a carefully chosen project to balance the consumption you cannot (yet) change is better than doing nothing. American control of UK bases The Government has been accused of treating Parliament with contempt after committing the Menwith Hill RAF base, in North Yorkshire, to the US missile defence system. RAF Fylingdales, near Pickering, has also been upgraded and could be used in the so-called Son Of Star Wars scheme. Under this scheme, the RAF base at Menwith Hill will house a tracking system that will link to US satellites and interceptor missiles based outside the UK. It is a field station of the US national security agency and has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world. Between 1,500 and 2,000 US nationals from various agencies work there. Lord Wallace of Saltaire, retired professor of international relations at the LSE said: “The abandonment of British sovereignty in the operation of Menwith Hill presents a far greater incursion into British sovereignty that anything the EU has to offer. Menwith Hill is under American control.” Source: York Press The Commission’s Policy Review The programme for 2008 is complete and we are now thinking of what changes we might make from 2009. Over the years there has been a steady fall in the numbers attending Commission meetings. This is in spite of having some excellent speakers on a wide range of subjects. We have tried moving round the diocese, meeting in Middlesbrough, York, Hull, Malton, and Whitby but without making much difference. What is certain is that we are all getting older and this may be a reason for the reduced numbers coming to meetings. But the issues of justice and peace are just as important. So, should there be fewer meetings? Should we still produce 6 issues of the newsletter each year, or would you prefer fewer? If any of our readers have suggestions or comments to make on the work of the Commission that might be of assistance, please do write to Barbara or me. Would you prefer to receive the newsletter by email instead of by post? This would certainly save time and postage costs. For this reason, I will now be emailing the newsletter to those clergy who have email addresses, unless they are receiving batches of the newsletter. I am sure I will be told if this is not wanted! At the same time may I particularly ask those who have been receiving numbers of the newsletter for distribution to let me know if they agree to continue to do this or if [understandably] they feel the need for a break. Chris Please note the new web address for the Commission Commission contacts Barbara Hungin Chair 01642 784398 Nan Saeki Treasurer 01904 783621 Chris Dove Editor 01947 825043 email: dove.whitby@phonecoop.coop or 22 Blackburns Yard Whitby YO22 4DS website:www.middlesbroughjp.org Programme for 2008 May 3 Bruce Kent ‘Movement against War’ English Martyrs York. July 19 – Prayer Walk Osmotherley. Sep 10: ‘Enriching Our Communities’ - a Celebration of the contributions to our society from those seeking asylum in the Tees Valley. Middlesbrough.

Inaugural Anthony Storey Memorial Lecture, Sat 17th May 11.00a.m. – 3pm Lindsey Suite, Staff House, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull. “How to effect real change in the real world – the G8, Geldof and the grassroots” Speaker: Paul Vallely, Associate Editor of the The Independent, former chair of Traidcraft and Progressio. Chaired by: Professor Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity, Magdalene College, Cambridge So they say…. Of our limitations: how much difference can an individual make to a catastrophe such as Darfur? In The Talmud, Pirkei Avot says: “It is not given to you to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist.” “Can Christian thinkers shake themselves free from a domestic agenda dominated by a constant tinkering with ecclesial organisation or else an obsessive preoccupation with various aspects of sexuality in order to address the real questions of our day?” From “World Without End – Contours of a post-terrorism world” Leslie Griffiths & Jennifer Potter. Epworth Press 2007
[1] Luke 4.18,19 [2] Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II [3] Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II