Blog

Margaret McCall, member of St Margaret’s Justice & Peace Group in Lochgilphead, Argyll & the Isles, suggests ‘My lambs’ are not being fairly fed. Weekly blog.

Recently I felt moved to write to Jacob Rees-Mogg to see how he could reconcile presenting himself as a man of faith with his support for a government demonstrably lacking in charity. He professes to be a Catholic, a member of a church based on charity.

 I drew his attention first of all to the rise in requests for donations to food banks. All churches and many supermarkets have corners where food can be donated. I asked if he had never stopped to wonder why there are so many.

Next, I spoke of UNICEF donating to feed children in London. Did our man of faith ask why UNICEF thought this was necessary? No - he castigated them, saying that this organisation ought to be concentrating on helping children in war-torn and famine-stricken areas. This, I wrote, from someone who supports a government that has decided to cut foreign aid.

 I mentioned some quotes from the bible - Corinthians 13.2: "I may have all the faith needed to move mountains, but if I have no love, I am nothing"; and John 21 15-17: "Lord you know that I love You", and the reply " Feed my lambs."

In this respect, we have seen questionable responses. “Feed my lambs”? Yes, but give them the minimum and let companies squeeze a profit where possible. Social media has featured pictures of the disappointing food parcels given to children during lockdown. The government and the prime minister rushed to condemn these as disgraceful. But on January 13th at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, read out from the government's own guidance on school meals:

: one loaf of bread
: two baking potatoes
: block of cheese
: baked beans
: three yoghurts
: tin of sweetcorn
: packet of ham
: bottle of milk

This supposedly constitutes a week's food for a child. The food parcels were variants of this - some with even worse content.

There is some debate about the cost of these parcels, but a £15 pound figure seems the most likely – in which case only food of epicurean standards should be included.

My grandchildren have dietary requirements - one has a severe egg allergy, the other is autistic, which greatly affects food choices. Supermarket vouchers would mean parents could choose what they know their children can eat. And no packaging and delivery costs!

Where is the justice here? Meagre food parcels for children while Members of Parliament have subsidised meals; a COVID crisis in which many suffer both in health and in income, while companies make huge profits from providing essential supplies which on more than one occasion have proved not to be fit for purpose. 

This is not my idea of a man of faith. This is someone who brings shame to the religion he professes to follow. Shame on you Mr Rees-Mogg: when will Justice and Peace prevail?

PS: I have had no response from Mr Rees Mogg.

Arthur West, Member of Don’t Bank on the Bomb Network Scotland and Scottish CND Trade Union Network, reflects on the new ‘no nukes’ treaty. 

Today, a new United Nations treaty enters into force.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons makes nuclear weapons illegal in the countries that sign it, and it officially becomes international law today.

In specific terms the Treaty prohibits the development, testing, production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. 

As I write this article, 51 countries have ratified the Treaty and another 86 have signed it. Sadly, the British government has refused to even participate in the treaty talks and insists it will never sign the Treaty.

Despite that unhelpful attitude, I think the Treaty gives peace activists like myself a reason to be cheerful. I firmly believe that the Treaty will change international attitudes to nuclear weapons.

There is evidence that previous treaties to prohibit chemical and biological weapons have helped stigmatise them in the minds of the public. I resolutely believe that this latest Treaty will have a similar effect on public perceptions of nuclear weapons.

I have had many conversations down the years with people who have said they want to get rid of nuclear weapons from our country and our world. However, they then go to say that they support multilateral disarmament rather than the unilateral view taken by Scottish CND.

But today there is a challenge to people who take this view. They can now support and raise awareness of a Treaty that is a multilateral and multinational effort to rid our world and our country of nuclear weapons.

I am a member of the Don’t Bank on the Bomb Scotland Network. The Network is involved in pressuring banks and financial institutions to move away from investments in companies involved in nuclear weapons production and development.

The passing of the Treaty will mean that the Network can now pressurise the likes of Nat West Bank to consider whether they really want to ignore a United Nations Treaty and continue financially supporting companies involved in the deadly world of nuclear weapons.

For me, it goes without saying that the job of the Scottish Peace Movement is to use this ground breaking Treaty as a campaigning resource to help us rid our country and our world of the scourge of nuclear weapons.

Our priority should be to build on the Treaty and redouble our efforts to make people aware of the environmental, financial and safety costs of nuclear weapons.

Nobody has put it better than Rebecca Johnson, Vice President of CND, who welcomed the Treaty when she said:

“If we don’t want nuclear weapons to be used, we have to persuade our government to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and work for its full implementation.”

In the aftermath of the COVID crisis, I think increasing numbers of people will agree that money spent on nuclear weapons could be better spent on the NHS and decent care services for our elderly and vulnerable.

There is now an opportunity for the Westminster Government to take a lead by halting replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system and using our technical, legal and diplomatic skills to build a more peaceful and stable world.

Marian Pallister, Justice & Peace Commissioner for Argyll & the Isles, reflects on the comfort of online prayer.  Weekly blog.

‘Click to pray’ may sound like a step too far along the technological pathway for some. But just as so many find great comfort in being able to share in the Mass online – and now we are relying on Facebook live streaming and Youtube once more – Pope Francis’ Worldwide Prayer Network offers spiritual encouragement where and when we need it.

I’ve always found it very moving to think of the millions of people around the world praying together. Now we do that with the help of technology, not just in our own private thoughts. Clicking to pray Pope Francis’ intention for January earlier this month (https://clicktopray.org/ ), I saw that over 9,500 people had already shared the reflection that day, and prayed for human fraternity – ‘May the Lord give us the grace to live in full fellowship with our brothers and sisters of other religions, praying for one another, open to all.’

In the previous 30 days, 787,653 prayers had been added to the website. There are links to social media, and there’s an app – as well as a hold-in-your-hand, good old-fashioned booklet that you can keep at your bedside or wherever your ‘prayer space’ might be.

Since last March, isolation has been a problem for so many of us. The need for someone to turn to prompted Frances Gallagher, Justice and Peace Scotland’s communications guru, to post links and phone numbers on social media and our website to help when we’re feeling low. We really need that sort of lifeline – and my own ‘must have’ is the link to the worldwide prayer network that Pope Francis set up in 2020.

I’ve found that some of my molehills have become mountains over the past months, simply because I can’t share with others. Before Lockdown One, our parish had a prayer group, and bringing our personal and societal concerns to the group, articulating with others and with God our hopes and fears, brought spiritual comfort. Some of the issues that our Justice and Peace group went on to tackle began with shared prayers in the prayer group. 

I know that if we had been meeting in our prayer group when things went haywire in the United States, our prayers would have reached out to all concerned. I needed an alternative and went to the ‘Pray with the Network’ page on the Click to Pray website. There, someone had posted this prayer, shared on social media: ‘Lord, Please stay close to all the angry people who stormed the US Capitol, to all the leaders who encourage them and to those who condemn them. Help our country to see its dark sides and to work toward reconciliation. Amen’. 

What a forgiving prayer, obviously from someone in the United States, and what a comfort and guide to those of us watching the confusing news unfolding from that country.

In what looks like being a longer lockdown than we thought, I know such shared prayers will help me – maybe you could also give it a click!