Blog

14/12/2018

Marian Pallister, vice chair of Justice and Peace Scotland, reflects on working to create a Pax Christi Scotland

They are laughing at me (in the nicest possible way) here at the Justice and Peace office in Glasgow because during the past year of helping to set up Pax Christi Scotland, I have been referring to the Commission as ‘the mother ship’.

I make no apologies, because while Pax Christi International is a rather older Catholic organisation, founded in 1945 as a reconciliation movement, Pax Christi Scotland is just finding its feet. We need the Justice and Peace Commission’s approval and guidance to achieve status as one of the 120 member organisations of Pax Christi International. Approaching 40, and with the wisdom and experience that goes with those four decades, Justice and Peace Scotland fits the ‘mother ship’ description perfectly.

There are Pax Christi movements in more than 50 countries, and within the next year, Pax Christi Scotland hopes to cut loose and become a member of that global family working with a particularly Scottish ethos alongside our sibling organisations.

Like those older siblings, we will be working for peace, respect for human rights, and justice and reconciliation. And yes, as the members of the Scottish Bishops’ Conference commented when Justice and Peace Scotland chair Honor Hania laid our case before them a few weeks ago, that does sound very similar to the work of the Commission.

Similar – but different.

And that is why for some years, supporters of the peace movement in Scotland have felt that we should be one of those Pax Christi member countries. Pat Gaffney, general secretary of Pax Christi in the UK – a body with its main support in England and Wales – has encouraged us to become Pax Christi Scotland.

As a member of the steering group set up in February 2018 after Pat Gaffney called a meeting to move things forward, I’ve found it challenging but rewarding to discover so much support for the model we hope to develop. Our little team – Grace Buckley and I from Justice and Peace Scotland, Dr Rosalyn Mauchline from the diocese of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh, and Hugh Foy, director of programmes and partnerships for the Xaverian Missionaries, UK Province – has been working on a route map to becoming a fully fledged Pax Christi member organisation.

As you know, Pax Christi International’s core principles echo Pope Francis’ insistence that it is not only immoral to use weapons of mass destruction but also to own them and trade in them. It is a given that Pax Christi Scotland will play a supporting role in that campaign, but we intend to concentrate on the more general nonviolence aspects of Pope Francis’ 2016 Day of Peace address, which stressed that peace starts in the family, the school and the parish. Pax Christi Scotland’s mission is to develop programmes enabling nonviolence to become the cornerstone of Scottish family and parish life.

Our children shouldn’t grow up thinking that the angry language and hostile environment we experience today is the norm. Pax Christi Scotland’s mission is to help create a kinder country, while our mother ship campaigns for the justice that leads to peace.

07/12/2018

Become an eco-congregation – and change your life.

Could you encourage your parish to become an Eco-Congregation? Fintan Hurley did exactly that in Edinburgh and he writes about it in this week's blog.

About three years ago our parish, Our Lady of Loretto and St. Michael’s in Musselburgh, registered as an eco-congregation. That’s nothing remarkable: Eco-Congregation Scotland (ECS) (http://www.ecocongregationscotland.org/) has about 440 registered congregations. But it’s still unusual among Catholic parishes – even after Laudato Si, only about 6% are registered, compared with more than 20% each from Church of Scotland or Scottish Episcopal Church.

Yet registration is straightforward – it’s simply a sign of intent to take environmental care seriously, as part of the life of the congregation. And it’s free, though ECS encourages membership, for a small annual fee to help support their work.

We registered through our parish priest, Fr. Basil Clark, and Miriam McHardy – you may know them from Justice and Peace work over the years. So from the beginning our environment work was under the J&P umbrella.

This isn’t a new idea: Laudato Si encourages it, as do the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. But it’s a very good idea. It helps so many things fall into place about environment, justice and peace.

Now we call ourselves the J&P&E group – justice and peace and environment - a stool with three strong legs, supporting one another.

From the beginning we saw this as ecumenical work – at this time of environmental crisis and injustice it seemed obvious to co-operate on ‘the integrity of God’s creation’. And so our local ecumenical network, Musselburgh Churches Together (MCT), invited David Bethune of ECS to lead one of our Lenten services this year.

David explains things very well, and he or another ECS representative could visit your parish or ecumenical group.

Applying for an ECS Bronze Award was good for us as we were assessed, and it seems we got it right because we received the award. The application highlighted the wide range of things a parish can do, from planting a wildflower garden to making a bike rack from recycled metals, to installing an efficient heating system and developing ECS materials. Several young people from the parish got involved – our links with the local Catholic schools are an important part – and we are now in touch with environmental agencies.

ECS liked what we’re doing and invited me to be a trustee. I found John Seenan there already – many of you will know John from J&P work over the years, especially in Paisley diocese. And you may know the new ECS manager, Stephen Curran. All three of us are very happy to help other Catholic parishes on the ECS journey, as best we can.

Our parish Eco Group is still small and our next big step is working out how to involve the whole parish more fully in the care of the environment and climate justice. I think this mainstreaming is an issue for many eco-congregations, and maybe for J&P(&E) activities more generally. We hope that being part of the ECS movement will help us do it, working side-by-side with other like-minded congregations. Including maybe yours.

Facebook: http://www.ecocongregationscotland.org/facebook

Twitter: http://www.ecocongregationscotland.org/twitter

30/11/2018

Why Ethical Investing Matters

This time in our blog, Quintin Rayer, head of research with an ethical finance company, reflects on the importance of engaging our values and using our consumer power for the greater good, even if it is a lonely field to burrow at times.

Ethical investment may seem ‘nice-to-have’ but non-essential, although actually, it is crucial. It permits people and organisations with savings to contribute to the betterment of society or to help with environmental issues including global warming.

Unsustainable human activities have generated threats including climate change (associated with rising sea levels, extreme weather and flooding, for example) with damage, loss of life, and disruption to food and fresh water supplies. A growing world population will demand improved living standards as less developed countries modernise. Many believe that behaving unsustainably will cease to be an option.

Values Matter
In the charity and faith-based sectors, dedicated individuals work to address many such challenges directly. Trustees and others may be pleased to hear that even while not being expended to achieve objectives, investments can be supporting worthwhile goals pending future use.

Personally, much of my motivation originates from a Doctorate in the Department of Atmospheric Physics at Oxford, giving an understanding of climate change, and its consequences.

As a practising wealth manager committed to ethical investing, I was delighted by the refreshing perspective of the October Edinburgh Ethical Finance conference. Even as an experienced financial practitioner I found it reassuring to meet many, who, like me, believe values really matter. At times, when dealing with city fund managers (including managers of some ‘ethical’ funds), I can feel like an outsider, as I work to get topics like carbon-neutrality (not just reduction), zero-hours contracts or plastics pollution considered more seriously.

At P1 Investment Management, we are determined to make a difference by doing ethical investing as well as possible given real-world constraints. Our three-pronged approach involves actively selecting funds with superior ethical processes (avoiding ‘green-washers’), an external ethical oversight committee and shaping the debate with fund providers. Our oversight committee includes a climate scientist, an authority on social issues and a professor with expertise in corporate governance. We also engage with fund managers and publish articles both to educate and raise broader issues.

Why this is Important
Individuals appreciate the importance of moral issues and extend their values into ever-increasing aspects of their lives. Beyond retail consumer decisions, more people are using ethical considerations to guide their investments as well. In August 2018, according to the Investment Association, £17.0 billion was invested in the UK ethical funds sector, an annual increase of £2.5 billion.

Ethical investors select companies that help tackle the challenges of environmental, social and other problems while avoiding companies that engage in unsustainable or harmful behaviours. They use the influence of financial markets to reward positively-behaving companies while reducing capital available to those participating in unacceptable activities.

Many individuals, trustees and others, want to support their aims better by making the monies they have invested work in support of their beliefs. This can be in addition to on-going daily commitments, making ethical investing a meaningful way to influence society for the better.

Dr Quintin Rayer
DPhil, Chartered FCSI, Chartered Wealth Manager, SIPC

Head of Research, P1 Investment Management Ltd

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