RC Parish of St. Peter & Good ShepherdBearsted and Harrietsham, Kent |
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Annual Report of the Justice & Peace Group2011The Justice &
Peace group meets on the first Tuesday of every month bar August. The
following are current members: Membership.I am delighted to report that as a result of my appeals from the altar in the New Year we have welcomed three new members from St Peter’s – Wieslaw Kordek, Janet O’Neil and Kate Place. We are sorry that Joan Brown has been unable to attend monthly meetings during the latter part of the year due to increasing poor health. We shall sorely miss her inspiration, commitment, vision and leadership which led to the setting up of this group more than twenty five years ago. It has been a very hard act to follow. Homeless People.In October at St Peter’s/Good Shepherd food clothing and other goods were collected for the Maidstone Day Centre and a cash collection which raised £251.53 There were also Harvest collections of food and other goods at the Methodist Church and St Peter’s which had gone to Christian Care. Janet and Daphne both attended the silver jubilee celebration on 5th July. Daphne managed to get in touch with the housing department at Maidstone Borough Council. We had previously attended group meetings held every three months. It has now been renamed The Maidstone Housing Sounding Board. Marie attended a meeting held in July where a contact was made with the charity Porchlight, a charity working with the homeless in Maidstone. Rachel van Hoven from Porchlight spoke at services at St Peter’s and there was a cash collection of £304.81 Unfortunately we have again lost touch with the Maidstone Housing Sounding Board. Clean Investment Campaign.We are pursuing a policy of persuading public organizations not to invest in companies which sell arms to countries with a poor human rights record or who are involved with conflict within or between poor countries. KCC is our main target. Daphne received a letter from Unilever in response to the Christian Aid campaign tracing tax. Action for powerless people.Parishioners from all churches sent Christmas cards to Prisoners of Conscience. This had been organized by Helen. We continue to monitor and take action where appropriate to help Asylum Seekers and Refugees. Ann wrote to Damien Green regarding the suicide of asylum seekers after their requests for asylum were turned down. In the reply that was received it was explained that all requests for asylum were given careful consideration and those unsuccessful applicants were offered help. The government was always seeking to improve the system and help people integrate. We are monitoring any possible problems in the future as events unfold in North Africa, Syria and Turkey. There was an interesting talk by CMS in September at Holy Cross. Action AidDaphne reported that the Methodists had agreed to support over the next two years the building of a school in Ginki, Uganda, close to the Kenyan border for 500 people. This has now been finished. It has been financed by the sales of tea/coffee. Helen attended the Teatime for Change event on 9th June. Prisoner Resettlement Project.Mairin Holland has updated us on this issue. Kent Probation Trust has withdrawn financial support from RESET and it has now become a unit within the Kenward Trust but it would maintain its own identity, constitution and charitable purpose. Ann had written to the Trust to discover how our previous donation had been used. The response said the donation had gone on small things such as replacing someone’s citizen card when it was lost, or buying a mobile phone for someone who had just been released from prison. As a result of the withdrawal of funding donations were increasingly important. Supporting families and children in developing countries.Traidcraft continued throughout 2011 in St Peter’s and Holy Cross to raise a steady, although declining income, especially at Christmas. The Charity Stall, which sells a variety of goods donated by parishioners, now raises more money. A donation of £288 was sent to the Kenward Trust Appeals at St Peter’s/Good ShepherdCAFOD’s Lenten Fast Day raised £393.01p and October Fast Day raised £332.85. The Lenten Appeal raised £1,010 for Depaul UK and the Advent Appeal raised £609.93 for CAFOD’ continuing work in the SudanSudan. Jim Simmons from CAFOD was able to visit us in March to talk about CAFOD’s work in the Sudan. Bearsted Parish MagazineIt was decided that we would again contribute articles from time to time. Helen submitted articles in May on Christian Aid Week, in June on Live Below the Line event and in November on Prisoners of Conscience. Hiroshima ServiceThis was attended by Margaret Conan. SummaryThis year has been busy. All our group members have continued their commitment to working for human rights and justice and combating poverty and we thank them for their efforts. Marie Quarman |
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