Members of the Columban Justice and Peace Ecology Team – James Trewby, Fr Kevin McDonagh and Ellen Teague – attended the mass lobby of parliament on climate change and biodiversity on the 9th of July 2025. Columbans were among the faith groups at Westminster joining the call for action ‘For People, For Climate, For Nature’.
Campaigners met their local MPs from across the UK, urging them to tackle the climate crisis and protect the natural world in line with moral responsibility, human dignity and the stewardship of creation. They want the government to commit to delivering funds to communities hit hardest by climate change in the UK and around the world, restore nature and back UK jobs for a greener, fairer future. Many raised UK government preparations for November’s UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
The lobby was organised by The Climate Coalition, which represents more than 120 leading UK organisations, secular and faith based. It includes CAFOD, Christian Aid, Tearfund, Operation Noah, Green Christian, Operation Noah and Columban missionaries. More than 5,000 people from across the UK attended and it is thought at least 500 MPs were lobbied, about 80% of the total.
In a collaborative programme between the Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology Team – led by JPE Co-ordinator James Trewby – and the London FCJ Centre for Spirituality and Ecojustice – led by Sr. MaryAnne Francalanza – five schools in Birmingham Archdiocese and one in Liverpool Archdiocese sent delegates to the lobby. They were Bishop Ullathorne and Cardinal Newman in Coventry, Archbishop Illsley and St. Thomas Aquinas in Birmingham, St Peters in Solihull and Bellerive in Liverpool. “What a privilege to support young adults from Catholic schools to raise their voices, said James Trewby; “I was so impressed with the way they put Catholic Social Teaching into action – sharing concern not only for their own futures, but also for biodiversity and people around the world.”
They joined other campaigners gathered in Parliament Square for photos wearing colourful t-shirts, with some holding up artwork, flags, signs and banners reading: “Act Now, Change Forever.’ They met Bishop John Arnold of Salford, Lead Bishop on the Environment for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and a number of MPs.
CAFOD’s chief executive, Christine Allen, was there and said: “People of faith from across the UK are uniting in Westminster to urge MPs to act now. This mass lobby is a key moment during the Jubilee Year to speak out and demand change. The UK must lead bold global reforms to cancel unjust debt and unlock funds to fight a crisis these countries did least to cause. This is about justice — and urgent action.”
In the late afternoon groups from Catholic schools gathered at Westminster Cathedral Hall for activities organised by CAFOD. Over a hundred school children attended the lobby and they were enthused by meeting MPs, collecting badges from stalls of the organising charities, and contributing towards the struggle for justice and poor communities and the environment.
Two students from Cardinal Newman School in Coventry described the lobby as “really exciting” and linked to work they do locally such as tree planting. They would be doing a report for their school newsletter. Their chaplain, Alfie McMillan, reported that the children spoke confidently with MPs about the issues, having a good base knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching, regular participation in the school’s eco-groups, and education work with CAFOD.
Catholic groups came together for a 5.30pm Mass at Westminster Cathedral for Mass celebrated by Bishop Arnold of Salford. He reminded that in the encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis spoke of the need to care for God’s creation and said, “Pope Leo is following the same vision.”
