In one of our first Vocation for Justice newsletters in 1986, the prominent South African Dominican theologian Fr Albert Nolan, writing during Apartheid in his country, reflected on ‘politicising compassion’. He said, “if our compassion only extends to relieving the symptoms and refuses to tackle the causes because they are political then our compassion is hypocritical.” He suggested that, “if we really have compassion we need to learn to speak up.”
Highlighting the spirituality of theologians from the global south featured strongly as Vocation for Justice brought such terms as “preferential option for the poor” to the wider Church in Britain. Writing in the newsletter a few years later, Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, the ‘Father of Liberation Theology’, challenged us to “face our identity as Christians and the identity of our Church.” Speaking of the Good Samaritan, he said: “The Samaritan was the person able to leave his or her world and enter into the world of the wounded person. Being neighbour means being on the move, crossing barriers of culture, value systems and even faith, to meet the other.”
These insights reflect the Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology mission in Britain and in 15 other countries which I have been honoured to be part of since 1990. That was the year, the Columbans strengthened engagement with the National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales by including its newsletter in our own mailing. We had a joint goal of highlighting causes of injustice and conflict and supporting formation based around Catholic Social Teaching.
That year marked the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Saint Oscar Romero and the shocking news of the November 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests and two lay women at the University of Central America by the Salvadoran military. The newsletter advertised the campaign by missionaries in the U.S. – particularly Maryknoll and Jesuits – to close the School of Americas, a U.S. Department of Defence military education and training facility which trained 19 of 26 officers cited for the murders.
At home, we advertised the report of the Congress of Black Catholics and the recommendations were prefixed by “Racism exists in the Church today.” Poverty in Britain came to the fore, after being the focus of the 1988 national J&P conference in Liverpool, whose recommendations led to the initiation of the first version of the Catholic Social Action Network in 1995. The Church Action on Poverty Campaign – Breaking the Chains of Poverty – was advertised. Columban Bobby Gilmore was Chair of the Birmingham Six campaign, and we encouraged readers to send Christmas cards to the six men wrongly convicted for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, and whose convictions were quashed in 1991 after their 16 years in prison.
Speaking up led us to invite Bruce Kent to write on Peace Spirituality in Summer 1993, flagging up Peace Sunday in 1994. Nine years later a large Columban group cheered him in London’s Hyde Park when he spoke at the million-strong rally opposing an invasion of Iraq.
With international debt rising up the agenda of our partners in the global south, centrespreads leading up to the millennium explained the World Bank and IMF, and ‘Myths of World Hunger.’ When Pope John Paul called for the cancellation of debt in ‘The Coming of the Third Millennium’, Columban Ed O’Connell and Brian Davies of CAFOD translated a simplified version, from Peru’s Episcopal Commission for Social Action, and published it in English, which was produced in its tens of thousands. We pushed the lobby of the G8 in Birmingham in 1998, attended by 70,000 campaigners, and helped raise the profile of Jubilee 2000.
Ecological Justice first appeared in 1992, when Columban eco-theologian Sean McDonagh wrote about the Rio Earth Summit. The newsletter discussed inter-generational justice and worked with national J&P to run several of their annual conferences on caring for God’s creation. I remain a member of the National J&P Environment Working Group. We were instrumental in getting climate change included in the ‘Make Poverty History’ lobby of 2005 at Scotland’s G8 summit. We urged our readers and Church leaders to attend The Wave – the UK’s biggest ever climate rally in 2009. In 2015, Columbans produced a study programme on the content of the landmark encyclical Laudato Si’ and have supported Operation Noah’s campaign for fossil-free churches. Columban-lay collaboration pre-dated the Church’s synodal process and our team is now led by inspiring Columban lay co-worker James Trewby.
We advertised a Columban campaign – led by Columban Fr Frank Nally – against destructive large-scale mining in the Philippines, and laws which permitted it, which flagged up mining-related violence towards local communities and the environment. Extractive industries were being recognised internationally as a key social and environmental issue. A special issue of Vocation for Justice, ‘No Patents on life’ urged readers to engage with issues around the commodification of life and genetic modification of food. At 30 years, we had a photo of our team at a ‘Refugees Welcome’ march in London. Refugees and migrants remain a mission priority.
Who would have thought 40 years ago that Christian leaders and churches around the world would celebrate a Season of Creation annually. And who nodded in approval to hear Pope Leo tell bishops attending the COP30 climate talks last November to send a clear global signal together, one of “unwavering solidarity behind the Paris Agreement and behind climate cooperation”. He added that, “we are guardians of creation, not rivals for its spoils.” Columban commitment to protecting Biodiversity means engagement with the UN Conference on Biological Biodiversity to be held in October.
What can be flagged up for the future?
The 40th anniversary issue of Vocation for Justice in January 2026 takes the theme ‘Peace be with you all,’ following the focus on peacemaking by Pope Leo in a world marred by war. He calls for reconciliation between peoples and with God’s creation.
In our tenth anniversary booklet we highlighted implications of the rise of virtual world. Today, the Vatican has called for an evaluation of the opportunities and risks of the digital age – particularly AI – for the benefit of human beings, the human community, and creation as a whole. Sean McDonagh’s 2021 book on ‘Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs’ was a prophetic Columban contribution to the debate.
And I would flag up the need for social justice formation or training for transformation to go alongside resources. The CAFOD/J&P-led formation process of the pastoral cycle trained me and empowered thousands to life-long involvement in working for justice, peace and ecology. But continuing to grow the J&P movement is getting harder as so few dioceses now have paid J&P workers. J&P addresses the whole spectrum of justice, peace and ecology. It makes connections between issues and systemic issues, for example highlighting links between global climate change, expenditure on war, and migration issues.
So, Vocation for Justice reads the signs of the times and speaks up. It will continue to do so in its new electronic format, starting with the next issue. We offer a spirituality that integrates Justice and Peace and supports our Christian communities to be relevant to our times and build God’s kingdom here on Earth.