St. Barnabas Cluster Laudato Si Group

My newly set up petition. Please sign.

This campaign needs you now Tell the Catholic Church to stop its exploitation of animals as 'gifts'

'First Past the Post' is the reason people vote tactically, instead of according to their conscience. It makes a mockery of democracy. We need to change the voting system.

Will you pledge to make Proportional Representation a #DoorstepDemand at the next General Election? I just pledged to help make Proportional Representation a at the next General Election. Will you join me? - it's time to !

The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign website:

Palestine Solidarity Campaign The Palestine Solidarity Campaign works for peace & justice for Palestinians, in support of human rights & against all racism

This is the St Barnabas Cluster's website:

Milton Keynes Cluster Catholic Parishes Six of the Catholic Parishes in Milton Keynes are joined together in a single cluster with St Barnabas as the patron.

https://www.taxjustice.uk/blog/how-do-the-super-rich-avoid-inheritance-tax?link_id=13&can_id=22162033f58b31a23ef974a48c5d5dd8&source=email-how-does-britain-enable-global-tax-avoidance&email_referrer=email_2293968&email_subject=how-the-super-rich-avoid-inheritance-tax

INTRODUCTION TO ANIMAL RIGHTS FROM A FAITH PERSPECTIVE: NEW INSIGHTS INTO ANIMAL AGRICULTURE
A Webinar, presented by Catholic Action for Animals and hosted by the Animal Interfaith Alliance in collaboration with the Diocese of Salford, the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, Catholic and Vegan, Climate Healers, Born Vegan and In Defense of Animals, took place on Thursday 21st March 2024.
Link to YouTube Recording: https://youtu.be/BlAxmnzFdXU
Barbara Gardner from Animal Interfaith Alliance welcomed those who registered for the webinar*, and introduced the Speakers. Barbara is the founder and Chief Executive of the Animal Interfaith Alliance.

The first to speak was Bishop John Arnold, the lead bishop on environmental matters in the UK. He opened the webinar by reminding us of the urgent importance of prayer, discussion and action by every one of us, to tackle the environmental crises.

He was followed by Sailesh Rao, who spoke on the planetary harm of animal agriculture, which he claims is responsible for at least 87% of greenhouse gas emissions annually, in addition to being the leading cause of species extinctions, ocean dead zones and myriad other environmental ills.
Next was Lisa Levinson from In Defense of Animals, who presented and spoke on a short video made by Dr Jane Goodall, on the subject of the folly of offering animals as gifts for poor people overseas. In the video, Jane urges aid charities to end animal gifting programmes, which hurt gift recipients by burdening them with more mouths to feed in areas where food and water are often scarce, and by undermining sustainable development.

Then Sarina Farb who spoke on the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet. Sarina focuses on empowering individuals to think critically, to see past corporate propaganda, and to live ethically.

Daniel Mascarenhas SJ from Catholic and Vegan and a Jesuit from the US, spoke on the Biblical imperative for caring for animal rights, a concept found in the Old Testament narratives that describe laws for animal welfare. https://www.vegancatholic.org/

Next to speak was Maureen Villanueva, who presented the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, an initiative of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development that equips institutions, communities, and families to take practical steps towards total sustainability in the spirit of integral ecology.

Last was Virginia Bell from Catholic Action for Animals, who summed up with the question “How can we take what we have learned to our parish, diocese and community?”

Vegan Catholic Christian My journey to boundless compassion. 🐱

Webinar for Catholics on Animal Agriculture
If you can't attend the cutting edge Webinar for Catholics on Animal Agriculture, 6pm on Thursday 21-3-24, please note that registering will ensure that you will get the recording which you can view whenever convenient. To register for a zoom link, write [email protected]
More details:

Introduction to Animal Rights from a Faith Perspective: New Insights into Animal Agriculture Image by Hans at Pixabay Webinar Presented by Catholic Action for Animals Thursday 21st March 2024 at 6pm GMT Hosted by the Animal Interfaith Alliance in collaboration with the Diocese of Salford, …

MEDIA RELEASE

INTRODUCTION TO ANIMAL RIGHTS FROM A FAITH PERSPECTIVE: NEW INSIGHTS INTO ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

Webinar Presented by
Catholic Action for Animals
Hosted by the Animal Interfaith Alliance
In collaboration with the Diocese of Salford, the Laudato Si’ Action Platform,
Climate Healers, Born Vegan and In Defense of Animals.

Thursday 21st March 2024 at 6pm GMT

INTRODUCTION BY BISHOP JOHN ARNOLD

To register for the webinar, please email: [email protected] putting ‘WEBINAR 21-3-24 REGISTRATION’ in the Subject line.

For media enquiries, please contact Virginia Bell at [email protected]

FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) has joined with other animal organisations to campaign for an end to all animal experiments in the UK.
They are working with groups from across the UK, listed below, to urge political party leaders to commit to creating a plan to phase out animal research and to make the development and uptake of non-animal methods a priority in their manifestos.
The RSPCA, World Animal Protection and all the other animal organisations should join them.
Animal Aid Animal Defenders International
Cruelty Free International
Humane Society International - UK
Naturewatch Foundation
OneKind
PETA UK

Ban sky lanterns in England and Wales I've signed a petition showing my support for a total ban of sky lanterns in England and Wales.

Milton Keynes Central General Election 2024 Ask your Milton Keynes Central candidates to back the CE Bill.

Environment Agency invested £15m in ‘forever chemicals’ Taxpayers’ money pumped into companies that produce PFAS, despite health and environmental warnings

Commit to vote for the Planet
https://www.thecommitment.uk/?fbclid=IwAR3cCFvYm7dk1d5p7yhEGlCOO65eNZPBciZ3c41ZG-xXnAOdOUhBaEGtsZo

The Commitment | Your vote for a Healthy Planet The Commitment is on a mission speed up government action on the climate and nature. Make your Commitment today.

Let's try to end this sick programme which abuses animals for fun:

I'm A Celebrity | Campaign | RSPCA Join us to stop the harm of living creatures in the name of entertainment.

Big Meat and Big Dairy are making COP28 an occasion for promoting meat and dairy. Don't let them get away with it.

Make COP28 Vegan We are asking the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to show climate action leadership by encouraging the hosts of COP28 to provide 100% plant-based catering and creating a policy for future climate conferences to offer 100% plant-based catering, ideally showcasing locall...

MK Council Consultation on Carbon and Climate
I can't find anything about promoting a plant-based diet in the comments submitted to the MKC Consultation on Carbon and Climate, other than the 2 submissions I made. Could I ask campaigners in Milton Keynes to submit a plea for the Council to endorse the Plant-Based Treaty? Or just give a thumbs up to my 2 submissions under 'Our Current Emissions'.
Thanks.

St. Barnabas Cluster parishioners contributed to the recent record breaking line of cans for the Food Bank. See their page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066915333024

St Barnabas Cluster We are a cluster of six Catholic parishes across Milton Keynes and the surrounding area.

A few of us have co-signed this letter to Pope Francis, along with 4 Catholic priests, asking him to promote a vegan lifestyle.
Posted 30-10-23

His Holiness, Pope Francis
Casa Santa Marta,
00120 Città del Vaticano

Dear Pope Francis,

We, a group of faithful Catholics, both lay and ordained, are immensely grateful to you for the Laudato Si’ Encyclical, and for its recent update, published on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi 2023 (Laudate Deum).

Whilst expressing our deep gratitude to you for raising so many important issues concerning the climate crisis, we wonder if there is a question that is not yet adequately resolved, and which needs more consideration? Crucially, we would ask that you consider the concept that animals, indeed all creatures, are created and beloved by God, in and of themselves, and were not made for humans to use. Rather, we would draw attention to the truth that people everywhere – and Christians in particular – have a duty of care to all nonhuman animals, as set down, for example, in Genesis 1: 29-30 and 2: 19-20, and confirmed in Isaiah 11: 6, 65: 25 and 66: 3, where a loving rule or stewardship is called for. We are reminded that the Hebrew word usually translated as ‘till’, when relating to the earth, can equally be translated as ‘serve’ (Genesis 2: 15). There is a sense in which human beings are called, we would suggest, to be responsible stewards of the planet, in a spirit of service. Sadly, as you know so well, unconscious bias allows us to think that we humans are doing no wrong in, for example, farming livestock, if we appear to do it ‘kindly’. We ask, with some passion and urgency in our voices, ‘But how can enslavement and exploitation be kind? How can killing the innocent ever be kind?’

We would ask you to consider too, and perhaps bring to your prayer, the real question of whether humans should be using animals at all, if our use of them causes them suffering? Shouldn’t we rather be treating them as neighbours, not as commodities? The crux of the matter is that animals, like humans, can suffer. Surely, in the name of Jesus Christ and at the service of the earth created by God, we have a duty not to cause suffering, whatever the species that suffers, if we can avoid it?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 2457 that, “Animals are entrusted to man’s stewardship; he must show them kindness”. You also state in Laudato Si’, paragraph 221, “We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that ‘not one of them is forgotten before God’. How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm?”. Once again, we ask you to consider how that accords with the enslavement, mutilation and killing of trillions of birds, mammals and other creatures, for unnecessary food, or for our self-interest?

The reason we use animals for food, clothes, sport, entertainment, experimentation and exploitation in general is because we have the power to do so and is very rarely for survival. We would ask you to speak out against the widely normalised prodigal use of animals, and to call for a change of heart in all humans towards animals – and especially among the Catholic faithful and all people of goodwill. We believe, too, that this change of heart can best be expressed by following a vegan lifestyle. Please promote a vegan lifestyle as one for which to aim – a lifestyle that respects the autonomy and freedom of those nonhuman creatures brought into being for a purpose by God himself, out of love and for love.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Virginia Bell, Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM) Animator/St Barnabas parish Laudato Si’ Group. Northampton Diocese UK

Fr Robert Culat, Catholic Parish Priest, Saint-Didier, France

Fr Donatello Iocco, Catholic Parish Priest, St Ambrose Parish, Toronto, Canada

Fr Terry Martin, Catholic Parish Priest, Worthing & Lancing Parish, UK/Trustee, Catholic Concern for Animals UK

Janet Parsons MBE, LSM Animator. Clifton Diocese UK

Giovanna Payne, LSM Animator/St Barnabas parish Laudato Si’ Group. Northampton Diocese, UK

Derek Reeve, retired Catholic priest, Portsmouth diocese, UK

John Woodhouse, Co-ordinator LSM Animators UK/Organiser, Westminster Cathedral Interfaith Group. Archdiocese of Southwark UKA

Remove plastic packaging from supermarket fruit and veg I’ve just signed this petition from EverydayPlastic and CitytoSea calling on UK supermarkets to remove the plastic packaging from the 5 most wasted fruit & veg products in UK households: potatoes, apples, bananas, carrots and onions. Removing plastic packaging from these five fresh items is no...

Petition to get the PM to end his ff policies:

Sunak's North Sea oil and gas plan will blow the UK climate goals out the water Let's sink Sunak's North Sea plan

PETITION - Tell the UK Government to introduce this food waste law

Sign the Petition Make Food Waste Count! Tell the Government to introduce this food waste law

It's time to transform our global food system Factory farming is the single biggest cause of animal suffering on the planet and is fast becoming one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time.

End bottom trawling JOIN ME! Bottom trawling is bulldozing our ocean floor. Sign the petition to end this destructive practice and

St Barnabas Cluster of Parishes website:

About Six of the Catholic Parishes in Milton Keynes are joined together in a single family. They are served by a parish team of priests, deacons, a Pastoral Assistant and administration staff and share many pastoral activities.

Europe: say no to pesticides! Uncovered: the pesticide industry’s dirty dealings to keep feeding Europe’s pesticide addiction.

Myself and family members at 'The Big One' environmental rally and march over the weekend.

Wild Justice needs some more signatures:

Petition: Make swift bricks compulsory in new housing to help red-listed birds Swifts have declined by over 50% in the UK. Adult swifts, known for site-fidelity, return to the same nests. We want swift bricks to be required in all new housing, to provide homes for these birds. Surveys show these are used by red-listed swifts, house martins, starlings and house sparrows.