Category: Justice and peace

In 2017, carbon dioxide emissions from power stations accounted for about a fifth of all CO2 emissions in the UK

Electricity consumption peaked in 2005 and has slightly reduced since then

The increase in renewable electricity production in the UK has facilitated the closure of two coal power stations in recent years

Electricity accounts for 16% of carbon emissions of the average UK household

Sources: Dept. for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2017 UK GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, PROVISIONAL FIGURES (29 March 2018), www.carboncalculator.co.uk/averages.php

Switch to a renewable energy supplier, preferably one that also invests in new renewable capacity

e.g. Ecotricity, Good Energy, Octopus Energy, Bulb, LoCO2

www.cable.co.uk/energy/guides/green-energy/, www.ethicalconsumer.org/energy

Invest in community energy schemes

www.communityenergyengland.org

Crowd funding platforms like Triodos, Abundance, etc.

At home

Switch appliances off rather than leaving them on standby,

LED bulbs use less electricity than Halogen bulbs,

Use a washing line rather than a tumble drier,

Check energy ratings when buying a new appliance,

Turn off the dishwasher at the beginning of the drying cycle and open its door instead.

www.cse.org.uk, www.carbonfootprint.com/energyconsumption.html

Present Sian (chair), Eva, Stephen, Tim, Susanne. Sarah B (minutes)

Apologies Sarah L, Margaret

Matters arising from previous minutes

Very positive feedback about the Lenten reflections – although some would appreciate a larger and more distinct font.

May Day Trek – poorly attended by the parish.

S2 Food Bank – we have received a certificate of thanks for our contributions.

Diocesan Environmental Policy

Unfortunately this was received by us at rather short notice. It seems unclear whether the policy will remain in this rather confused format, or will be edited before being launched. What form will the launch take? There were some comments on the scope of the policy –Individual comments to be sent to Eva a.s.a.p.

Creation Service

It was agreed that this would be a service (as opposed to a Mass) – at 7.30 on Friday 18^th October. The format will be readings, prayers and music (suggestions from the Cafod booklet), to last about 30 minutes and to be followed by cake etc, coffee/tea. On each table there will be a copy of the Quiz and “10  practical things to do to make a change”. To help estimate numbers for catering purposes, tickets will be sold at £2.00 – proceeds to fund a ?bird box/bee hotel or similar in church garden. People will also be asked to sign a petition to the Prime Minister.

Eva will liaise with Richard re the involvement of the music and the youth groups  – and find a date in August for a meeting with him, others interested and any of J&P group who can attend- principally to structure the service, plus other arrangements.

Eva will also circulate to us likely overseas cake recipes to practice.

Stephen will liaise with Fr Kevin;  will add information to the newsletter e.g.tickets, cake, nearer the time.

Susanne and Stephen will produce the “10 things to do”.

Susanne will produce the tickets.

Tim will edit down the Quiz.

Sarah will contact Anne Shepherd re advertising the event to the Hallam council of Churches, and will gather signatures for the Cafod petition.

Meeting to finalise arrangements – Wednesday 16^th October.

A.O.B.

Panto Tim has offered to help with the script.

Attendees: Sarah B, Susanne, Stephen, Sian (chair), Tim, Eva (minutes)

Apologies: Sarah L

Foodbank
The S2 foodbank has a Facebook page where the most needed items are posted, although this is not always up to date. Sarah B agreed to inform the parish when there were specific requests for items.  There is an ongoing need for direct debits and standing orders. Sarah B will ask the foodbank fi there is a need to increase these and if so put a note in the bulletin about this.

CAFOD

The current CAFOD campaign is “Our Common Home”. Some events to support this campaign have been advertised in the bulletin. We discussed the possibility of having a Creation celebration later in the year. This would possibly be on 11 October (Friday) and include a Mass or service, a shared meal and a quiz about climate change.

Several actions were associated with this:

1. Stephen to contact Father Kevin to discuss the date and option of Mass or service
2. Eva to research food recipes for shared meal to reflect cuisines of countries particularly effected by climate change such as Bangladesh.
3. Eva to check CAFOD website for resources such as video to show on the evening, the quiz and climate dice game.
4. Sian to contact musicians once date agreed to have music at the Mass/service.
5. A note will be put in the bulletin to encourage other parishioners to be involved in preparations.

Lent

The Lenten reflections distributed each week at Mass appear to be well received. Eva agreed to ask for feedback at the Parish AGM next week.

Assist

Tim reported that Assist has a range of support for destitute asylum seekers and had their own night shelter.

May Day Trek

Parishioners will be taking part in this year’s May Day Trek. This has been advertised in the bulletin.

Future plans
Possible activities for next year include:

• Presenting a film about refugees in Sheffield (Moving to Mars)
• Having a Dream auction, possibly supporting a charity other than CAFOD, for example the Foodbank.

Date of next meeting

3 July 2019, 8pm, St Francis Presbytery. It was agreed to put a note in the bulletin about this and mention that there will be discussions of climate change related activities to encourage new members.

Attendees: Sarah B, Susanne, Stephen, Sian (chair), Tim, Eva (minutes)

Apologies: Sarah L

Foodbank

Collections over the Christmas period were very good. Usually supplies go down in January and February and a note has been put in the bulletin to remind parishioners about the food bank. Sarah B will liaise with Father Kevin about arranging another collection day other than Sunday. She will also keep an eye on how the implementation of universal credit affects the need for foodbank donations.

CAFOD

The panto did well and raised over £1700.

The CAFOD parish appeal during Advent raised enough to buy one cow, four goats and one chicken on behalf of the Parish. This activity was deemed a success and it was suggested that this should be repeated next Advent.

Stephen will check CAFOD website for focus of activities for the coming year and report back at the next meeting.

Lent

A series of reflections to hand out each week in Lent was discussed. It was agreed that the Fasting/feasting Lenten theme used a few years ago could be repeated. Tim and Susanne agreed to reprint these for distribution each week. Stephen agreed to write some bidding prayers to link to each weekly theme and give these to Father Kevin. Tim will let him have the themes. Ash Wednesday is 6^th March so all needs to be ready by then.

Assist

We discussed whether or not there was a night shelter in Sheffield for destitute asylum seekers. Assist has one and Tim agreed to find out more and report back on how we might get involved at our next meeting.

May Day Trek

Sian to find details of the May Day Trek for this year and make sure the information gets put into the bulletin so parishioners can take part.

Date of next meeting

1 May 2019, 8pm, St Francis Presbytery

Present:

• Siân (Chair)
• Eva
• Stephen
• Susanne
• Tim
• Sarah L
• Sarah B
• Margaret

Previous minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Matters arising

• Food bank – Sarah B mentioned Church Action on Poverty are doing a pilgrimage on 20^th October which will be visiting the S2 foodbank so she will be advertising that. Regarding the introduction of Universal Credit, Sarah B will be going on a course on this as a result of being an advice volunteer. There is a widespread concern in the wider group of foodbanks about the increased demand expected as a result of universal credit, for some people due to a reduction in income, for others the date on which they will be paid, and the problems of applying including that you have to apply online and have an email address.
• CAFOD – Family Fast Day is October 5^th, posters will be put up and Stephen/Eva will speak at the masses the previous Sunday if Fr Kevin is okay with that. There does not seem to be any particular focus for fundraising at the moment so we could probably just choose an item for which we want to fundraise over Advent. It was felt having a target of £500 might be a good idea, with a thermometer to show progress on fundraising. Children’s Liturgy could be encouraged to be involved, Clare Byrne is running it so Stephen and Eva will speak to her. Stephen will see what the options are for £500 and email round for views.
  Adults could be asked to pay more for their stickers, maybe £1 and 20p respectively. Eva will get arrange for something to be put in the bulletin. Volunteers will be needed to help, both at the 9am and 11am masses, and we can organise that by email.
• Panto – this is happening and is usually on the last weekend before Advent. There has been a planning meeting recently but no one had heard feedback
  from that; it was felt Liz Dingle would probably be the person to ask. It was suggested we should find out if we could support it in any way – selling tickets,
  baking, helping with teas and coffees, etc.
• Uganda – thanks were given to Susanne for the amount raised for the toolkits, etc.

AOB

None

Date of next meeting

Wednesday 9 January 2019.

Present:

• Siân (Chair)
• Stephen
• Susanne
• Tim
• Sarah L

Apolgies:

• Margaret
• Sarah B

Previous minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Matters arising

• Food bank – Sarah B not here to report, Tim did not know of anything in particular to raise. The introduction of Universal Credit, due in November/December in Sheffield, may have an impact. Tim mentioned a food club or similar being established where for a small fixed sum a week attenders get a reasonable amount of food.
• Diocescan J & P day was cancelled due to bad weather, hasn’t yet been rearranged.
• Church Action on Poverty – Sarah B not here to report. She advised afterwards she isn’t on their committee now but circulated a copy of the recent minutes.
• CAFOD – Siân has had a thank you letter from Share the Journey from us engaging in the walk and signing the petition. She described her experiences of the day, maybe a hundred people having attended. Stephen said there will be a notice in this week’s bulletin about the online petition to Theresa May regarding the forthcoming international conference on refugees. Six parishioners did the May Day Trek.
• AGM – Eva has kindly once again done our report to the AGM. Steven attended, nothing in particular was raised.
• Toolkits for Uganda – Susanne reported that £ 4,684 was raised for the toolkits for students in Uganda. She was keen to pass thanks on to the Parish Council.

Ideas for the autumn

• Advent – have a parish initiative to buy something like a cow or a well. If we are to meet again in September we could bring ideas for how to raise money.
• Food bank – it was suggested we could have a push in September around the time that universal credit is introduced. Sarah L will try to think of a way to summarise what it is, about its introduction and when, potential problems, pressures on food banks. Sarah B can be asked what the food bank might find most useful at that time, if we were to have a push.

AOB

Sarah L asked about impact on J & P of the link with St William’s. Stephen said nothing would be changing immediately. There will continue to be two parishes and two parish councils, it isn’t a merger. Anything which does happen will happen very slowly. There may be links to be developed in due course and information about what is happening in each parish could be advertised in both. For now, we just wait for our lead from Fr Kevin and the Parish Council.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 5 September (subject to confirmation).

Present:

• Siân (Chair)
• Stephen
• Sarah B
• Susanne
• Tim
• Eva (Minutes)

Previous minutes

The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed as accurate.

S2 Foodbank

Tim gave an update on the foodbank and all is going reasonably well at the moment although difficulties are expected when universal credit becomes more
widespread in September. Food donations are still needed from the Parish.

Diocesan Justice and Peace Day

This was cancelled due to bad weather and no new date has been set yet.

Church Action on Poverty

Sarah has not had any information from Church Action on Poverty for some time now so will touch base with them for an update.

CAFOD

As part of the “Share the journey” campaign a walk has been organised on 12 May from St Vincent’s to the town hall in solidarity with the journey that refugees make. Stephen to put a note in the bulletin about this. Also, as part of this campaign an e-mail petition will be available for parishioners to sign. Stephen to put a note in the bulletin about this.

May Day Trek will leave from St Luke’s meeting at 9.30 am for a 10am start on 7th May, Bank Holiday Monday. Sian to put a note in the bulletin with details.

Preparations for AGM

Discussions were held on the need for a paragraph outlining the group’s activities over the past year. This will be presented at the AGM. Eva agreed to write this and share with the group for comments.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on 5 July 2018 at 8pm in the presbytery.

Present:

• Tim
• Susanne
• Stephen
• Eva
• Siân (Chair)

Apologies:

• Sarah B
• Margaret
• Sarah L

Previous minutes

Minutes from the last meeting were accepted as accurate.

Matters arising

S2 Foodbank – Sarah B not present but information that for 2018 we need to get the Christmas treats/food in earlier as the food bank gives double plus Christmas goodies before Christmas and then close for 2 weeks.

Diocesan J+P – Eva is continuing to receive and send information. At present we are busy with our own projects. She met Fr Sean Smith when he came to say Mass here.

Church Action on Poverty – Sarah B not present.

Projects for 2017/18 – South Asian Floods – no special project was undertaken.

CAFOD

Connect 2 – Eva emailed about this but received no information back from CAFOD so not pursuing further.

Family Fast Day for Zimbabwe 23^rd February. Government may double funds. Stephen to get information to talk before/after mass weekend before and put info in the bulletin about this.

Refugee Campaign from CAFOD, “Share the journey” – we will try to have bidding prayers in Lent. Stephen will speak/email Fr Kevin. Eva will put note in Franciscan. Email petition to Prime Minister to follow Easter and other activities later in the year.

Suggestion from Parish Day re providing “Tippy Taps” for hand washing in Africa. The group felt that it would be better to see if we could help with getting clean water to communities due to significant water shortages in Africa currently. We will look to see if through CAFOD or another charity we could fund a Borehole – possibly focus the fund raising at Christmas. If not we will fund latrine. EK to respond to parishioner who raised the suggestion.

AOB

Panto raised a fantastic £2100 with tickets and raffles of whiskey and other items.

Encourage support for the St Francis Dance Concerts in February. They are fund raising for CAFOD, Rohingya refugees and East Africa. Dates 9^th, 10^th, 16^th and 17^th February.

Date of next meeting Wed 11^th April 2018 (unless objections) at 8pm.

Present:

• Siân (Chair)
• Eva
• Steve
• Susanne
• Tim
• Sarah L

Apologies:

• Margaret
• Sarah B

Previous minutes

These were approved.

Minutes arising

The Lent refugee speaker event went well, with about thirty people attending. £120.05 was raised for Assist. Rodrigo spoke well and people seemed to get value from it. Soup quantities could be adjusted next time! The board about refugees and handouts were well received.

Tim reported anecdotally that the S2 food bank is struggling for funds to buy items to supplement items which are donated. Whenever he is there, they run out of key staples. People setting up standing orders for regular giving would make a big difference. This might be something we could raise with the Parish Council, looking for a push for the next year.

Re sci-fi night, it was suggested that might have had its day, not least due to the loss of Greg.

Sian hasn’t had the chance to speak to Stephen about a potential Muslim speaker but will pursue this.

Eva is going to be the contact for the Diocesan J & P Commission although she is not going to attend. In relation to the variety night, what we can offer is limited to that. Eva has told Fr Shaun we are happy to help with gathering contributions for anything like donations to Syria as happened before.

Susanne S is fundraising for Fr Francis’ lunch project but we don’t have much more information about how it is going. Susanne will check with her about this. An option such as a cake sale could be considered. After debate, we struggled to find a date in June when a reasonable number of us will be present, 18th June being best but Stephen and Eva won’t be able to do any Sundays in June. Susanne will speak to Susanne S about this.

The May Day trek hasn’t gone into the Franciscan due to Sian being away, but she will organise it for this Sunday’s newsletter.

The East Africa appeal raised £3500, which was then doubled by the Parish.

AOB

Parish Council: The meeting is on 16 May and we need to do a report for it. Stephen and Eva won’t be able to attend. Sian will attend in their place, with Tim as backup. There was a discussion about what we needed to include, and we drafted a few ideas which Eva will take and pull together into a report.

Thanks were recorded to John for all his hard work for J & P over the years.

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 6 September at 8pm

Present:

• Siân (Chair)
• Eva
• Steve
• Suzanna
• Margaret
• Sarah L
• Sarah B

Apologies:

• John
• Tim

Previous minutes

These were approved, subject to two small amendments which will be done via Sarah.

Minutes arising

Regarding the taxi drivers’ event with the food bank in the summer, Sarah will ask for feedback at a network meeting she is attending shortly. Everyone agreed the previous year’s had been very much appreciated.

Food bank collections were generous in the run up to Christmas, focused on the items requested and of good quality. Overall donations are holding up, with it normally being worth a trip every week rather than holding it over to following week.

Church Action on Poverty held their pilgrimage which seemed to go well. Sarah feels most of the information now goes out through Facebook and Twitter which only reaches a certain section of those who support CAP. There is a homelessness service at St Marie’s 4pm on Sunday 26^th February. Sarah B will ensure it goes in the newsletter.

The potential sci-fi night remains dormant for now due to other commitments.

Regarding a potential Muslim speaker, Sian will speak again to Stephen about this.

Speaker from City of Sanctuary: this was lined up for St Francis’ Day but that didn’t work out. Sarah mentioned the gentleman who had offered to come and speak is a member of the Diocescan Justice and Peace Commission. It was suggested we could do it in Lent and follow it with a bread and soup lunch to raise money. Options might be 12 or 19 March or 2 April. Sarah L will ask Fr Kevin if any of those aren’t suitable and will also make enquiries of Rodrigo and try to get answers if at all possible by the time Evan attends the Parish Council on 17 February.

Eva mentioned a collection was done previously for items going out to refugees in Greece. Fr Shaun was there from Sacred Heart but it was largely a Muslim group sorting the donations. Eva thought it would be good to get involved as a parish if something like that happened again so she has made contact with Fr Shaun and has passed on her details.

Stephen suggested something similar could be done about refugees during Lent, using that as a theme for Lent. Stephen felt Joanna would be happy to help with that. It could just be one display rather than it changing during Lent. That could include Suzanne’s handout. Stephen will be responsible for the board. Suzanne’s handout it was suggested could be given out at the beginning of Lent to start people thinking in anticipation of the meeting – 5 March is the first Sunday in Lent. As Susanne isn’t here, Margaret took the handouts.

The Year of Mercy noticeboard got positive feedback, a good team effort. Sarah B suggested changing the wording of the notice in the newsletter each week.

Suzanne mentioned that Susanne S is fundraising for Fr Francis’ lunch project but has quite a way to go to meet the target, having raised about £500 towards £1800. The Dance Club may be interested in assisting with this and it might be worth us suggesting that, in addition to the usual focus on CAFOD. Other alternatives to suggest might be ASSIST and the Bethlehem Fund. Sian will feed back to Grazyna about this.

Pantomime raised £1800 for CAFOD, a good sum. £500 of that came from the whisky raffle. All being well, the panto will happen again, the last weekend before Advent.

AOB

Greg, chair of Parish Council, asked Eva if she could contact the diocescan group to make sure she knew what the diocescan activities as no one from the parish tends to go, possibly through a lack of advance warning. Eva has had her name added to the email list and will make sure the J & P group know of events and also that they go in the bulletin.

Eva is going to report back to the Parish Council next week about our plans so far for the year.

A cake sale might be a good idea for later in the year. Various destinations for money raised were suggested including the Furniture Store and Mary’s Meals/Fr Francis’ lunch project. That could be early in the summer, but we would want to avoid clashing with the book sale. Eva will check dates with Alan & Clare who it is believed may now be organising that.

Stephen also mentioned in December he will be talking to the Ascent Group about Ethiopia. He felt they would then be interested in a particular school he and a friend visited in Addis catering for the most destitute children.

It was felt it would be a good idea for the minutes to go on the website. Sarah L will check with Jayne that it’s okay to do this.

Date of next meeting: Monday 24 April at 8pm

[Eva will ensure a reminder goes in the newsletter in advance to encourage new members, mentioning that minutes will be made available on the website]