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Thank you for coming to have a look at our page on the web site. Maybe you are thinking about joining our group and you want to have a look about what we are about? Perhaps you are just curious about what we are trying to do? Whatever your reason for  visiting our page, YOU ARE WELCOMED!

Newsflash: Our parish has been awarded its fair-Trade Certificate - More Information

The Justice & Peace Group of the parish of Sacred Heart & Mary Immaculate, Mill Hill, was officially launched on Sunday 6th July 2003. We held a special liturgy celebrated by the then Parish Priest, Fr Aidan Galvin C.M, where he blessed our new banner, and afterwards we held a recruitment fair and a Traidcraft Sale in the Church Hall.

Our first Traidcraft Sale

We chose the logo above showing the dove of peace as the symbol for our banner and our group. The dove is clearly the symbol of peace, the rainbow symbolises the unity of all races and peoples around the world. The background to our banner (not shown above) is purple, the colour of penance and forgiveness, reflecting our sorrow for all the crimes against Justice and Peace in the World. We also have a green lanyard around the top of our banner, this is our symbol for the environment and our need to respect and protect it. All this is held up on a simple, rough, cross, the immediate and most potent symbol of our faith.

We started on that day with just two members, and now we have grown to nine! Fr John Concannon C.M. has mentored us from our inception. We have been inspired and encouraged in our work by many others, but mostly by the Vincentian clergy in our parish (Congregation of the Mission) who have such a long and illustrious history of working for social justice themselves.

What are the aims of our Justice & Peace Group?

We want to bring people together who are interested in issues such as social justice, human rights, poverty, globalisation, fair trade, Aids/HIV, peace, environmental issues and third world debt. We also want to demonstrate a commitment to our Parish Vision Statement, which says that we are a community that “Holds sacred the right to life, justice and peace. Promotes freedom from poverty, neglect and abuse.” Lots of our parishioners are already involved in Justice issues and are active in related groups like Pax Christi, the CIIR, Jubilee Action and others. Many are also involved in work at “The Passage” centre for the homeless in London and involved in prison visiting etc. Many would like to find a way to be more active in these areas. We would like to bring them all together. These are our main aims:

What does the group actually do?

Through our meetings and discussions we campaign, inform and act on behalf of our parish for those in need both globally and locally. We raise awareness in the parish through marking special days such as Racial Justice Sunday, Armistice Day, and World Aids Day etc. We arrange for guest speakers to come and talk about key issues of interest. We also want to be a group in the parish that can respond to immediate emergency situations as they happen such as war, famine etc. We have lots of ideas and we are very active.

Where and how often do we meet?

We meet once a month, on the second Monday of every month. We usually meet at 8.00pm in the presbytery. There is always advance notice in the bulletin, and new members are always welcome to just come along!

How much time will I need to commit to the group?

That’s up to you really! We meet formally once a month, but some of our members cannot attend all the meetings. They are still very active members though, and are involved in a lot of our special events. You can be as involved as you want to be. You may be interested in one particular issue and be able to share that with us, or you might just want to come along to learn more. Sometimes you may have a lot of time to give, at other times you may have other commitments that mean you may have to take a back seat for a while…the choice is yours!

How is the group run?

At first every group requires some leadership to get it off the ground, but the style of leadership here is very much one of leadership as service and leadership must be shared. Everyone will have an opportunity to run the group and to influence the decisions and direction we take. We are affiliated to the Diocesan Justice & Peace Commission. The members of our group decide on the issues we address.

Do I have to be a Catholic or a member of Sacred Heart parish to join?

No! We are open and welcoming to all those of faith and of no faith. Already our Traidcraft contacts come from a local Church of England parish.

Can I join if I am already a member of another Justice & Peace related group inside or outside the parish?

Yes please! We are always delighted to have anyone who can share their knowledge of issues with us and we are anxious to collaborate fully with other groups in the course of our work.

What do we NOT do?!

We are not a militant campaigning group. We do not take on single-issue political or personal agendas and we do not believe in personalised or aggressive confrontation in our methods. If this is the kind of group you are looking for, you need to look elsewhere. Some or all of our members may take part in protest groups from time to time, but we ourselves are a faith-based group who believe in non-violent conflict resolution…. even among ourselves! The Diocesan Justice & Peace Commission guides us, although we are quite autonomous in our own decision-making.

What were your most recent events?

At Christmas we ran one of our regular Traidcraft sales in the parish hall. To look at the work of Traidcraft, have a look at the link on this site. For the first time this year, the committee who run the Church Bazaar very kindly invited us to sell Christmas Cards and religious items at the Bazaar. There was a huge response from parishioners, and we had record sales! Also over the Christmas period we promoted the work of World Vision with “alternative Christmas Gifts”. This was a means of purchasing a Christmas gift (or it can be Birthday, Anniversary, Birth etc), by donating money to a special project in the developing world. Gifts run from £5.00 to £1000!

Last year we ran a special display in the Church and had a guest speaker on World Aids Day. We support the work of CAPS, (Catholic for Aids Prevention and Support). We also had a special liturgy for Racial Justice Sunday, where the Choir sang specially selected music from all over the world and Fr John and Fr Innocent concelebrated a beautiful Mass, with a special altar display.

How do I apply to join and what happens next?

It’s easy. You can come along to one of our meetings or just get an application form. You can download one from this site, or you can get one from the Parish Office. Fill it in and return it to the Parish Office marked for the attention of the Justice & Peace group. Please remember that we are an adult group, even though our minimum age for joining is 14 years. If you are under 18 years of age, you must get a parent or guardian to agree to your membership and sign your application form. We will notify all new members when our next meeting is taking place. We advertise all our meetings and events in the parish bulletin. All the information on your application form is treated as strictly confidential and the group is run in accordance with all the Child Protection procedures of the Diocese.

So that is all about our Justice and Peace group. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us by email to jandp@shmi.info. We hope you will come and join our work; it is both rewarding and can be great fun. The day we were launched Fr Aidan wrote these words, “This is not a left or right political agenda. It is something that lies at the very heart of the Gospel and which Jesus himself makes the ultimate criterion for our own final judgement;

When I was hungry,

When I was thirsty,

When I was a stranger..”