CHURCH IN GAZA HIT BY ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE❗

Many of our supporters will remember when Justice & Peace Scotland, alongside the Archdiocese of Glasgow and SCIAF, welcomed Fr Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, to Scotland. He came with a heartfelt plea for peace in the lands of Palestine and Israel, and to share the daily reality of his suffering community.

Today we are heartbroken to learn that the Holy Family Church has been struck by an Israeli airstrike. Many have been injured, including Fr Gabriel himself.

In a statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said: "The Holy Family Church in Gaza has been struck by a raid this morning. There are several injuries in the place, including the Parish Priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli."

Attacks on civilian populations like this one have been happening for months in Gaza. They are unacceptable. From the outset of this war, we have called for a ceasefire, echoing the words of the late Pope Francis, "Wars are always a defeat," and the powerful appeal of our new Pope Leo: "Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace."

When Fr Gabriel was with us in Scotland, his message was simple and urgent: "I am the parish priest of the only Catholic Church in Gaza, and I come here to ask you to do everything you can to stop this war. Work for peace in any way you can. Pray for peace in any way you can."

Justice & Peace Scotland urges all our supporters to please contact your MP, telling them this story and asking them what they are doing to advocate for an immediate ceasefire.

We ask you also to pray for Fr Gabriel and the entire parish community. May they know they are not alone, that their brothers and sisters in Christ across the world know they are there, that we remember them and we hold them in prayerful solidarity.

🕊️As conflict and hostility continue to rise across the world, it's clear the arms race isn’t making us safer.

💬“These weapons, in actual fact, do not make the world more secure: they make the world feel more insecure. So much so that we are spending more money on 'deterrents'... more money on these weapons of mass destruction.” - Archbishop William Nolan, Faslane Naval Base - Christian Peace Vigil 2024

✝️Will you join us at Faslane this year in an act of Christian public witness in opposition to nuclear weapons? Free transport is provided from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

🗓Sat 2nd August
🕥10.30am
📍HMNB Clyde, South Gate, Maidstone Road

🚌FREE bus provided by Justice & Peace Scotland and the Church of Scotland.
🔹Edinburgh pick-up: Waterloo Place (beside Waverley Station), departing 7.45am
🔹Glasgow pick-up: Gordon Street (outside Central Station), departing 9.15am
📩Message us today to reserve your spot!

📢NO TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS❗

Join us for a Christian ecumenical peace vigil on Saturday 2nd August, 10.30am-12.00pm at Faslane Naval Base as we mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This act of public witness will include prayer, readings, reflection and song, led by:

✝️Most Rev. William Nolan - Archbishop of Glasgow and President of Justice & Peace Scotland.
✝️Rt Rev. Rosie Frew - Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
✝️Most Rev. Mark Strange - Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Justice & Peace Scotland along with members of The Iona Community will gather in faith to call for nuclear disarmament and raise our voices and prayers for peace. As Christians, we are called to be peacemakers and to uphold the dignity of every human life. Nuclear weapons are fundamentally incompatible with this call, threatening indiscriminate destruction and a future built on fear and power-wielding rather than on fraternity amongst nations.

🚌 FREE bus available from Edinburgh and Glasgow:
🔹Departing Edinburgh, Waterloo Place (beside Waverley Station), 7.45am
🔹Departing Glasgow, Gordon Street (beside Central Station), 9.15am
📧 To reserve a seat, email: office@justiceandpeacescotland.org.uk

All are welcome!

📬 Our latest newsletter is live: have you read it yet?

🧡As we mark Refugee Week, take a moment to read our reflection on what Catholic Social Teaching says about welcoming the stranger, standing with displaced people, and offering safety and sanctuary to those in need.

🕊️Plus you’ll find updates on our latest work and ways you can get involved.

👇Read the full newsletter on our website now, link in comments below.

🧡 REFUGEE WEEK 2025: 16TH - 22ND JUNE

📜Claiming asylum is a human right, enshrined in the customs and treaties of international law to which the UK is party. Yet too often those fleeing violence, oppression, and persecution are met not with compassion but with hostility and are scapegoated as the cause of our societal problems rather than recognised as people seeking sanctuary and hope.

📖Catholic Social Teaching has long affirmed the rights of refugees and migrants. From the apostolic constitution Exsul Familia Nazarethana of Pius XII in 1952 to today, the Church has consistently called on nations to protect those forced to flee their homes.

🇻🇦Pope Francis challenged Christians to reject the prevailing attitudes of indifference and hostility towards migrants and refugees in his 2020 papal encyclical Fratelli Tutti:

💬“Migrants are not seen as entitled like others to participate in the life of society, and it is forgotten that they possess the same intrinsic dignity as any person… No one will ever openly deny that they are human beings, yet in practice, by our decisions and the way we treat them, we can show that we consider them less worthy, less important, less human.
For Christians, this way of thinking and acting is unacceptable since it sets certain political preferences above deep convictions of our faith: the inalienable dignity of each human person regardless of origin, race or religion, and the supreme law of fraternal love.”

🦺Many of those arriving on UK shores by irregular routes like small boat crossings do so not by choice but because there are no safe or accessible alternatives. If the UK provided more secure and fair pathways for people to claim asylum, these dangerous journeys would not be necessary.

🕊️Justice & Peace Scotland has consistently advocated for a fairer, more humane asylum system and added our voice to the call for greater welcome, safety, and sanctuary for refugees who are first and foremost our sisters and brothers in Christ.

📢This Refugee Week, we continue to stand in solidarity with those forced to flee their homes and encourage our supporters to speak out for a more compassionate asylum system, to challenge the language of fear and division, and to welcome the stranger in our midst.

📸 Dignity Not Detention: Solidarity Gathering at Dungavel Detention Centre

On Sunday 15th June, Father’s Day, almost forty people braved the rain and joined our peaceful solidarity gathering outside Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre under the banner of Dignity Not Detention.

Led by Archbishop William Nolan and joined by Justice & Peace Scotland members, supporters and long-time collaborators, we reflected emotively and prayerfully on the injustice of indefinite immigration detention in the UK.

The UK is the only country in Europe that detains people in prison-like conditions without a time limit. Some inside Dungavel are held indefinitely for something as minor as working more hours than allowed on a visa. For this, they are stripped of liberty, cut off from their communities, relationships, and families, with no idea when they will be released.

Archbishop Nolan reminded us yesterday that when someone goes through the criminal justice system and receives a prison sentence, they at least know how long they’ll be held. Those in immigration detention do not even have that information.
He called for an immigration and asylum system that recognises the human dignity of all, that sees every person, citizen or not, as a brother or sister in Christ, and refuses to deprive someone of liberty simply because they are a foreigner.

On a day when so many were celebrating fatherhood, we held in our hearts the fathers behind the barbed wire of Dungavel and all those harmed by a system that values control over compassion.