🕊️PRAYER FOR ARMISTICE DAY

🙏God our Father,
On this Armistice Day - as every day - we thank you for your great love for us. And so we pray for all who suffer as a result of conflict:
For all members of the armed forces, past and present, and sacrifices made to keep us safe.
For civilian children and adults whose lives are disfigured by war or terror.
For those who offer support, compassion and understanding wherever and whenever it is needed.

🙏We remember with thanksgiving all peacemakers and peacekeepers, and everyone who strives to keep our world secure and free.
As we recall the past, may we do so for the sake of the future, asking for gifts of wisdom and resolve in the search for reconciliation and peace.
May we always remember that true security is only achieved through means which build trust and relationships of understanding and acceptance.

🙏Generous and compassionate God, we pray that your Spirit may move in the hearts of leaders that choose violence and war over dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.
May they be moved to resolve conflicts in ways that do not cause others to lose their lives.
We pray that your love will one day conquer all and that our hearts may be filled with the desire to make this a reality in our world.

This prayer we offer through Jesus Christ out Lord.
Amen

🌎 MASS FOR THE COP30 CLIMATE SUMMIT
🕐 Monday 10 November | 1:00pm
⛪St Andrew’s Cathedral, Glasgow

Join us as we come together to pray for all those taking part in the COP30 Climate Summit and for the care of our common home.

The Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Nolan, hosted by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland’s Care of Creation Office, and supported by Justice & Peace Scotland, SCIAF, and Scottish Catholic Education Service.

After Mass, join us for refreshments in Eyre Hall and a live video update from SCIAF’s Ben Wilson, reporting directly from COP30 in Brazil.

All are welcome!

📜In his new Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi te, Pope Leo XIV calls us to rediscover an active, practical love for people who are marginalised, vulnerable, or experiencing poverty.

⚖️Completing the work begun by Pope Francis, Dilexi te offers a profound reflection on the societal structures that keep people in poverty by challenging economic systems that entrench inequality and injustice.

❤️The Holy Father reaffirms the Church’s duty to exercise a preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, one of the core principles of Catholic Social Teaching; this means prioritising the needs not only of those in material poverty, but of all who are marginalized, including prisoners, migrants, and the sick.

✝️Placing the inseparable link between charity and justice at the heart of his exhortation, Pope Leo reminds us that our faith demands both acts of charity to assist those in immediate need and acts of solidarity to change these very structures that create and sustain hardship, inequality, and oppression. He stresses that both actions are essential expressions of our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ and a living demonstration of our love for God.

📸DIGNITY NOT DETENTION: National Day of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention

Justice & Peace Scotland joined with Scottish Detainee Visitors and Glasgow Solidarity Stall last Saturday for a community advocacy event marking the National Day of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention.

We reflected on the growing injustice of immigration detention in the UK, shared stories, and wrote postcards to people currently detained in Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre.

We’re especially grateful to Ronnie Tagwireyi, Scottish Detainee Visitors board member, for sharing his first-hand experiences of detention, reminding us of the human cost of this inhumane system and the urgent need for change.

💬Our Campaigns & Communications Officer, Andrew Smith, said:

“At a time when the cruel and unjust practice of immigration detention is becoming more prevalent in the UK, it was affecting to come together with empathy to show our opposition to the detention system. As Pope Leo XIV has said of those seeking sanctuary, safety and security, ‘it is important that there be a growing desire in people’s hearts for a future of peace and respect for the dignity of all.’”

We are deeply grateful to all who joined us in solidarity last weekend and were encouraged by those who left inspired to take further action: to volunteer, campaign, demonstrate, and advocate for change.

Justice & Peace Scotland continues to call for an end to indefinite detention and for an immigration system rooted in human dignity, compassion, and respect.

📢SCOTLAND DEMANDS BETTER

If you believe in a Scotland built on dignity, community, and solidarity we are calling on you to join us and thousands of others in Edinburgh this weekend as we demand better jobs, better investment in life’s essentials, and better social security for all.

We will be marching alongside the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and fellow Christian denominations - meeting point info at the end of this post. ⬇️

In a time when division and uncertainty can so easily take hold, this is a march for all of us. Lasting change comes when we stand together in a positive and united call for fairness, compassion, and the common good for each and every person - not when we are a society fragmented.

KEY DETAILS:
📅 Saturday 25th October.
🕥 Gathering from 10:30am at Scottish Churches' Meeting Point | March sets off at 11am.
📍 Scottish Churches' Meeting Point - beside the Scottish Water Top-Up Tap, outside the Scottish Parliament Visitors' Entrance.
🪧Look out for the J&P Scotland banner and "Scottish Churches Demand Better" placards at the meeting point.
👣For details about the March route or accessibility information, head to the Scotland Demands Better website.
🎵The March ends with a rally and family friendly mini-festival in The Meadows, which will include speeches and a headline set from Colonel Mustard and The Dijon 5.

March with us for a Scotland where everyone can thrive!

📢JOIN US AT SCOTLAND DEMANDS BETTER – The March for All of Us

🗓️ Saturday 25th October
🕥10:30am–12:30pm
📍 Scottish Churches Meeting Point: at the Scottish Water Top-Up Tap, outside the Scottish Parliament Visitors’ Entrance - (What3Words: wiping.small.chief)

We envision a future for Scotland built on unity, solidarity, and inclusion, not on division and intolerance.

That’s why Justice & Peace Scotland is proud to stand alongside The Poverty Alliance, the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and over 200 organisations and faith groups for the Scotland Demands Better March in Edinburgh.

We are uniting this October to call for:
1️⃣Fair jobs and wages.
2️⃣Decent social security.
3️⃣Investment in essentials so that every household can thrive.

We know that the challenges facing our communities – poverty, low pay, homelessness, lack of resources – are leaving many frustrated and angry. We also know a better way is possible: one that rejects division and the scapegoating of minority groups and instead is rooted in solidarity and hope.

✝️ We need YOU to join us in Edinburgh as we come together as people of faith against poverty, against division, and demanding better for all people in Scotland.

🚶‍♀️The march will set off from the Scottish Parliament at 11am, travel up the Royal Mile to The Meadows, and conclude with a family-friendly rally full of music, speeches, and community spirit.

🪧Look out for the J&P Scotland banner and placards at the meeting point - bring your family, bring your friends, and let's demand better for Scotland.