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Friday, 10 of September of 2010

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NEW DIRECTOR OF ST PHILIP’S CENTRE

 

johnhallsmaller The Rt Revd Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, and the Venerable Richard Atkinson, Chair of the Trustees of the St Philip’s Centre, are very pleased to announce the appointment of Canon Dr John Hall as the next Director of the St Philip’s Centre and Diocesan Director of Interfaith Relations. 

Canon Dr Hall (60) is currently Director of Social Responsibility for the Coventry Diocese. He is Chair of the West Midland’s Regional Faith Forum, the Bishop of Coventry’s Officer for Inter-faith work, and a Member of the West Midlands Regional Assembly. John’s PhD thesis, completed in 2006, was on ‘The Discourse of Race and Racism’ and he is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Birmingham.  He is married to Rosie. Accepting the invitation to come to the St Philip’s Centre John said: ‘I’m very excited at coming to Leicester. It’s a city which has an amazing rich diversity of different faith communities and the St Philip’s Centre is ideally placed to help Christians and others study and engage with the joys and challenges that come with inter faith dialogue. Inter faith work is key to our being good neighbours and strengthening faith and community life.’

The Venerable Richard Atkinson, Chair of Trustees of the St Philip’s Centre welcoming John’s appointment said: ‘John brings to leadership of the St Philip’s Centre a wide experience of Inter-faith engagement in the West Midlands and at a national level. John will work with the strong team at St Philip’s to develop and extend our work to enable Christians, Faith communities and public, private and voluntary sector agencies to engage with confidence in our multi-faith society.’
The Bishop of Leicester, with whom John will work closely as a key advisor, said, ‘The Diocese of Leicester has a long and successful record of enabling generous relationships amongst the faith communities of Leicester and Leicestershire. I am delighted that John, building on the excellent work of Canon Dr Andrew Wingate, will be taking this important work forward both locally and as we inform the national agenda.’  Following his retirement at the end of January, Dr Wingate will be spending some time in Sweden in an ambassadorial role, helping to develop inter faith work there. 

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

MOSQUITO MAN SPOTTED IN LEICESTER!

 mosquito-dec-09

Recently the city of Leicester was greeted by a giant mosquito which was seen helping young people raise money for one of the biggest killers in Africa. The mosquito was seen at Leicester College on Thursday 10th December and at the University of Leicester on Friday 11th December. Young people at both venues raised a total of £506.32 to help end deaths caused by Malaria. Fair Trade coffee and tea as well as Krispy Kreme doughnuts were sold on both campuses with every penny going towards ‘Malaria No More’.

 

 

 

Michael Tweed, a Christian and one of the Faiths Act Fellows for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation based at St Philip’s Centre said, “At Christmas time, it is the season of giving to one another. As a result of the generosity and hard work of students at Leicester College and the University of Leicester, Christmas has come early for 100 African families. This is because £5 buys a bed net to protect a family from malaria - and 100 Botswanan families will be safe, because of these students”.

 

Michael was joined in the charity effort by his colleague Bilal Hassam and Raheema Caratella (Engagement Worker) at the St Philip’s Centre. Their mission is to mobilise the faith communities of Leicester in the global fight against malaria.

 

Bilal Hassam, a Muslim who is also studying Medicine at the University of Nottingham added, “It is amongst the highest calls in all religions to help those in need. Malaria is entirely preventable and yet kills someone every thirty seconds. I think this is unacceptable. The students at Leicester College and the University of Leicester have shown that they care about this very serious issue”.

 

The Faiths Act Fellows are working to equip, inspire and empower the next generation of Faith Leaders in Leicester. You can follow their progress and get involved through their website: www.FaithsActFellows.org/Leicester 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE CHALLENGE TO RELIGIONS

 

St. Philip’s Centre joined forces with the Leicester Council of Faiths and the World Congress of Faiths to sponsor a day conference on ‘Climate Change and the Challenge to Religions’. Spearheaded by Alan Race, the conference was inspired by the international day of action on United Nations Day, 24th October 2009.  The day of action was built around 350, which is the parts per million units of carbon that the atmosphere can take for any sustainable life in the future.  We are already at 390 ppm!  The event brought together people from many traditions – Bahai’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Quaker, Sikh, Unitarian, Pagan and Seeker.  We discussed the mounting concern about climate change science, the convergent awareness that exists among spiritual communities about the care of the earth, and the politics of the preparations for the Copenhagen summit in December. 

 

Energy was high, and participation was keen.  Bonds of friendship and alliances of shared spirit were formed.  Participants exhibited a culture of solidarity and determination.  How green is our religion – spiritually and practically?  That’s the question confronting all faith communities.

 

 

 

Delegates supporting the 350ppm campaign

Delegates supporting the 350ppm campaign