World Cup Prayers

Image courtesy of The FA

It was a frustrating start to England's World Cup campaign, despite an encouraging performance, loosing to Italy. However, Daniel Sturridge managed to get on the score sheet and after doing so, clearly offered the goal up in prayer to God.

It is not the first time that Sturridge has mentioned his faith. In an interview in May 2013, he said: "I've kept praying every game – which I always do. God showed me how I need to be strong mentally. Being strong mentally is the one thing that can separate you from anyone else. When I worked with Didier Drogba at Chelsea, the one strength he had above everybody was his mental strength. I learned a lot from working with him about what it takes to be a top player. Hopefully I'll become one." (see more <here>)

[Drogba has been featured in a previous blog post about prayer <here>]

When he first broke in to the England team in October 2013 he said, "At the moment, things are going well and I've been blessed by god to have this sort of form and my faith in god has got me to where I am today" (see more <here>)

It's not the only prayer that has featured so far at the World Cup. When Algeria scored against Belgium in their opening game, they celebrated with this:

Image courtesy of Yahoo

Sofiane Feghouli and several teammates ran to the corner flag and celebrated by kneeling down together. It was rather subdued compared with some of the general craziness of other teams' goal celebrations. However the Sujud (a prayer position in which the forehead, nose, hands, knees and toes all touch the ground) has become a customary goal celebration for Muslim players including Chelsea's Demba Ba.

Aside from the players praying, there is also a encouragement for fans to get praying too. The Bible Society are distributing free World Cup edition Bibles (see <here>), papers like the Catholic Herald have written articles reminding Christians to learn from the World Cup (see <here>) and CAFOD have used the opportunity to educate young people about some of the global issues connected to Brazil including poverty and fair trade putting their prayer into action (see <here>).

Thankfully Pope Francis has promised to not pray for his homeland in Argentina, see <here>. However Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera has asked Mexico to pray to their team! <here>

The Church of England have even gone as far as to release five prayers for the World Cup:

Prayer 1 - A Prayer for the World Cup

Lord of all the nations, who played the cosmos into being, guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup.
May all find in this competition a source of celebration, an experience of common humanity and a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others.
Amen.

Prayer 2 - A Prayer for Brazil

God of the nations, who has always called his people to be a blessing for the world, bless all who take part in the World Cup.
Smile on Brazil in her hosting,
on the nations represented in competition and on those who travel to join in the party.
Amen.

Prayer 3 - A prayer for those simply not interested

Lord, as all around are gripped with World Cup fever, bless us with understanding, strengthen us with patience and grant us the gift of sympathy if needed.
Amen.

Prayer 4 - Prayer for the England Football team

"Oh God..."

Prayer 5 - Prayer for the England Football team

"God, who played the cosmos into being, please help England rediscover their legs, their eyes and their hunger: that they might run more clearly, pass more nearly and enjoy the game more dearly. Amen."

(Based on The Prayer commemorating Richard, Bishop of Chichester in 1253 and used by the Church of England on 16 June each year)

See press release <here>

Do you think the World Cup is a good place to pray? Do you think the footballers do provide good Christian role models? Is it right that Christian organisations use this opportunity? Will you be praying for England?!

Rwanda: 20 Years On

Picture: The Observer

The 6th April 1994 will be a date forever etched in the memory of every Rwandan. This is the day the President Juvenal Habyarimana was assainated and it resulted in up to 1 milion people dying in just 100 days of violence.

I was aware of this event, but heard two nuns speak of a trip to Rwanda in the mid 2000's, 10 years after the genocide. As part of this, there was a showing of the film Shooting Dogs:

This helped me understand what an abolsute tragedy happened during that short time. Around 20% of the country's total population was killed and 70% of the Tutsi. Estiamte suggest that an average of six people were killed every minute of every hour of every day, while the international community failed to intervene. The UN faced harsh criticism for failing to act.

As the sign at the memorial says, 'Never Again'. The ethnic cleansing by Hutus was classed widely as a genocide, the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group. However too often history does and has repeated itself.

I urge you to watch Shooting Dogs; it's powerful and stays with you. Also remember those who died, and those who work around the world to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Read more: http://www.cafod.org.uk/About-Us/Where-we-work/Africa/Rwanda

Nelson Mandela - 1918 - 2013

 

Free after 27 years in prison

Nelson Mandela, one of the few true greats leaders, passed away on the 5th December 2013. Many words will be written about him but this collects a few resources to help understand something of the tributes being made.

 

 

CAFOD often use his speech to remind us to the 'Great Generation'... there is more information on his Make Poverty History speech here:

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/extras/mandela.shtml

 

There is a further tribute from CAFOD here:

http://www.cafod.org.uk/News/International-News/Nelson-Mandela

 

 

Typhoon Haiyan: CAFOD Appeal

As Typhoon Haiyan devastates The Philippines, CAFOD has launched an urgent appeal to  to support the work of its church partners on the ground.

Rey Barnido, an aid worker from CAFOD’s partner Caritas Philippines, said: "Patients are overflowing from the regional hospital in Tacloban. There are dead people everywhere. There is no water or power. Volunteers are trying to manage the disaster. It looks as if nuclear bombs were dropped."

Donate <here>

 

 

Read more: http://www.cafod.org.uk/Education/Secondary-schools/Emergencies

The Big *IF*: There Is Enough Food For Everyone...

Nearly 100 leading charities, including CAFOD, want to make 2013 the beginning of the end of the global hunger crisis. It is a major campaign to lobby David Cameron, the prime minister, to use Britain's presidency of the G8 to leverage action on ending global hunger.

There is Enough Food for Everyone….

we force governments and investors to be honest and open about the deals they make in the poorest countries that stop people getting enough food.

governments keep their promises on aid, invest to stop children dying from malnutrition and help the poorest people feed themselves through investment in small farmers.

we stop poor farmers being forced off their land, and use the available agricultural land to grow food for people, not biofuels for cars.

governments stop big companies dodging tax in poor countries, so that millions of people can free themselves from hunger.

The launch of the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign is supported by One Direction, Orlando Bloom, Natasha Kaplinsky, Bill Gates, David Harewood, David Gyasi, Anjelique Kidjo, Nina Wadia and Myleene Klass. 

Sign up for change here: http://www.cafod.org.uk/Campaign/Take-action-today/Joint-campaign-on-food 

Read more at: http://www.enoughfoodif.org

CAFOD visit Y10 #SHOM

Have Y10 students seen this?

http://cafodbrentwood.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/sacred-heart-school-upminster-yr-10-workshop/

Spread the word!

KONY 2012 - Good idea or not?

This film does contain some disturbing scenes. Watch with caution.

*UPDATE*: Statement from CAFOD Brentwood:

"This film has done a great deal to raise awareness of the suffering that has been inflicted across East Africa and beyond as a result of the activities of the LRA. CAFOD and its partners been dealing with the reality of those activities and the tragic human consequences for decades now. However, we do not share the views of the organisation behind the film that the answer to this issue is more military intervention within the region, which can only serve to continue the cycle of violence, with children caught in the middle. CAFOD is working with partners in Uganda seeking to bring lasting peace and security to the region, and a life free from fear and violence to its children. To find out more about this work and how you can support please visit the CAFOD website: http://www.cafod.org.uk/uganda "

Many of you will by now have heard of, or seen KONY 2012. The 30 minute video has taken social media by storm highlighting one particular case of child soldiers in Uganda. However, as quickly as it spread, so did criticism of the organisation Invisible Children.

Their donation site actually crashed for part of yesterday as people flooded to make donations and buy wristbands in sympathy to the cause.

This blog, although a little snobby to the cause on both sides, highlights some of the issues covered elsewhere on the internet: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/should-i-donate-money-to-kony-2012-or-not

The writers conclusion:

"The film Kony 2012 began because the filmmakers went to Uganda and met a young boy so traumatised by his experiences that he was contemplating suicide. Confronted with the grotesque reality of the atrocities, the Western filmmakers did what I hope I'd do, and resolved to help. No matter what. With that in mind, does it matter if they get paid well? Does it matter if they massage the facts? Does it matter that their charity isn't completely accountable? Does is matter that they're naive prats who think it's the white man's job to save Africa? Or is that all just pompous hypothesising by Westerners with enough freedom, information and education to look down on a simple, kind act?

Isn't it better to just stop criticising and start helping children in need? Or is that the kind of blind interventionist attitude that throws countries like Afghanistan into very, very long wars?"

There are others too: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble and http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/kony-2012-viral-youtube-video-draws-celebs-%E2%80%93-and-criticism-36051

Certainly this social media 'storm' has proved the power of such networks (if needed proof after the Arab Spring), can they continue to be used for good? Surely retweeting and sharing this video couldn't possibly do any harm?

My only concern is that the reputation of charities who are genuinely doing a very good job helping child soldiers could be damaged if the claims of financial secrecy and misappropriation of funds become founded. People will be sceptical of giving and donating.

For me, I'd rather give my money to CAFOD who I have seen first hand making sure every penny is accounted for. Dermot O'Leary visited a child soldiers project with CAFOD in 2004:

www.cafod.org.uk/donate

Fighting Famine With Faith Communities

"The common goal of love of God and love of neighbour in the Abrahamic faiths is a strong bond in tackling crises in Africa"

"When Christian, Muslim and Jewish NGOs work together on an issue like feeding the hungry, their collective quest toward a common good can cut across their traditions when they meet others of differing theologies who are doing the same thing."

What lessons can be learned from this work? Why do faith communities show such care and love to 'the poorest of the poor'? Is it just because of Gospel values?

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/jan/25/faith-communites-fight-famine-sudan?CMP=twt_fd

Gap Year with CAFOD

GAP YEAR OPPORTUNITY WITH CAFOD: RECRUITING NOW, STARTING SEPTEMBER 2012 (for 18-30 year olds)

CAFOD’s Gap Year Programme “Step Into The Gap” (SITG) is a gap year opportunity with a real difference. Successful applicants take part in a gap year which spans across UK and overseas placements, working with young people on aspects of faith, social justice, global issues and stewardship.

Previous countries we have worked in include; Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia. UK placement can be in either Youth Ministry’s (Just Youth, Salford, or YMT – Newcastle), or within schools chaplaincies in St. Mary’s Blackpool. The programme runs from September – July. Training and support are provided throughout the programme.

This fully funded programme is a great opportunity for those aged between 18-30 to explore their faith in an exciting new way, and to build lifelong connections across the globe. We are currently recruiting for opportunities starting in September 2012. Applications to the programme close April 30th 2012.

Application forms and an information leaflet are attached here, or please check our website
www.cafod.org.uk/stepintothegap