Blog June 2021: CPW in Conversation with... Ellen Teague
Introduction
Ellen Teague is known to many of us. As well as an active participant on both All Age and 18+ events, Ellen had also chaired many a week sharing her passion for Justice and Peace and knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching.
Last month Ellen was awarded the Pax Christi Medal.
In this month's blog she tells us more about her work and involvement with CPW.
What interested and encouraged you to get involved in the peace work you are so dedicated to now?
Awareness goes back to seeing the negative impact of conflict on development and the environment during work in Sahelian Africa in the early 1980s and then during eight years at CAFOD. I have been involved with Pax Christi since 1990, when my dear friend and colleague Pat Gaffney moved from CAFOD to Pax Christi. That same year, I moved to work with the Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology Team and was increasingly drawn into media outreach on issues of common interest to Pax Christi and the Columbans, and that included peace.
I would attend and write news stories about the Ash Wednesday annual witness at the Ministry of Defence, the August Nuclear weapons commemorations and annual service to commemorate Franz Jaggerstatter. I have been interested in covering the annual conscientious objectors day service in London, launches of new resources, and peace conferences. It has enriched my life as well as my work to get to know the peace community at home and internationally as friends. The Columbans are active members of Pax Christi internationally and they gave me the freedom and resources to pursue the peace mission.
What peace issue, in your opinion, is the most important at this time?
My work has always been the connection between issues, in fact the nomination said, I “bring together strands of justice and peace - meaning human rights and justice for the global poor, peace, disarmament and nonviolence, and environmental issues, particularly climate change.” I couldn't really pick out one in isolation for all are inter-related. ‘Conflict and Climate Change’ a 2013 DVD, produced by the Movement for the Abolition of War in consultation with Pax Christi and the Columbans, is a typical resource I worked on that focuses on links between militarism and the climate crisis.
Broadly, I deplore any violence against God's Creation and against the poor. Or as Pope Francis puts it, 'the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor.' This year not only sees a UN meeting on Climate Change but also one on Biodiversity Loss, which will take place in China. Both issues are increasingly being addressed together, along with their implications for the poorest countries in the world.
What would you say to someone looking to get involved in the justice and peace world?
First, ask what is happening in your parish and diocese. A few dioceses have paid fieldworkers but all have contacts who can be helpful in terms of training, resources and events. Much is now available on zooms, webinars and social media. Nationally, the National Justice and Peace Network and Scotland J&P have regular meetings and I have always found the annual conference of NJPN very informative and inspirational. Catholic and ecumenical agencies involved in social justice tend to be members and there are plenty of opportunities out there. https://www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/
How did it feel to have your work and dedication to peace, recognised?
I was bemused that people I enormously admire – Valerie Flessati and Nan Saeki – had felt I was deserving and nominated me for this award. However, I was so honoured to be affirmed by the wonderful Pax Christi community. All my engagements with Pax Christi have nourished my faith, from editing ‘A Taste for Peace – Recipes and Reflections for Peace’ to joining a UK delegation to Bethlehem in the West Bank in 2015 for an international Pax Christi gathering and witnessing the injustices of the barrier wall and Palestinian refugee camps. It was a privilege to promote the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, as well as join one of the many courses running.
It’s great for Gerry and our three sons to find out more about what I do. These days they largely see little more than me reading and typing at my desk for long hours.
What are some of the positive changes you have been a part of during your time in peace work?
The endorsement given to being peacemakers by Pope Francis has been amazing. He has, for example, condemned the possession as well as the use of nuclear weapons. The first-ever treaty to ban nuclear weapons entered into force on 22 January 2021, which is a great sign of hope despite the fact that none of the nations that possess nuclear weapons have ratified it. Advocacy goes on, particularly in August during the Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries, to challenge the UK government which has around 200 nuclear weapons and is committed to replacing the ageing Trident submarine system. More people are realising that if these weapons of mass destruction were ever used again then the future of the entire Earth community would be at stake.
Legitimacy is gradually being removed from arms trading and social media has certainly helped to galvanise protests about arms fairs and sales in petitions, twitter storms and lobbying initiatives.
Peace education is growing in an increasing number of schools. At the recent AGM, more than 250 downloads of resources were reported over the past year and there were zooms with schools and collaboration with Columban J&P education for online sessions with educators on asylum issues, militarism, peace activism and interreligious dialogue.
How has CPW contributed towards the peace agenda?
I find the CPW community similar to the Pax Christi one. It is lay-led and since my first CPW in the late 1980s, I have been privileged to meet inspirational, creative, compassionate and thoughtful people. We largely share a vision guided by justice, peace and ecological justice. There will be CPW people at most J&P gatherings. When Cardinal Vincent Nichols launched Laudato Si’ in the UK in June 2015, he chose the venue of a new Catholic eco primary primary in East London designed by our very own Anne Dixon. The participatory liturgies of Rebekah O’Keeffe linger in the memory for years.
I have chaired several weeks which covered Peace. Way back in 2007 at Alton Towers, a week on Livesimply included a look at violence associated with the minerals we use such as Gold and Nickel. In the role play ‘Timber’ my son James has never forgotten the powerlessness of playing the role of an indigenous leader trying to save rainforest from developers.
Boars Hill in 2016 on ‘Lord, make me a means of our peace’ hosted Pat Gaffney, General Secretary of Pax Christi UK, as a speaker. She said that, for too long, our society has accepted a paradigm that justifies enormous loss of human life and widespread destruction of the planet in pursuit of a false security. “Do we have the courage to be peacemakers,” she added, “confronting the causes of fractious relationships in human society, healing our wounded planet and nurturing peace in our own lives?” The same venue in 2018 on ‘Sharing Gospel Joy’ saw the group addressed by Virginia Moffat who had recently edited ‘Reclaiming the Common Good: How Christians can rebuild our broken world’, and Chris Cole, founder of Drone Wars UK and a peace activist. Peace issues featured in the last CPW before lockdown at Hinsley Hall, Leeds in February 2020 which I chaired. We looked at ‘The Challenge of Prophetic Imagination in 2020’, not imagining that a Covid lockdown was looming a month later.
How has COVID-19 affected peace work in general and has it affected how you work in anyway?
Pax Christi England and Wales has had to find new ways of working this past year during the pandemic restrictions and with reduced income. Despite the success of zoom services, education courses online and twitter storms, alongside valued partnership with such groups as Christian CND and the National Justice and Peace Network, there has been an income shortfall during the pandemic. Peace Sunday income has reduced significantly with fewer parishes having a Peace Sunday 2021 collection. At May’s AGM it was hoped that more people will join Pax Christi membership to boost funds and provide a bigger pool of local animators. The recent 'Pilgrimage for Peace', which featured cycle rides and educational walks, raised more than £14,000, as well as affirming the Pax Christi movement.
My work has built up during the pandemic. I was based at home anyway, working mostly online, and there was even more to highlight with increasing hardship in Britain for the most vulnerable and links between the risk of pandemics and increased human engagement with wild animals. There is more understanding of what real security risks are and more popular protest when, for example, military spending is increased as the aid budget is reduced.
What have you enjoyed most about working with the organisations you are involved in?
Pax Christi and other organisations connected to justice and peace have a vision of the world in line with the papal encyclical Laudato Si’ and I have an affinity with that. I love the celebration of peace heroes such as Franz Jägerstätter, the women martyrs of El Salvador, John Todd and other conscientious objectors, and environmental martyrs such as Berta Caceres. Then there are the living heroes such as Bruce Kent, who has regarded peacemaking as his primary vocation for six decades.
I am enthusiastic to support calls to divest from arms trading and fossil fuels and stop spending huge resources on weapons. Also, working towards a simpler lifestyle and a transition away from large-scale extractive industries which are destroying the natural world. And in the Christian groups it’s all experienced in the context of faith – bringing “life to the full” as John 10:10 would put it.
Find out more about the work of Pax Christi here - www.paxchristi.org.uk
Our thanks to Rebecca O’Keeffe, Rachel Sweetman, and of course Ellen Teague for this interview.