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Discernment
In London the 3rd European Social Forum was inaugurated in Southwark Cathedral and carried out its work in Alexandra Palace. It was not possible for me to be there but I hope some of our confreres South of the border took an interest in it. While protesting aganist the war in Iraq the participants reiterated message went "there cannot be peace without justice, nor justice without peace". The battle is agaist the privatisation of public services in Europe. Concretely, to prevent the EU legislating in May 2005 that health care, education and water are goods that can be privitised.
Back in Glasgow, meanwhile, the J.&P. national secretary Richard McCready, went on a tour of China sponsored by the Columbans, visiting the places where Matteo Ricci worked. On the last Saturday of October I was once again in Edinburgh together with Sr. Palma for the annual conference on J&P for Scotland. It was a conference on Asylum and Immigration with three main speakers. Professor T.M. Devine who outlined the flows of immigration to Scotland mainly Irish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Asians fleeing Uganda, Jewish from central Europe, and the English who represent by far the largest community. Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue from Lancaster gave a summary of the statements about migration in the official documents of the Church. John Joseet, from Singapore, as adviser to the Bishop's conference of England and Wales on immigration, outlined the different position of governments in Europe towards the immigrants. We listened to testimonies from Asylum seekers living in Scotland. I went to the one where Peter Boutros a Sudanese from Juba spoke with passion of his being an activist for the SPLA. His application has been rejected, though he is now a civic engineer. The links created with some African Asylum seekers have brought abundant fruit in their enthusiastic involvement with the singing and the dancing in the final celebration of Comboni's canonization occurring in St.Columba's Parish, Viewpark.