Racial Justice Sunday is on Sunday 9th February this year.  Did you know that this is the 30th year it has been held?  It's definitely worth taking time to read more about this hugely important date and learning or being reminded about the context and inspiration for its creation: Racial Justice Sunday background

This year, the theme is 'Coat of Many Colours'.  The background to the theme and a range of resources for chaplaincies can be found here:  Racial Justice Sunday 2025  - these include liturgy from the Church of England as well as liturgy for a Eucharist that was produced within the Diocese in Europe.

The Eucharist liturgy was inspired by and at our inspirational Racial Justice Conference in Germany, the newsletters and Conference Statement for which can be found here:  Racial Justice Conference 2024.  There is much in those publications to challenge and digest as well as to use as a resource on Racial Justice Sunday and beyond.

One of the young people in our diocese talks about making racial justice a reality: 

In this video, some of the participants at the conference share their thoughts on the importance of talking about racial justice:

Please feel free to share these videos with your chaplaincies and communities. 

The Ven Dr Leslie Nathaniel, Archdeacon of Eastern, and Germany & Northern Europe and Chair of the Diocesan Racial Justice Working Group, states;

"In one of my reflections last year regarding the context of our Diocese in Europe chaplaincies, I mentioned: that they often include people who voluntarily make their living in a ‘foreign’ land, sometimes temporarily and at times permanently. Constituting our communities, we also have migrants, refugees and other groups of people who have left their homelands, often under duress. The wide diversity in terms of ethnicities, cultures, social status, languages and conditions of our European chaplaincies, but also the context in Europe poses both challenges and opportunities. Among the challenges are the subtle or not-so-subtle barriers that exist between individuals and groups in our churches and communities, including the reality of racial prejudices, both intentional and unintentional. The great opportunity for all our churches on the other hand is that we can give flesh and blood to truly being the body of Christ where no one is considered an alien or stranger, but each person is equally a member of God´s household with dignity and space assigned to them. This context has not changed. However, we now need to move further and deeper in our journey of faith implementing the recommendations that our Racial Justice Conference formulated. Young people will be given space to claim their share in reshaping our movement, a movement that is and always was intergenerational. And we will together be continually asking the key question as to whether we are doing the right things at the right time in our public witness and whether we are spurring and stirring all faith communities to be catalytic for peacemaking and bridge-building."