Who's taking part?

A number of leading thinkers, inspiring speakers and opinion formers took part in liveit! 

Most Rev Dr John Sentamu

John Sentamu is the Anglican Archbishop of York.

Born in Uganda, he studied law at Makerere University and then worked as a barrister, before becoming a judge in the Uganda High Court.

In 1974, his criticism of the Amin regime for its human rights violations led to his arrest and departure from Uganda for the UK.

He studied theology at Cambridge, was ordained in 1979 and served in parishes in Cambridge and London before becoming Bishop of Birmingham.

As Britain's first black Archbishop, he has often spoken out against racism in the church.  He was an Adviser to the Stephen Lawrence Judicial Inquiry and he chaired the Damilola Taylor Murder Review, 2002. He campaigned against guns, knives, drugs and gangs throughout the Midlands, and in 2006 spent a week in York Minster fasting and praying for peace in the Middle East.

Dr Mike Edwards

Mike Edwards is CAFOD's Climate Change Programme Development Officer. He has a PhD in climate change and has worked in the environment fieldfor over 15 years. Most of his research has been on the links between climate change and conflict in small island states. 

Mike has had an unorthodox career. Before joining CAFOD, he was a professional didgeridoo player establishing himself as one of the world's top exponents of this Aboriginal instrument.  He has performed in concert halls and at festivals all over the world and has released four CDs to international acclaim.

At CAFOD, Mike works to raise awareness of the causes and consequences of climate change and supports partners who are trying to adapt to the impacts of climate change and climate variability.

Mary Colwell

Mary Colwell is a producer in the BBC Natural History Unit . 

She has made numerous documentaries for TV including Wildlife on One, The Natural World, Predators, British Isles - A Natural History, Europe - A Natural History, Bill Oddie Goes Wild and How To Watch Wildlife with Bill Oddie.  Radio programmes include a landmark series on animal behaviour The Rules of Life, Ice Age Britain, Sex and the Scientist, and Hornet Juice (the most requested programme in Pick of the Year on Radio 4!), Monastic Gardens and Gardens of Faith. She also worked in Australia for two years with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Natural History Unit.

For the past two years she has been working closely with the Catholic Church, urging it to take a leadership role in environmental issues.  She has lectured widely in the UK and is involved in setting up the Catholic Church's official environmental launch weekend in Clifton cathedral in September, The Sound of Many Waters.

Paul Vallely

Paul Vallely has been a theatre critic, war reporter, religious commentator, foreign correspondent and leader writer. As Africa correspondent of The Times he covered the Ethiopian famine of 1984/85 for which he was commended as International Reporter of the Year. He then travelled across Africa with Bob Geldof to decide how to spend the money raised by Live Aid, and subsequently ghosted Geldof's best-selling autobiography, Is That It?

He has reported from 30 countries in the developing world and was nominated for the UN Media Peace Prize.

A former executive editor of The Independent on Sunday and editor of the Sunday Times News Review he is now Associate Editor of The Independent where he writes on social, ethical and cultural issues.  He has written and edited a number of books, including The New Politics: Catholic Social Teaching for the 21st century (ed).

In 2006 he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to journalism and to the developing world.

Christine Allen

Christine Allen has been Director of Progressio (formerly the Catholic Institute for International Relations) since June 2001.

Before joining CIIR, she worked for more than ten years in the area of housing, poverty and social exclusion in the UK. She has also worked for CAFOD and the Justice and Peace Commission of Liverpool diocese.

Christine has been and continues to be active in various networks and faith-based organisations. She is an advisor for the Catholic Association for Racial Justice and has been a trustee for Church Action on Poverty. 

Christine has a degree in International Relations and Philosophy and also has an MSc in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the LSE department now known as the Centre for Civil Society.

Tina Beattie

Tina Beattie is a Reader in Christian Studies at Roehampton University, and has published extensively in the areas of theology, gender, ethics and human rights.

She is a regular contributor to The Tablet, and to Radio 4 programmes such as Beyond Belief, Women's Hour, Sunday Worship and The Moral Maze.

Tina has been a CAFOD supporter for many years, and she is currently a member of the Theological Advisory Group with a special interest in the LiveSimply campaign.

Pat Gaffney

Pat Gaffney has been General Secretary of Pax Christi, the International Catholic Movement for Peace since 1990. Before this she worked as a teacher, and as Schools and Youth Education Officer for CAFOD.

Her work involves lobbying and campaigning within the church and political networks on peace and security-related issues; and support for church-related groups on Christian peacemaking.

Pat played an active role in the Churches Peace Forum of the CTBI and maintains links with the CTBI Middle East Forum and is co-chair of the Network of Christian Peace Organisations.  She is a regular contributor to the religious press and to Vatican Radio.

Pat is also a practitioner of active nonviolence.  Since 1986 she has been involved in nonviolent protests against the arms trade and the Governments nuclear weapons programme.  These actions have led to arrests on 11 occasions and imprisonment three times.   In 2005 Pat was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in the 1000 Women for Peace Project.

Philip Jakob

Philip Jakob spent 14 years as a secondary school music teacher, and combined this with a variety of organist/choirmaster posts in the Catholic Church and touring Europe as organ accompanist and soloist.

Since 1994 he has been Cathedral Master of Music and Music Adviser to the Diocese of Hallam. He presents the cathedral as a model for the diocese with music for the congregation at the core of his activity. His choice of music reflects this focus as does his work in the schools and churches of the diocese and elsewhere.

Philip is a published composer of liturgical music and is in wide demand as liturgical animator at conferences across the country.  He is a Member of the Iona Community.

Bishop Crispian Hollis

Crispian Hollis is Bishop of Portsmouth and a patron of livesimply.

He was ordained a priest on 11 July 1965 and has served as Chaplain at the University of Oxford and Catholic Assistant to the Head of Religious Broadcasting at the BBC.

In addition to pastoral roles, he has been Chairman of the Catholic Media Trust and also Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Europe and serves on numerous Committees.

Bishop Crispian says, "When I was asked to become one of the patrons of livesimply, I realised there's no way I can not be patron.

"Poverty, exploitation, and degradation of the environment are inextricably linked....  I very much hope this message will reach people's hearts - and then I am sure their actions will follow."

Most Rev Vincent Nichols

Vincent Nichols is Archbishop of Birmingham and a patron of livesimply.

Before his appointment as an Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Hume in 1992, Bishop Vincent was General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

In addition to his pastoral oversight of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archbishop Nichols is Chairman of the Department for Catholic Education and Formation of the Bishops' Conference and Chairman of the Catholic Education Service.

He has written two books: Promise of Future Glory and Missioners

Archbishop Nichols said, "To live more simply and in solidarity is a radical gesture against injustice throughout the world…

"To live more simply is to live more spiritually. Public culture in Britain today is aggressively secular and we must take on empty secularism."

Bishop John Arnold

Bishop John Arnold was ordained Bishop and appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Westminster in February 2006.

John Arnold studied law at Oxford University, and was called to the Bar in 1976.  In the same year, he became a novice, and studied in Rome and London. He was ordained as a priest in 1983, and appointed to Westminster Cathedral as a chaplain in 1985.

In 1993 he became parish priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St George in Enfield and remained there until 2001. In 2001 he was appointed as Chancellor and Vicar General. During this time he was primarily responsible for planning consultations within the Diocese on spiritual renewal and forming a vision for the future.

Bishop John has contributed to a number of publications, including AIDS: Meeting the Community Challenge, and The Quality of Mercy, A fresh look at the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Father Jim O'Keefe

Father Jim O'Keefe is parish priest at St Bede's and St Joseph's in the west end of Newcastle, where he has been for three and a half years.

Before that he was President of the seminary at Ushaw for seven years; previous roles included Administator of Catholic Care North East, the Diocesan agency for social welfare, and he was seconded to establish Caritas Social Action.

Father Jim wrote a guide to Catholic Social Teaching which was published by CAFOD. He has served on the Board of CAFOD since 1983, and currently chairs the Livesimply coalition.

David Wells

David Wells is Co-Director of the Department for Formation at Plymouth Diocese.

A former RE teacher, he spent six years as Adult Religious Education Adviser for the Nottingham Diocese before taking his current role. 
 
He was a member of the Bishops' Conference Committee for Catechesis and Adult Religious Education. 
A renowned speaker, David has presented seminars in many parts of the world.  He has also developed learning programmes for parents, including 'You, your children and their Catholic faith', produced by the Catholic Education Service, which is available on video.

His role in the Diocese is to encourage more opportunities for adults to continue to learn about their faith, which he describes as a "daunting challenge and a wonderful opportunity".

Tom Cullinan

Tom Cullinan was a monk of Ampleforth Abbey for 50 years and is now a monk-priest of Liverpool Archdiocese.

He has been involved with Oxfam, CAFOD and Justice and Peace for many years. He is the author of several books including 'If the Eye be Sound', 'The Passion of Political Love', and 'Presence'.

Tom says, "To live simply enables us to know that God is there before we are."

This event is sponsored by The Tablet and the Pastoral Review.