Con McHugh is a parishioner of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. He is working on a video project as part of the Jubilee Year.
Over the coming months a series of short videos by Con will explore each of the Jubilee themes:
1.    Care for Creation 
2.    Food Poverty
3.    Modern Slavery
4.    Managing Debt
5.    Forgiveness
6.    Rest and Worship 
In the first video - Care for Creation - we listen to Fr Rob Taylerson (pictured) reflect on the need to live sustainably and to make good choices to care for the earth.
Fr Rob is a priest of the Archdiocese and a member of staff at St Mary’s College, Oscott, a seminary where priests are trained. 
Before becoming a priest, Fr Rob was an agricultural scientist and taught in agricultural colleges. He wanted to help feed the world!
Born in the mid-1950s, with a world population of 2.8 billion, roughly 1 in 4 of the world’s population went to bed hungry, without having had a substantial meal that day. By 2027 the world population will be 8.4 billion and the world’s population will have trebled in his lifetime, with the world’s food production having roughly quadrupled, now 1 in 8 people on earth go to bed hungry. It is still too many but the progress in feeding the hungry of the world has been far beyond anything imaginable 70 years ago. 
Fr Rob explains: 
“The blessings of more abundant and more affordable food still currently its downsides. Much of the increase in food productivity and the reduction in its cost has been achieved by capturing nitrogen from the air to make it accessible to plant roots as nitrogen fertiliser. This industrial chemistry requires huge amounts of energy. Other large amounts of energy are used in agrochemicals, machinery and transport. So Yes, it has required an awful lot of energy to quadruple world food production. And yes, this is responsible for a significant increase of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and that trebling world population also inevitably results in more production of greenhouse gasses which were already too high.
“My understanding of the science tells me that too many greenhouse gasses are being released into the atmosphere, and that the rich nations of the world currently emit, per head of population, ten to twenty times the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, than the poor nations.
“My life, our lives, must be simplified, must use less energy, must care for this world and all created life on it, with a determination and intensity that will allow our world and our poor to flourish. My cry from the heart is live simply, tread lightly on this earth, that the poor may be fed and live with dignity and that God’s beautiful creation may flourish.”

To view Fr Rob's video: 'I wanted to help feed the world' | Birmingham Diocesan Trust

As part of the Jubilee year, the Archbishop of Southwark is encouraging people to turn to the Lord Jesus in Eucharistic adoration and have their hopes “fulfilled by Christ”
The theme of Jubilee 2025 is “pilgrims of hope”, with Pope Francis calling on the world to “fan the flame of hope that has been given us”. In a recorded message posted on YouTube, Archbishop John Wilson explained that the Lord Jesus “is the reason for the hope within us” and called on us all to become Eucharistic disciples this year by finding hope in Eucharistic adoration.
The Archbishop of Southwark explained that:
“it is by understanding that the Lord Jesus is present in the Eucharist, that we can begin to understand why worship before the Blessed Sacrament provides such fulfilment”.
He has therefore urged people to make spending time in Eucharistic adoration to find the hope Christ offers a priority for 2025.
Eucharistic adoration is an act of worshiping and adoring the Lord Jesus, who is truly present in the Eucharist, before a Tabernacle or Monstrance. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “because Christ Himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, He is to be honoured with the worship of adoration”.
​The Archbishop used the story of Martha and Mary in the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord Jesus explains that Mary – who chose to sit at His feet and listen to His teaching – chose “the good portion, which will not be taken away from her”.
Archbishop John said this passage shows:
“what Eucharistic adoration offers. A chance to be with the Lord and hear Him. Adoration is a chance to move away from the busyness of life, the distractions, the preparations and just truly be present with the Lord. Who is present there with us. This is what He wills, this is what He never wants taken away from us”.
Explaining the merits of Eucharistic adoration, Archbishop John said:
“we are all Eucharistic disciples and we must all constantly return to Eucharistic adoration. This means reorienting our lives as disciples toward Christ, living for him and befriending him in the Blessed Sacrament”.
Spending time in prayer and adoration, as a Eucharistic disciple, Archbishop John explained:
“you will begin to see the Lord Jesus more clearly. And He will see you.”

As St Peter said, the Lord Jesus is the reason for the hope within us. So, this year, come to the Lord and find hope in adoration. Then go out to share his love freely and widely.

In order to celebrate and commemorate the Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope, CAFOD commissioned an icon from artist Mulugeta Araya in Ethiopia, for the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Ethiopia was chosen because of the strong tradition of iconography within the country and to demonstrate that this is a global Jubilee – not just something that is happening in England and Wales.
Tigray, the region in northern Ethiopia where the artist lives, is experiencing armed conflict, which has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes. Increasing droughts, irregular rains and poor soil mean many families are struggling to get enough to eat.
This is particularly relevant given the Jubilee Year’s focus on those struggling with poverty. The challenges of painting an icon in this situation inspire us to reflect on the Jubilee text and this icon in a new light.
The icon is visiting The Church of Blessed Dominic Barberi and Newman College in Littlemore, Oxford, from Wednesday 8 to Wednesday 15 January, (pictured above and below).
It will then move to St Chad's Cathedral from Thursday 16 to Tuesday 21 January.
The final stop will be St Teresa of the Child Jesus, Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent, from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 January.