Martin John Newell (born 1967) is an English

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest, anti-war campaigner, social activist and

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protester. He has been involved with a number of high-profile anti-war protests, such as the Plowshares movement, and climate movements such as Christian Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion. He has served several prison terms for his activism while remaining an active priest of the Passionist congregation. He is a leading proponent of the Catholic Worker Movement in the

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, being the founder of London Catholic Worker.

Life and career

Martin John Newell was born in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

in 1967 into an English practising Catholic family. After a

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degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

he served with the Jesuit Refugee Service and then with the Ashram Community in Liverpool and the

Simon Community The Simon Community is a charitable organization, charity which helps homeless people, taking its name from Simon of Cyrene. It was founded in 1963 by Anton Wallich-Clifford who had encountered many homeless people while working for the Probatio ...

in London. These experiences drew him to discover a religious vocation, and he studied for further degrees in philosophy and theology at St John's Seminary, Wonersh. After ordination as a diocesan priest for the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in England. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Westminster. Overview The diocese covers the traditional county of Essex, an area of ...

in 1997 he sought permission to join the semi-monastic Passionists and aimed to combine this lifestyle with anti-war and social activism in association with the Catholic Worker Movement.

Activism

Newell has been involved in a large number of high-profile anti-war protest actions including the Jubilee Ploughshares group which gained access to aircraft destined for

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and disabled them, causing damage in excess of one million pounds; he was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for this action. In recent years he has been a visible presence on Christian Climate Action protests and Extinction Rebellion events, being arrested on multiple occasions. He has served prison terms in both HM Prison Bedford and HM Prison Belmarsh.

Catholic Worker Movement

Newell's involvement with the international Catholic Worker Movement led to the founding of its UK incarnation, London Catholic Worker, in 2000, in cooperation with Simon Watson, Scott and Maria Albrecht, Angela Broome and others; later, the first resident "

house of hospitality A house of hospitality or hospitality house, in the United States, is an organization to provide shelter, and often food and clothing, to those who need it. Originally part of the Catholic Worker Movement, houses of hospitality have been run by ot ...

" members consisted of Newell, Steve Barnes and Eddie Jarvis. Australian activist

Ciaron O'Reilly Ciaron O'Reilly (born 1960) is an Australian anti-war campaigner, peace protester, social justice campaigner and Catholic Worker, having been "engaged in ... protests, acts of civil disobedience and trials in England, Ireland, and his native Aus ...

later joined the community, and supporters included ex-

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peace campaigner Ben Griffin and human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newell, Martin 1967 births 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests 21st-century English Roman Catholic priests British climate activists Catholic pacifists Catholic Worker Movement Christianity and environmentalism English anti-war activists Living people Passionists People from Walthamstow

Life and career

Activism

Catholic Worker Movement

See also

References