Revd Prebendary Terence B Bloor

I was ordained in 2002 after spending 20 years in the field of electrical engineering with the international concern, ALSTOM. My speciality was the project management of electrical installations associated with power stations, oil / gas platforms and petrochemical plants. Having found faith whilst worshipping with a Pentecostal church, I moved into the Church of England when I was about 25 years old.

Presently I'm serving as a parish priest in a suburban parish called Basford which is in Newcastle-under-Lyme. For the first 7 years of my time in Basford I also worked as a chaplain (one and a half days per week) at our local mental health hospital. I serve Newcastle Deanery (Probstei) as its Area Dean. The deanery comprises 21 parishes and has 23 clergy. Recently, I've started to work occasionally at Lichfield cathedral as a chaplain. This allows me to meet the many visitors who come to see the 12th Century building and to make myself available for pastoral work as well as presiding at the midday Holy Communion service.

Since 2004 I have been very involved with Lichfield's partnership with Landeskirche Mecklenburgs (formerly) and nowadays with the Nordkirche. I have visited parishes of the Nordkirche many, many times and have enjoyed the Kirchentag on two occasions. My last time in Germany other than for a post-Easter retreat at the Haus der Stille (Bellin - close to Güstrow), this year, was in connection with sabbatical studies. My chosen theme was 'forgiveness and reconciliation'; my reading and related visits took me to Berlin, Dresden and Güstrow, having returned from New York where I attended the 9/11 commemorations and worked a little with Trinity Church, Wall Street.

My interest in justice (hence wishing to be a part of this conference) is due to its theological relationship with the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation. Righteousness, being a quality for which God looks amongst his people, is very closely linked to justice. I recall that Oskar Schindler was described by the Jews as 'a righteous man' - in other words, his actions were seen as just and right in the sight of God. What fuelled his action was that which lays the necessary foundation for forgiveness and reconciliation. The Torah gives the basis for a fair and just society which models the values of God's kingdom.

As Christians, this is what we are called to establish on earth in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Of course, justice must extend to the whole of created order which Christ is reconciling to the Father. My hope is that the conference will help each of us to better understand the total scope of this call to a just society and that we might be equipped to return home with renewed vigour to work for it.