God calls me to care for the poorest.. if that means going to prison, that’s what I’ll do

Ulster nun arrested at climate change protest

A NUN from Northern Ireland who was born a Protestant was arrested at a climate change rally as she prayed for Extinction Rebellion.

Sister Katrina Alton, 52, took part in the London City Airport demo as she believes God would want her to protest Government inaction as it hits poor people hardest.

She said: “I see on a day-to-day basis what is happening across our world because of the climate emergency but also what is about to hit us with such a force and we in the rich countries, we have caused this.

“As a Christian I really believe God calls me to care for the poorest of the poor.

“My congregation [in Nottingham] is offering hospitality and housing to women who have experienced forced migration and are now homeless in the UK.

“I come from a place of real privilege and I need to pay my dues – if that means going to prison, then that’s what I will do. Otherwise our Government is just not listening to us.”

Sister Katrina, from East Belfast’s Castlereagh Road, was arrested on Thursday morning with five other members of Extinction Rebellion’s Christian Climate Action wing, including a priest and an 83-year-old man.

She said: “The police were everywhere so we didn’t actually get into the airport – but we got to the entrance and then they stopped us.

“We sat down and refused to move and we sang Amazing Grace, we prayed and said the Our Father until we were arrested for breach of the peace and obstruction of the highway.”

Sister Katrina, who took her vows a decade after converting to Catholicism in 2001, added she was detained with Fr Martin Newell and Bill Kingston at around 9.30am.

She said: “We sat in a police van for two hours as so many rebels had been arrested across London and the system can’t cope.

“Then driven across London for one hour to Wandsworth Police Station. We were held in a holding bay for another hour and eventually processed.”

After being fingerprinted, Sister Katrina was held in a cell before being “released about 5.30pm without interview because they said they just haven’t got the capacity”.

She said protesters feel they have no option but to turn to civil disobedience.

The nun added: “It’s an emergency and our Government isn’t responding.

“We can’t go on with business as usual so civil disobedience is a tried and tested method to bring that disruption – this gets us heard.

“I don’t want to be doing this. I could be getting on with other things but it is literally extinction or rebellion.”