Caritas Social Action Network: the World Day of the Poor
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CARITAS SOCIAL ACTION NETWORK: THE WORLD DAY OF THE POOR A Report for the Archdiocese of Cardiff World Day of the Poor Facilitation Group CARITAS SOCIAL ACTION NETWORK: THE WORLD DAY OF THE POOR A Report for the Archdiocese of Cardiff Introduction Caritas Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) is the official agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for domestic social action. It is a family of social action charities collectively known as the Caritas network which is supported by the CSAN team. The Caritas network works for the most vulnerable people of society across England and Wales, providing support for families and children, the elderly, the homeless, refugees, the disabled, and prisoners. In the Archdiocese of Cardiff we have been looking at ways to build our Diocesan Caritas Network from the grassroots with our own social action charities such as SVP. World Day of the Poor At the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy in November 2016, Pope Francis, in his message 'Misericordia et Misera', instituted a World Day of the Poor to be marked on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, which in 2017 was 19 November. CSAN began raising awareness about the first World Day of the Poor in March 2017 and this was shared by the local Caritas representative in Cardiff at an ACTA meeting in June. At the same meeting, the need to develop a Caritas Network was also discussed. Working on both seemed providential. For us in the Archdiocese of Cardiff it could be an opportunity to 'network' our own social action charities and groups, with all their diversity, engaging with those we work with who struggle and are on the margins of our local communities, as Pope Francis indicated in his Message. These are some of the questions we posed for developing our thinking and responses to Pope Francis' call. 1. What support and encouragement could be given to groups and parishes and schools to create these 'moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance' in the week (or month) preceding the World Day? 2. How could groups and parishes and schools prepare for ongoing work and relationship building after the encounter and beyond the World Day? 3. How can the Archdiocese foster networks of support and solidarity through its parishes, groups, schools and deaneries to continue the encounter of 'the poor and volunteers' in the life of the Church? 4. How could it provide: • An opportunity to bring together the three elements of the Church’s mission • A focus for social action in the Diocese “We are called to draw near to the poor, to encounter and a celebration of the vocation of them, to meet their gaze, to embrace them and to let those involved them feel the warmth of love that breaks through their • An opportunity for new people to solitude. Their outstretched hand is also an invitation volunteer and become involved to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to • Outreach to those people served by acknowledge the value of poverty itself”. social action projects or working in them who are on the margins of the Church 1 Deanery Workshops & Training There was a recognition that there needed to be some support of parishes and deaneries ahead of the World Day of the Poor from an early stage. There were several critically important issues that needed to be clarified: The nature of Pope Francis’ call to heed the voice of the poor The need for a more attentive listening on the part of the Church A sense that this represented an ongoing commitment to the social activity of the Church Training was arranged at Deanery level and was of mixed success. All arrangements were made through the Dean and a central base for the training agreed. The quality of communication between the Dean and the clergy in the area was not consistently good and this issue is likely to impact not just on this area of work but on any diocesan initiative. The schedule of training was as follows: Deanery Date Time Venue Attendance Lay Clergy Hereford 4th October 7.00pm Our Lady Queen of 6 1 Martyrs, Hereford Cardiff 18th October 7.00pm St Brigid’s, Cardiff 21 1 Bridgend 19th October 7.00pm Our Lady Star of the Sea Porthcawl 6 4 Newport & 23rd October 7.00pm St Mary’s Newport 3 0 North Gwent* Pontypridd 25th October 7.00pm St Dyfrig’s, Treforest 4 2 39 8 * North Gwent was added to Newport following a failure to agree a specific date. In actual fact all attendees came from Newport. 2 C.S.A.N. WORLD DAY OF THE POOR THE CORNERSTONE, CHARLES ST., CARDIFF 11.00 Mass in St David’s Cathedral - Pastoral Letter replaced the Homily. Offertory procession involved some representatives / speakers 12.15 Registration - Tea / Coffee / Soup & Roll Lunch 13.00 Introduction to the afternoon session ‒ WDP Group 13.15 Input from representatives of people with experience of poor circumstances including those from prison community homeless elderly refugees 13.45 Feedback: Reporting back on Parish & Deanery work Representatives will have the chance to discuss some of the activities in their parish/Deanery and give a brief 3‒4 minute report back 14.30 Tea /Coffee - Comfort Break 14.50 Short presentation on the work of agencies to support people living in poverty Including SVP /Restorative Justice/ Winter Homeless Project/ Refugees 15.20 Workshop 2- Moving forward - Facilitated small-group workshops to consider all the inputs of the day and to identify three key actions / processes for ensuring that the Church is more attentive to the voice of the poor. 16.00 Closing prayer 3 The Cornerstone event was attended by 28 members of the laity including representatives from the following organisations/Deaneries/groups: CAFOD Cardiff Christian Night Shelter group Caritas Social Action Network Deanery of Cardiff Deanery of Hereford Deanery of North Gwent Deanery of Pontypridd Fairtrade Justice + Peace Network Llanishen & District Churches Together Social Concern Group Rainbow of Hope Restorative Justice Wales St Vincent de Paul Society It had been intended that the latter part of the afternoon would be spent identifying key actions for each deanery. The absence of representatives from two deaneries and the limited number from one other meant this activity was postponed to further consultation with the Deans. 4 The World Day of the Poor: Around the Archdiocese It was never intended that the event at The Cornerstone should be the only activity in the archdiocese on the first World Day of the Poor. The Pastoral Letter delivered in churches across the area on the day gave a clear lead for clergy religious and laity alike. The distribution of the Caritas resources for the liturgy on that day had ensured that in each parish there was some capacity to celebrate the day meaningfully. There were a number of features that were recorded for the article in the Catholic People and these are summarised below Bridgend Deanery Bridgend Deanery had hosted an evening on Thursday 16th November with two speakers. 18-year old Natalie Smith, described her work with Raleigh International in Tanzania, in the poorest of communities, building facilities and training children and adults on hygiene and health-care. Phil Williams, of Plan-it ECO, explored ways in which our use of the world's resources and our abuse of energy is having a wounding impact on the poorest people in developing countries. Cardiff Deanery Sr Ruth and others took part in a sleep‒out to raise awareness of homelessness St Peters opened their refurbished hall as a symbol of its commitment to support the local community An SVP Conference in North Cardiff looking to expand its support for the elderly North Gwent Deanery • 1000 prayer cards [Caritas resource] to support World Day of the Poor distributed • Aid to the Church in Need addressing congregations in Cwmbran on World Day of the Poor • Liturgies / children’s liturgies adapted to meet the requirements of World Day of the Poor • SVP working with others to support food banks and the Trussell Trust 5 Conclusions ‒ Recommendations ‒ Follow up Conclusions Several obvious conclusions can be drawn from the initiation, planning and delivery of this set of activities. The first is that there is an appetite among a number of people / groups/ agencies to come together in a common cause. The call of Pope Francis was heard and was responded to. Having said that, there are a number of caveats: 1. Engagement was not in any sense overwhelming. Support came from those who are already fully cognizant of the Church’s social teaching and would be expected to support an event such as this. 2. Many clergy appeared uncertain of how to respond to the call of Pope Francis. There was a hesitancy of leadership in some areas that was a cause for concern. In most deaneries there was attendance by laity and clergy ‒ and where the clergy were absent, the laity tended to be reluctant to take any lead. The second obvious conclusion to be drawn is that there is sufficient lay /clergy capacity in most deaneries to develop further elements of a Social Action Network. The World Day of the Poor was identified as a first by Pope Francis in the expectation that there will be an ongoing commitment to the poor. It will be necessary to plan how parishes working together within a deanery can build on the commitment of a few to ensure that, annually, we are able to calibrate the progress we make as Church. This will mean increasing numbers of clergy, religious and laity engaged in encountering and addressing the needs of the poor.