St Joseph's Birtley
Following a meeting between two CAFOD Live Simply assessors, the Parish LIve Simply Group and Deacon Peter, we are pleased to report that the Parish of St Josephs has gained the CAFOD Live Simply Award.
Live Simply is a response to Pope Francis's invitation to "work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us"
Live Simply is awarded to communities who can clearly demonstrate how they have been living;
1. Simply
2 .In solidarity with the poor, and
3. Sustainably with creation.
Communities produce a Live Simply action plan and carry out a range of actions based on the three key themes.
While welcoming the award, the parish Live Simply Group commented that gaining the award is not the end of Live Simply but a significant start. The challenge now is to build on what has been achieved and continue to engage all parish groups, families and individuals in living more simply as part of everyday life.
St Joseph's Parish is also keen to spread the Live Simply message throughout the Benedict Partnership and encourage other communities to develop plans and actions in their own communities. The LIve Simply group have offered to share their experience and learning with others through the Partnership Social Justice and Environment Group.
When circumstances permit, the St Joseph's Live Simply Group would also like to hold an event in the Parish Centre based on the experience of the process, it's impact on the parish community and how Live Simply might be developed and applied throughout the Partnership.
The Parish Assessment to enable us to achieve the award is shown below.
The Parish Live Simply Group has submitted our Live Simply Plan to CAFOD for their assessment. The assessment will take place online in October and we will keep everyone up to date with progress.
As part of the parish Live Simply Plan we are aiming to restart the Live Simply discussion groups in the Parish Centre when circumstances permit.
We have a lot of ideas for topics and for discussion in various formats. These could include; showing films and documentaries on climate change and it's impact, discussion aspects of Laudato Si. presentations on climate change and effects on the poor and disadvantaged,Looking at overseas aid programmes and economic development including sustainable agriculture and food production.
If you would like to take part in any of these Live Simply discussion groups, look out for future announcements in the Partnership newsletter or our parish website.
If you have any ideas for discussion topics please contact our CAFOD Live Simply group at: livesimplystjoes@gmail.com
Our Parish of St Josephs has recently been registered for the CAFOD Live Simply Award.
The Live Simply Award is an opportunity for our parish community, our Catholic schools and parish groups, to respond to Pope Francis’s invitation in Laudato Si (See below) in practical way by, in the words attributed to among others, Gandi and Mother Teresa and used by a wide range of religious leaders “that we live simply so that others may simply live.”
At the Annual General Meeting of the Church Pastoral Council in April 2019, Father Jim O’Keefe got our Parish Live Simply Award off to a good start with his inspirational talk “The Scandal of Our Time.”
CAFOD has produced a leaflet entitled “100 Live Simply Ideas” which provides some really good ideas on how we can all live more simply. The ideas are grouped under the following headings;
Laudato Si (English Translation ‘Praise Be to You) was published by Pope Francis on 18th June 2015. The Encyclical is a world wide appeal to all people (not just Catholics) to think about the damage irresponsible consumerism is having on our environment and the impact that in turn, this has on all people around the world, but in particular the poor and those who are in most need.
“We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one
complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si)
And CAFOD has further information, including teaching resources available by clicking here.