CSAN Blog

Blogs for Lent 2020: Care in an Ageing Society – St Antony’s Centre

  

A witness of hope

By Kevin Flanagan, Founder & Director of St. Antony’s Centre for Church & Industry, Manchester (CSAN member charity)

Little did I think life would change so dramatically in a few weeks as the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the world!  While no one is exempt from its ravages, it is clear the older you are, the greater the risk you face from the infection itself.  The Government has asked us to work from home and those aged over 70 to self-isolate even more strictly.

The very nature of our humanity as social beings is being restricted, for a limited period we hope, in order to achieve a greater good, the protection of the vulnerable and all of us from the ravages of this organism. A tiny organism that is sadly taking many lives, feeding fears & anxieties, sapping hopes, and threatening the very foundation of our global economy. It has changed dramatically how we interact with each other; in our family, streets and across communities at home and globally.

I am soon to become a ‘pensioner’ as I reach State Pension Age, but thankfully my mind and heart feel young. I took advice in the 1980s to ‘opt out’, only to find when the previous pension scandal struck, I was placed back in the state pension. Now, my state pension will be reduced weekly, based on a valuation of what my private pension should be worth, but clearly isn’t. World markets have plummeted and the value of pension pots is falling yet again: this will have waves of impact in the years to come as private pension income values are reduced and the hoped-for security in retirement is further eroded. Pensioner poverty will continue to grow even more, as will the necessity for people to work longer during their ‘retirement’ years in sickness or in health, in order to survive.

I live on my own, following the death of my wife Liz three years ago. I have experienced the sense of loneliness and loss. It’s not a comfortable place for social beings to be in. I’m blessed with a loving family and friends, yet many people don’t; in the face of Covid-19 their isolation is now greater as movement outside the home is restricted and they are separated from loved ones. 

At St. Antony’s Centre for Church and Industry, like many organisations in the Caritas network, our phones have been very busy with people seeking assistance. A lady in her 70s, working as a cleaner in a hospital to supplement her pension, now torn between following self-isolation instructions by the Government and her desire to serve at a time of need, asks, ‘Should I self-isolate and will I lose my pay?’

We support the Blackpool Centre for Unemployed in winning thousands of pounds on appeal for those refused benefits, transforming despair to hope.

To assist people quickly to get the guidance and help they need, St. Antony’s Centre is shifting from face-to-face working and training, to converting our social communications systems to share expertise and knowledge on employment rights and welfare support. The development of new online tutorials, advice sheets and blogs to help those unfamiliar with digital communications tools to improve their ability to keep in touch with family members. For those struggling in the world of work, made redundant or self-employed, our advice sessions now take place by phone, helping people where possible to stay employed. We have seen a rise in those facing redundancy or laid off unpaid.  

Our Spirituality Project, Life to the Full, providing that essential spirit of joy and reflection rooted in Ignatian spirituality in people’s lives, is now running through private consultations held via live video links.

Charities and welfare agencies across the Caritas network in England and Wales face uncertainty as they have to weave a cloth of love, care and service, rooted in the Gospel, on a new loom still in the making. The real challenges of providing personal care to many, while protecting our employees as carers, is a delicate balancing act. Charities in the front line need additional help now so they can respond quickly to the thousands impacted daily by this crisis. We see the wafer thin membrane of survival and despair melting, as people experience a loss of control and exclusion. People look to CSAN’s member charities for an authentic witness as the “Church of the Poor”, the face of Christ and true hope reflected through our services with them, a service of joy singing with deep love above the crisis of gloom.

St Antony’s Centre for Church & Industry was established in 1979 to reflect Catholic social thinking in action, in the world of work and wider community.

This article was first published in The Catholic Times. Any views expressed belong to the author.

Blogs for Lent 2020: Care in an Ageing Society – Caritas Brentwood

  

Ageing and care in a Covid-19 world

By Steven Webb, Director of Development, Diocese of Brentwood, with Jenny Clayton, Membership Development Officer (Diocese of Brentwood), St Vincent de Paul Society (England and Wales)

As I write this article, the government has just announced that schools will shortly close as part of our concerted efforts to minimise the impact of COVID-19. Much will have changed by the time you are reading this article because that is the nature of the spread of the virus and our response to it.

However, some things do not ever change. God’s love for us is constant and abundant. Hopefully our love for one another is similarly constant and abundant. The events that we are living through now afford each and every one of us an opportunity to put that love into practical effect.

Like most dioceses Brentwood is blessed to have an active SVP. The St Vincent De Paul Society has been putting love of neighbour into practical effect for nearly 200 years. Today it uses the strap line “Turning Concern Into Action” and nearly 10,000 members across England and Wales do exactly that again and again.

Caring for elderly people is a key part of how we can demonstrate our love for our neighbours and never more so than in the difficult circumstances we are all experiencing right now.

As each of us looks out of our windows we know that there are people out there who might be lonely, might not be able to get to the shops, perhaps they just need to talk to someone or perhaps they are finding it hard to contact a family member far away. Turning our concern for those people into action is not rocket science but sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start and in a time when safeguarding concerns are rightly high on the agenda it can be difficult to know if you are doing things the right way.

The beauty of having the SVP active in our diocese is that we do not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to putting our concern for our neighbours into action. The SVP has been doing it for years and has contacts, protocols, and policies that will help people find a place to start and to ensure that safeguarding is done properly.

Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and being in self isolation could lead to more loneliness, practical problems and a greater need for a chat. Many of us consider what we are going through right now to be an unprecedented interruption to normal life but it is good for us to remember that for some of our elderly neighbours they have already spent several years of their lives in the turmoil and suffering of a World War.

Caritas Diocese of Brentwood operates on the basis of a light touch and if there is no need to reinvent the wheel, we do not. Having so many dedicated members of the SVP in our diocese is a blessing for us all and our thanks go out to them all. We would also urge more people to join them especially at this time so that even more people can put their love and their concerns for their neighbour into action.

We often hear the phrases; “it is better to give than to receive” and “you get so much more out than you put in”, and I think that is true.

Local SVP members told me, “Visiting the elderly is such a privilege and invariably they really enjoy the luxury of a one to one chat. Often their family are very busy with their modern high speed lives and also appreciate that we are there to “fill some of the gaps”. Very often the relationship with an elderly person becomes warm and trusting and before you know it they are old friends!” and “I really enjoy visiting the elderly and get as much back from it as they do, learning about different life experiences and I’m able to appreciate things differently. The elderly have so much to teach us. I especially enjoy vising with my young children as I get to see them through the beneficiary’s eyes and it makes me proud.”

So, as we all cope with a world that seems to have gone crazy we know that we can rely on the love of God, and that if we want to find a way to give practical effect to Christ’s commandment to love one another there are people like your local SVP who can help you to help your neighbour and especially the elderly who are self-isolating. After all, it is also said, “many hands make light work”.

This article was first published in The Catholic Times. Any views expressed are those of the authors.

Blogs for Lent 2020: Care in an Ageing Society – Irish Chaplaincy

  

By Eddie Gilmore, Chief Executive of the Irish Chaplaincy (CSAN member charity)

Our society has a tendency to view old age as a problem and the elderly as a burden on the state. Dementia tends to be seen in an especially negative light. We hear, for example, that somebody ‘suffers’ from dementia, we use words like ‘decline’, and there is often a perception that the person is somehow no longer there, or that they are almost an empty shell.

It’s all a bit more real for me these days as my dear, wonderful mum is living with dementia. Her short-term memory has got a lot worse and yet her lovely nature continues to shine through, for example in the way she speaks to the staff, “Thanks ever so much, love”. She still takes a keen interest in what’s going on around her, and about which she still makes pertinent and humorous little comments. And we still have a good laugh together, even if things get increasingly a bit mixed up in her brain. I arrived on the last day of my post-Christmas visit to find a sizeable group of the women in the dining-room in rapt attention: it was the bingo. I asked mum if she wanted to go to her room for a quiet chat. “Ah, after the bingo”, she said. She was 100% focused and there was nothing at all mixed up in her brain as she went on to win the next full house!

I came across an interesting book by John Swinton, Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at the University of Aberdeen: ‘Dementia: Living in the Memories of God’. In the Introduction, entitled ‘Being Loved for who I Am’, Swinton recalls how he was asked once, “If you ended up having dementia, how would you like to be treated?” His answer was, “I hope I will be loved and cared for just for who I am, even if who I am is difficult for me and for others.” He went on to raise the interesting point that the question of who I am is not necessarily straightforward when our brains are functioning ‘normally’, let alone when I may have forgotten who I thought I was.

In a later chapter, ‘Becoming friends of time’, Swinton speaks of the simple act of being present to another person. He tells a story entitled, ‘The sacrament of the present moment’, in which a seminary professor, John Goldingay, invited his students to come and have pancakes with him and his beloved wife Ann, who was in an advanced state of dementia. He encouraged them to speak to Ann, even if she might appear unresponsive, and he said, “She probably won’t remember you afterwards, but in that moment she will appreciate you”. That story reminded me of a visit I made recently to a lovely Galway woman who lives in a care home and who I’d seen a few times before. As I entered her room, she said to me, “I don’t know who you are but it’s very nice to see you”!

Goldingay describes his journey with Ann in his book ‘Walk on’ and writes “it can seem now as if Ann is almost gone…there is so little of her here now”. Yet, he is challenged by a caregiver who sees Ann in a different way. This person enjoyed simply sitting with Ann over the course of a year and remarked “Ann’s spirit ministers to my spirit”.

There’s a story in John Swinton’s book about another man caring for a wife with Alzheimers. This person had been a successful, and very busy, businessman, but now he devoted himself entirely to the care of his wife: feeding her, bathing her. One night she woke him and, as if emerging from a fog for a moment, said, “Darling, I just want to say thank you for all you’re doing for me”, and then she fell back into the fog.

Dementia raises interesting questions about who we are at our core, about what it means to be human, and about what makes for a ‘valued’ and ‘worthwhile’ life. It’s interesting as well to examine our assumptions that a person living with dementia is somehow in decline and suffering and going ‘downhill’. If I ask myself the question that John Swinton was asked, ‘How would I like to be treated if I had dementia’, my answer might be: with love, and with dignity and respect. But then again, it might not be too far from Swinton’s response, “loved and cared for just for who I am”. And I hope there will be people who will simply sit with me and be fully present in that moment, even if I may not remember them with my conscious mind the moment they’ve walked out the door.

This article was first published in The Catholic Times. Any views expressed are those of the author.

Picture credit – © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

Blogs for Lent 2020: Care in an Ageing Society – Medaille Trust

  

When age related illness and social care issues make a grave Human Trafficking situation even harder to resolve

By staff writer, The Medaille Trust (CSAN member charity)

Retirement age is often seen as the time of life when struggles and instabilities are resolved, allowing our twilight years to be safe, secure and dare one hope, happy? Retirement age was no such comfort for one of our clients who was trafficked from Poland.

We know very little about Piotr’s life (name changed for safeguarding reasons) before he reached age 67 in Poland. Unfortunately, due to mental illness, alcohol dependency and psychological trauma, Piotr found it hard to communicate the full picture of his life and what led him into the hands of traffickers. We understand that Piotr was targeted as being vulnerable. Although he did not have much, traffickers preyed on his illnesses and insecurity to access his pension and equity in his flat, leaving him with nothing.  Having nothing of his own added to his vulnerability, leaving him wide open to the suggestion that moving to the UK would give him a better life.  The traffickers manipulated Piotr and left him destitute. With no option he followed their instructions and left Poland for the UK.

Arriving in England, Piotr was cruelly exploited. He worked in terrible conditions and lived in squalor. The traffickers confiscated Piotr’s passport and left him at their mercy. Unable to speak any English, the traffickers forced him to beg on the streets, taking the money he earned while leaving him cold, hungry and intoxicated.

Piotr suffers from diabetes and was in need of medication and was drinking alcohol very heavily, a dangerous combination. Sadly, Piotr was in so much danger while on the streets, he also posed a potential threat to others too, as his medication for schizophrenia was not being taken. It was only when Piotr was taken into hospital for alcohol-related illness and cuts and bruises to his face that Piotr’s dire situation become apparent to hospital staff. Piotr told the doctors and nurses treating him that he’d been coerced into shop-lifting by his traffickers and was living an abysmal life. The police were involved and it was clear to them that Piotr was a victim of human trafficking. Piotr was then supported through the National Referral Mechanism.

Medaille Trust welcomed Piotr with open arms and provided him with safety, care and a home. The Trust’s mission is to provide refuge and freedom from modern slavery. Medaille are the largest provider of supported safe house beds for victims of modern slavery in the UK. What started in 2006, with a house for women trafficked into prostitution, quickly grew into a national network supporting all people trapped in modern slavery – women, men and families.

Once settled in, we helped Piotr access the medical care he so badly needed. Piotr’s problems were not straightforward and a number of third parties were required to get him back on his feet.  It became evident that Piotr had suicidal tendencies and had previously tried to end his suffering. Medical intervention stabilised Piotr’s schizophrenia. He was also diagnosed with a dementia-related illness. This was a very difficult time for Piotr as he went in and out of hospital for his medical conditions and for the cruel treatment he had faced from his traffickers.  There was never going to be an easy fix to Piotr’s health problems, let alone the social issues which needed addressing. The team at Medaille Trust knew that the road to recovery was going to be long and drawn out.

With time however, Piotr’s physical and mental illnesses gradually improved and he began to think about his future. Having escaped his traffickers and with the horrors of how it all began in Poland fresh in his mind, it was natural that Piotr felt a fresh start in the UK could be the way forward. But he risked ending up back on the streets or in the hands of traffickers if he stayed in the UK.

At Medaille Trust we were able to provide him with English classes, help him access benefits to give him some financial stability, and arrange counselling.  Our aim was to get Piotr back into a position where he could make choices for himself and be in the best shape possible both physically and emotionally. As time went by Piotr accepted that going back to Poland was the right route for him. Although he could not go back to the area where he came from for safety and emotional well-being reasons, a new start in a country where he spoke the language and is entitled to his pension was the decision he took.

It is always hard when any client leaves us as there is a part of us that wants to cling on to them and look after them. It is even harder when they go back home to another country. We pray that they do not end up back in the hands of the traffickers or fall out of the support system of that country. When they leave us we provide them with connections, advice and contacts back in their home country or wherever they choose to go. In Piotr’s case we worked with an organisation in Poland to provide him with supported housing. We pray for Piotr and all those affected by human trafficking. We wish Piotr a happier life than the one he has known and we hope that he can begin to enjoy his life; a new start at 67.

This article was first published in The Catholic Times.

Any views expressed are those of the author.

Women address the causes of poverty

  
For the Third World Day of the Poor, on 17 November 2019, we have assembled a series of three articles. Each reflects on emerging developments in Catholic social mission. In November 2018, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales encouraged leaders of Catholic organisations to work together on addressing the housing crisis. This first article in the series explores some progress in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, within the wider context of the Church’s pastoral work and mission in communities.

By Maureen Meatcher, NBCW Convenor of International Committee

In his message for the 2019 World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis asks all of us, whatever our means, to unite in love and in acts of service to one another.  He explains: “It is my wish that … Christian communities will make every effort to create moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance.” That is why the National Board of Catholic Women (NBCW) takes responsibility for the change Pope Francis wants to see – to use our resources to be the catalyst of change.

“Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor.  God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.  This is a very real danger for believers too.  Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless.  That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ.” Evangelii Gaudium 2

It is our responsibility as citizens of the world to monitor what our country is doing to enable every person to enjoy their human rights. There are those in power who would prefer that this was not allowed. The space for civil society to remind governments of their duties is reducing. We must use whatever opportunities present themselves for us to be instruments of change. That is why, in March, NBCW sends representatives to New York to attend the United Nations Conference on the Status of Women (CSW64) – answering the call “to go into the court of the gentiles”. We work with other women’s organisations – both secular and faith – who have a united vision of the changes we wish to see in the world. We are all working towards the 2030 agenda when we hope we will have eliminated world poverty by achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Since the 1980s, Britain has been subject to rampant consumerism and individualism, while Christian values of solidarity and selflessness have been supplanted by a secular creed of self-interest. There is a widening gulf between rich and poor, while community life is declining. Christian leaders have warned that the politicians are “making promises aimed more at selfishness than basic fairness, fostering a brand of self-interest that is destroying the “glue” that holds society together. Pope Francis has advised that we are impelled to contribute to the public discussion of social issues, not only as involved citizens, but also because of the Christian understanding of what a just and sustainable society looks like. Politicians assume that the value of a given community is founded solely on its economic output. There is a general economic assumption that the economy has the power to dictate what is and is not possible for human beings; if the economy can be fixed, the fixing of human beings will automatically follow. While in the past our country was governed with Christian principles, our greatly secularised society seems to agree on only one un-Christian principle: every person for themselves.

In order to overcome structural problems, especially economic barriers, we need to disrupt and redefine what we value and how. As we prepare for CSW 64 in March 2020 we will be calling for a complete overhaul of the current economic system, moving away from extractive and profit-driven capitalism. We will advocate a move towards a care economy focused on people and planet to create measures that value social progress; that recognizes unpaid care work as “work” that gives right to social protection; that connects social protection and taxing systems to individual rights, and addresses gender-based violence at work.  We will be focussing on those areas of employment which are more exposed to violence against women such as care, domestic work, media, and informal work; over-representation of women in precarious employment, and low wage employment. The informal economy must be addressed by ensuring universal access to a living wage and social protection. A global care crisis must be averted by committing a minimum of 2% of income to public care services. 

In the words of Pope Francis, “no one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life, without concern for the soundness of civil institutions, without a right to offer an opinion on events affecting society. … An authentic faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal – always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.” (EG183)

Sowing tangible seeds of hope

  
In the run-up to the Third World Day of the Poor, on 17 November 2019, we have assembled a series of three articles. Each reflects on emerging developments in Catholic social mission. Pope Francis has often discussed a poor Church for the poor. This second article in the series, from our sisternational Caritas agency, CAFOD, considers the theme of housing and home from an international development perspective.

By Catherine Gorman, Theology Communications Lead, CAFOD

What makes a good home?  

A secure, safe space, a place filled with love. A place where you have good relationships with family, friends and neighbours. Somewhere with a garden to cultivate or a connection to nature.  

This is what communities and local organisations CAFOD works with in Myanmar told us. But the answers are universal. They recognised that a home is more than material concerns, and wanted to get to the real heart of the question. What is it that makes a dignified living place? As such, their answers would probably resonate with people anywhere in the world.  

This desire for a home is deep-rooted in all of us. It is a need for more than just shelter. We all need somewhere that we can flourish together with those who mean the most to us.  

And yet there are so many people throughout the world who are denied housing.  

It is incredibly difficult to get an accurate picture of how many people do not have a place to call home around the world. Some reports suggest that 2% of the world’s population may be homeless with another 20% lacking adequate housing.  

But as Pope Francis reminds us in his message for the World Day of the Poor, on 17 November, the poor are not statistics to be counted but people to be encountered. They are not one homogenous group but individuals, young and old, with their own stories to tell. 

The statistics give us no insight into the lives behind the numbers. They tell us nothing about Marwan, who returned to his home in Syria, after six years as a refugee in Lebanon, to find it largely destroyed by the conflict. Nor about how he and his young family lived in the house, which had no windows and where walls had been destroyed, while they struggled to rebuild.  

These statistics also tell us nothing about the causes of homelessness and poverty. They do not speak to the structural injustices that prevent people having the legal rights to their land or their homes. They do not speak of the interests of big business, like those in the Amazon, which wreak destruction on the lives of those who live there.  

They are silent about conflict, migration and the damage that is being done to the earth, our common home. This climate breakdown affects us all and is making life even more challenging for those already living on the margins. 

They do not reflect the indignity of being without a home, displaced and separated from your place of safety, your memories, from all that is comfortable and familiar.  

Neither do the statistics reflect the hope, which our faith teaches us remains in the face of so many challenges. Indeed, Pope Francis chose for his focus for World Day of the Poor a line from Psalm 9: “The hope of the poor will not perish forever.”  

He also reminds us that as disciples we must be the ones to “sow tangible seeds of hope.” We are called to identify Jesus with each person that we meet, or whose story that we hear. We cannot remain enclosed in our own small circles without reaching out to others. Instead we must show loving attentiveness to each person in distress, seeking no reward for the love and support that we give.  

We cannot write people off as being somehow responsible for their lack of safe housing. But rather we must look to the systemic causes that have led to this issue. 

And so, this is the challenge for all of us: to bring hope to those people who are caught up in unjust systems which keep them in poverty and prevent them from accessing safe housing. And to challenge these structures which shape our world.   

This article was first published in The Tablet.

In Plain Sight – Conference report

  

By Mark Wiggin, Director, Caritas Salford

In Plain Sight, the first national Catholic conference to promote the domestic strategies in parishes and dioceses to counter Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking was held on 15 October 2019 in London. Organised by Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) and organisations involved in delivering vital services, the conference attracted over seventy participants and was sponsored and hosted by CCLA Investment Management Limited. 

Many dioceses and parishes are awake to the de-humanising impact of modern-day slavery and human trafficking in England and Wales. Leadership from our bishops and action from many religious congregations and Catholic charities has enabled the Catholic church to play its part in beginning to eradicate in the UK one of the world’s most organised, profitable and criminal activities that causes so much misery and long-term damage to its victims.

The conference was designed to equip delegates through shared practical experience and planning to combat Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking at a diocesan-parish level.  A session on supply chains helped diocese to appreciate the need for organisations to operate ethically in their procurement.

Peter Hugh Smith, Chief Executive of CCLA focused his welcome and introduction on the mission of CCLA as “good investment” not just as a financial mission but as a social justice commitment to supporting organisations to develop positive approaches to managing their resources and supply chains. CCLA hopes to act as a catalyst to investing ethically and humanely in people and recognise the difference they can make to eradicate modern day slavery. 

The first independent government commissioner Kevin Hyland, now Senior Advisor to the Santa Marta Group of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, spoke of the 150 million children today in positions of exploitation, many of them integrated into business models, and where many displaced people are the market for this trade. It’s estimated that 20,000 children die every year though slavery, yet little if any action is taken against organisations that exploit children. Globally, 99.98% of human trafficking goes without criminal prosecution, so why wouldn’t a criminal do it if they will get away with it? Kevin concluded, “The Santa Marta Group is developing strategies to reset the moral compass within the Church to make sure we are not complicit by indifference to this massive global crime. It’s events like today that will help make this change from words into action.”

Those who contributed included Santa Marta, local parish initiatives from Caritas Salford and national perspectives and victim support from The Medaille Trust, Caritas Westminster’s Bakhita House, JRS UK and women@thewell.  Andrew Adams (CCLA Ethical & Responsible Investment Team) & Sion Hall (formerly Head of the East Lancashire Police Anti – Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery addressed the issue of supply chains & ethical investment.

Anthony Brown (Caritas Salford) spoke of parish initiatives and involvement and how the resources within a parish when harnessed in partnerships can lead to awareness raising through local press and radio, prayer cards for parishes as well as networking with the police and their anti-trafficking units. 

Beatrice Grasso, Detention Outreach Manager for the Jesuit Refugee Service UK described the supporting work of JRS in detention centres. These centres are not part of the criminal justice system. But detention centres look and operate like prisons even if those in detention have not committed any crime but have sought asylum in this country. Therefore, they are not places that aid recovery from the trauma of slavery and trafficking. The main role of JRS is to accompany people and stand in solidarity with them in detention. There is no statutory time limit for a person in detention and the UK is the only country to have no time limit to detain a person. There were 24,200 in detention last year. Many people who have been trafficked are eventually released but often back into the hands of their handlers in the trafficking and slavery world they came from. There is a need to build trust within a holistic approach of partnerships to support the victims of human trafficking. 

Karen Anstiss shared the work of Caritas Bakhita House.  Twenty-two religious congregations led to over seventy volunteers with many relevant skills including languages and therapy skills. In common is the non- judgemental approach they all share. “Don’t judge, don’t promise and believe the unbelievable” are the bywords that Bakhita House operates by.

Marc Pearson, the Community Engagement Coordinator, and Zoe Smith, Director of Communications and Advocacy, spoke of the work of the Medaille Trust. The Look Up project is a six-year partnership between the Medaille Trust and the Archdiocese of Birmingham, to raise awareness in every parish of the Archdiocese. “The take-up by the Archbishop himself has been a wonderful blessing to the project,” said Zoe, who added, “There is always hope for victims of modern-day slavery who can have a fulfilling life after slavery.”

Caro Hattersley from women@thewell shared stories of women exploited in the sex trade who managed to tell their stories of brutality in brothels and escape to the security and recovery supported by the charity. “Consent cannot be purchased,” she said, and, “decriminalising women caught up in forced exploitation is an important way forward to address the wider issues of modern-day slavery.”

Sion Hall, formerly the lead in the Lancashire Police Anti-Trafficking Unit reminded the conference that there are 140,000 people at any one time caught up in trafficking and modern-day slavery in the UK. The business model of supply and demand means that organised crime is the driving force behind forced labour and prostitution. He said, “Partnership between statutory services, police, NHS, probation, prison services, NGOs and voluntary organisations is the way forward in tackling slavery. Public awareness is the starting point for preventative work.”

Andrew Adams from CCLA gave an investor’s perspective on modern slavery and the supply chains to which investors need to be sensitive. The everyday products that are part of our everyday lives means that practically everything we purchase has a direct or indirect connection to slavery. He said, “CCLA will be working with other investors to develop strategies to help companies keep their supply chains clean.”

Luke de Pulford of the Arise Foundation brought the conference to its conclusion by asking questions about the obstacles to collaboration and partnership working that included building trust rarely fits into measured outcomes but is vital to address the problem of slavery. In a hard-hitting assessment of the barriers he had experienced in this fields, he named money, ego and institutional self-interest. Leading the plenary session, he gathered the key points from the focus groups which will inform a new strategic plan. The message that came through was that we all needed to collaborate and work together, sharing resources and where necessary sharing the platforms that individual charities had developed to pioneer their work. 

Cardinal Vincent Nichols thanked the organisers for the conference – Caritas Salford, CSAN and CCLA – for bringing together so many charities and organisations committed to the fight against human trafficking. He said, “We need a detailed public account of the good work of the Catholic Church in this field”, “Difference properly used creates harmony”, and “Agencies engaged in anti-trafficking need some clear and shared objectives.” He concluded by saying that the work of this conference was opening the door to the next phase.

Using the Pastoral Orientations on Human Trafficking developed by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the conference agreed the key effective action that the Church can adopt to contribute to the eradication of this growing problem. Summing up the day, Philip McCarthy, Chief Executive of CSAN said, ‘Partnership, Presence, Hope, Trust and Encounter are the words that have resonated throughout the conference.’

Any views expressed in this blog post are those of the author.

A different approach

  
In the run-up to the Third World Day of the Poor, on 17 November 2019, we have assembled a series of three articles. Each reflects on emerging developments in Catholic social mission. In November 2018, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales encouraged leaders of Catholic organisations to work together on addressing the housing crisis. This first article in the series explores some progress in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, within the wider context of the Church’s pastoral work and mission in communities.

By Steve Baylis, Head of Development, and Jane Bamber, Senior Development Officer, at the Archdiocese of Birmingham

Over the last five years, the development team at the Archdiocese of Birmingham has been hard at work connecting with its deaneries, parishes and communities to discover their unique needs and to identify their priorities. Through this work it became clear that there was a need to develop strategies and plans to support the maintenance and long-term sustainability of the Catholic community’s buildings. With approximately 1,200 buildings in the Archdiocese alone, these are significant assets which support the fulfilment of the Church’s mission. These buildings hold Masses and services, others provide outreach and support for those affected by poverty, or those who experience social isolation. These buildings can provide the setting in which communities come together in fellowship and mission.

By identifying the priorities, and the issues our communities face, we have secured more than £4.4 million of new funding, specifically for the development and improvement of our buildings. We have invested this funding in projects valued at more than £7 million. This is a wonderful achievement which allows us to make real improvements for the benefit of our community, but, as always, we are looking to the future.

To achieve the greatest positive impact with our resources, we have strived to ensure that Catholic-owned buildings remain a vital, relevant resource to the people and communities who need them the most. In keeping with the Archdiocese’s mission, we want to continue to use our expertise and funding to improve the lives of those who feel disenfranchised, who are experiencing poverty or are subject to discrimination.

The Archdiocese has a diverse mix of parishes with some that are particularly land or asset rich, despite being in deprived areas. We continue to invest in our churches as sacred spaces where we come together to pray and worship God, however we also want to ensure that we are fully utilising all our assets in pursuit of our wider mission, and that means looking at ways that we can respond to the needs of the local communities, working with them and reaching out to those in need.

We are currently working with a number of partners to scope and develop new housing schemes that will increase local people’s access to good quality affordable housing. This is a long term project that will contribute to our vision and mission, and demonstrates a commitment to future sustainability. When scoping these major projects, the team is especially keen to foster wider community engagement and participation. One of our partners is offering parishes 40 per cent nomination rights for any new social housing projects we develop with them (meaning we can nominate people we know who are in need, so this could be a local family, refugees or a retiring priest). We see this work as being key to our department’s role of developing sustainable and vibrant parish communities.

We believe in starting at the grass roots of the problem. By carrying out a full feasibility study on a site we are able to gain a wider picture than the one which may seem immediately obvious. We are committed to enabling and empowering individuals and communities to have their own voice and to get involved in shaping their neighbourhoods. By supporting the community to support itself we believe we can promote greater well-being and a sense of belonging. In our commitment to the community, we always ask ourselves: what would really work best for the community and its people? How can local people gain from this project, what are their housing needs, and how can we campaign and deliver safer, greener spaces as well as services and facilities that are meeting the needs of the whole community?

We recently secured some £430000 from the National Lottery to work in partnership with two of our churches, the local Irish Centre and two Muslim organisations to deliver a joint project around early intervention activities for socially isolated older people.

We are currently developing a project in partnership with the travelling community, having invested £9,000 to employ an outreach worker to engage and work with this community, to fully understand their concerns and issues, to make sure we have their voices embedded in how the project will be developed and ultimately delivered. We hope to have this project funded by the Lottery and expect to be submitting a funding application early 2020 based on a clear evidence of need with end users at the heart of the solution.

Alongside our major project developments, we are becoming more aware of the increased need for parish and community based responses to homelessness and localised poverty. Many of our parishes are facing daily challenges: from the pressures of sustaining food banks, with people seeking refuge, requiring support for addiction and experiencing a lack of safe pastoral areas, which has led us to develop a pilot in a cluster of four parishes to make sure we have training and resources to deliver a “dementia friendly” church.

By producing skill banks – how we engage, identify and build the skills of local people and by utilising the strengths that our parishes already have – we are committed to getting the best out of our resources and thus supporting and developing truly effective parish action.

This article was first published in The Tablet.

Seeking Sanctuary: Calais update, May 2019

  

By Phil Kerton, Seeking Sanctuary (CSAN member organisation)

Volunteers continue to work hard for migrants who exist in an extremely hostile environment: to offer a welcome, food, clothing, shelter, dignity, and to support them have their stories heard.

Over 90 people, a third of them from the Pas-de-Calais area, attended a gathering in St Paul’s Church, Dover, in October 2018, organised by the Justice and Peace Commissions of the Westminster and Southwark dioceses, together with Kent-based Seeking Sanctuary and the Maria Skobstova House of Welcome in Calais. This event enabled concerned people to share experiences, efforts and hopes for those in need and to try discern ways ahead and share ideas for action. Discussions were enlivened and provoked by a short interactive play, “Stage 3”, presented by students from Queen Mary University of London. The piece looks at the bureaucracy and power of the naturalisation system and young people’s sense of belonging and citizenship rights. By addressing the process through which individuals are dehumanised and arbitrarily categorised on the basis of race, age and socio-economic background, the performance highlights questions about perceptions of power and powerlessness.

Among the wide variety of organisations supporting migrants in the Calais area is CSAN’s sister Caritas agency in France, Secours Catholique. They run a Day Centre, where people can relax out of the weather, to chat, take a cup of tea or coffee, get a haircut, watch videos, play games together, seek advice from volunteers, or get involved in arts and crafts work. Another is the Association Maria Skobstova – a Catholic Worker House of Welcome. This is a residential community, serving people pushed to the margins of society since February 2016. They do not just try to ‘help’ refugees, but prefer to be there with them, providing support and friendship. Everyone lives as a community, sharing meals, friendship, and daily prayer; and supporting one another in the work that is done. Neighbours are invited to join the extended community and take part in the work. The main ministry is to youths who are suffering in mind or body and, as at the Secours Catholique centre, efforts are made to treat each person with dignity, as individuals each with their own hopes and concerns.

Groups working in Calais constantly need fresh volunteers and donations of supplies. The number of displaced people living in Calais is fairly constant at 600 to 800, while the number sleeping rough in woods at Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk, has recently more than doubled to above 1,800. These are mainly Kurds, including many women and children. Dozens more can be found near any port or harbour between Bilbao and Flushing and near their approach roads, not to mention hundreds eking out a precarious existence on the streets of Paris and Brussels.

Jean Vanier RIP

  

By Eddie Gilmore, Chief Executive, Irish Chaplaincy (CSAN member organisation), following the death of Jean Vanier (10 September, 1928 – 7 May, 2019)

As I was told of the death, at the age of 90, of Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, there immediately came to mind my favourite story connected with him: an important story for me, and one which I discovered years later from Jean I’d actually misheard!

Jean was a son of Georges Vanier, a Governor-General of Canada, and he crossed the Atlantic at the height of the Second World War to join the British Naval College at Dartmouth. After the War, one of his tasks, together with a fellow young naval cadet, was to ‘entertain’ the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret on a long sea voyage to South Africa. I was touched to hear that when Jean went to Buckingham Palace in recent years to collect an award from the now Queen Elizabeth she said to him, “Hello Jock”, this being the name that those close to him used when he was growing up.

From this rather privileged background, Jean found himself in 1964 in a village called Trosly in the North of France, moving into a dilapidated old house with two men, Raphael and Philippe, whom he had met and befriended at a large institution, and whom he had invited to come and live with him. The house was named L’Arche, French for the ark, and it would grow into a worldwide network of 150 communities in almost 40 countries, where people with and without learning disabilities live and work and share life together. I joined the L’Arche community in Canterbury in 1988 and was there for 28 years, and it’s where I met my wife, so I have a particular reason to be grateful for what Jean started.

In 2006 I was attending an event in Trosly for directors of L’Arche communities in Europe, at which Jean spoke to us. In one of his talks he recalled how he’d been visiting a prison in America where one of the guys had told him proudly (or at least this is what I heard at the time), “I’m the best card-dealer in the State of Virginia”. Jean went on to say, “You know, we all need to be the best something; but where do I want to choose to be the best?” I interpreted this as meaning, ‘Where do I want to choose to use my gifts?’ At that time I was coming to the end of my initial 4 year ‘mandate’ as Director and unsure whether or not to continue for a second 4 year term, but this story inspired me to do so.

I told this story often to people, and I hoped I’d have a chance one day to say thank you to Jean. Years later I drove a full minibus of people from L’Arche Kent over to Trosly to visit Jean, whom we knew could be in his final years. It was never easy to get to speak to him one-to-one, but following Mass in the lovely converted barn of a chapel, I spotted that he was momentarily on his own in the courtyard, and seized my chance. I went over and said I wanted to thank him for something he’d said years earlier that had been very important for me. “Oh yes”, he replied, “what was that?” I said he’d been speaking about the man in a prison who claimed to be the best card-dealer in the State of Virginia. “No, no, no!” said Jean, “the best car-stealer in the state penitentiary”! And we both roared with laughter.

God bless you Jean, and Thank You.