Catholic social action conference



Archbishop of Westminster makes the opening speech



On Wednesday 6th April, we attended a conference entitled 'Building a New Culture of Social Responsibility' hosted by the Caritas Social Action Network and the Catholic Bishops Conference held at 1 Birdcage Walk. This was a conference on the subject of the contribution of Catholic Social Action in the changing economic and social context and amid the Big Society rhetoric.  

We got there early to help out with the registration of the conference participants. We recognised lots of names and faces including colleagues from the Bishops Conference, people we have met before from CAFOD, the Cardinal Hume Centre and other conferences we have been to, as well as political legends such as Baroness Shirley Williams, BBC Radio 4 Today programme's Ed Stourton who chaired the whole event, and Philip Blond, the thinker behind the Big Society philosophy.

After coffee and registration, Archbishop Vincent Nichols made some introductory remarks, welcoming the conference participants and setting the conference in the context of the bishops' work on deepening social engagement, the conference in Liverpool in February 2011 and the seminar held at Archbishops' House on 9th February 2011.

Helen O'Brien, Chief Executive of CSAN, spoke about Caritas in the UK, before Christoph Petrik-Schweifer, Secretary General for Caritas Austria, gave some input on Social Action and Caritas' structures abroad. Caritas Austria is a well established network, and many felt it was one to be aspired to. Interestingly he described Caritas Austria as a service provider to local authorities. 

Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, set the day's discussions in their economic context. He explained why we are facing the biggest fiscal deficit and the largest period of cuts in sixty years, which he predicts will have "immense and immediate consequences". Paul's talk explained clearly what the cuts will mean for charities and community groups.

The Rt Hon Baroness Warsi

After mingling with the attendees over a coffee, The Rt Hon. the Baroness Warsi, Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without portfolio gave an address on the 'the Government Perspective' focusing on the contribution of Catholic Social Action in the changing economic and social context. 

Her talk centred on four points of social responsibility. Firstly as a massive change in how we think about Government and society, learning from the work that faith communities are doing both at home and abroad, an opening of opportunity to unlock new civic energy through public service reform and finally a need to understand that these priorities are intrinsically linked. You can read her talk online, and watch the video to hear about her concept of the Big Society, her praise of Catholic endeavours and the need for change. While her talk was biased towards a Conservative perspective, it was still interesting to see what a Minister thinks about the work Caritas is doing and where it fits in.  

The Panel takes questions from the attendees

Delegates then took the opportunity to raise their concerns and begin a debate during a panel discussion with Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Jon Cruddas MP, Joanna Killian, Chief Executive of Essex County Council and Bridget Doogan Chief Executive of St. John  of God Hospitaller Services.   

The discussions revealed the views of the charities, the point-of-view of the MPs, as well as helpfully setting Catholic Social Teaching in context of society today.  

Archbishop Peter Smith ended the conference with a summary of the day’s events, thanking all who attended and spoke. He even dabbled in some 'political discussion' himself.  

Jo-Anne Rowney & Naomi Brandon

Public Affairs Interns

Within the bowels of the Catholic Herald offices...

Jo-Anne shares her two days experience at The Catholic Herald offices.

The Bishops meeting

Last week I found myself at 15 Lambs passage. Now if you Google that it’ll come up with Ballroom Dancing in London and Cambridge – I can assure you I wasn’t prancing around in sequins trying out for Strictly Come Dancing! I was, instead, visiting the Catholic Herald, as they had kindly agreed for me to join them for two days work experience.

Their offices are in an old building next to St Joseph’s Church, near Bunhill Row. Or so I found on my first day, trying to follow my Google map through the winding streets. Promptly arriving at 10, I was buzzed in, and after climbing quite a few stairs was met by Luke Coppen, Mark Greaves, Anna Arco and Ed West – who maybe you’ll recognise the names of from Twitter.

The first job of the day was the News List, searching for interesting news items to include. Trawling through blogs like I do at Archbishop’s House and news sites for an article that would catch my eye, a list was compiled. A meeting followed deciding who would write what and which stories would go where in the newspaper. I hadn’t seen this process before so I found it quite interesting.

Having been given the Cardinal pub story I tried to find out what was going on and where things stood. Half way through the day Independent Catholic News started up a petition, which changed my article.

It wasn’t until the next day that the news bustle really kicked off. Tuesday was News Day, so Simon Caldwell, News Editor, was in distributing the articles. This is something I love - being given a piece to write, collecting the information and quickly writing it up, then the next one and so on. I got to write a few during the day, which was a great experience.

By the end of the day I’d finished off all my pieces; had rung Alexander de Forges, CCN to talk about the Bishops meeting, contacted the Jesuits about their Superior General’s upcoming visit and followed the Cardinal pub story as it began to take off.

It would have been good to have seen the full journey of the newspaper from Monday to Friday (The Catholic Herald comes out Thursday), but instead I settled for waiting to see what and where my articles would be when I picked up the Catholic newspapers on Thursday.



The Cardinal Pub in the Herald



My Cardinal pub piece was front page down right, and the other pieces had been put in page 2 and 3. A good result for my portfolio! Even funnier, I had tweeted live from the Social Responsibility conference on the Wednesday morning. When the Archbishop told the attendees to sign the petition away I tweeted – Mark Greaves updated my story online and I watched as people RTd an article I had written. Even better, a certain reporter at the conference told me that hadn’t thought anything of the comment until I tweeted it and the headlines all changed from ‘Petition to save The Cardinal Pub’ to ‘Archbishop urges MPs etc to sign petition to save Cardinal pub’ – woopsie!

Since then the Archbishop has been busy on BBC radio, TV, news and being interviewed about it. I am absolved from blame here! The petition had already taken off - it now stands at 650 signatures.  

All in all a successful two days work experience, though it’d be great to pop back in to The Catholic Herald offices to see what happens the rest of the week. My journalist’s curiosity has gotten the better of me already!

Jo-Anne Rowney

Archbishop's House, Public Affairs Intern

Interns in the City Day 1: Lord-ing it up!

All of us, including our Brussels intern - Chris, have just finished the first of our three days of intense talks and meetings in the City. Today we met two Lords - Lord Griffiths and Lord Alton.

Our three day stint began with a meeting with Lord Brian Griffiths, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs. Lord Giffiths kindly gave us his time to talk over what he thought Christian teaching was on wealth and private property, he also entered into a debate over the bonus culture of the banks and the place faith has in the City along with the challenges this presents.

We all found Lord Griffiths' discussion interesting, whether we agreed with all his points or not. It was particularly fascinating to hear the other point of view - hearing what a man from inside the machinations of the City says in defence of bonuses and high spending of the banks. What was especially interesting was Lord Griffiths justification of wealth and private property using the old testament and passages to highlight his points.

After a very tempting buffet lunch including dinky little fish and chips (Ash Wednesday!) we rushed over to the Houses of Parliament to see Lord Alton. Known for his cause driven nature, he spoke of his change from Liberal to an independent due to the difference between the party view and his own on certain issues as well as the importance of making a difference however small.

After a far too short time with Lord Alton (though we covered a lot of ground!) we meandered around parliament with the boys giving us a mini tour. Chris got to properly have a look around for the first time since he'd been in Brussels and we all got to see the amazing view from Andrew's office!

Then it was off to Canary Wharf for Ash Wednesday Mass. Archbishop Vincent Nichols was presiding at a Mass in Barclays Bank plc, which I felt ws an opportunity not to be missed. Arriving early we took a look around the banking district before the start of Mass, and indulging in a snack and tea before Mass (lenten resolutions permitting of course!).

Mass was in the large refectory a few floors up, so after registering and being herded into a huge lift we arrived and were seated. It was nice to have a fellow Newman House resident playing the piano for the Mass as well.

Wednesday was soon over, tomorrow JP Morgan and the City Corporation!

Until next time

Jo-Anne

Report from Caritas conference: A Common Endeavour

All the interns took part in the recent Caritas conference in Liverool to examine how the Church engages with the Big Society, Jo-Anne reports on how they got on.

Archbishop Patrick Kelly and Archbishop Vincent Nichols

There was a great amount of expectation surrounding the Caritas conference in Liverpool, where charities and agencies from across the UK had travelled to have their voices heard and to tackle the way we as a Church approach the Big Society.

Over 180 delegates from across the dioceses as well as independent thinkers and projects interested in social action joined the discussions on various themed topics such as Youth, the Elderly, Theology of the Big Society and Volunteering. Each group had a chance to reflect on the work they do in relation to catholic social teaching, identifying opportunities and challenges they are facing in the current social and economic situation.

The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, called on Catholic’s to take a lead in standing in solidarity quoting from the Pope’s address to the Bishops of England and Wales at Oscott during the Papal Visit to the UK: "The prophetic voice of Christians has an important role in highlighting the needs of the poor and disadvantaged, who can so easily be overlooked in the allocation of limited resources.”

The conference was a response to this call, and has been heralded as the first step in a project to ‘re-invent and re-imagine’ the work of the larger Catholic Community.

Archbishop of Liverpool, Most Rev Patrick Kelly opened the conference with an address looking at Liverpool’s past, present and future. He spoke fondly of the conference's host city explaining its history in trade and industry. Archbishop Kelly compared today’s situation to Liverpool’s past, centring on the fact that once 80% of the world's trade came through Liverpool's port, the foundations of wealth, but with a human cost.

Archbishop Nichols continued the discussion, focusing on the urgency of social action saying: “If it is to succeed this project must be taken beyond party politics to become a common endeavour owned by society as a whole”.  The Archbishop spoke of a yearning for a richer community life, and need for “stronger social bonds”, emphasising the importance of “mutual responsibilities”.

He said: "Our Church is present throughout the country, and Catholic social action takes place quietly and on a much greater scale than many realise. We have at the heart of our theology a word which beautifully describes this practical expression of Christian love - Caritas.

“My hope and prayer for the work we are doing together today and in the coming months is that this idea of Caritas will become more visibly the shared inspiration for Catholic social action in England and Wales. For it is a common endeavour at the service of those in need, and always to the glory of the One in whose name we are called to that service."

CSAN’s Chief Executive, Helen O’Brien presented some facts and figures presenting the picture of social action that Archbishop Vincent had highlighted. The figures were surprising, allowing us to see the amount of work the charities and agencies do on relatively little funding. It was a great aid to demonstrate the work Caritas and the charities do, as well as useful to guide discussions on what would be a realistic step forward for Social Action in terms of the Big Society.

After table debates and a chance for Exposition with Archbishop Kelly, former MP John Battle and Rev Dr James Hanvey, theological adviser to the Bishop’s conference, addressed the conference summarising what they believed the concept of the ‘Big Society’ was. Rev James Hanvey spoke about the need to move with social chance, leaving us with the thought: “We need to think less in terms of ‘me’, and more as ‘we.”

The Church now plans on carrying out a survey to gather information about emerging social needs within local communities, and the contribution currently being made by the Church. Caritas will lead the practical action to identify ways in which the Church can better assist local initiatives and promote the further engagement of the Catholic community at every level. There is also going to be a major conference to draw together the results of this work, the progress made, and the challenges then facing us. There is a lot of work to be done but ‘A Common Endeavour’ was a step in the right direction.

The Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark, gave the closing address drawing together the themes of the day and sending everyone away with a newly invigorated motivation towards social action.

A shorter version of this article appeared in March issue of the Westminster Record, the Diocese of Westminster newspaper which is available in parishes and Westminster Cathedral now.

Saturday's ordinariate ordinations - the press perspective

Unless you've been hiding under a rock recently, you will be aware that last Saturday Church history was made as we saw the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham set up and Fr Keith Newton named as the first Ordinary for England and Wales.

I was lucky enough to be helping out with press at the Ordination Mass at Westminster Cathedral thanks to my internship with Archbishop's House. My day began like a normal work day, with an early start, though the roads and streets are definitely a lot quieter on a Saturday! I helped sort out the press packs, making sure there were press releases and an order of service in each press pack before the media turned up (a lot later than we had to!).

I had never been to an ordination before so that was an experience in itself, its hard to convey how many momentous things occurred in such a short space of time; that the ordinariate was set up, that we have a named Ordinary now, that the three former Anglican Bishops were ordained opening the way for many more to come across is all important and slightly overwhelming in its magnitude.

Positive press

Some press got this, some press didn't - there were plenty of press to herd around that turned up to cover the Mass, probably unsuspecting that two and a half hours later they'd still be standing in the cold Cathedral! It was great to see the amount of coverage and interest there was, and to be a part of that.

Over the past week, I think it has become clearer to me that there is a need to help the press understand occasions such as this one, so the right information can be shared with the public. In helping the press cover the ordinations on Saturday the press office did a great job at aiding this. It is enlightening and equally revealing to hear some of the questions journalists and press ask, and helped me see what is hard to understand about the Ordinariate, and the process they're going through. it was even more interesting to see the newspapers the following day and the range of articles resulting from the ordinations - including some very strange takes on the proceedings it must be said! I'd recommend the press releases that were put out, especially the informative Q&A, to anyone who was still unclear as to what "all this Ordinariate business" was about. They've all been uploaded to the Diocese of Westminster website - http://www.rcdow.org.uk/ as well as the CBCEW's website.

I was left extremely tired after the busy day we had, but I found it fascinating. Now, following on from my involvement with the Papal Visit and the 'Ordinariate experience', I would say it's safe to say that this is a very exciting time for the Catholic Church. I can only imagine what's to come next!

Jo-Anne Rowney
Archbishop's House Public Affairs Intern

A photo gallery of the ordinations

Audio of Archbishop Vincent's Homily

Personal Ordinariate Information