Shrewsbury Catholics invited to take up Pope Francis's challenge to become 'Church for the poor'

Helen O'Brien - image Simon Caldwell

Catholics across the Diocese of Shrewsbury have been invited to express their faith in Jesus Christ by embarking on effective and practical social action in the service of the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society.

Helen O'Brien, the chief executive of the Catholic Social Action Network, invited Catholics to transform the Diocese into a "Caritas diocese" in which people and parishes were involved in social action at grass roots level.

In a speech during the Diocese of Shrewsbury Caritas Roadshow, Miss O'Brien said the challenge of the Church was to become the "authentic voice of the voiceless"

"There is a lot of work to be done," she said. "The reality is complex. Poverty isn't of the same order as parts of Africa or the Middle East but there is indeed real poverty in England and Wales."

She said that CSAN, an agency of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and groups such as Church Action on Poverty and the Church Urban Fund have case studies and statistics to demonstrate that those in the worst financial situations have been hardest hit by the combination of reforms to the benefits system and arrangements such as zero hours contracts.

The migrant crisis had also brought an overseas refugee problem up to the borders of the UK and now demanded a response from domestic charities, she said.

"How can we fail to be aware of the heart-wrenching pictures of drownings or families trudging hundreds, thousands of miles in search of peace and security and the sheer overwhelming need and wish for sanctuary which is causing this free movement of people in the EU to break down into pictures of barbwire fences and police resistance to borders previously open," she said before she outlined how Catholics might become more involved in helping the poor through work in their parishes.

Her remarks came during an address to the Caritas Shrewsbury Roadshow at Ellesmere Port Catholic High School.

The event attracted an audience of nearly 200 Catholics from across the Diocese and featured a "market place" of 25 stalls set up by church associations or social action groups.

These included the Catenians, the Catholic Children's Society, Cafod, food banks, the Olive Branch, St Vincent de Paul Society, Wirral Nights of St Columba, Savio House, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, the National Board of Catholic Women, the Catholic Women's League, the Union of Catholic Mothers and the Catholic Handicapped Fellowship.

Before the event each member of the audience was invited to write a short prayer on a love heart and to pin it to a large cross at the front of the stage.

Introducing the event, which took the theme "Being a Church for the Poor", Canon Philip Moor, chairman of the Diocesan Commission for Justice, Peace and Social Responsibility, told the audience that the roadshow provided the opportunity for Catholics to reflect on "our call to love our neighbour, particularly those who are poor, needy and on the margins".

The event was also a celebration of the all the social work that was already being undertaken by groups in the Diocese, said Canon Moor (pictured left), a vicar general and the parish priest of the Holy Apostles and Martyrs parish in Wallasey.

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury spoke for 20 minutes on the Catholic approach to social action, telling delegates that it was underpinned by the appreciation of the value and dignity of every human person.

He said that this belief in the value of the human person which united Catholics across the political spectrum.

"We can never assume today that this vision of the human person seen in the light of our innate dignity, eternal destiny, made in the image and likeness of God, holds sway in the minds of commentators and legislators and so it is this clear-sighted vision, the vision of the truth about human life and dignity, which we Christians must bring to the whole field of social action.

"It is a vast undertaking," he said. "We are called to give not merely some of our opinions, some of our money, but something of ourselves."

"Humanity can never be for us a set of statistics, a set of issues to be met with a series of ideas," Bishop Davies continued. "Troubled humanity must have a recognisable face, as a brother or a sister, before we can truly address any issue together.

"It is our will today to see the refugee, the unborn child, the vulnerable elderly person, the child in poverty for who they truly are."

Bishop Davies said that Catholics are reminded by the Mass every Sunday that Our Lord gives himself in the Eucharist, and he urged members of the audience to conform their own hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"In this Eucharistic light and love, Shrewsbury Diocese will find the way to truly respond to every social need," Bishop Davies said.

John Battle, former Labour MP for Leeds West and chairman of the Leeds Justice and Peace Commission, later encouraged participants to seek out a social action group that suited them and to join it.

Quoting from Pope Benedict XVI, Mr Battle, pictured right, said that love needed to be organised, adding: "Think of what time you can give and how we can respond to Pope Francis's invitation to listen to the cry of the earth and to the cry of the poor."

During the afternoon, participants were invited to join workshops run by the SVP, Women in Poverty, Foodbanks and by the Olive Branch, the Wirral-based initiative to liberate hard drug users from their addictions.