Sean Ryan from Caritas awarded MBE for work with refugees

Sean Ryan, the Caritas National Refugee Coordinator for Community Sponsorship, has been recognised in the New Year's Honours List for his work with refugees.

Sean has played a key role in developing the Community Sponsorship refugee scheme. He led the 25-strong team from St Monica's Parish, Flixton, Salford, which was the first parish to welcome a Syrian family to be resettled in the UK under the Government's Community Sponsorship scheme. The scheme allows parishes and community groups to welcome, house and support refugee families looking to rebuild their lives in the UK.

Sean was employed by Caritas Salford to support the scheme's uptake by parishes in the North-West and then nationally by Caritas Social Action Network and Caritas Salford. His role involves working with the Home Office, Local Authorities and Catholic dioceses to enable many more Syrian families to be resettled, harnessing the love, talents and commitment of parish communities.

Commenting on this honour, Phil McCarthy said: "This richly deserved honour recognises the work that Sean has done to answer the call of Pope Francis to Catholic communities to welcome refugees. His role has already been fruitful, and I hope that with Sean's help, we will see many more Catholic parishes taking up community sponsorship in 2018."

Groups and parishioners interested in the Community Sponsorship Scheme can find out more by contacting Faith Anderson, email: admin@csan.org.uk.

For more information about CSAN visit: www.csan.org.uk