Category: New

Cornwall: Caritas Plymouth

Aims

To express Christian love for all people through the practical service of those in need, of all faiths and none, by:

  • Increasing support to those in need
  • Increasing volunteering and befriending
  • Making a greater contribution to the common good of society
  • Enhancing education and formation within the Christian community, helping people appreciate the importance of sharing, respect, and love in the spirit of the Gospel.

The Caritas Plymouth network is a confederation of local Catholic charities and parishes. The network will provide mutual support, strategic direction, and added value. It will also develop social action projects which address local need or unite parishes for the common good of society.

Update on the Coronavirus Pandemic

Caritas Plymouth continues to monitor the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and is taking all steps necessary to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the people we help, staff and volunteers while continuing to share ideas about how we can best support those in need.

This page contains guidance for parishes on responding to the Coronavirus. This incorporates material from CSAN and SVP as well as offering details of organisations which are giving grants to local projects at this time.  We are also sharing examples of how our parishes and schools have responded to the new needs generated by the pandemic through updates and newsletters.

Covid-19 Emergency Grants (Updated every Monday)
Covid-19 Caritas updated guidance for parishes
Templates
Reaching Out During Covid – A Case Study
To contact Caritas Plymouth please use the contact form on the website

Have you been wondering about God during lockdown? A Conversation : 10 Aug, ONLINE

Have you been wondering about God during lockdown?
Have you tried praying for the first time, or for the first time in a while?
Would you like the chance to talk about your questions, hopes and doubts about God, faith, church or prayer?
If so, we’d love to talk to you!
We’re running a Zoom group on Monday 10 August at 7:30 for anyone who wants a safe, non-judgemental and open conversation about any of those things, without anyone telling you what to think.
If you would like to take part in this conversation, email hello@truro.anglican.org and we will send you an invitation.
If you can’t make it on Monday, let us know by emailing that address, and we will let you know when the next of these conversations is scheduled.

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Young Christian Climate Network Launches

27 July, 2020

Ruth Jarman writes on the Green Christian website:

Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) is an action-focused community of Christians in the UK aged 18-30, choosing to follow Jesus in the pursuit of climate justice, launching Saturday 1 August.

They have three aims:

  • to connect young Christians into an inclusive community engaged with climate justice
  • to take and facilitate collective action towards climate justice, motivated by faith
  • to see themselves and their communities grow in passion and understanding, learning with humility and reflection

The network is ecumenical – the set-up team has members from the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Quaker traditions. You can follow YCCN on instagram, twitter and facebook (all @YCCNetwork). Why not get in touch with them, or point young people you know to their website or email at hello@yccn.uk to join the network or get more information?

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Arthur Rank Centre Survey – COVID-19, well-being and the church

Rural isolation and COVID-19: Faith, worship and social contact

A study examining faith, worship and community during the COVID-19 pandemic

This 15 minute survey aims to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on everyday activities might have affected the following:

  • Your relationships with others
  • Your relationship with your faith
  • Your ability to connect with your community during the pandemic

Please refer to the information sheet accessed via this link for further information:

Please try to respond as fully as possible in order to help us gain useful data for future work and publications.

Your responses will remain completely confidential and will be seen and analysed by university researchers only. The Arthur Rank Centre will NOT have access to any individual responses.

Deadline for participation: 13th August 2020

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How Fairtrade is Tackling the Climate Crisis

Please watch and share this film, and spread the word that through Fairtrade we can help win climate justice for some of the world’s most disadvantaged people.

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Lent 2021 and Church Action on Poverty Sunday

We’d like to give you advance notice of two ways you can take action to loosen the grip of poverty next year!

21 February: Church Action on Poverty Sunday, ‘New Wineskins’

Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2021 will explore the theme ‘New Wineskins’ – as we journey together through these difficult times, how can we ensure people on the margins are fully included in our work for a new and better world? Use our resources to reflect on the theme in church, and raise funds to ensure people in poverty have dignity, agency and power.

Please mark the date in your diary – and make sure your church and worship team know about it. Register your interest below, and we will send you a resource pack in October with fundraising and worship materials.

 Register to take part in Church Action on Poverty Sunday 

Lent 2021: Life-Changing Stories

If you run Lent programmes in your church, please consider using our Scripture on the Margins materials. In 2021, we’re looking at the Acts of the Apostles, as a story of how people on the margins were empowered to go out and change the world. There will be five studies by Nick Jowett, Raj Patta, Sue Richardson, Jan Sutch Pickard and Ruth Wilde. 

Life-Changing Stories will be published on 8 October. If you can, please talk to the people who plan your church’s Lent programme, and encourage them to bear it in mind when they start planning!

Best wishes

Liam Purcell
Church Action on Poverty

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Help shape the Cornwall we want as a cleaner, greener home : 6 Aug, ONLINE

High on the list of things people want for Cornwall’s future is a cleaner and greener environment with reduced traffic and a green economy. People are also calling for Climate Change to remain the number one consideration in decision-making about the future.

So what can we do to make that happen? What is already happening in Cornwall that we can build on and learn from?

Join a live debate at 7pm on Thursday 6 August

Take part in the live discussion by joining on the Council’s Facebook page We are also streaming the event live on the Cornwall we want website: https://letstalk.cornwall.gov.uk/the-cornwall-we-want

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New WCC toolkit empowers churches to work with children and youth for climate justice

30 July 2020

The World Council of Churches (WCC) today releases a collection of curated resources to support churches, church-run schools, Sunday schools and summer camps in their ongoing efforts to promote care for children and youth through intergenerational climate- and environmental justice. The toolkit supports the Churches’ Commitments to Children, in which climate initiatives for and with children is an important pillar.

“Many of the young climate activists around the world come from churches,” said WCC interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca. “WCC has created this toolkit to help churches to provide space for the development of solutions and promote the adaptation of our systems with and for children and youth.”

According to Frederique Seidel, WCC’s senior advisor on children’s rights, the Churches’ Commitments to Children Online Platform has received many requests to support intergenerational climate justice initiatives. These requests motivated the development of the toolkit that gathers dozens of resources to empower churches to take action for climate justice.

“We have witnessed that engagement of children and youth in climate solutions is the best way to respond to the eco-anxiety, which has increased among children around the world. Many of the tools can also be adapted for uplifting activities during confinement in the COVID-19 context,” said Seidel.

The toolkit invites readers to get informed, get inspired and take action for climate justice. The online publication is being released during the European summer break so that teachers and facilitators have time to integrate the material into the new school year and Sunday school plans, which in some parts of the world start in September.

The development of the toolkit was supported through the Keeling Curve Prize, which was awarded to the WCC in 2019 for its global warming mitigation efforts.

You can download the toolkit here.

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Green Grace of God Prayer Exercise

Use this 5 minute prayer exercise from the Quiet Garden Movement to help you focus and engage with your natural space.

Listen to Philip Roderick lead you in this simple reflective practice, perfect for finding a moment of stillness in outdoor spaces.

Download MP3: Green Grace of God Prayer Exercise with Philip Roderick

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Festival of Christian Pilgrimage Online : 14 Sep, ONLINE

Festival of Christian Pilgrimage Online
Monday 14 September, 9.30am – 4.00pm BST
This September join us for a one-day online festival run by Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
The day will feature a series of short talks each followed by a live Q&A. Speakers include Stephen Cottrell, Martyn Percy, Dee Dyas and Graham Usher. We hope you’ll leave equipped with practical ideas for enhancing your pilgrim ‘offer’ in your own parishes, both in terms of hospitality and encouraging the practice of pilgrimage as a way of deepening faith.

Tickets are free. Details of how to join the event will be sent to ticket holders in September. The Festival of Christian Pilgrimage is run by Canon Sarah Meyrick (Cathedral Public Engagement Manager) and Revd Dr Sally Welch (Diocesan Spirituality Adviser) on behalf of the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, and in partnership with the Church Times and Canterbury Press. 
Details and bookings:
pilgrimage.hymnsam.co.uk
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