LiveSimply CAFOD Campaign
We have a date for the presentation of the Live Simply Award by CAFOD . It is on Tuesday May 30th. More details later.
What is this Campaign?
This is the CAFOD logo
The LiveSimply Award is given by CAFOD to communities (eg schools and parishes) who can show how they have been or a moving towards living:
more simply
in solidarity with people in poverty
sustainably with creation.
The award celebrates what communities have already done and seeks to inspire us to do more to live, not just more simply, but also more fully.
A LiveSimply award needs to involve as many people in the community as possible. From the youngest to the oldest, each person’s different strengths and interests contribute to making it a success.
History of our Application for a CAFOD award
Early in 2021, the Parish Council endorsed an application made to CAFOD by the parish Laudato Si Circle to become a LiveSimply Parish. A parish plan was submitted which has been accepted by CAFOD. It includes, for example, at a parish level, support for refugees and the re-wilding of St Timothy’s field. Nearly all os these projects are ongoing.
Here is a table to show how we satisfied the requirements for the CAFOD LiveSimply award.
During 2021 and 2022, the Laudato Si Circle, in the parish via newsletters and via their page on the parish website, have been giving the parish details of how we can become a LiveSimply Parish, inviting us, as a community, to act collectively and positively to the challenge of climate change.
In October 2022, two representatives of CAFOD came to St Paul and St Timothy and were presented with a large amount of evidence. They were pleased to give us the CAFOD LiveSimply award. Congratulations to the Laudato Si Circle and other groups in the parish. They will all continue their work of ensuring that we remain a LiveSimply Parish
In a Pastoral letter in 2021, the Archbishop expressed his desire that all the parishes in the Archdiocese should work towards becoming a LiveSimply Parish. A number of parishes and schools in the Archdiocese have already received this Award.
How can we Continue our Commitment?
CAFOD expects us to continue with all the projects listed above, which are ‘ongoing’ We cannot rest on our laurels and we need to consider as a parish how to move forward with new projects maybe. CAFOD wants parish groups to work with each other and share the commitment. Currently, the Laudato Si Circle have been engaged with most of the projects but some listed in the table above were joint efforts. For example, the Foodbank project was started by the Knights of St Columba and they still share this task with the Laudato Si Circle. Another example is that there is a link between the Laudato Si Circle and the exterior group Asylum Link Merseyside. Because this link had been set up, a knitting group (look for knitting exhibition on the Recent Events page) was started in the parish and they make items for refugees. Watch this space for future examples on how parish groups reach out to one another, .
As well as the community projects, CAFOD expects individuals and families in the parish to be encouraged to make their own lifestyle contributions. Pope Francis calls this a personal ecological conversion: it is a call to see our world in a different light – the light of Christ. So a new page has been created on purpose to help us all to live more simply.