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Caritas Round-Up | September 2026
Welcome to the Caritas Round-Up for the month of September 2026! Over the last month we have returned to our work with our diocesan schools, we've been hard at work creating resources and we have celebrated the Season of Creation - to get a flavour of what we've been up to, read below.
Jubilee Garden Project | The Ecological Conversion Group
Siân and Michael attended the launch of the Jubilee Garden Project, a joint project between The Ecological Conversion Group and The God Who Speaks.
The project is an invitation to use physical space to heal, transform and renew. The project has three patrons to help us to engage in the rebuilding of our relationship with God, with neighbours and with the earth: Mary, Martha and Lazarus from John 11-12.
All individuals, parishes and communities on a journey of ecological conversion through growing and cultivating a jubilee garden in the run up to the 2033 Jubilee Year – celebrating 2000 years since the Resurrection of Jesus.
Caritas Europa Parish Forum
Siân (Director, Caritas Brentwood) attended a Caritas Europa Parish Forum in Sweden. Representing a small delegation from the UK, Siân gave a presentation about building a culture of community engagement, the role and relations with, the Bishops, engaging priests and living diakonia within parishes.
The event brought together representatives from Caritas Europa member organisations with both emerging and well-established parish-level structures to reflect on how Parish Carias can be developed, strengthened and sustained across Europe.
The Inaugural JRS UK Annual Lecture
Siân and Michael had the privilege of attending the inaugural annual lecture held by the Jesuit Refugee Service UK. This year’s lecture was given by Dame Rachel De Souza who is the Children’s Commissioner for England, an apt choice considering this year’s theme for World Day of Migrants and Refugees: ‘Even just one of these children’.
Dame Rachel spoke of the places that her role has brought her: migrant detention centres and hotels, as well as witnessing migrant children taken to be processed after crossing the channel by boat. She spoke of the worrying number of children that are being processed as adults in the asylum system, especially concerns around their safeguarding and overall standard of care.
The speech was a fascinating insight into children facing our country’s immigration system – an often-overlooked part of the conversation around migrants and people seeking asylum.
Care for our Common Home | In-person event
We were delighted to hold the first in our series of three in-person events. Hosted at Brentwood Cathedral Hall we used Season of Creation as a springboard to launch the day, exploring Catholic Social Teaching on the environment and integral ecology – in light of Laudato Si’ (released by Pope Francis in 2015).
Not only did attendees hear from Fr Matthias Baidoo (Lexden Parish) about the Church’s social teaching – and how that impacts our daily decisions, and even our engagement with society and politics – we also heard about how that is being lived out by parishioners. The “living out” of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching was given by Mary and Peter Johnson, who are heavily involved in their parish as Laudato Si’ Animators.
Through discussions around everyday scenarios that we might encounter as parishioners and catechists, we took the time to explore how might respond in situations where we’re faced to make choice in line with our faith and belief. With no right or wrong answer, attendees were able to delve into the church’s social teaching as a lived reality, rather than a set of abstract ideas.
Citizens UK and Stone King LLP Round Table
Siân was also invited to a roundtable with Citizens UK and Stone King LLP. The evening brought together leaders from education, youth work, civic engagement and democracy to explore what political and citizenship education needs to look like for the next generation.
With the government currently discussing extending the voting age to 16, the conversation considered how schools, colleges and civic institutions can equip young people not only to understand democracy, but to actively participate in it.
We were also joined by Steve Chalke, the Government’s Civic Participation and Enrichment Ambassador, as well as representatives from The Electoral Commission.
Welcome the Stranger: Defend Asylum
In the lead up to World Day of Migrants and Refugees, we joined members of the Caritas Network across England and Wales as a group of us gathered outside Parliament to express our support for migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum.
On the day, colleagues and volunteers from Caritas Social Action Network, St Vincent de Paul Society England & Wales and Jesuit Refugee Service UK, came together to hand deliver hundreds of post cards to Number 10 Downing Street. These post cards had been sent in from all over the country, each from different Catholic communities, petitioning the Prime Minister to defend the right to asylum.
Southern Dioceses Environment Network Meeting
The Southern Diocese Environment Network and Northern Diocese Environment Group hosted a successful joint meeting during the Season of Creation. Joined by Bokani Tshidzu, Campaign Officer for Operation Noah, the meeting delved into the actions we and our community can take during the Season of Creation and beyond.
From pilgrimages to water sources and reporting polluted rivers, to contacting local politicians about your concerns, the evening offered plenty of practical and spiritual advice.
Upcoming Events | Caritas Brentwood
There's still time to join us for our upcoming Catholic Social Teaching events happening in October and November.
Homelessness & Cost of Living | 17th October, 9:45am-12:30pm | St Alban’s Parish, Elm Park.
Refugees & People Seeking Asylum | 14th November, 1pm-3:30pm | St Anne Line, South Woodford.
Our new website is LIVE!
We are pleased to announce that our new website is now live! We have been hard at work behind the scenes, creating this website and making sure that it's accessible and user-friendly for all. We hope that over the coming years this website will help us better serve those in need across Essex and East London, and make it easier for people to find the support they need.
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