Caritas in Westmister diocese has launched an inspiring programme called ‘Love in Action’ that introduces the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and shows how these can be put into practice by parishioners

the social teaching of the Catholic Church has often been called its “best-kept secret”, but now Caritas Westminster is bringing this treasure out into the open and offering a programme everyone can use. It has established a “Love in Action” parish programme, designed to familiarise people with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, and show how they can be put into action.

The Year of Mercy invited each of us to reflect on how we were living out the precepts of Matthew 25, the famous Last Judgement text. Catholics were encouraged to examine the ways in which we stand in solidarity with the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised.  As is clear from the reaction of the young people in our parish, this is the style of Catholicism that they identify with. We were reminded by Pope Francis’ spiritual father, St Ignatius of Loyola, that “love ought to be shown in deeds more than in words”.

With these thoughts in mind, I set up a meeting with the Westminster Caritas team and we went through the “Love in Action” materials and how they were to be delivered. Initially, we gathered a group of people in the parish who would take responsibility for the practical aspects of the programme. I invited every existing group in the parish to send two representatives to a preliminary meeting.