Charities have come together to encourage Catholics to remember them in their wills.
In Catholic Legacy Week, which ended on 3 June, 26 Catholic charities joined forces under the umbrella of Your Catholic Legacy to offer advice on writing wills to benefit organisations working in overseas aid, mission and pastoral care, pilgrimage and seminaries, vulnerable adults and young people.
Bishop Paul Mason, Bishop of the Forces, was the main celebrant at a thanksgiving Mass at Our Lady of Victories Parish, Kensington, London on 10 June to pray for benefactors who have left a legacy to a charity in Your Catholic Legacy. Father Ed O’Connell, who has recently returned from mission in Peru, spoke at the reception afterwards.
Concelebrants included Fr Tony Chantry, national director of Missio England and Wales and Mgr Jim Curry, parish priest at Our Lady of Victories. Members of Your Catholic Legacy present included Aid to the Church in Need, Cafod, Columban Missionaries, HCPT, Jesuits in Britain, Missio, Stella Maris, St Vincent de Paul Society and World Villages for Children. The names of donors who left legacies to member charities were displayed on two “trees” in front of the altar.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading about the widow’s mite, Bishop Mason said material sharing with good causes was a dimension of a loving God. He spoke of a medical centre in Tanzania that he supported and said he had witnessed first-hand that money made a “massive difference” to the lives of local people.
Fr O’Connell, who is marking 50 years as a Columban missionary priest, first went on mission to Peru in 1973. He emphasised the importance of donations which, in his experience in the city of Lima over decades, have funded outreach in enormous parishes, a school for vulnerable children, a women’s project and education and nutrition programmes for young people. He thanked supporters of Columban mission and other causes.
SVP said in its legacies programme, “Let your lifetime of kindness live on”, explaining that “gifts in wills are vital to our work”. Cafod said, “By including a gift to Cafod in your will, you can make a lasting difference and share your blessings with our global family.”
A free will writing guide is available on the website: https://yourcatholiclegacy.org.uk/
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