Love in Action introduces Catholic social teaching (CST) through Sunday Liturgy, group activities, and school assemblies. The programme uses a three step process to help people to engage with CST:

  • INSPIRE: Six principles of CST are explored in the Sunday liturgy and in parish life: parish groups, families, with children and young people.
  • FORM: People are invited to go deeper, to meet together for a workshop on CST and social action.
  • DISCERN AND PLAN: People can then embark on a creative process to develop an Action Plan to discern their community response and to put love into action.

The resources are flexible and can be used to fit into your community’s pattern of life. From a light introduction to CST to a more detailed formation for those who discover they are ready for more, Love in Action will inspire people to put faith into action in small or large ways.

If you are in the Diocese of Westminster and would like any guidance running Love in Action please contact us: [email protected]

Below are some examples of how Love in Action has been used in parishes and schools.

In your parish

Holy Rood Parish, Watford

The parish of Holy Rood in Watford was the first parish to run the Love in Action programme. The parish and the two local Catholic primary schools fully engaged themselves in looking at the relevance of Catholic Social teaching, and seeing in what ways it could apply locally. In the parish, a wide range of possible outcomes were discussed, including better care for the environment, a resource for migrant families and time banking. The initial outcome was a decision to focus on building community within the parish, and to celebrate the multicultural makeup of the congregation through a variety of events. One of the first events was a volunteering fayre, a parish 'exhibition' to highlight the work going on, and to appeal for more volunteers. Holy Rood is an active and vibrant parish, and looked to celebrate and reinforce its strengths through the program, making it a more resilient community going forward.

St John Fisher Parish, North Harrow

North Harrow parish and primary school ran the Love in Action programme during the summer term. They were fully immersed in the process using almost all of the resources. The six themed weeks were liturgy led, with hymns and prayers reflecting the theme. Throughout the six weeks every mass had a children’s liturgy to ensure that all the children were also involved. The parish spent time celebrating all the social action initiatives that already took place and encouraged other parishioners to get involved. Love in Action generated a lot of ideas for new projects and the parish is now focussing on becoming members of Harrow Citizens, creating a ‘Garden of Awe and Wonder’ and a reaching out to isolated people. It was also decided that people needed one off volunteering opportunities to ensure that those with limited availability could still get involved, so small initiatives will take place throughout the year.

See more of your stories here 

Schools and Young People

Holy Rood Parish, Watford

At Holy Rood Watford, alongside the parish programme, the two primary schools had assemblies centred on the theme of the week, and special activities were arranged to help the children better understand how we should treat our neighbour.

West London Confirmation Group

A west London confirmation group spent a retreat day focussing on the themes of Catholic Social Teaching using the Love in Action youth resources. In small groups they spent time discussing how the principles related to their lives, as well as learning more about the Church’s teachings. The groups thought about and completed activities around climate change, the distribution of wealth in the UK and building community. After exploring the CST principles, the candidates used the postcards to reflect on them as a whole and then share which principle particularly resonated with them and why. At the end of the day each candidate committed to one positive action that they could do towards to the common good. The day was so successful that is it being included in the next confirmation programme.

See more of your stories here

Love in Action is a project by Caritas Westminster and applies the Privacy Policy of the Diocese of Westminster.

Website by Beachshore