Those beneficiaries of the Charity who find themselves in difficult financial circumstances, or whose circumstances make it more difficult to put down roots and find acceptance in society, whether they are Catholic or not, very often make contact with the Charity through one of the projects run by Caritas Westminster.
Caritas Westminster facilitates social outreach work to tackle poverty and social exclusion. It aims to help individuals in the Diocese of Westminster to use their gifts and talents bestowed by God to create just and inclusive communities. It supports projects which aim to accompany, encourage and empower people, recognizing their dignity and worth and removing obstacles so that they can flourish. Within this mission, Caritas focuses on five priority areas:
- Food
- Shelter
- Financial resilience
- Dignified work
- Social inclusion
This work is carried out through two main streams: services, which are run directly by Caritas, and outreach, in which the Caritas Development Team provides advice, training, networking opportunities, and, in some cases, direct assistance to parish, school, or community organisation staff and volunteers to help them respond to needs in their local areas.
Caritas runs seven services directly:
- Caritas Bakhita House
- Caritas Deaf Service
- Caritas St Joseph’s
- Seeds Hub
- Caritas Grants
- Caritas Volunteer Service
- Safe in Faith
Many of these services have links with outreach work as well. Caritas Volunteer Service helps parishes, schools and organisations to find volunteers to support their outreach initiatives, and signposts willing volunteers to projects where their talents and passion can be deployed to the greatest effect. Caritas Grants provides funding for many outreach projects. Caritas St Joseph’s engages in outreach work to the parishes to support their ministry to those with intellectual disabilities.
Caritas Grants
Caritas Grants manages the St John Southworth Fund, an amalgamation of different donations from individuals and smaller funds, including a funeral grant fund that was provided by an anonymous donor. In 2023, over £110,000 in project grants was awarded to 12 social action projects. Forty-five families or individuals were given crisis grants following referral from their parish, school, or another charitable organisation such as the St Vincent de Paul Society. The funeral fund provided £54,000 in grants of up to £1,500, which helped 39 bereaved families with funeral costs.
A further £8,600 supported Warm Spaces initiatives across the diocese. These spaces provide warmth in winter months to those who struggle to heat their homes because of the unaffordable cost of energy. Having somewhere warm to go and someone to talk to when they get there, allows beneficiaries to reduce costs by switching their heating off for a few hours. These spaces have also created a sense of community, where people can find a warm welcome. (See p10 for a couple of examples of parish Warm Spaces.)
Food Assistance
Caritas Westminster continues to support food projects, such as food banks, pantries and community shops, across the diocese. These centres are facing ever increasing demand due to the cost of living crisis. With the increasing demand for their services and limited resources, those who are involved in these projects might find the task overwhelming. One way of helping them has been the network created by the food team that allows those who run such projects to meet up regularly, accompany each other, and share best practice.
While parishes continue to ask for donations locally, the Advent Giving Calendar is an initiative launched a few years ago by Caritas food team to encourage greater participation in parishes, schools and the local community. Each day in Advent, the calendar reveals one food or basic toiletry item that individuals are invited to donate. Over 4,000 calendars were sent to 55 parishes who requested them, and a further 1,600 were downloaded from the Caritas website. In 2023, staff in central services and at least two private businesses have used the Advent Giving Calendar to support food projects in the diocese. As the initiative has grown in popularity, the team invited Caritas teams in other dioceses to adapt the calendar for their local use. Four diocesan Caritas teams have so far taken up the initiative.
In addition to these programmes, Caritas’s Supermarket Voucher Scheme remains central to its direct relief of food poverty. This scheme allows parishes or schools who are approached by individuals or families struggling to feed themselves to give the recipient vouchers to spend at a supermarket of their choice, ensuring that they can shop with dignity to meet their family’s particular needs. In 2023, 119 parishes and schools received £85,000 in food vouchers, which were distributed to over 1,000 households, providing assistance to 3,500 individuals. With the continuing cost of living crisis, the need for this assistance remains ever present.
Caritas Deaf Service
The Deaf Service continues to be a crucial service to allow the Deaf and hearing impaired to participate fully in religious life and worship. In 2023, there were 45 signed and sign-interpreted Masses held in the diocese. Seven priests were supported with their signing skills, and 11 seminarians received training in basic British Sign Language (BSL) and liturgical signing, an important skill that will prove invaluable in ensuring their ministry is inclusive.
An additional 15 people took part in a taster BSL signing course, as the Deaf Service was able to return to teaching BSL courses in 2023. The team led a successful course at Sacred Heart, Quex Road, where 25% of attendees expressed an interest in continuing with BSL studies. Signs of Hope, a service offered by the Deaf Service, allows Deaf people to access counsellors who can use and understand BSL. In 2023, there were 240 counselling sessions.
The Deaf Service led a day pilgrimage to Walsingham in 2023. It was the first time in four years that they were able to return. This time, an accessible coach was arranged so that Deaf people with additional disabilities were also able to join the pilgrimage.
Caritas St Joseph's
Services to support persons with intellectual disabilities are offered through Caritas St Joseph’s. There are few groups of people more marginalised in society than the disabled, but at St Joseph’s, they truly are at the centre. There are classes and opportunities to socialise, as well as support for the families, teachers and carers of those with intellectual disabilities.
In 2023, 171 people attended classes at the Lifelong Learning Centre in Hendon. Nearly 30 more people attend the smaller Connect@ Centres in Hounslow and Feltham. St Joseph’s has applied for City and Guilds status, supporting all students to gain qualifications they can use to join their work pathway.
The gardening programme, which has been training students in horticultural skills, has enjoyed great success. There is a team of four who take part in the Gardening Enterprise, and an additional two volunteers who are currently working on gaining the necessary skills to pass their work assessments.
In 2023, the gardening team provided services to 13 clients, which included seven parishes and an agency of the diocese, as well as five individuals, completing 111 jobs over the year. When they are not maintaining clients’ gardens, the gardening team are busy at work at the centre in Hendon, helping to maintain and repair the buildings. They are currently working on restoring the roof garden, which they hope to finish in time for students, staff, and family and friends to enjoy when pleasant weather permits.
It is not only the gardening activities that have been the centre of attention. In 2023, the centre upgraded its premises and installed a new extraction system for its kiln, so that students can produce a variety of ceramic artworks, which grace the centre and are also sold through the shop.
The support of students and their families is at the centre of the work of Caritas St Joseph’s. Their carers’ forum continues to grow. In 2023, the forum invited a number of interesting speakers to address diverse topics of concern to the families, including grief and employment. These topics were requested by parents to help them navigate the world of social care, as well as plan for their children in later life when they can no longer care for them.
St Joseph’s outreach team ran five Symbols of Faith courses across the diocese for parish priests and catechists training them to teach young people with intellectual disabilities about the Catholic faith, prepare them to receive the sacraments, and include them in collective worship. The outreach team also accompanied 45 families from 20 parishes, supporting young people on their journey of preparing to receive the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. In a further expansion of this provision, these family workers have established links with the prison service supporting those with intellectual disabilities under their care to come to the fullness of their faith, no matter who they are or what their circumstances are.
This is the kind of impact on people’s lives that Bishop Paul McAleenan referred to when he said: ‘St Joseph’s isn’t just a place in Hendon, it is a way of looking at the world as Jesus looked at the world. It is a way of looking at the world so that everyone can reach their potential and be the person God intended them to be.’
Seeds Hub
The Seeds Hub is dedicated to supporting communities that face social and economic inequalities, through local, sustainable enterprise, offering advice to members of the community who are looking to start up businesses that make a positive contribution. 2023 was a very rewarding year at the Hub. The two programmes dedicated to social impact businesses, the Start-up and the Accelerator, attracted interest from more than 100 entrepreneurs. Over 40 businesses were selected to take part in the two programmes, with positive results for the participants and the community.
The founders are supported by workshops, peer to peer learning, business mentoring, and the provision of office desk space. In 2023, Elsa Caleb, with over 20 years’ experience in strategic business development, grants and corporate sponsorship, became the main trainer. She is an invaluable resource for the businesses enrolled, accompanying their founders on their individual journeys. Some 35 workshops and 165 business advice sessions were delivered throughout the year. Founders of start-up businesses from underrepresented communities value the opportunity to develop financial and business acumen resilience. Community led initiatives, like the Hub’s first marketplace, put them in control, enabling them to find their market
and to become more confident in the products and services they offer. In 2023, the Hub helped dozens of businesses, from a baby birthing club to a vegan marketplace, get started and develop into valuable assets for the local community. In offering support to these businesses the Seeds Hub seeks to benefit whole communities that can find regeneration and growth through the success of local, sustainable businesses. Not only do new businesses mean new jobs, but independent, local businesses keep the money they earn within the communities, meaning that those in the local community who patronise them are funding their
own future.
The Hub’s initiatives are better understood and valued by the local community. People want to explore what is on offer and become involved in some way, whether through learning, financial literacy, volunteering, or advocacy. Additionally, office spaces and co-working desks dedicated to the third sector at the Hub were fully booked for 2024.
Safe in Faith
Safe in Faith supports survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation in ways that understand how their faith affects their experiences. Although it is a Catholic organisation, it provides support and counselling to anyone who would benefit from a faith informed approach. It also provides clergy, religious sisters, pastoral workers and other faith leaders with training around understanding domestic abuse in the context of religious faith. The training equips faith leaders to provide trauma informed and knowledgeable support and signposting to help victims/survivors access the support they need. In 2023, the team provided domestic abuse awareness training to 42 Catholic priests, religious sisters and other Catholic leaders, as well as a
separate session for 20 permanent deacons.
It also provides training for counsellors, psychotherapists and other professionals in working with individuals affected by domestic abuse. Training was provided to 23 counsellors and psychotherapists. A bespoke BSL course was provided to seven Deaf counsellors and psychotherapists who work with members of the Deaf community.
In 2023, 31 professional therapists who work in the area of faith and trauma joined the Safe in Faith counselling network. The project provides free and low-cost training for practitioners in working with abuse and trauma victims in the context of faith and spirituality.
Appreciation for the services of Safe in Faith was manifest in the richly-deserved recognition at the London Faith & Belief Community Awards in November 2023, receiving the award in the Health & Wellbeing category, which recognises projects that create specialised services for the health and wellbeing of Londoners.
Caritas Bakhita House
Caritas Bakhita House is a safe house for women who have been trafficked or exploited in any way. Since it opened in 2015, it has welcomed 188 women from 49 countries. In 2023 it welcomed 18 women.
Whilst at Bakhita House, guests can participate in an array of therapeutic activities, from gardening to art, music and drama. The women grow lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers and herbs, and use them to cook nourishing community meals. They also harvest apples and quinces for jam and jelly making. Alongside these activities, the guests are able to access legal and medical help and take classes in practical subjects like English and budgeting.
Three former guests also had the opportunity to take part in the Horizons Summer School at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, during the summer. The first of its kind in the UK, it aims to address the challenges faced by survivors of human trafficking in accessing education, through a broad range of classes. As one guest explained, the experience offered her a way ‘out of the traumatic experience’ and led her along a path towards ‘a brighter future with freedom and a successful career’.
During their time at Bakhita House, guests learn to find their voice and their agency. Since 2015, these women have helped secure prison sentences totalling 188 years and 4 months for those who traffic and exploit women. In early 2023, there was news of a 31-year prison sentence for a rapist who abused a former guest and other women. As with other guests, the staff at Bakhita House accompanied her through her journey through the criminal justice system for over four years, until a conviction was achieved.
Speaking of the support she received, she said: ‘I was able to find a place where I could move past feeling ashamed of my experiences. After all, it wasn’t my fault. This was particularly important as it meant that when my day in court finally came I could stand up and hold my truth up in front of jury and judge.’
As they are helped to rebuild their lives, guests begin to look to the future with hope. A former guest, who had been supported in her studies towards a First Class Honours Degree in Criminology, started working towards a Masters degree in 2023. Another former guest has returned as a volunteer. Having been assisted to find work and a place to live independently she now visits the safe house three times a week to accompany new guests. By her presence, she is a shining example for these women that there is life after exploitation.
Like Caritas Westminster’s other services and programmes, Bakhita House has found unique ways to transform the lives of its beneficiaries, accompanying them on the journey from darkness towards healing and hope for their future.
