Our Live Simply Journey
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| Some of our group and our families gathered together with our LiveSimply plaque |
Our members and families met to discuss our approach, and we prepared a detailed action plan which was accepted with some of the actions we had agreed upon already being successfully carried out, and these we looked at adapting and evolving, whereas several other actions were brand new to our way of thinking.
We looked towards a simple approach to show our efforts to live in solidarity with people in poverty, to live sustainably with creation, and to live simply and it had to be a plan we could build to and then keep to for the long term. We also concentrated on increasing our faith, by attending Mass as often as possible, and praying. These are all things we should be doing as anyway, but it does help to bring issues to the forefront so that no one gets stuck in autopilot as we support our clergy and the Catholic church as well as the communities we work within.
Working within six parishes of eight churches, we set about fifteen sets of activities; some spiritual, some practical, some reaching out to the wider community, and often a mix of all these approaches, and with the support of Chris at CAFOD Brentwood, we were able to achieve our status as a Live Simply group in January 2018. Activity produces exposure and we are called to be Knights in action. As a Council we have brought in 14 new members in the last few years off the back of being seen in the parishes doing work such as the work we agreed for this Live Simply award. It hasn't been easy but is has been necessary for us to grow and remain relevant.
We have been able to work with other communities in our area such as the Southend Older People's Assembly, and several Anglican parishes, and we have been able to share good practice, help to publicise the good work that is being done locally by others, offer links to groups previously not known, and develop friendships that have allowed different charities and groups to network and help each other as a result. We have worked for the homeless, the poor, the sick and lonely, we have prayed, we have recycled, and we have become supporters of fairtrade.
This award has given us focus and purpose, helped us to put others first, and allowed us to grow as a group and as individuals and families, and in reality, we have only followed the teachings of the church and responded to the Gospel that we hear every time we attend Mass. Last summer we held a retreat to Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight to focus on the Gospel of John, and while there we witnessed first hand how a community can achieve all the things we hoped to achieve through our award. There have been some dark days, but the journey so far has brought an abundant harvest and we would like to thank everyone who has helped us throughout.
