BCCS and CAFOD Walk

Sharing the Journey for the BCCS and CAFOD

Our 2018 annual sponsored walk took place on Saturday June 2nd and as in previous years, involved walking from Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Westcliff-on-Sea to the parish of Saint George and the English Martyrs via the seafront and along the sea wall. The promotion of this walk did not involve online videos or short pulpit appeals as in previous years and we just kept to newsletter entries within the parishes of the Borough of Southend and through word of mouth within the Knights community also.

The number of walkers was up on last year, and we had new people join us with at least one person each from the Catholic parishes in Southend with us this time around including four children. We also had Martin from Wickford (Rayleigh Council 456) with us, and were due to have John and his wife Hilary from Stratford Council 426 as they had joined us many times in years passed but unfortunately they had to pull out just a couple of days before.

This was our fundraiser for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS) and is our chance to help our local Diocesan charity to continue their work especially considering that they do not receive any direct funding from the Diocese and rely on the support through voluntary donations. This year however, we were able to incorporate the CAFOD 'Share the Journey' campaign within the structure of the day as 'Share the Journey' did not involve fundraising because it is a walking campaign to raise awareness and to gain participation.

We gathered for Mass at 10am which included our drivers to offer lifts back to the start once the walk had concluded, and after Mass, we set about distributing the CAFOD action cards which included information about the campaign and had our opening prayer to start the walk with. We were also privileged to carry a Lampedusa Cross with us for the walk and its significance was pointed out to each walker before we left. The Cross we carried was made from wood from refugee boats that had sunk off of the shores of the island of Lampedusa so its presence with us while we walked was very real.

We then set off on our five mile walk down past the cliffs and onto the esplanade following the sea wall eastwards towards the parish of Saint George and on arrival in the hall were greeted with smiles and refreshments and Father Brett who was there to greet us as we came through the doors. 

Certificates of achievement from the BCCS were handed out to all walkers, and signed action cards were collected which will go to our Prime Minister asking her to work with other world leaders to ensure favourable agreements for migration and refugees.

We finished with the closing prayer from the card, and those that were still present gathered for a group photo before the available lifts back were mobilised to get everyone back safely.

And in case you were wondering, the first person to finish the walk did not have to do a lap of honour!

Walk for BCCS & CAFOD

St Helens to St George's Sponsored Walk for the BCCS and CAFOD 'Share the Journey'

For the past few years we have run a parish walk for the Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS) to raise funds to support their work and this year we are hosting this again but with a twist.

To find out more about the very important work that the BCCS provide to children and young adults within Essex and East London please visit their website at http://www.bccs.org.uk/

The walk itself is the fundraiser and a chance for our two parishes to join together along what is normally a pleasant seafront walk with Father Joseph until we finish with tea and biscuits and a chance to chat at the end.

This takes place on Saturday 2nd June.

The 'twist' this year is that CAFOD have a campaign called 'Share the Journey' where they are asking parishes and people to walk for the campaign, to record the miles walked collectively, and with the miles logged, sign a petition card that CAFOD can then take and present to our Prime Minister calling for agreements to be made at the United Nations for refugees and migration. For full details of the campaign visit cafod.org.uk/Campaign/Share-the-Journey for more information.

The details

Firstly, those that can will gather at the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Milton Road Westcliff-on-Sea when Mass will be celebrated at 10am. After Mass we will gather in the car park by the church entrance and with Father Joseph we will make our way to the seafront visit the Cliffs leaving at around 10.45am.

We will then walk along the sea wall, past Southend pier, and continue until we reach Ness Road where we will leave the seafront and walk the short remaining distance until we reach the parish hall at the parish of Saint George and the English Martyrs in Shoeburyness There will be refreshements available in the hall (tea, biscuits etc). The walk is just under five and a half miles from start to finish and we normally start arriving in the hall after midday.

If you are thinking of walking with us then please contact us for a registration form and a sponsor form. Registration is free and any sponsorship you raise will go to the BCCS. Julie from the BCCS will be in the hall at the end of the walk to greet people and to give out certificates to walkers and if you wanted to pass money raise over that point then you are welcome to do so. Please dress appropriately for the walk and the weather conditions and please bring water for the journey.

The CAFOD cards will be handed out for walkers to sign in the hall at the end and will then be collected up and passed to CAFOD directly.

Live Simply Award

Our Live Simply Journey

Some of our group and our families gathered together with our LiveSimply plaque

In February 2016, The Knights of Saint Columba Council of Southend-on-Sea applied and registered for the CAFOD Live Simply award. The Live Simply award is an opportunity for Catholic communities - parishes, schools, religious orders and chaplaincies - to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si' to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”.

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.

Community Fayre 2017

Community Fayre in Southend-on-Sea

Saturday 21st October 2017

Nazareth House, 111 London Road, Westcliff, SS1 1PP

For a second year, the Knights have organised our Community Fayre at Nazareth House in Westcliff for the people of the area and we have several local charities, local groups and local businesses that have something to offer both locally and globally.

This is to happen on Saturday October 21st between 10.30pm to 1pm, half an hour later than last year.

The whole ethos of this event is to gather and offer many local groups, local charities, and local businesses working in the Southend area all under one roof for the benefit of the people of the area, with Fair Trade and supporting others being a part of the thinking too. Originally this was meant to be a one off event but several people asked us to do it again hence this second year running. There is also a second community event in Southend called Active Ageing run by the Southend Older People's Assembly (of whom some of our members are also members there too) and this runs from 9.30am to 2pm and some of the exhibitors at our event last year will be available there so a great opportunity for people to get some good support and advice across both events.

The bullet list below contains those confirmed in attendance and will be updated regularly. There will be around 20 exhibitors in the hall and the exhibitors confirmed as at 10th September are:

• Essex Savers Credit Union will be there to share their services and to help stop people using loan sharks by offering local ethical banking protected by the FCA. The credit union is there to help those on low incomes and help is also needed from people who have income to save which can be used back in the community
  For more information visit http://www.essexsavers.co.uk/
• We have Southend Soup coming who are a community micro finance project group working and helping small groups in Southend to make a difference within our community.
  For more information visit http://southendsoup.co.uk/
• We have Storehouse Direct who provides support, food, clothing and inspiration to those in need in the local Southend community http://www.storehouse.org.uk
• We have CAFOD Brentwood who work with the Catholic community in the diocese to raise both funds and awareness of global poverty and injustice through parishes, schools, and networks https://cafodbrentwood.wordpress.com/
• We have Southend In Transition who through their Community Allotment bring people together to build friendship, learn skills for growing food and maintaining plants, and so much more - https://sitcommunityallotment.wordpress.com
• We have the BCCS or Brentwood Catholic Children's Society who will be in attendance and they provide social workers for counselling and support to children and young adults up to the age of 18 in schools of all denominations - http://www.bccs.org.uk/
• We have the The Hub Southend which is a community space where residents can get support with using computers, putting CVs together, help with finances through Essex Savers and whole range of other areas of support locally - https://thehubsouthend.net/
• We have CAP or Christians against Poverty are passionate about releasing people from a life sentence of poverty, debt, unemployment and addiction. https://capuk.org/
• We also have Serving the Homeless, an interdenominational community project supporting young homeless people locally - http://servingthehomeless.org.uk/
• There will be our own members manning a table for the Southend Older People's Assembly for those aged over 55 and they supply a voice, support and advice for this age group in Southend and membership is free - http://olderpeoplesassemblysouthend.co.uk/
•  We have the Catholic Clothing Guild in attendance who provide clothing for the needy and have been doing so since 1924 - http://www.catholicclothingguild.org.uk/brentwood.html
• There will be a table for the Alzheimer's Society with support information concerning dementia issues - https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/
• Ace Lifestyle Southend will be there and they are a service for residents of Southend who wish to make positive changes to their lifestyle to improve their health and wellbeing - http://acelifestyle.org/southend-lifestyle

There will be boxes for people to donate used spectacles/glasses for VisionAid Overseas, as well as old stamps, old mobile phones and old foreign coins for charities also. We will also be having a raffle of fantastic Fair Trade items and we will have a second hand book table too.

It will be open from 10.30am to 1pm and is free to enter.

There will be light refreshments such as Fair Trade Tea and Fair Trade Coffee and home made cakes.

Come and meet some great local people and get some help and ideas whilst having a decent cup of tea.

Review of 2016 - Our Faith in Action

Putting our Words into Action

2016 has been a busy year for us; much more than in previous years. With new members joining and willing to involve themselves in our work we have been able to answer the call for help much more than before and therefore become more relevant as a result. That is not to say that to be relevant means to be actively working for our Council because we have a significant portion of membership who due to ill health and age can no longer physically support our work but have the means to support us through prayer which is a stable part of what we do.

Below is a summary of our activities from month to month as a collective but this does not take in account the continued week in and week out parochial support across our parishes that many of our members as individuals provide. Those who are Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, ushers, choir members, Master of Ceremonies for Mass, altar servers, school governors, CAFOD representatives, SVP members, friends of Nazareth House, parish council members, and the work carried out as individuals for many other charities and support groups during the year such as volunteering each week for the Southchurch Foodbank.

As individuals we also celebrated the Year of Mercy and we also took parishioners from Sacred Heart Southchurch to Brentwood Cathedral in April to go through the Year of Mercy door opened there and many of us readily support our parish priests with whatever urgent support we are required to give. Our main work and support of the Church and clergy starts with the seven Catholic parishes in our area but this does extend beyond our boundaries when we are asked to do so, and we do also support parishes from the Anglican Communion when mutual support is welcomed.

Our year started as it always does with our Anniversary on January 1st and this year we gathered for Mass at Nazareth House with Father William and a fantastic way to begin a New Year on the right foot.

Also in January...

• We supported Christian Unity week
• Delivered the White Flower Appeal for SPUC at the parish of Saint Peter in Eastwood 
• Collected 300 unwanted spectacles for VisionAid Overseas collected from Anglican and Catholic parishes all around Southend,
• and ran a coffee morning at Sacred Heart

Plans were already afoot to launch our application for the CAFOD Live Simply award which was applied for in February, and we also brought a new member into our fold, supported the Real Easter Egg campaign, ran a parish social evening for the BCCS Quizzylympics, and were present for all our local Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in Leigh-on-Sea and Eastwood.

March saw us delivering the Brentwood News to all parishes around the deanery (13 churches), brought in another new member, supported another one-off Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in Southchurch, and prepared for our Bollywood evening to be held in April for the charities and causes we were supporting for the year.

After installing our officers for the year, April was the month we focussed on our Bollywood evening with a whole range of prizes to be won in our huge raffle. It was a very busy evening with 108 people being fed and entertained whilst raising much needed funds for Missio, Nazareth House and our Diocesan fund for the training of new priests.

May saw us helping out at the Mass for the Ordination of Father Michael, along with supporting local events and joining the Essex Savers Credit Union for local ethical banking. We also began to hand out the SPUC Pro Life Times around our parishes, and were involved in the 50th Anniversary events at Holy Family.

June was just as busy! We ran a full coach to the KSC 50th annual Aylesford pilgrimage where four of our number became full members, we held a parish to parish sponsored seafront walk for the BCCS starting with Mass at the parish Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Helen in Westcliff and finishing with refreshments at Saint George and the English Martyrs parish in Shoeburyness and we distributed the new Brentwood News issue around the parishes as requested. 86 additional pairs of unwanted spectacles were also collected from the parish of Saint Luke in Prittlewell for VisionAid Overseas and passed to Williams Opticians for their sorting and passing to the charity.

July began with our presence being requested at a joint community event in Westcliff with a stand to promote what we do locally, and we had members present to help with a foodbank collection from Tesco. We were busy organising our October Community Fayre and along with holding a social for ourselves to catch up, we also gave Father Lee a farewell lunch to say thanks for all his support and held a quiz for CAFOD as part of the Sacred Heart parish CAFOD campaign.

Happily due to school being out we kept August as free as we could... however, we were requested to hold a nine day Novena for peace, reconciliation and harmony which we did in the churches of Sacred Heart and Saint John Fisher, and we also held our own annual BBQ for members to take stock in the sunshine which shone brightly in sunny Southend! Mid August saw us take a coach full on a day trip to London starting with sung Mass at the beautiful parish church at Saint James Spanish Place in London and preparations were made for our CAFOD World Day of Prayer service on September 1st.

Following our CAFOD World Day of Prayer service, we were then busy handing out both the new issues of SPUC Pro Life Times and the Brentwood News around all the parishes again, and on September the 21st we celebrated our 1000th meeting with Mass and a social which was another event that took some organising but was very rewarding to be a part of.

October saw the final distribution of the SPUC Pro Life Times, and we began to sell the BCCS annual draw tickets around the parishes like we did the previous year. The build up to our first Community Fayre took centre stage but the week before we still found time to organise and hold our second parochial pilgrimage for the sick from Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph to the parish of Saint Peter in Eastwood. Our Community Fayre was six months of planning and with 19 exhibitors being showcased to the local community we felt we promoted a lot of good causes and ideas and will be looking to organise another Fayre for 2017. We hadn't finished for October as the following weekend we held an awareness drive for our Polish community for them to talk to us and gain an understanding of what we do following a request by their parish priest to do so.

November saw Father Michael becoming a Member of Honour, we were present at our annual Memorial Mass for deceased members at Brentwood Cathedral, and as well as distributing the latest Brentwood News and Diocesan Directories, we continued to travel around the parishes to sell more BCCS Annual Draw tickets in support of their work. Father Gerry became a Member of Honour, and we ran a Christmas quiz for the Sacred Heart CAFOD project too.

We ran the bottle stall at the Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Joseph parish Christmas Fayre on the 3rd December, and continued to sell more BCCS Annual Draw tickets in the parishes and then held a Christmas social for our members and widows the following Saturday. The next day we ran the coffee morning on behalf of the parish of Saint George and the English Martyrs for their funds and individual members began collecting extra food supplies to be passed to The Storehouse (who were at our October Community Fayre) in support of the homeless and needy of Southend for the Christmas season. We ran our Keep Christ in Christmas sticker and poster campaign again for the start of Advent and if we missed any parishes of any denomination that needed supplies of these then we apologise in advance and will look to supply any parish next year if you would like to get in touch. We were also able to support another of our Community Fayre exhibitors by passing Hopeworx an oil heater, toaster, microwave and unwanted crockery to support their work in the community.

All this is on top of the regular monthly meetings we hold, the quarterly countywide meeting we attend, the regular committee meetings and evenings spent discussing and planning the future.

2016 did provide us with many challenges. We are currently putting plans together for 2017 and hopefully we can focus on more quality than quantity of activities but it is difficult to plan for the unknown as we found this year however we will do our best moving ever forward.

Thank you for your continued support.

Community Fayre 2016

We got there in the end! The day worked out very well with a steady stream of people coming in to meet the different exhibitors throughout the three hours. Feedback from all involved was that they had gained some good contacts and leads and were given good exposure which was a part of the ethos of our event.

As part of our efforts to achieve the CAFOD #LiveSimply Award we sat down early in the year to see how we could help other local charities, local support groups and local businesses that are clearly doing very good work in the community but this would have to be above and beyond the work we already carry out. We had to challenge ourselves but be mindful that we all only have a few hours a week spare around jobs, families and other commitments so it had to work well. As with all our Live Simply efforts, we did not just want to run an event there and then with who we already knew and worked with, as we wanted to stretch ourselves and our capabilities and I am glad we did. By doing so we have met many more local champions in the community; if we had doubled the floorspace we could have increased the exhibitors as people were contacting us up to 48 hours before the doors opened to see if we could fit them in and sadly we just couldn't. We will need to review what we can do better for next year so as to maximise our floor space, fit the most people in and naturally improve our advertising. Information was sent to the Southend Echo who published this both online in the weeks leading up Saturday 22nd and on the 19th they ran a short article in their paper to support our event. Details were also sent to BBC Essex.

So what happened?

Firstly this would not have been successful if the public had not turned up in number. Regardless of how many exhibitors we had booked, it would not have counted had the hall been empty. For this we have to thank the many church parishes from many denominations within the Borough of Southend for their help in promoting our Community Fayre. With posters placed on noticeboards, newsletter inserts, web entries and so forth the word was spread. In particular we had great publicity from Sherry at Southend Soup, Mick at Essex Savers Credit Union, Dan at SAVS, Chris at CAFOD Brentwood, and Karen at Crowstone United Reformed Church amongst many others who provided great support. Thank you all.

We produced a series of signs and banners to support the function itself and although the community fayre was not a fundraiser, to cover costs we ran a raffle using #fairtrade products either bought from Sainsburys Southend or from CAFOD, and both exhibitors supported the raffle through donations with a huge fairtrade hamper provided by Sainsburys Southend, and a wonderful CAFOD mug, Romero Cross and candle from CAFOD also.

Fair trade was one of the themes of the community event to encourage people to consider buying items that are fair trade to support those workers producing the items. Considering others outside of our community is a part of caring for the greater good and is our own way of looking to change our own actions to be more considerate across the board.

The light refreshments we used were all fair trade as much as they possibly could be from the tea bags, the coffee, the kit kats, to the brown sugar and the white sugar used. The milk we used was locally sourced and delivered to us that morning by N.F. Collins and Son Dairy in Rayleigh Essex who are a long established local dairy with a traditional milk round delivering to people's doorsteps. Using glass milk bottles that are washed and reused is a great recycling method and the doorstep delivery removes the need to carry large plastic containers of milk from the shops and having to dispose of the container afterwards too. N.F. Collins and Son were one of our exhibitors and thanks go to them for their kind donation of milk for the refreshments and support on the day.

With so many local charities, local support groups and local businesses coming together under one roof to encourage the public to work with them and to offer help to the public, many people came away saying how much they enjoyed the Fayre and found it very useful. After all, this day was for the people of the Borough of Southend to help them and the wide spectrum of help on offer went a long way to giving support where support was needed.

For ourselves, the Knights sold second hand books for Nazareth House, collected old mobile phones, unwanted currency for Missio, used postage stamps, and unwanted spectacles for Vision Aid Overseas whom we have been supporting for a number of years now.

We are also supporting Tools With A Mission locally and suggested the public bring unwanted tools with them on the day to pass over to the TWAM team to take away which they did and this was fantastic to see. Hopefully with the collections we are organising we can fill a transit van! I have three very large and very strong cardboard boxes stacked in my dining room to be filled for a van (much to the annoyance of my wife) so hopefully I can get them filled and out of the house before I am out of the house first!

Thank you to the Nuns at Nazareth House for allowing us use of the hall especially after our original hall booking fell through in the summer. For the last year we had been raising funds to support their work so it was providence that they came to our rescue! Just before the end of the Fayre, we were proud to present them with a cheque from monies raised throughout the year to support their work in the community.

We are already talking about doing this again next year and next time we can add improvements that will involve contacting both Southend MPs as soon as we have a date to see if we can get them involved if they are free and we will also aim to see if the Mayor of Southend is free also.

If you couldn't make our event, please still check out our exhibitors as they will either be able to help you or you may be able to help them.

Here are some pictures of some of the stalls and displays. Apologies as at the time of writing this I do not have (good) pictures of every single stall and with everything going on I struggled to remember to get around and take the photos needed.

The Exhibitors:

• Essex Savers Credit Union
• Sainsburys Superstore - Southend
• NF Collins and Son Dairy
• Southend Soup
• SAVS - Southend Association of Voluntary Services
• KSC Southend - Knights of Saint Columba
• SVP Southchurch - Saint Vincent de Paul Society
• CAFOD Brentwood
• Southend In Transition
• The Hub Southend
• Storehouse
• Hopeworx
• Alzheimers Society - Southend
• Havens Hospices
• Catholic Clothing Guild
• CWL Westcliff - Catholic Womens League
• BCCS - Brentwood Catholic Children's Society
• Tools with a Mission 
• Nuns of Nazareth House

Community Fayre in Westcliff-on-Sea

Saturday 22nd October 2016

Nazareth House, 111 London Road, Westcliff, SS1 1PP

The Knights have organised a Community Fayre at Nazareth House in Westcliff for the people of the area and we have several local charities, local groups and local businesses that have something to offer both locally and globally.

This is to happen on Saturday October 22nd between 10am to 1pm.

The whole ethos of the event was to gather and offer many groups and charities working in the Southend area all under one roof for the benefit of the people of the area, with Fair Trade and supporting others being a part of the thinking too.

There are several exhibitors that have not been confirmed as yet but to date, those with a table display will be:

• Sainsburys (from Southend Superstore) who will be bringing their range of Fair Trade products for people to see (not to buy though) and the concept of Fair Trade will be one of the underlying currents of our event
• Essex Savers Credit Union will be there to help stop people using loan sharks by offering local ethical banking protected by the FCA. The credit union is there to help those on low incomes and help is also needed from people who have income to save which can be used back in the community
• We have Southend Soup coming who are a micro funding project group working and helping small groups in Southend to make a difference
• We have NF Collins and Son Dairy from Rayleigh coming along and they offer a milk round and still do the glass milk bottles which get reused, and have local milk. Particularly helpful for people who struggle to carry milk home from the shops or who are housebound
• We have the SVP - St Vincent de Paul Society that tackle poverty and disadvantage by providing practical assistance to those in need regardless of denomination
• Southend Association of Voluntary Services (SAVS) will be present amd they are an independent charity known as a council for voluntary service or CVS. That means they work behind the scenes to help local charities and community groups achieve their full potential
• Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD) is an aid agency and an international development agency standing beside people living in poverty – whatever their religion or culture
• The BCCS or Brentwood Catholic Children's Society will be in attendance and they provide social workers for counselling and support to children and young adults up to the age of 18 in schools of all denominations
• We also have the Alzheimer's Society to give help and advice to those dealing with dementia or who are affected by dementia also
• A re-use centre called Hopeworx based in Rayliegh provide affordable used furniture for the community
• The Knights will also have a table to collect used stamps, old mobiles, and unwanted currency and will be collecting unwanted spectacles for recycling with VisionAid Overseas.

We will also be having a raffle of fantastic Fair Trade items and we will have a second hand book table too.

It will be open from 10am to 1pm and is free to enter.

There will be light refreshments such as Fair Trade Tea and Fair Trade Coffee and home made cakes.

Come and meet some great local people and get some help and ideas whilst having a decent cuppa.

Vigil for CAFOD's World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Thursday 1st September 2016

Last nights' Vigil for CAFOD's World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation at Sacred Heart Southchurch highlighted God in all of creation both in the Mass and in the Vigil that followed. It was an absolute pleasure to have Father Krysztof of the Polish Mission leading us throughout the evening and we thank him for his time and support.

We were reminded of the glorious gift of creation, reflected on a passage by Pope Francis from Laudato Si, heard the story of Susana living in the mountains of Bolivia in South America and her struggle to grow crops to feed her family, and we listened to Jesus telling the parable of the mustard seed recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.

After carefully chosen prayers of intercession, we were led into Exposition of The Blessed Sacrament and Benediction before closing with a hymn.

Everyone present was invited to take home a pot containing soil and a mustard seed or two as a remember of the events of the evening and by taking care of the seed, helping it to grow and flourish.

A fitting way to end the evening.

VIGIL FOR CAFOD's WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

We invite you to celebrate the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on Thursday 1st September at Sacred Heart Church, Southchurch – Mass starting at 7pm is followed by a vigil to include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Pope Francis calls us all to celebrate this opportune moment to

“reaffirm [our] personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation, as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.” 

The Mass will be led by Father Krystov of the Polish Mission, all are welcome. The service will conclude by 8:30pm.

Learning by Observing; Saint Saviours Eco Coffee Morning May 21st 2016

On visiting the Eco Coffee and Swap Shop at Saint Saviour's Anglican parish in Westcliff-on-Sea recently I was privileged to see how they make it an annual success, and to see how their community get things done in a different way to how we would operate.

A sign stated that to be 'Christian was to take care of our environment', and the community were doing this thoroughly with information and ideas everywhere to be seen as well as recycling tubs for ink cartridges, mobile phones, stamps, batteries and even Council recycling bags to take home with you. The tubs were all labelled 'Caring for God's Creations' with an explanation as to how these are recycled and where the money raised from the mobile and stamp recycling goes. They had a swap shop running that you could take items to for a voucher to exchange for something else if you wished or you could simply donate to help others. They were reusing items to make crafts and they had a raffle of items including items that were eco-friendly. Reverend Father Lee Mullen was quietly sitting at a stall making crafts backing up the parish with action which was very good to see instead of the customary token hello before retreating out of view. Amidst all this, the church was open. With the Church at the centre of this event there was even a chance for quiet reflection and that was the balance that created an air of calm amongst the excitement.

Just one of the ideas for people to discover

The organising left nothing to chance as signs directing you to the different areas were easy to follow and there was information just everywhere. The people were warm and inviting, the drinks and cakes were fantastic but the detail and attention could be found in everything. For instance, they were selling 'Kit Kats' that were Fairtrade 'Kit Kats' ensuring a decent wage for those involved in the production of the chocolate which is of course only 'fair'. Care for others and care for the environment was the wrapper for the days event.

In line with our very own CAFOD LiveSimply award that we are pursuing this gave a great opportunity to preview what our event could achieve later in the year. We plan to hold a community event in a hall providing information on a range of initiatives to help local people, support and protect the environment and do it inside a Christian environment. Through a conscious decision to take care of our resources and to look after our environment we wish to adhere to the duty of care outlined in Laudato Si by Pope Francis.

Of course an event like this only works with the backing of the community regardless of the exhibits, information and support that is available on the day. The Knights of Saint Columba covering Southend are not tied to any specific parish as we work everywhere in the Borough of Southend but we hope we can offer something to the community once we have our date set around October time.

Naturally we will be providing refreshments such as Fairtrade tea, coffee, and yes even Faitrade Kit Kats with thanks to Saint Saviours parish for the 'heads up'!

By Damian Dillon
Knights of Saint Columba 
Southend-on-Sea 192