Being a Catholic is not limited to prayer, or things that may happen in Mass. It is about putting faith into action and involves every aspect of life. Catholic charities try to reflect Catholic beliefs that:
- humans were created in the image and likeness of God, and that each human life is sacred
- this is linked to Jesus’ teaching that we must ‘love our neighbour, as we love ourselves’
- Respect for the dignity of human life means respecting all of God’s creation.
CAFOD
Catholic Fund for Overseas Development
GUIDE
G – GLOBAL – CAFOD is an organisation which tries to live out the Church’s mission on a global scale. It tries to help those in need. It promotes long term development.
U – UNFAIRNESS – CAFOD works for social justice challenging unfairness and tries to bring an end to poverty
I – INDEPENDENCE – CAFOD promotes long term development so that less developed countries can support themselves
D – DISASTER – CAFOD also has a disaster fund to help natural disasters and refugees. Emergency aid might mean sending food, medicines and shelters to victims of a disaster, or sending blankets and food to war refugees.
E – EDUCATION – About 5% of CAFODS budget is spent on educating people and churches of England and Wales on about the need for development and the ways in which Catholics can help less-developed countries.
SVP
St Vincent de Paul Society
The St Vincent de Paul Society is an organisation of Catholics who try to help those in need in the UK. Small groups of the SVP, known as conferences, are found in many parishes, schools, universities and hospitals across the UK. Their activities may be any or all of the following:
VJ CLOUD
V – VISITING – Visits to individuals and families, to the sick at home or in hospitals and hospices, to residential homes and to offenders’ institutions
J – JOBS – Shopping decorating, gardening, filling in official forms and making sure people are receiving their statutory benefits
C – CHILDREN – Organising children’s camps for children from poor or troubled homes. Holiday schemes to provide a break for family carers, to give poor families a holiday or a break.
L – LONELY – Helping the lonely, bereaved and the housebound.
O – ORGANISE – Regular visiting and personal care to help families who are finding it hard to organise their family or home.
U – UNWANTED – Organising stores and shops for unwanted furniture, which can be used when housing the homeless.
D – DROP IN – Providing Drop In centres to give lonely people an opportunity to socialise.
RED ZONE
Describe the work of CAFOD.
Describe the work of SVP.
Explain, with an example, how the work of CAFOD reflects CAtholic Beliefs about the dignity of human beings.
Explain, with an example, how the work of SVP reflects Catholic beliefs about loving your neighbour.
“Being a Catholic is more than going to mass.” How might a Catholic respond to this statement using Imago Dei and Human Dignity within their response.
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