Caritas Westminster offers programmes and resources for parishes, schools and social action projects.
Parishes
Love in Action
Our primary programme for parishes which is designed to introduce your congregation, youth, school or faith-sharing group to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. After completing the programme, you will have the tools to reflect on the needs of your community and start your own social outreach projects.
Road to Resilience
The Road to Resilience is a journey for all who are working for social justice within parishes, schools and community groups. Its aim is to support those who are reaching out to vulnerable people in our communities, to create truly transformational social action projects.
Symbols of Faith
Symbols of Faith by Diana Klein is a resource for the faith formation and sacramental preparation of people with intellectual disabilities.
This book is aimed at parents, priests and catechists who wish to understand how to pass their faith on to individuals with intellectual difficulties, and how to help them to develop a relationship with God.
Volunteers
Parishes depend on an enthusiastic and committed team of volunteers who serve God and neighbour by sharing their time and talents with the parish. Our resources aim to support you in finding and nurturing volunteers for parish ministries and the wide range of opportunities to play an active part in parish life.
Supporting Asylum Seekers in hotels and similar
Building Community: Supportive Networks around Asylum Accommodation
This resource is for volunteers and individuals who are supporting people staying in asylum accommodation. The resource was compiled from a meeting of people living in and volunteering in asylum accommodation – the document contains some of the ideas and experiences shared. We hope some of these might be helpful to you or resonate with your own experience.
This resource is for you if:
If you would like to discuss any questions or ideas that arise from the document, or would like to be included in future meetings, please contact caritaswestminster@rcdow.org.uk.
Schools
Recognising that children and young people are interested in the world around them, and by way of supporting the mission of the schools, we have developed a number of resources for schools.
Rooted in Love
This is a Religious Education resource for primary schools, developed in partnership with the Diocese of Westminster Education Service. It addresses the objectives relating to Catholic Social teaching from the new Religious Education Directory, including prayer and liturgy ideas around each theme as well as suggestions for bringing this work to life in the Catholic life and mission of the school.
Rooted in Love includes teachers notes as well as very practical resources that can be used in the various aspects of school life. The resources can be used in any way that suit the context of your school however we suggest that each half term is dedicated to a CST theme which can permeate the life of the school.
Caritas Ambassadors
This is a programme designed for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 which aims to equip pupils with a strong understanding of Catholic Social Teaching, with an emphasis on putting it into action in their daily lives and school communities.
The programme runs through six key themes of Catholic Social Teaching and helps the trainee Ambassadors to think about social justice issues in their local community, before taking them through responding by developing and running their own social action project. It also introduces them to the work of Caritas Westminster, offering practical examples of how we use Catholic Social Teaching to influence our work.
Imagining Futures
This is a new upper Key Stage 2 project for primary schools, created in 2022 to celebrate Caritas Westminster’s tenth anniversary. This two-part project encourages students to have a positive, hopeful view of the future through collective imaginings, the creative arts, and social action in the students’ local community.
Assembly Resources
Our team are happy to discuss how we can support you in your mission and social action. We also have some free assembly resources based on Catholic Social Teaching you can download and use.