Middlesbrough: roadshow invites Catholics to be ‘Witnesses of Charity’

Helen O'Brien

The Diocese of Middlesbrough, Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) and CAFOD will be inviting Catholics to ‘intensify the witness of charity’ during the ‘Year of Faith’ in a Catholic Social Action Roadshow taking place this Saturday. The focus of the event will be on domestic social action in the Diocese.

More than a hundred Catholics and over 40 local charities are to gather in York for this landmark event, which is aimed at energising and expanding Catholic Social Action in Middlesbrough.

The Caritas Social Action Roadshow, ‘Witness of Charity’ will take place from 10am to 3.30pm on Saturday 4 May at All Saints RC Lower School, Nunnery Lane, York, YO23 1JG and will bring together a host of charities, local projects, clergy and parishioners to celebrate the social action taking place across the Diocese of Middlesbrough and consider how they can improve work in partnership to address domestic poverty and local needs.

Speakers will include the Right Reverend Terence Patrick Drainey, Bishop of Middlesbrough and Helen O’Brien, Chief Executive of CSAN. Local and National Charities will also be holding workshops designed to provide practical advice to those inspired to start up their own social action projects.

Central to the Roadshow will be a social action ‘market place’, at which local charities and organisations will be highlighting their work. Hosted and Facilitated by John Battle, former MP and social activist, the ‘market place’ will raise greater awareness of the projects already taking place in the diocese.

The Right Reverend Terence Patrick Drainey, Bishop of Middlesbrough said: “I am greatly encouraged by the number of individual volunteers and voluntary organisations who have accepted my invitation to come together to celebrate the Social Action that already takes place in the Diocese of Middlesbrough, to learn from each other and begin to discern how the work could develop positively in the future”

Helen O’Brien, Chief Executive of CSAN said: “This promises to be an exciting opportunity to celebrate the wealth of social action that is already taking place across the Diocese of Middlesbrough and encourage more people to get involved in this excellent work. With rising levels of child poverty and unemployment, it is vital that we as a Church respond to meet these growing social needs”.