Southwark sees its first LiveSimply Parish Award

A winning team

St James Parish in Petts Wood, southeast London, has become the first parish in Southwark and the 13th in England and Wales to achieve the Livesimply Parish Award. A plaque will be presented when Archbishop Peter Smith visits the parish on 13 July as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations. The award recognises the ways a parish can make a difference in its community and the world, with a commitment to live more simply and sustainably and to stand in solidarity with the world’s poor.

Assessors Ellen Teague (Columban JPIC), Terry Brown (Southwark J&P) and Deacon Duncan Aitkins of Southwark Diocese visited on 20 June and were shown around the church and grounds, seeing parish work towards the Award since official registration in August 2012. Applicants must undertake three substantial actions, covering each of the headings of ‘Living Simply’, ‘Living Sustainably’, and ‘Living in Solidarity with People in Poverty’. Then, at least six other complimentary actions must be demonstrated, plus indications that the programme is sustainable - with a ‘Livesimply team’, the settings of targets and good outreach to the whole congregation.

One of the parish’s substantial actions was to create a wildlife garden and worship space, intended to provide a quiet place for, worship, meditation and reflection, as well as an area for socialising and encouraging wildlife. The assessors met more than half a dozen parishioners who had worked hard to dig the heavy clay soil on land behind the church to lay down the garden and plant trees. They spoke of the co-operation and friendship engendered and the link with parish liturgy. A special Livesimply parish mass is held every six weeks.

Another substantial action was to reduce the carbon footprint of the church premises by switching electricity supplies to a renewable energy supplier. This has produced an 8.8% reduction in carbon emissions so far. A ‘leave the car at home’ weekend was very popular, and environmental tips are given regularly in the parish bulletin and on its website. A properly labelled and managed recycling system has been set up on church premises. Parishioners have been encouraged to mark baptisms, birthdays and other memorable occasions with the planting of trees in British woodlands. To date, more than 70 have been sponsored and the details recorded on the symbolic tree in the parish porch, decorated with paper leaves giving details.

Since September 2012, parishioners have been fundraising for a CAFOD project in Bangladesh and sent £1,200 sent to the village of Kainmari. But they have also shown an interest in Bangladeshi culture: a ‘Kainmari Curry Night’ with homemade food, a quiz and Bangladeshi music involved over 100 parishioners. Work to show solidarity with people in poverty has also included supporting the local food bank and the Cardinal Hume Centre, collecting clothes for the Manna Society and on-going support for Traidcraft and raising awareness about producers in developing countries. From June 2014, the parish is supporting Jesuit Missions in Zimbabwe in their work with homeless youth.

St James’ parishioner Roger Wright said: “Working towards the LiveSimply award has been really special. St James’ community has really come together in working towards the different initiatives and the support from our parishioners has been incredible”. In the parish newsletter this past weekend Fr Bryan Wells – who has been very supportive of the project throughout - offered a special thank you to Roger Wright “who has animated the project, and who has worked incredibly hard (especially on the many hours of paperwork) to ensure our success”.

The assessors noted that the LiveSimply project is clearly central in parish life, with the banner, ‘Live Simply so that others may simply live’ displayed on the altar, along with posters around the church reminding the congregation of the three LiveSimply principles. A poster display at the back of the church shows parishioners working in the garden, enjoying the Bangladeshi meal, undertaking recycling and so much more. And they affirmed “the fusion of the spiritual, outreach, and involvement of young people in the project”. Initiatives by the Guides, Brownies and Cub leaders to involve parish children were particularly commendable. On Palm Sunday this year the Guides organised a lenten lunch, combining a frugal meal with awareness raising about world hunger. On another Sunday, the Brownies presented their work towards a ‘World Issues’ Brownie badge, where they had learnt about issues relating to hunger, water, fairtrade, poverty and the environment. The Cubs have set up a recycling and waste management system and produced colourful posters to draw attention to it. Attempts to reach out beyond the Catholic community have included an ecumenical nature walk and picnic last July which involved people from local Petts Wood churches.

Parishioner Sue David brings out the life-affirming nature of the LiveSimply initiative at St James when she says: “The gardening project is generating a great sense of community spirit as we work together to create a little corner of peace in our parish garden. It will be something for everyone to enjoy when complete. Watching the Cubs engage in games and activities relating to recycling, and really understanding how important it is to our global community, has been lovely. Sharing a meal is always a special occasion, but the Lenten Lunch it was made even more so by the video CAFOD stories we heard during it. I think everyone appreciated how lucky we are to live in this small patch of the world which is blessed by so much compared to many others.”

For more information on St James' see: www.stjamespettswood.org

Find out more on the Simply award here: www.livesimplyaward.org.uk