Walthamstow parish achieves livesimply parish award

The Walthamstow parish of Our Lady of the Rosary and St Patrick has become the second parish in Brentwood Diocese and the 24th parish in England and Wales to be awarded the livesimply parish award for its commitment to live more simply and sustainably and to stand in solidarity with the world's poor. The award is a national prize for Catholic parishes putting their faith into action.

Ellen Teague, of the Columban JPIC team, was an assessor for the award, along with Brenda Underwood, who played a leadership role in her parish of Brentwood Cathedral achieving the award in 2013. Ellen writes:

'It was a cold Friday evening marked by snow flurries when the two assessors and the parish 'Faith in Action' group gathered on 10 February to review the parish's application for the award. The parish is located in inner city north west London, near Waltham Forest City Centre, and it has a Mass attendance of around 1,300. As we sat around a table in the presbytery it was immediately apparent that the SMA priests of the parish - Fr Kevin Conway and Fr Angelo Lafferty, missionaries of the Society of African Missions - are prime movers, along with a highly motivated lay team of around 15 people, chaired by Colm Gallagher. Several files of data, reports and photos were put in front of us, as well as cups of tea and coffee, that we were assured were fairly traded.

I have done four other award assessments in Westminster, Southwark and Portsmouth Diocese and normally there is a tour of the grounds, but the evening was so dark and cold that we settled for seeing the site of new bike racks, and the parish hall where homeless people are offered shelter in winter months. There wasn't much to see in the vegetable patch at this time of year anyway. Yet there was plenty of other evidence in the parish newsletters and in the inspiring reports of those present.

The parish registered for the award a year ago, and we were assessing whether they had undertaken three substantial actions, covering each of the headings of 'Living Simply', 'Living Sustainably', and 'Living in Solidarity with People in Poverty' and then at least six other actions to achieve the award. In addition, they had to show that the programme is sustainable, with a 'green team', the settings of targets and good outreach to the whole congregation.

Well, for substantial action there was the opening of the parish hall to the homeless and a parish rota of volunteers is always speedily filled up. The parish initiated an annual Walk to Mass Sunday last year, which was preceeded by a survey of the transport use of parishioners and an on-going push afterwards for walking or cycling to church. To work towards 'live sustainably' the parish has banned the use of disposable crockery and cutlery in its parish hall and insists on the use of eco-detergents. Numerous other initiatives include soup lunches in the hall, linked to the local action Christian Kitchen, marking Homeless Sunday, tea on the parish lawn using fairly traded products, outreach to projects in Calais, Bethlehem and China.

Education work on climate change was initiated when the SMA laity coordinator, based in Northern Ireland, Dympna Mallon, spoke on the issue in the parish last year. In the future, the parish may get more involved in advocacy work on climate change, perhaps linking with the National Justice and Peace Network and CAFOD. Issues raised by Pope Francis in the papal encyclical Laudato Si' have inspired the group. There are links with the local St Patrick's primary school, which has an eco-governor who is also involved with the Faith in Action Group.

So, as we ticked boxes on the livesimply assessment form and flicked through the portfolio of evidence of initiatives towards the award I felt the parish should be very proud of itself. There were letters from Transport for London concerning the bike racks and receipts for a new water butt and for new crockery and cutlery. The parish newsletter has given regular feedback on the activities of the Faith in Action group, explaining the importance of Creation Care and linking the action to parish liturgies.

Our Lady of the Rosary and St Patrick will be awarded its plaque on Sunday 12 March by local MP Stella Creasy. Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood will be invited too and, hopefully, will be inspired to push the award to other Brentwood parishes. The award plaque, made from a recycled church bench, applauds 'Living simply, sustainably, and in solidarity with the poor', and notes that the award is organised jointly between CAFOD and Eco-Congregation.

Visit Our Lady of the Rosary and St Patrick website here: http://stpatrickswalth.co.uk/

For information about the livesimply award see: http://cafod.org.uk/Campaign/How-to-campaign/Livesimply-award