New Barnet parish becomes 36th to receive livesimply award

Fr James Fasakin, with Stephen Hill, Sheila Gallagher and Barbara Kentish

The Catholic church of Mary Immaculate and St Peter's in New Barnet, Westminster Diocese, has become the 36th parish in the country and the fifth in Westminster Diocese to receive the livesimply award.

Barbara Kentish of Westminster J&P and Ellen Teague of Columban JPIC assessed the North London parish for the award on 16 March. The parish lead contacts were Stephen Hill and Sheila Gallagher, and parish priest Fr James Fasakin joined them in showing the assessors around the Spiritan parish with a congregation of around 300.

The New Barnet parish explained their livesimply work over the past four years, starting with securing livesimply pledges from more than 80 parishioners in 2014 and keeping in regular contact with them by text messaging and e-mail. They have been active in CAFOD campaigns, collecting goods for refugees in Calais, and a 'friendship' project which reaches out to vulnerable and housebound people. The commitment to fairtrade was visible through notices and the tea and coffee offered to visitors. The parish has been a fairtrade parish since 2014. The church's commitment to the environment was also evident in the very architecture of the building. When the parish hall was refurbished in recent years, LED lighting was installed, along with water efficient toilets, insulation and double glazing. The parish has held livesimply focus weekends, and initiatives feature regularly in the parish weekly newsletter.

The church has also started up a bee garden to attract bees and a peace garden with olive trees, which represent peace. Fairtrade olive oil from Palestine is sold in the parish. Pax Christi peace liturgies are held in the peace garden in the warmer months. Lenten reflection often focuses on Creation Care, CAFOD bidding prayers are used regularly, there has been regular study of Laudato Si' and there is an annual Creation Mass plus livesimply themes brought into children's liturgies. Support for the local ecumenical winter night shelter and food bank were impressive, as was parish commitment to recycling and raising awareness about the need to recycle, resuse and reduce waste. There is a strong link with a local Poor Clares community who have given talks in the parish about living simply and have engaged with First Holy Communion candidates. There was recent outreach to a local shopping centre to persuade it to install water taps and reduce the purchase of bottled water and fizzy drinks.

Championed by CAFOD, the award is given to parishes and schools who show they have been living simply, sustainably, and in solidarity with people in poverty. New Barnet has been Inspired by the Pope's encyclical Laudato Si' - a 2015 letter by the Pope addressed to the whole world, encouraging Catholics to care for the environment and the world's poorest people.

The assessors congratulated the New Barnet parish for becoming the 36th livesimply parish in the country. "It's a wonderful testament to their hard work and commitment to putting the most marginalised at the centre of their parish life, and living sustainably" they said. The award plaque, made out of recycled church pews, will be presented at a later date when the larger body of parishioners can be present.

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

Visit the New Barnet parish website here: http://stpetersnewbarnet.org.uk/