How Religion Affects Society by Olivia, CAFOD volunteer.

I am a Theology and Religion student from the University of Birmingham currently doing a 2-week volunteering placement with CAFOD.

I chose to do my placement with CAFOD due to the global work the charity does and my interest in how religion affects society.

During my time at CAFOD I have had many experiences. I have been involved in workshops, meetings, writing blog posts and articles, looking at the impact of social media and much more.

Me in New York

Looking at the social media for different regions and the most popular tweets/facebook posts/ blog posts was really interesting. Social media has a huge impact in society today as we can see from many events. Therefore, by using social media to promote the charity and the campaigns and events within CAFOD is highly important. It is a great way to communicate with a wider audience and from looking at what posts were the most popular we can underline just how much religion affects society.

Taking part in the Catholic Social Teaching Workshop also demonstrated how religion affects society. Especially with the encyclicals. These are written by the Pope and tell what we should do in reaction to issues in society. For example, global warming which has serious effects on humans and the world, and so by listening to the Pope and changing our treatment of the world, we are able to see the effects of religion. A significant moment was the Second Vatican Council; this changed the attitude of the Catholic Church to being more inclusive and accepting of other religions; another example of religion affecting society.

As well as this, attending meetings for volunteers about what they can do to fundraise and help those who are less fortunate than them. I found the projects that CAFOD do such as Connect2, Powertobe and Livesimply to be highly impactful on society. These projects enable communities in the poorest countries to live their dreams.

The list is endless on how religion affects society and my time at CAFOD has deepened my knowledge and understanding of how religion does this.

It’s Not Too Late to Speak Up!!

Speak Up Week of Action is happening 1-9th July

This summer get involved in a great opportunity to Speak Up about climate change and renewable energy to your newly elected MPs.

This week is a chance to ensure the concerns of the world’s poorest people are a priority on your MP’s agenda, just a few weeks after they have been elected.

Weybridge Volunteers met Chancellor Phillip Hammond MP Last Year

There are many ways you can get involved and speak to your local MP about renewable energy and how by prioritising this issue, we are helping the global community you could organise an event like the ones below or book an appointment at your MP’s surgery.

Some ideas are:

Tea parties

BBQs

Picnics after Mass

Nature Walks

There are many ways in which you can talk to your MPs to really make a difference.

Signing up is easy! Visit our website and you can start your journey there.

Do let us know if you organise an event or meet up with your MP at his surgery.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date!

 

Olivia Atherton, student volunteer.

 

Catholic Social Teaching Workshop

What is it?

CAFOD offer workshops on Catholic Social Teaching for volunteers and workers to enable a deeper understanding of what is at the heart of CAFOD. On the 21^st June, I attended one in CAFOD’s head office which was ran by Susy Brouard from the theology team in CAFOD.

What are the teachings?

CAFOD bases its work on the Catholic Social Teaching, with the 7 values at the heart of everything they do. These seven values being:

• Dignity
• Solidarity
• Hope
• Compassion
• Sustainability
• Stewardship
• Partnership

CAFOD not only values what is said in the Bible, but also what significant figures have said since.

What happened in the workshop?

To start the workshop, we were given pieces of paper with different dates on and different encyclicals. We then had to match the encyclicals to the dates.

The encyclicals were highly interesting as some topics that the Popes wrote about linked in with CAFOD’s campaigns. For example, the most recent encyclical from Pope Francis, Laudato Si’. This focussed on the environment and a call for humans to understand the destruction of the world and how this has effects on the global community.

Pope Francis and Laudato Si’

Not only do the Catholic Social teachings show what we should do to make a difference, but these encyclicals are a way of the Pope communicating to the people about topical issues.

We were then paired up and given one of the themes from Catholic Social Teaching. I was given Creation and the Environment and had to read a sheet with Scripture, encyclicals and other sources talking about the subject. We were also given a story about our theme and had to talk about what we found interesting within these themes. What I found most interesting is that in the encyclical ‘The Call of Creation’, it talks about defining community in a global manner.

Finally, we were challenged to create an encyclical of our own about a topic that is relevant in society today. Both groups chose the Refugee Crisis. We had to name our encyclical, include scripture, Catholic Social Teaching and develop previous encyclicals.

Susy Bouard with Anna and Andrew in Nigeria

To Conclude…

I would highly recommend the workshop. It has definitely deepened my understanding of the teachings at what is at the root of CAFOD. Susy was a great leader and really helped everyone understand more about the teachings.

 

Olivia Atherton, student volunteer.