Next Thursday, June 20, is the UN World Refugee Day. As you know, working for social justice is at the heart of the SVP’s mission. When we hear of, or see, acts of injustice, no matter where in the world, it affects us deep inside, almost personally. This is because the act is done against our sister or brother and so it is no wonder why we feel it so much.
Thank you to everyone who supported our shop, Gifted, last weekend. Please remember that if there is anything in particular that you need, just please ask us. We’ll do our best to find it for you.
On a similar note, thank you to everyone who continues to donate to the SVP in the parish – be it by prayer, the coin box or the food bank donations box in the porch. Your support is crucial to us as we continue our best efforts to address need in the various forms that it presents itself. The task can be challenging, but it is always rewarding!
Well, a week certainly is a long time in politics! With the general election now announced, it means the time is short to encounter the key issues of social justice, and the candidates on offer to lead us through them. As mentioned last week, both the SVP and CAFOD have labelled this year ‘A Year of Encounter’. Please try and find time to visit this link and inform yourselves ahead of election day on July 4. We all have a duty to cast our vote to promote the common good and the election is when we are obliged to exercise this duty.
Pope Francis, in his writings, asks us to use our faith to create ‘a culture of encounter.’ Given that we have a general election soon, both the SVP and CAFOD have labelled this year, ‘A Year of Encounter’. We are asked to inform ourselves of the issues of social justice within our society, so that we can ask our politicians to prioritise these. We are asked to encounter our politicians – be it at town hall hustings or just researching their standpoints online – so that we can arrive prepared at the polling booth on July 4. We all have a duty to cast our vote to promote the common good. So why not use these six weeks to do your research?
We’d like to thank everyone who continues to donate food to the food bank via our donation box in the porch. You can rest assured that your donations are very gratefully received by the many clients we still see visiting us each Saturday. You typically help 85 - 95 families each week by your donations and this number could easily equal about 350 of our brothers and sisters suffering from hunger through poverty.