News from the Catholic Church
Scotland’s Church leaders call on Scottish and UK Governments to tackle cost of living crisis.
Tuesday 22 March 2022
The leaders of Scotland’s three largest Christian churches have called on the Scottish and UK Governments to “set aside political differences” and “seek effective solutions” to the cost of living crisis. Lamenting the tragedy of poverty in the UK in 2022, the Church leaders express serious concerns about the significant increase in energy costs and rising inflation which risk pushing more people into deep poverty and creating for some, “the grim choice between eating or heating.”
A statement issued today (Tuesday 22 March 2022) by Rt Hon Lord Wallace, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland; and The Most Revd Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, urges “pragmatism and compassion to seek effective solutions to this very serious and worsening situation”.
Accompanying the statement are examples of community initiatives either run or supported by local churches. Fullarton Connexions and CAP Debt Centre, Irvine; People’s Pantry, Coatbridge; and inspire @ Inverness Cathedral.
The full text of the joint statement is shown below:
STATEMENT
“The Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church, along with Christians and people of other faiths and those of no faith, are deeply concerned about the cost of living crisis. The cost of living is rising fast. Energy bills are expected to increase significantly in April and inflation is pushing up the cost of essentials, including food. This will hurt low income families more than most and push more people into deep poverty, creating for some the grim choice between eating or heating. These are not luxuries, they are the very basics.
It is a tragedy that poverty, especially child poverty, continues to be a significant problem in the United Kingdom in 2022. We urge both the Scottish and UK Governments to set aside political differences and come together in a spirit of pragmatism and compassion to seek effective solutions to this very serious and worsening situation. We call on political leaders to listen to those who have lived experience of poverty and to follow this engagement with the creation of conditions necessary to support people out of poverty and to prevent people falling into poverty in future.
At the same time we applaud the hard work of third sector and charitable organisations who, despite having to contend with a surge in demand and financial challenges of their own, continue to support the poor and vulnerable in our communities through essential and life-sustaining services.”
Rt Hon Lord Wallace, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland
The Most Revd Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church
CHURCH-RUN COMMUNITY INITIATIVES:
Irvine & Three Towns Debt Centre, Irvine
A North Ayrshire Church is working in partnership with Christians Against Poverty to support people struggling with debt and the cost of living
Fullarton Parish Church in Irvine runs the Irvine & Three Towns Debt Centre in partnership with Christians Against Poverty (CAP).
Since opening in September 2020, the service has supported nearly 30 households struggling to pay off their debts and receives four new clients a month on average. The partnership is one of around 22 CAP Debt Centres based in churches across Scotland. The Irvine & Three Towns team of three volunteer debt coaches carry out home visits to build up a picture of a client’s circumstances. They then communicate the advice and options from the CAP Head Office Debt Advisors and support the client as they journey to become debt free.
Debt Centre Manager Sandy Dickson said: “the support from the church and the people in the church has been amazing. We probably have a team of about 30 involved. We've got a team of six befrienders who come with the debt coaches to offer community, friendship, encouragement for people who are feeling isolated and lonely.”
We have been expecting a tsunami
As households continue to grapple with the rising cost of living however, demand for the service is expected to increase.
“We have been expecting a tsunami” Sandy said. “I can see us getting inundated with clients with energy debt problems which in turn may result in more individuals applying for insolvency (bankruptcy).”
A place to find belonging
Although the Debt Centre opened during the pandemic, the need to practically support the local community had been identified well before the challenges of Covid-19 and furlough took hold.
Ashley Vaughan, Development Coordinator at Fullarton ConneXions said, “Within our parish, there's a lot of areas where we're having to work with vulnerable people or people who are in need. And so, what we try and do is run Fullarton ConneXions as a place for people to come in and find belonging”
From Fullarton ConneXions the church runs a community cafe´ and practical skills help, like cooking courses, to come alongside and support the most vulnerable members of their community. The church also works in partnership with other local community organisations to support a food larder, housed in a shop-front location provided by the local council. People can regularly receive a choice of groceries and household items in exchange for a nominal yearly membership fee and a small weekly cost.
These services are all are part of a holistic approach to supporting the community in Fullarton, which falls in the bottom 5% across all of the social and economic indicators, and beyond.
“The work that CAP is doing in helping people to address their debt can be a a symptom of deeper pain, deeper problems, which can date back years or decades in their life” Ashley said.
“We want to be there to support, to help and provide any kind of assistance that we can”
“There's this sort of sense of belonging and volunteering and getting involved in the life of the church for people who might not otherwise come through the doors on Sunday to go to a service”.
People’s Pantry, Coatbridge
Helping the local community with food aid
The People’s Pantry Food Bank shop in Coatbridge is an ecumenical initiative of St Augustine’s RC Church, and the Church of Scotland congregations of Middle Church and Blairhill-Dundyvan.
The pantry, which provides free food, toiletries and baby essentials, operates out of a small unit in the Blairgrove Shopping Precinct and relies on volunteers from across all faiths and none to support its service. The unit is provided rent free by the local Scotmid supermarket.
The project was launched in November 2019. It relies on donations and support from local supermarkets, businesses and individuals and currently provides food to around 150 people per week. Organisers say that dependency on the service is growing. In 2020, approximately 2,000 people used the service. In 2021 that figure doubled to 4,000. Organisers believe that the increased cost of living, including rises in food and energy costs, is one of the reasons why so many people are presenting to the project. Single people, families, the young, the elderly all use the pantry to meet their most basic needs. Organisers have also said that an increasing number of people experiencing in-work poverty are using the service.
The pantry is open on Thursdays between 12 – 3pm and there are plans to open on other days to meet demand. Volunteers prepare food packs on a Wednesday night and also on a Saturday morning for delivery throughout the local area. Caritas pupils of St Ambrose High School volunteer on a regular basis, helping with food packing and labelling.
There is also co-ordination between local foodbanks to ensure services are available in the local area for those who need them, when they need them. Food packs include a list of helpful telephone numbers where people can receive additional help and support. A new initiative, linking up with Coatbridge Citizens’ Advice Bureau to provide support and advice, is due to launch in the coming weeks.
inSpire @ Inverness Cathedral
Provost Sarah Murray of the Scottish Episcopal Church writes about a vital community outreach service in Inverness
inSpire @ Inverness Cathedral is our outreach to the local community. At inSpire we offer a School Uniform Bank, a Winter Jacket Bank, Blanket and Hot Water Bottle Bank, Emergency Food Bank and School Holiday Lunches.
inSpire and all of our Banks operate weekly and can be available to people to come and collect weekly. We receive requests from various organisations, such as Home Start and many local schools and well as self- referrals. There are no questions asked or great forms to fill in for accessing this help. We felt it was important to keep the forms and questions to an absolute minimum, in the knowledge that many have lots of forms to fill in to access help. The only questions we ask are to enable us to provide information for grant funders and to help us with being able to respond to the needs of the community.
In the time we have been offering inSpire we have helped over 5,000 people who have been able to access this extra help to provide for their children aged 0-18 years of age.
The Cathedral is located in a beautiful part of Inverness, with the riverscape running alongside and in an area where there are Victorian houses and office blocks, many designed by the same architect as the Cathedral, Alexander Ross. Within one mile of the Cathedral and a few streets away there are marked areas of multiple deprivation, generally less visible and perhaps less evident to the visitor to Inverness. Through generous donations from the local community and congregation and grant funding we are able to help families with some of the basics to make life a little easier. School uniform is available all year round and provides the full pack of what is required at the start of the new school year and with top ups during the year. Aware that many children were without Winter Jackets to get to school and to be able to be warm in the playground. We purchase new jackets and as far as possible we offer a choice of jackets for the children. This past winter we were aware of the increasing pressure on the choice of ‘heating or eating’, and so we offered fleecy blankets and hot water bottles as a small way to help with this issue. We have so far handed out over 100 blankets and hot water bottles.
Over the last 2 years we have seen an increase in the factors affecting families in our area, from the pressure of Universal Credit to the Furlough Scheme and the end of the Scheme, to the increase in the cost of living.
We pray that in due course the need of these Banks will reduce as an increase in line with the cost of living on wages and benefits may begin to ease the burden and pressures on families. Until that happens we will continue to support our community in as many ways as we can to alleviate some of this pressure and to respond to the gospel imperative to, ‘love our neighbour’.