The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) was founded in England in 1960 by a group of Catholic women who wanted to raise funds to help establish a mother and baby clinic in the Caribbean island of Dominica. Today CAFOD is the main Catholic agency within England & Wales specifically working to help the poor and disadvantaged throughout the world.
How Does CAFOD Work In The Parish Of Mary Immaculate and St Gregory the Great in Barnet?
A group of parishioners meet regularly to support CAFOD’s work. We especially support the Lent and Harvest Fast Days each year to raise awareness of CAFOD and to raise funds for its work. We hold Soup Lunches on the Fast Days, advertise various CAFOD projects and encourage the parish to support these projects through financial support and prayer. We help with campaigns such as environmental issues and the global food system and encourage parishioners to be involved. We contribute prayers to the liturgy at different times of the church calendar, for example the Stations of the Cross in Lent.
We try to promote CAFOD’s principles which are founded on Gospel values and Our Lord’s injunction that we should love our neighbour, no matter who they are or where they live.
Our meetings and events are advertised on the parish diary on www.barnetcatholic.com. New members are always welcome.
Where Does CAFOD Work Today?
CAFOD has a presence in 165 countries works across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, working with local partners through Caritas Internationalis. As well as projects which promote self-determination in communities and encourage sustainability, CAFOD also responds with financial and material help in physical emergencies, such as drought, floods and earthquakes and in the wake of war and civil strife.
For more information about CAFOD’s work worldwide, information about its projects, prayers, liturgy and meditations as well as how to donate to its work, go to:
www.cafod.org.uk
