SAINT JOSEPH'S PRESBYTERY

The plaque, commemorating the opening of the Cathedral Centre has the following inscription: ‘Congregavit nos in unum, Deus amor’ - The love of God gathers us into one – a reminder that we are all the family of God in Salford Diocese.

The charitable works of our diocese have a long history. In 1886 Bishop Vaughan founded the Catholic Children’s Rescue Society in response to the poverty and deprivation experienced by children at the time of the Industrial Revolution in the urban communities and the mill towns around Greater Manchester and South Lancashire.

Bishop Holland, in the 1970s, set up Catholic Welfare Societies to answer some of the needs of adults in our society. The CWS, as it became known, developed services to older people and local communities especially in North Manchester and responded also to the growing needs of homeless people in the area.

Inspired by Bishops Vaughan and Holland, in our own day we continue the charitable work of the diocese. To this end in 2008 a new charity entitled Caritas Diocese of Salford was created and now incorporates the work of Catholic Children’s Rescue Society and Catholic Welfare Societies – so it is no longer seen as exclusively a child care agency.

Caritas appointed its first Chief Executive, Mark Wiggin, in 2010. Bishop Terence Brain, inspired by Bishop Vaughan and Bishop Holland, said “The new charity will provide professional support to allow local initiatives to grow. It will help us all to realise that what I do in my community is part of the work of the Family of God of the Diocese: we are one in body and spirit serving the one God through the one Lord, one faith and one baptism”.

Caritas Diocese of Salford is a charity with a long history, a demonstrated ability to change and adapt and the will to continue to do so. It has never been static. In joining in a partnership with Caritas, whether as an employee, a service beneficiary, a volunteer, a funder, or in a local community project partnership, you are becoming part of its present, its future and ultimately another phase of its rich history!

AND THIS IS WHERE WE AS A PARISH COMMUNITY COME IN. Representatives from Caritas Diocese of Salford will be at our Masses this weekend to let us know of future Diocesan plans for the use of St. Joseph’s Presbytery. Let us listen to what they have to say and think how we can be involved in this exciting project.

There will also be a parish meeting at St. Joseph's on Tuesday 25th January at 7pm for anyone to come and ask questions, share their ideas, voice their concerns etc. Please do come along so that no one can say ‘No one told me, or no one asked me what I thought.’