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Bishop Richard and the Bishop of Wrexham, Bishop Peter Brignall, have both praised a new resource produced by the Bishops’ Conference (CBCEW) and The God Who Speaks, Turning Tables, which helps Catholics use Scripture and their faith to inspire effective social justice action.

Bishop Richard, who is Chair of the CBCEW Department for Social Justice, provides the foreword for Turning Tables, writing:

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“I am pleased to commend this resource as means to explore the riches of Catholic Social Teaching, grounded in the Scriptures.

"While it has often been said that Catholic Social Teaching is a ‘well-kept secret’, this is perhaps no longer the case as increasing numbers of people across society are finding in the Church’s social teaching a response to the challenges of the age.

"Thanks go to all those who have been involved in the production of this new resource which will surely open Catholic Social Teaching to a yet wider audience.”

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Who is the Toolkit for?

Turning Tables is a resource designed to help adult Catholics across England and Wales to understand and engage with their faith, Scripture and social justice in practical ways.

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It will do this by covering five core themes:

• Understanding the Bible – how it lays the foundations for a just and fair world.
• Deepening our faith – how to translate our beliefs and spirituality into social action.
• Understanding social action – how to bring about change at local and national levels.
• Knowing who to contact – how and where to contact governments, policy makers and charities.
• Creating momentum and support – how to share resources and ideas, lobby and volunteer.

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Government policies influence much of our lives. They lay out what we can and cannot do; how we should relate to, and treat, each other; and how we should treat the earth and its resources. The Bible also has much to say about these issues and that’s why the Catholic Church is concerned with social justice at local, national and international levels. If we understand how the foundations of social justice are developed throughout the Scriptures, and how Jesus modelled social action in His lifestyle and teachings, then we can apply these values and principles in our own times.

As Catholics, building community is important to us. We are a universal Church and our faith is based on relationships with God and with each other. Therefore, we have a common responsibility to help build a culture that upholds the dignity of every human life, especially the most vulnerable. This responsibility works at different levels: local and individual, national and global. Scripture, Tradition and Catholic social teaching provide us with a framework to build a better world, but sometimes this vision seems impossible to achieve or feels out of our reach. This Toolkit shows us how, and helps us to put our faith into social action.

Across our dioceses of England and Wales we have the capacity to create real change in our churches and communities. From small local acts to challenging our governments, we can demonstrate gospel values as individuals and as the Church standing together since:

"…no one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life, without concern for the soundness of civil institutions, without a right to offer an opinion on events affecting society." Evangelii Gaudium sec. 183.

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You can download Turning Tables by clicking the button below.

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Source: CBCEW