Putting faith into action

In Brazil, millions of rural families are landless and hungry because they cannot grow food [Paul Smith]

Our work is one of the ways in which the Church expresses and enacts its belief in human dignity and social justice

It is inspired by Scripture (“to bring good news to the poor,” Luke 4:18), by Catholic Social Teaching and by the experiences and hopes of the poor, marginalised and often oppressed communities it supports.

We are funded and supported mainly by the Catholic community in England and Wales to assist poor communities, regardless of creed.

We work to enact Gospel values – within and beyond the Church – including:

• concern for our neighbours and the well-being of future generations
• serving the common good to enable everyone to develop equally
• fighting for social justice and ensuring everyone’s basic needs are met
• acting on the basis of need, not greed, and acting in solidarity with those living in poverty
• promoting the values of human dignity, community, stewardship and the integrity of creation.

We put into practice the solidarity and communion for which the Church stands, and strives for a world built on interdependence, mutuality and sharing, where exclusion, exploitation and greed do not exist.

We are proud of our identity as a Catholic organisation, faithful to Catholic teaching and inspired by the spirituality and world view that comes from Catholic faith.

Catholic social teaching (CST)

The principles, insights and guidance from Catholic social teaching (CST) have inspired us since our foundation and remain a vital underpinning of our work

CST is the Catholic Church’s ethical framework for analysing the economic, social and political realities of the world we live in.

Based on the core beliefs of Christian faith, such as the dignity of the human person made in the image of God, it sets out ethical principles and guidance, which can appeal to all people, whether Catholic or not.

CST has a particular importance for Catholics, whom it challenges to transform the world we live in as part of living faith. It came to prominence in modern times as the Church responded to immense changes in social and political structures.

But this does not mean it is something new. From the time of the early Church, Christians have been inspired by faith to seek justice and to protect and uphold people who are poor.

This teaching has become more systematic, as successive popes and the Second Vatican Council have set out the Church's thinking on complex contemporary realities.

CST has several distinctive characteristics.

• Catholics regard it as authoritative: when set out either at the global level by the Pope or a Synod of Bishops, or at national level by Conferences of Bishops, it has a claim on the attention and response of the global Catholic community.
• It is dynamic and unfolding. Although it contains principles that are permanently true, such as the obligation to seek social justice, it is also enriched by absorbing new insights such as the importance of human rights. CST develops in response to changing social, political and economic realities.
• Although formally articulated by bishops and the Pope, it is nourished, expressed and applied in practice by the faith and action of members of the Church who work for justice.

Its central principles help form our Vision, Mission and Values, and are intrinsic to our commitment to partnership working. The Pope's statements and teaching on debt provide inspiration and motivation for our campaigns work on issues of global poverty.

take action

Give For every £1 given to our Give it up! appeal this Lent, including Lent Fast Day, the government will donate another £1 – doubling your donation and changing even more lives

Pray 884 million people do not have access to clean, safe water. Pray with us this Lent that waters may flow and injustice may be washed away.

Act Help us turn the tide on water poverty. Join our Thirst for change campaign and ensure world leaders hear our call: taps and toilets for all.