Southwark Report 2020_NEW final -Single pages
The Archdiocese of Southwark is pleased to publish an updated version of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2020. This version was revised after correcting a technical error and was re-submitted to the Charity Commission in December 2022.
The Archdiocese of Southwark is pleased to publish an updated version of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2020. This version was revised after correcting a technical error and was re-submitted to the Charity Commission in December 2022.
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IMPACT<br />
REPORT<br />
the centuries, the Church has adapted to the<br />
challenges it has faced and made use of new tools<br />
to further its mission. This unusual time has often<br />
called on us to be courageous and resourceful.<br />
Like St Augustine, the Benedictine monk sent by<br />
St Gregory to England to bring the Good News,<br />
we have had to leave the comfort of our normal<br />
routine, to take stock, to persevere and to find<br />
new ways of undertaking the mission entrusted<br />
to us.<br />
Within a matter of weeks of the pandemic’s<br />
arrival, a digital revolution had taken place. At<br />
the start of the first lockdown, approximately<br />
ten parishes were live-streaming Mass but, by<br />
the end of the year, over 70 were online and the<br />
numbers continue to grow. Meetings, sacramental<br />
preparation and prayer groups moved to online<br />
platforms and priests were soon releasing<br />
inspirational spiritual podcasts and vlogs, updating<br />
their websites and working with social media to<br />
nurture faith and encourage a personal encounter<br />
with Christ.<br />
The Centre for Catholic Formation, transformed<br />
into the Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis,<br />
has reached out to parishes on a virtual basis<br />
with guidance and unique opportunities to grow<br />
in faith. The Marriage and Family Life Team<br />
moved online to prepare couples for marriage.<br />
The <strong>Southwark</strong> Education Commission has<br />
been tireless in its commitment to support<br />
schools, staff, pupils and governors, through a<br />
raft of changing guidance, and the Youth Service<br />
focussed on helping young people with mental<br />
health issues. Meanwhile our Fundraising Team<br />
found new digital ways to keep the Archdiocese<br />
and its parishes financially afloat. These are but<br />
a few examples of all that has been undertaken.<br />
The year <strong>2020</strong> had been designated as a year<br />
of celebrating, living and sharing the Word of<br />
God through ‘The God Who Speaks' project,<br />
marking the 10th anniversary of Verbum<br />
Domini: Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic<br />
Exhortation on ‘The Word of the Lord’, and the<br />
1600th anniversary of the death of St Jerome,<br />
the great translator and promoter of the Bible.<br />
This past year, many have experienced<br />
isolation and the pain of hardship. This is<br />
where our Church, through parish and school<br />
communities, has stepped in, to provide<br />
connection and the witness of presence.<br />
As we look forward to the new normal,<br />
not entirely sure what that will mean; and<br />
to attending Mass in person, and to being<br />
physically be present to each another, we hold<br />
fast to our mission to share the Good News<br />
of our faith. God chooses people in every age,<br />
like Andrew and Peter, James and John on the<br />
shores of Galilee, like St Augustine who landed<br />
in Thanet over 1400 years ago, like St Jerome,<br />
to make him known. We are called to witness<br />
and serve, at this time and for this place. I pray<br />
that we will all be encouraged by the good<br />
we have seen and the lessons we have learnt<br />
during the pandemic. May we listen for God’s<br />
will and resolve to use our gifts and resources<br />
with wisdom so that as we follow Christ, with<br />
us, others may be drawn to him.<br />
Worship in <strong>Southwark</strong> during <strong>2020</strong> in line with<br />
government Covid-19 safety guidelines<br />
A wall of rememberance for<br />
Victims of Covid-19 in London<br />
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