Actions -
Live Simply Project at Our Lady of Lourdes
July 2025-Christmas 2026.
The story so far.
There are 3 categories of actions which a parish has to satisfy to be awarded the Live Simply Award by CAFOD’s assessment body. Here are the categories and our actions to date:
Live Simply: Raising Awareness and Liturgy
-
July 5th 2025: Laudato Si Mass
Two parishioners gave a presentation on Laudato Si and the teachings of Pope Francis on climate change.They also introduced the bamboo Eco Pledge tree which parishioners festooned with green luggage labels with their eco pledges on them. An accompanying parish handout detailed possible actions.
-
September 6th 2025: a visit from Jo Kitterick, CAFOD’s Director of Participation and Fundraising to speak to the parish about Laudato Si and themes of the Jubilee Year. She also talked about the work of CAFOD in relation to countries impacted by climate change.
-
September 5th 2025: a Creation Mass to celebrate the Feast of St Francis, with a focus on integral ecology and ecological spirituality. The sermon was delivered by Clare Watkins, Professor of Pastoral Theology at the University of Durham.
-
September 21st 2025: Father John conducted a service of blessing of the Laudato Si Tree (a flowering cherry), planted outside the parish house. It was attended by about 40 parishioners.
-
June 7th 2026: a sponsored Creation Walk for families and young people is planned.
Actions to Live Sustainably with Creation
-
Individual actions by parishioners, as pledged and repledged on the Eco Pledge tree.
-
The church has solar panels on its roof.
-
Fairtrade coffee is served after Mass.
-
Parishioners tend the parish flower beds, with seasonal gardening sessions in which many parishioners participate.
-
A parish cook book with an international flavour (reflecting the extraordinarily international backgrounds of parishioners) is planned for a launch in October 2026. Ingredients will be eco-friendly and it will of course encourage home cooking (so no plastic packaging of supermarket ready meals).
Eco Pledge tree
Actions to Live in Solidarity with the Poor
-
Hope Into Action: parishioners help to support two houses in Sawston under the umbrella of the charity Hope Into Action. The parish of Our Lady of Lourdes entered into a partnership with the Hope into Action charity in 2016. The charity supports people who have no natural networks such as refugees, people leaving prison and those who are homeless. Two houses in Sawston have been bought by the generosity of ‘benevolent-investors’. Over the years the tenants have come from the full range of network-less people. Currently the houses are home to an Afghan refugee family and a young couple who were previously homeless.
A team of ten vetted and trained parishioners support the tenants in both houses. This involves a range of practical day to day challenges. The parish community has also been most generous over the years with countless items of furniture being donated and over £5k gifted to cover the many expenses. Additionally, the parish has invested £40k from its funds towards the purchase of one of the houses. In April 2025, one of the houses was entirely refurnished thanks to the generous donations of parishioners.
-
Footprints Community Café: A number of parishioners are actively engaged in the running of Footprints Community Café in Sawston. Some support trainees to learn new skills whilst others are directors and maintain the accounts. This café was founded in 2002 on the site and in partnership with Sawston Free Church. Since its inception, OLOL has supported Footprints financially with grants for equipment and training costs. It enables people with learning difficulty to learn new skills in the kitchen and serving customers. The café also provides outreach for many socially isolated people in the community. The café, a registered training centre for adults with learning difficulties, depends on generous people to volunteer, giving of their time and talents.
-
Rita Walter Legacy Fund: this year, a small group of parishioners are engaged in identifying beneficiaries for the Rita Walter Legacy Fund and distributing a total of £5000 per annum. The money is going largely to refugee school children who cannot otherwise afford extracurricular activities.
-
Food Bank: the church has recently revived a food bank collection which is delivered weekly to the local John Huntingdon Charity.
-
Charitable Fund Raising: the parish has raised over £6,000 for the charity Mary’s Meals over the last two years. In 2025, it raised over £2000 for Chasera School in Zambia linked to the parish for the purposes of paying for children’s school meals. This money was raised through a) an Irish Folk Music Tea event in the parish hall on October 18; and b) a large scale cake sale after all three masses on December 14.
-
A quiz night on March 20th 2026 will raise funds for the CAFOD Sudan Appeal.