Great Britain" "
“The communities of the faithful may make a significant contribution to social regeneration and rehabilitation programmes and, contrary to what is generally thought, their involvement may create links between the various groups in the disadvantaged areas”: the point is made in a new report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, one of the main charitable organizations in the United Kingdom, which supports social research programmes and social welfare projects. British policies of urban regeneration have been characterized over the last fifteen years by a progressive involvement of the whole community, and the government has shown a growing interest in including the religious communities in such projects. The authors of the report, based on research conducted by several universities, affirm that “the Catholic Church, with its prolonged presence in the field, boasts of greater experience on the matter than many professionals, who are “often ‘distant’ from the local communities”, and has already been running for years “thousands of social projects to the benefit of the whole community in some of the poorer areas of the Kingdom”. Just to give one example, the parish of Father John Armitage in Canning Town in the East End of London: the inhabitants of the district, believers and non-believers alike, meet in the parish centre to take courses, acquire skills, socialize and receive support.
