T4CG regularly joins and hosts conversations with mission-driven young adults, and our emerging youth branch, the New Perspectives Network, meets monthly too.
During June and July we held several zoom events with young adults. We met up with two groups of interns, one group on the Buxton Leadership programme (pictured above) and another on the Faith in Politics Catholic Parliamentary and Public Affairs Internship (see below). During the same period, our youth branch, T4CG’s New Perspectives Network (NPN), held two monthly meetups online.
In July, NPN welcomed guest Lord Glasman, founder of Blue Labour and the Common Good Foundation. Leading a discussion on the politics of place, he set out the points covered in our letter to the churches, The Plague and the Parish which was co-written with him. The wide-ranging discussion included the importance of forming local relationships and building a Common Good between different interests. Watch the session via YouTube below.
Our session with the Faith in Politics interns (pictured below), led by Jenny of T4CG, explored Catholic social thought and how it provides a framework for reading the signs of the times and for formulating humane policy. As Ellen Martin recalls, the group discussed the importance of subsidiarity and relational power, the civic role of the church in building local relationships, and what it means to be a Eucharistic community engaged in the neighbourhood.
In a seminar with the Buxton interns (pictured above top) Jenny led a discussion on the principles of Common Good thinking and its relationship with Catholic social thought. Given recent events in the US, the group also appreciated the chance to talk through what an authentic cross-racial solidarity would look like. Further, the group explored the damage done to our common life by individualism in its manifestations on both the left and the right.
For their June meetup (pictured below), NPN decided on a discussion on Catholic social thought and the Common Good, and invited T4CG’s director Jenny to lead the session. Considering the Black Lives Matter moment, the group discussed alternatives to the identitarian approach and considered what an authentic cross-racial solidarity would look like. Exploring the economic fallout of the pandemic, the wide-ranging discussion also assessed the need to strengthen civic immune systems and the importance of people across the churches building local relationships.
This is an extract from our summer 2020 mailing. To access the full newsletter, packed with resources, click here.
The New Perspectives Network is the emerging youth branch of T4CG, an ecumenical, cross-party network of young Christians motivated to play their part in building the Common Good. The Network is coordinated on a voluntary basis by Miriam Brittenden, Joe Moore and Joanne Rolling. The current group are mainly in the 20’s-30’s age bracket and mainly (but not all) based in London. Many of our members are working in roles in the church, politics, community organising and social action. Our discussions take a different focus each time, and we help each other infuse Common Good Thinking into our response. We keep in touch via WhatsApp, and during lockdown our monthly “pub meetups” have moved temporarily online.
Interested in getting involved?
If you would like to get involved please contact Joanne Rolling c/o info@togetherforthecommongood.co.uk and we will be happy to help. Please also check out our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/newperspectivesT4CG/
