‘Those who are poor or lack the very basics of life, those in need of any kind, have a special claim on our energies and love.’
IBVM Constitution, Vol 2. 2.7
The call to bring all people on the margins into the center of our lives draws us to many areas of social need. We work in welfare and social care, anti-trafficking and advocacy, with refugees and asylum seekers, the homeless, those who struggle for their daily existence, and those in prison. We run a variety of projects such as programmes for young men and women seeking work and training in empowerment, such as on tea plantations in India.
We also participate in reconciliation processes with Indigenous peoples, campaign for girls’ and women’s rights and educate against female genital mutilation (FGM).
We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 139
