Thank you Fr Bryan and good morning everyone.

At all Masses this weekend we are launching one of the main activities in our LiveSimply project.  As the posters at the front of church remind us, one of the three Principles of LiveSimply is to       Live in Solidarity with the Poor.

When we registered as a LiveSimply parish, the Justice and Peace Group agreed to coordinate our involvement in a CAFOD scheme called    Connect2.  This would represent our parish commitment to solidarity with the poor.  I know that many of you individually support good causes, but this is an opportunity for us to act as a parish community.

So what is Connect2?      As its name suggests, Connect2 aims to set up a communication channel    between Catholic parishes in our country    and communities in the developing world.  As Catholics, we’re committed to fighting injustice and standing in solidarity with poor communities across the world:       listening to their experiences, sharing their concerns, and doing what we can to create lasting change.

But that’s easier said than done, isn’t it?      It’s hard to feel connected to people who live thousands of miles away in parts of the world we will probably never visit.  That’s why CAFOD has set up Connect2, a scheme which will take our parish on a journey across the world to a village called       Can-mar-e       in Bangladesh, South Asia.

You almost certainly won’t have heard of Can-mar-e    – you won’t even find it on Google Maps!  It has no proper roads and the village is surrounded by shrimp ponds, with a flat watery landscape that seems to stretch forever.  All 250 families living in Can-mar-e are at risk from natural disasters which are happening more frequently, such as cyclones and floods.  Cyclone Sidr (SID-ER) virtually destroyed the village in 2007 and cyclone Aila hit it again in 2009.

The unpredictability of the climate means that people can no longer rely on traditional ways of making a living – like growing rice – and they must adapt to find other ways of earning an income.  CAFOD is helping them to do this and, with quite small sums of money, the villagers can adapt to grow more varieties of vegetable, and to reduce the impact of natural disasters.

We have produced a leaflet about Can-mar-e which will be handed out after Mass, so please make sure each family gets one of these.  We have also produced a leaflet about St James’ which has been sent to Can-mar-e so that the community knows a little about us.

We thought that Connect2 would be an interesting topic for the children at our school.  So we spoke to Mrs Bosher who has been very supportive.  Year 6 pupils have already found out about the village and written letters to it.  Some of the children are here this morning I’m sure.     Their letters have been sent to CAFOD.  So a big thank you to the children for doing this and we look forward to them receiving some replies.  Not many people in Can-mar-e can speak English so we rely on the CAFOD translators to help them.

Just a few words about what happens next.     We will report back to the parish whenever we get news from the village – perhaps replies from the children’s letters for example.  We will occasionally organise events to raise funds, and in the leaflet you will see examples of what that money could do.  The leaflets will also tell you about the first event … which will be “Can-mar-e Curry Night”!      This is planned to take place on Sunday 21^st April and you will hear more about this from us in due course.

And what can parishioners do?      First of all, we can pray for the people of Can-mar-e, and we will do that particularly at each Mass where LiveSimply is featured.

· Many of you will be able to look at the website where news of Can-mar-e is reported.

· Perhaps the most precious gift that Can-mar-e can give us is its example of simple living – that is if we are able to apply it to our own lives – where appropriate.

· Finally, you can come to the Can-mar-e Curry Night and even offer to help run it.

We would particularly like to hear from any member of the parish who has personal knowledge of Bangladesh and its culture.  Anyone interested should speak to one of those handing out leaflets after Mass or they can email us using the address in the leaflet.

Thank you for listening and I do hope you will enjoy hearing more about this parish initiative as things develop.