Together for the Common Good
Together for the Common Good is rooted in the partnership between the late Archbishop Derek Worlock and Bishop David Sheppard and Free Church leaders in Liverpool a generation ago. They worked together across their differences alongside communities for the Common Good, building bridges across divisions in very challenging times.
Together for the Common Good began in 2011 by exploring how people across the churches played their part for society’s wellbeing and how different traditions working together could make them more effective.
A programme with resources and guides used across the UK was developed to enable and inspire a deeper quality of discussion about the Common Good. Taking on the challenge, along with Nugent volunteer Francesca, and Mary Beatham took over the lead of the Together for the Common Good programme. We started with two groups, and delivered six workshops to our Caritas team, Nugent Volunteers, CSAN members, Living Fully Kairos members and Catechists from across the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
We reflected through music, art, and stories on the work we do at Nugent, in our churches and communities, and linked it all to the teachings, values and challenging questions from the Together for the Common Good programme. We followed up the workshops with a full-day workshop recently, led by Helen from the Archdiocese of Liverpool. She helped us pull all the sessions together by reflecting further and discussing more of the themes from the programme in depth. This led to planning simple actions for the way forward, agreed by all those involved, to aim for. The workshops were uplifting, accessible and enjoyed by everyone. Many felt affirmed in their work and found the time spent reflecting was invaluable to their general well–being and further commitment to the Common Good.
