Scottish Catholic Observer

The ‘most challenging public spending environment since the Second World War’ was the dramatic phrase used  recently by Craig Beveridge, chairman of the independent body which conducted a review of public spending in Scotland for the next four years. The review presented a series of options to our politicians for consideration for the Scottish budget, which will be set later in the year. Press coverage examining the review focused on major job losses, the possible introduction of charging for services which are currently provided free and many other changes in delivery of services to the public.

It is clear that these cuts will create major gaps in the support of the most vulnerable in our society and it may be of interest to look at the ‘Big Society’ initiative presented by the Prime Minister David Cameron and what it can offer as a response to these inevitable challenges.

Throughout Scotland, we have a network of over 40,000 voluntary agencies and individual projects, including care and welfare expressions of the various churches— which rely on local government and other state funding for their operation.  It is inevitable that local authorities will have to cut their financial support to these agencies, which would mean a double blow to communities—loss of state services and also the reduction in the voluntary bodies funded by them.

In his speeches on ‘Big Society’ over the last year, David Cameron has used phrases such as  ‘the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from the state to the individual’ but provided very little detail about  how individuals and communities would be supported by his government in filling the gaps left by the cutbacks in state funding.  Interestingly, Nick Clegg’s verdict on the idea, prior to the election result, was: “It’s hollow, there’s nothing in it”

In the series of speeches about ‘Big Society,’ David Cameron does not acknowledge the vast range of services provided by faith groups throughout Britain, yet, these would appear to be an obvious starting point for any such form of community development.

He claims his model for the ‘Big Society’ is directly based on the ‘successful community organising movement, established by Saul Alinksy in the United States, which has successfully trained generations of community organisers, including President Obama.’ A reading of the president’s memoirs, on the other hand, reveals that his involvement in community development in Chicago drew heavily on the established networks of church groups, and the continuation of projects depended on the various alliances between churches in the city.

There is a naïve and simplistic thread running through David Cameron’s presentations on this idea that suggests that the desired community development will be galvanised through the actions of the organiser on the community.

There is no real discussion about the values underneath and the needs of the community—the approach comes across as somewhat superficial and mechanistic.

Many other models of community development exist including those drawing on the social teaching of the Church and it may be of relevance to reflect on the contributions of the late John Kerr of Cranhill in the Glasgow situation and that of Fr Colin MacInnes in his continuing work in Ecuador.

John Kerr, from Cranhill, who died in July last year, worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life in his local community for over 40 years:  setting up the Cranhill Credit Union in 1976, being a founding member of the Scottish League of Credit Unions, establishing the Cranhill Food Co-operative in 1980 and forming the Cranhill Arts project, and many other ventures.

Mr Kerr estimated that the Cranhill Credit Union recycled £15 million back into the community.

He also supported countless asylum seekers, whom he called his ‘brothers and sisters’— these actions rooted in a strong and vibrant faith, which characterised all his involvement in community.

Fr MacInnes, who has been featured regularly in the SCO’s pages, was a committed and inspiring figure in his native islands as a priest—establishing a string of projects including the pioneering Feis Bharraidh—prior to his move to Ecuador in January 1985. In his first parish in Quito—described by him as a ‘conflict ridden shanty barrio’ where he lived for 22 years, he established medical centres, hospitals, two churches, paved streets, organised sewage systems, comprehensive electrical supplies, a Credit Union and many other services.

In 2005, he moved to a new parish challenge, confident that the Quito community he had worked with could run its own affairs: his projects are always sustainable, built on passing power to others as soon as they acquire the skills to manage. In all his ventures, Fr MacInnes’s approach is practical and direct and based on a very determined problem solving strategy.

A central feature of his approach is the belief that the most effective way of applying the social teaching of the Catholic Church is through clear practical targets in order to build what will last.

Many common threads can be discerned when we examine the work of these two pioneering individuals—building of relationship and trust as community, listening to the needs of the members, focusing on practical actions which will last and empowering people to take control of their communities. We can find in the integrity of their work clear connections with the spirit and substance of the social teaching of the Church. Caritas in Veritate offers a strong caveat against adopting a  ‘quick fix’ approach to profound challenges in our communities: “Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalised society, at difficult times like the present.”