Catholics set up social action agency

The
Catholic Church in England and Wales is to establish a national social action
agency called Caris. It will merge the Catholic Agency for Social Concern and
the Catholic Child Welfare Council, and will also take over the work of the
social welfare and community relations committees of the Bishops’ Conference.

Other Catholic agencies will be federated to
Caris. Its brief will be wide and take in housing and homelessness, social
care, prisons and criminal justice, and race relations.

Terry Connor, director of the Catholic
Children’s Society (Southwark, Portsmouth, Arundel and Brighton), has been
elected as the chairperson.