Shaping the future: livesimply phase 2 (21 Apr 2008)

As the first phase of livesimply comes to an end, members came together at a Network Day on 9 April to shape plans for the future.

35 people attended, including representatives of member organisations and the Executive.

livesimply Chair Jim O'Keefe called on members to hold "a simply, truthful conversation", where all could share their ideas and listen to others. 

Launched in Advent 2006, livesimply quickly caught people's imagination and grew rapidly.  The coalition now has 58 member organisations. representing a wide cross section of the catholic world, as well as four ecumenical partners.  Thousands of livesimply events, large and small, have been held across the country, culminating in the successful liveit! events in March.

Community commitments

Christine Allen of the Executive introduced a proposal which, she said, "builds on the energy and enthusiasm of the first eighteen months of livesimply and addresses some of the issues". 

Called 'community commitments', the proposal is a development of the livesimply:promise idea, replacing individual promises with a menu of 'commitments' for communities could adopt.  Each commitment would be led and supported by a different member organisation - and could be undertaken by any group of people, whether a parish, youth group, or organisation.

Christine explained that the aim was to energise the network, engage those member organisations who have not been so active, and encourage people to "reach out of our bubbles", and work together.

"The livesimply promises have excited people but have been a bit individual,"  Christine said.  "How do we bring the Network, active and engaged, into the process?"

Deepening our work

Following frank discussion with members of the Executive, delegates gave a qualified welcome to the 'community commitments' proposal.

Members recognised that the commitments have great potential to deepen and spiritualise our work, but agreed that much thinking needs to be done to ensure that the commitments are developed in a way that does not further the 'bubble' mentality, and that expresses the interconnectedness of all the issues livesimply members work on.

Next steps

The discussion will continue, with members of the Executive canvassing members who were unable to attend the Network Day for views.

The Executive will meet on 29 April to make decisions about future projects, structure and staffing.

Members are invited to send thoughts to Executive members Jo Kitterick and Helen Bardy.