SERV

SERV was established in March 2017. Previously the Brothers and Edmund Rice volunteers worked in collaboration with the Spiritan Fathers in a charity called Revive. But for various reasons, we decided it was appropriate and time for us to branch out on our own.

The bishop of Salford Rev John Arnold kindly provided us with accommodation in St Sebastians Presbytery for our newly formed community.

The present community are Ger O’Connell, George Gordon, Jim Catterson and Tony Twomey. We are all involved in the same ministry and therefore much of our prayer and reflection is based on our daily experiences.

We then negotiated with the diocese to hire out a room in the parish community centre, St Sebastians.

The “SERVE” team consists of the four Brothers and volunteers inspired by the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice and the Christians Brothers’ commitment to dignity, justice and solidarity with those in the margins. Our volunteers consist of a retired GP, A University Lecturer and her daughter (a university graduate), a retired headmaster(of a CB school) and his wife a retired teacher from our school and five former refugees who had availed of our service.

At SERV, we,” Edmund Rice Volunteers”.are committed to creating a safe, welcoming and respectful environment for people seeking asylum and refugees .The words Presence, Compassion and Liberation express how we strive to be with people in mission.

Our service users come from their home countries due to well-founded fear of persecution, war, violence and life-threatening situations. They are mainly from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan and Sudan. Each person has their own story, what does unite them is a resilience and determination to build a better life, having experienced persecution and hatred in their own country and who are keen to make a positive contribution in their new lives.

We try to help them with whatever is needed, being it helping with their asylum claim, communicating with The home office, issues around benefits, housing issues, accessing schools, registering with the GP but perhaps most important of all to listen to their stories, and provide an environment where as refugees they feel welcomed and valued.

We also make the centre available to them for various activities, such as celebration of their Faith , bereavement services, community gatherings etc. We provide English classes twice a week.

It is a really humbling and enriching experience to have the privilege of walking part of their journey with them and to be inspired by their various religious beliefs They certainly have become part of our extended family..

We are deeply indebted to The Edmund Rice Network in England, especially Roisin Maguire and Ann Nichols for all the support, help and encouragement they have given us in making SERV possible.