Timeline:

1886: Catholic Children’s Rescue Society founded
1904: First St. Joseph’s Penny Lenten Collection
1943: CCRS becomes an adoption agency
1974: Catholic Welfare Societies founded
2008: Caritas Diocese of Salford created
2010: CCRS and CWS merge into Caritas Diocese of Salford

Caritas Diocese of Salford has a long and varied history. We have changed names over the years, but our mission has remained the same – to help the disadvantaged in our communities. Below, you will get a feel for who we are and where we have come from.

Catholic Children's Rescue Society (CCRS) was founded in 1886 by Bishop Vaughan in response to the poverty and deprivation experienced by children at the time of the Industrial Revolution in the urban communities and the mill towns around Greater Manchester and South Lancashire. Children faced cholera epidemics and a lack of family support or schooling.

Over a hundred years ago the role of CCRS was one of ‘rescuing’ children from the streets and institutions, particularly those in danger of becoming lost to their Catholic faith. It was bishop, priests, religious congregations and parish people working together to resolve a need and develop as new needs arose.
 
To fund the work of the Catholic Children’s Rescue Society, a Lenten collection began in 1904 known as the St Joseph’s Penny. The first collection raised 55,217 pennies or just over £230! The idea of children helping children has continued to this day.

The war years saw a significant growth in the adoption and residential children’s homes work of the charity, and in 1943, Rescue became an official adoption agency. The 1950s and 1960s, which saw the establishment of the Welfare State, changing ideas about the care and welfare of children led to the demise of the large children's homes and institutions. New “Boarding Out Regulations” reflected Home Office policy that children should be cared for in families. In fact, throughout our history, changes in Local Authority practices have been particularly significant in shaping the ways in which our work has developed and prompting reflection on the charity's purpose.

Bishop Holland, in 1974, set up Catholic Welfare Societies to answer some of the needs of adults in our society. His vision was that there are great ideas and strengths within the local communities and that if we harness these ideas, little things become great things for God. CWS, as it became known, developed services to older people and local communities, especially in North Manchester, and responded also to the growing needs of homeless people in the area.

The changing role of Local Authorities which required them to act as purchasers rather than providers of services in the 1990s stimulated voluntary organisations such as Catholic Children’s Rescue Society to offer a not for-profit alternative to the private sector. Over recent years, the emphasis on providing services for Catholics has also altered to provide services to disadvantaged people are of all faiths and none whilst the consistency of the charity's values and beliefs remains very important.

The new millennium brought internal debates on the future direction of the charity and the need emerged for a single charity to be created from several individual charities that had grown up over the last 150 years. During this transitional period, the focus of discussion was on how the Catholic nature of the organisation and its relationship to the diocese could best be maintained in a climate in which the increasingly professional nature of social work and need for appropriate qualifications were emphasised. The pressures and challenges presented by legislative changes over the last few years, especially affecting adoption, had also changed the shape and nature of the organisation.

In 2008, Caritas Diocese of Salford was created and in April 2010, incorporated the work of Catholic Children’s Rescue Society and Catholic Welfare Societies.

Bishop Terence Brain, inspired by Bishop Vaughan and Bishop Holland, said “The new charity will provide professional support to allow local initiatives to grow. It will help us all to realise that what I do in my community is part of the work of the Family of God of the Diocese: we are one in body and spirit serving the one God through the one Lord, one faith and one baptism”.

Caritas Diocese of Salford is a charity with a long history, a demonstrated ability to change and adapt and the will to continue to do so. It has never been static. In joining in a partnership with Caritas, whether as an employee, a service beneficiary, a volunteer, a funder or in a local community project partnership,  you are becoming part of its present, its future and ultimately another phase of its rich history!