What is SCAFFOLD?
SCAFFOLD is a new, lay-led community mission inspired by Catholic social teaching and the Christian tradition associated with Saint Charles Borromeo.
The project is at an early stage and will be developed and rolled out progressively over the coming year. Its purpose is to help people navigate complex systems of support — including physical and mental health, financial wellbeing, and spiritual care — at times when life feels overwhelming and fragmented.
Faithful Foundations Already in Place
It is important to say clearly that the call to mission does not begin from nothing.
Since his recent arrival, Fr Phil’s ministry has been marked by prayerful leadership, pastoral availability, and a faithful commitment to the sacramental life of the parish. That work matters deeply. Worship, prayer, and reverence are not optional extras; they are the foundation on which any authentic mission must rest.
Likewise, the quiet, faithful service of Patrick Doyle, parish volunteers and the St Vincent de Paul Society represents mission already lived — through presence, generosity, and practical care for those in need. The SVP’s work embodies the Church’s preferential concern for the poor and deserves continued prayer, encouragement, and practical support from the whole parish community.
SCAFFOLD does not replace or diminish these ministries. On the contrary, it arises alongside them — attentive to a different set of needs and operating in a different way — but animated by the same Gospel call to love in action.
The challenge before the Church is not to choose between worship, charity, or mission, but to hold them together, allowing each to strengthen and complete the others.
SCAFFOLD focuses on:
clear, trusted signposting
accompaniment rather than intervention
dignity rather than judgement
practical help rooted in compassion
The initiative is open to people of all faiths and none and operates independently of parish structures, while remaining grounded in Christian values. Churches, GP practices, and community organisations may choose to engage with SCAFFOLD simply by signposting people towards it.
This reflection forms part of SCAFFOLD’s commitment to mission that grows through prayer, practice, and patient development.
Worship Is the Source — Not the Destination
At the heart of Catholic life stands the Eucharist. Worship is not optional. Without it, the Church would lose its soul.
But worship is never meant to be an endpoint.
The Mass gathers us, but it also sends us. The words “Go in peace” are not a polite conclusion; they are a commissioning. When worship does not flow outward into responsibility for others — especially those struggling on the margins of society — something essential is left unfinished.
Across many parishes, there is a real risk that church life becomes narrowed to worship alone: faithful, sincere, and reverent, yet increasingly detached from the complex realities faced by people beyond the church doors.
This is not a criticism of devotion. It is a call to completion.
The Gospel does not permit a Church that remains turned inward. Christ gathered people — and then sent them out.
The Church’s Own Teaching Leaves No Room for Inertia
In recent decades, the Church’s leadership has spoken with striking consistency about mission. The language is now familiar: going outwards, encounter, accompaniment, courage, and creative engagement with the real conditions of people’s lives.
Under Pope Leo XIV, that emphasis has not diminished. The Church continues to warn against becoming inward-looking, risk-averse, or content with maintenance rather than mission. A repeated concern is that the Church can learn to speak about mission fluently while practising caution, delay, or quiet avoidance when action is required.
The issue, then, is not lack of teaching.
It is the gap between teaching and lived response.
SCAFFOLD exists precisely in that space — not as a theory, but as a practical attempt to respond.
Why SCAFFOLD Exists
SCAFFOLD is an independent, lay-led initiative shaped by long experience of health, community, and support systems, and by the recognition that many people today feel overwhelmed by fragmentation, complexity, and silence when they most need clarity and accompaniment.
The project is intentionally modest in tone and realistic in scope. Over the coming year, it will be developed gradually, tested carefully, and refined through listening. Its focus is simple:
clear and trusted signposting
accompaniment rather than intervention
dignity rather than judgement
calm help at moments of pressure
SCAFFOLD is open to people of all faiths and none. It does not seek to replace professional services or parish ministries, but to help people navigate towards the right support at the right time, including spiritual support where that is desired.
In this sense, it is mission grounded in reality rather than rhetoric.
St Charles Borromeo: Mission With Consequences
St Charles Borromeo is often named as a model of holiness and reform, but his example is sometimes softened by distance.
He did not preserve comfort.
He did not avoid difficulty.
He did not confuse obedience with passivity.
He acted decisively when Church structures were no longer serving people well. He reformed formation, reorganised pastoral care, and redirected resources toward those most in need. His reforms were disruptive precisely because they were faithful.
To invoke his name while shrinking from outward responsibility is to misunderstand him.
SCAFFOLD takes St Charles seriously — not as an ornament, but as a challenge.
The Cost of Staying Still
When the Church hesitates, people do not wait.
Those facing anxiety, debt, addiction, isolation, or spiritual confusion do not pause until priorities align or confidence is restored. They turn elsewhere — or nowhere at all.
The tragedy is that parishes often possess exactly what is needed:
trusted presence
physical space
committed people
moral credibility
What is often lacking is not goodwill, but momentum and confidence to act.
The cost of inaction is not neutrality.
It is irrelevance.
Lay Responsibility Is Not Optional
One of the clearest teachings of the modern Church is that mission is not the preserve of clergy alone. By baptism, the laity share responsibility for the Church’s presence in the world.
Lay initiative, when exercised prayerfully and responsibly, is not a threat. It is a sign of maturity. Waiting indefinitely for permission or perfect alignment is not discernment; it is deferral.
SCAFFOLD is offered in that spirit — not against the Church, but because the Church itself insists that faith must be lived outwardly.
At the same time, mission is never a solitary activity. It grows when people listen to one another, share ideas, and support what is already being done. Parishioners are therefore encouraged to offer ideas, energy, and prayer for how St Charles Borromeo Church might respond more fully to the needs around us, and to continue to support Fr Phil in his pastoral leadership and the St Vincent de Paul Society in their quiet, faithful work with those in need.
The future of mission at St Charles will not be shaped by one initiative alone, but by a parish community willing to think, pray, and act together.
Holding Worship, Charity, and Mission Together
The future of parish life does not lie in choosing between worship, charity, or mission.
It lies in holding them together:
prayer that deepens compassion
charity that grows from faith
mission that takes both seriously
The prayerful leadership of the parish, the faithful service of the SVP, and emerging lay initiatives such as SCAFFOLD are not rivals. They are parts of a single ecosystem of faith, each incomplete without the others.
An Invitation to Grow
This reflection is not written to criticise individuals or diminish existing work. It is written because the Church stands at a moment of choice.
The theology of mission is already articulated.
The language is already in place.
The needs around us are already visible.
What remains is courage, patience, and trust in the Spirit.
SCAFFOLD will grow slowly over the coming year. It will listen, learn, and adapt. It is offered as a practical expression of the conviction that worship, when taken seriously, must have consequences — and that faith becomes credible when it is lived.
St Charles Borromeo understood this.
The Church’s teaching affirms it.
The invitation before us is simple: to allow mission to move from words into life.
John
John Maffin
Founder & Project Director
SCAFFOLD
Parishioner: St Charles Borromeo
1 January 2026