One pair of outstretched hands rests in another, with a red heart in the top pair of hands

Jubilee 2025: Increasing Accessibility in our Parishes

Tuesday 1st April 2025

This month marks the Jubilee for people who are unwell, people who experience disability, and people with caring responsibilities.

To mark this important Jubilee, we’re continuing our Jubilee of Jubilees series by exploring how improving accessibility in your parish can help all people access the Sacraments and day-to-day parish life.

Our diocesan charity, Caritas Diocese of Salford, leads on this month’s Jubilee and have created a fantastic resource to help parishes explore a little more about the topic.

The introduction reads: “Accessibility is about ensuring that everyone can take part and contribute in a way, and to the extent, which suits them best.

A quote on a red background reads: "It is a basic requirement to honour our God-given human dignity and deeper than a matter of convenience. No person should be unable to participate because of an unmet access need.”

“Accessibility barriers tend to exist in terms of a person’s physical, mental and emotional, learning, sensory or communication needs. Research shows that:

• Approximately 45% of pension age adults are disabled

• 1 in 5 disabled people avoid going out to ‘social’ gatherings because of negative attitudes and behaviour

• Disabled people are nearly three times more likely than non-disabled people to feel lonely ‘always’ or ‘often’

• The average household with at least one person who is disabled faces £975 a month in extra costs.”

To find out more and access to full resource, please click here.