Inserted communities and religious commitment in Post-Conciliar Britain, 1970s-2000s

This chapter examines the role of ‘inserted communities’, the small religious communities that placed themselves within the heart of inner-city neighbourhoods, and the tensions that existed between a religious ministry that was more about ‘being’ than ‘doing’. Such ministries were seen as being antithetical to traditional understandings of activism and social action. Archival material and oral testimony will be scrutinised to identify the complex lived experience of religious sisters in the inner-city mission, how they grappled with tensions of ‘being’ and ‘doing’ and particularly how their commitment to ‘inserted communities’ inspired their faith. The chapter begins with an explanation of both ecclesial and non-ecclesial forms of inserted communities followed by a thick description of the origins and aims of one such inserted community in Hyson Green, Nottingham. Next, the analysis of the pastoral, personal and political meanings of the commitment of the sisters in Hyson Green, compared and contrasted with other inserted communities, is explored alongside marginalisation and the politics of social change. As a form of religious commitment, inserted communities provided a pastoral service to those on the margins of society that was both spiritual and social. The spiritual impetus was embedded in the personal faith of the sisters rather than explicit aims of evangelisation. Social pastoral aims of inserted communities were meant to build communities and networks among those marginalised by society, empowering them with the tools to decrease their own powerlessness. As a form of voluntary action, they were a part of the new wave of re-energised voluntary sector bodies coming out of the 1960s ‘rediscovery of poverty’. Inserted communities were also places of encounter that could lead to the politicisation.