About SPRED

 

Spred began in America over 50 years ago by Fr James McCarthy, Sr Mary Therese Harrington and Susanne Gallagher and was so successful that there are now SPRED groups worldwide including Australia, Mexico and of course, Scotland. The Catholic Church in Scotland, now has groups in Glasgow, Paisley, Galloway, Edinburgh and Motherwell.

 

We meet in small groups of 12 - 14, that is, 6 learning disabled people and six to 8 helpers. We  work one to one with our learning disabled friends, so special friendships are formed.  Our aim is for our learning disabled friends to appreciate that God is all around us, no matter what goes on in our lives.  The format for each session is taken from a book that is provided each year. We are not a social group, we offer gentle catechesis to nurture and expand our love of God and each other. We are however very sociable and enjoy a good blether over a cup of tea and we know how to throw a good party!

 

We need new helpers and friends to enable SPRED to flourish throughout our Diocese. To be in SPRED as either a helper or friend, the only requirement is to have a love for God.