ACN and the Orthodox Church

I have spent part of this week assembling a database of various Orthodox congregations in the North West. In the end this turned generated rather more confusion than I’d anticipated (for me; not for them!), but I think I've got it sorted now. ACN has always firmly supported  Orthodox Christians, both in the spirit of movement towards greater union between this Church and Rome as espoused by the papacy and following the tradition set by Fr Werenfried van Straaten who devoted so much of his time and energy to those Christians struggling to worship behind the Iron Curtain.

I had no idea that I would find so many communities with such a wide variety of allegiances here in Northwest England and North Wales. So far I have found 19 different parishes, congregations and religious houses. Pretty impressive, I say! Most appear to be Greek Orthodox, but there are Russian, Coptic, Romanian and Serbian Orthodox churches as well. As next week is Holy Week, I won’t be too pushy, but I am thinking that I need to meet with Lancaster’s own Greek Orthodox priest, Fr Jonathan Hemmings. Fr Hemmings  taught my eldest son Religious Studies at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and he is definitely the man for this job! I shall email him straight-away. Watch this space—enlightenment is at hand!

I didn't spend my whole week trying to ferret out communities of orthodox worshippers;  I also managed to schedule individual meetings with all four of the Area Secretaries for the North West and to arrange to sit in on an appeal given by each of them. I've arranged two tickets to attend the installation of the new Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon (currently Bishop of Nottingham) with William Pilkiewicz, one of the regional Area Secretaries, on 1 May. William just joined the team last October and is already well over his target for this year—Go, William! I've begun drafting letters to go out to the five bishops on my ACN ‘patch,’ so that I can say hello and introduce myself. I plan to try and meet with the five Diocesan Communications Officers and the Five Diocesan Heads of RE on the same day (which will make for 5 very tiring days, I imagine!). I've also spent time recruiting more Parish Reps (see my last post—I LOVE Parish Reps!). This is going to be a bit of an uphill struggle; I will need the support of the Area Secretaries and some new ideas as well…BUT I refuse to  give up my dream of 20% of the parishes in each Diocese proudly possessing a bright, shiny, new Parish Rep before Advent. I NEVER say ‘die!’ So, as this week draws to a close, despite time consuming technical issues (resolved now by ACN's ICT Manager and my personal hero!), a house full of teenagers home from school and university for Easter and the occasional moment of loneliness in my solitary home/office, I remain extremely positive about what you and I and everyone involved with ACN can do to make a difference.

Thanks for reading!  Caroline