The Easter weekend is past. My eldest son has headed back to Uni. My other two children are back at school. My husband is ensconced in his office at Lancaster University. I sit in my dining room (aka: ACN NW Command Central). It feels good…peaceful… and a bit exciting. Things are beginning to happen now!
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Liverpool at a meeting. I sit on the Historic Churches Committee for the NW. We oversee the correct implementation of alterations to listed Roman Catholic churches throughout the region. Our meetings are quarterly and are always very interesting. The committee is made up of priests and relevant laypeople (architects, art historians, etc) from the four dioceses concerned (Liverpool, Lancaster, Salford and Shrewsbury.) I am the only woman on the committee (though I have been assured that I am not a token!) and the Chairman (Professor John Tarn) and the Secretary (Mr John Cowdall) have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome since I came on board two or three years ago. These meetings are important because they ensure that the architectural heritage of the Catholic North West is properly looked after (this is the art historian in me speaking!) and, what’s more, four times a year I renew my contact with my fellow committee members most of whom are active, committed Catholics from all over the North West. Word of my new job had already spread to most of them and, on my arrival yesterday, I was immediately hailed by Fr Peter Dutton, PP of St Mary’s, Middlewich in Cheshire and a representative of the Diocese of Shrewsbury. Fr Peter asked to shake my hand because ACN is one of his very favourite Catholic charities and he has so much respect for the work that we do. I suppose I should get used to this—the Catholic world is riddled with interconnections and likeminded people with overlapping interests. Connections are crucial! I felt honoured and proud to be congratulated for my role in ACN; I prayed over Easter not just for relief for suffering Christians, but also for help and inspiration so to enable me to help as much and as effectively as possible. What a responsibility!
On the train on the way home I quickly realized that my ACN mobile phone is now my most prized possession. This nifty gadget is almost like having my office in the side pocket of my handbag. I can take calls, receive texts and emails AND keep track of my diary (and probably do all sorts of other things that I don’t yet know about!) I sat on the train from Liverpool to Preston with bells ringing to announce texts, emails arriving and phone calls coming in—my teenagers would have been proud of the way I dealt with so much cyber-technology all at once! It was initially a bit stressful, but yielded great results—I now have a meeting with the Bishop of Wrexham in May (North Wales, here we come!), confirmation that my first couple of weeks’ work is on the right track (thank you, Portia!) and evidence that these diary entries might someday see the light of day—I want people know what we here in the NW can accomplish and also to generate a bit of a forum for opinions and ideas. I always welcome support and suggestions from all quarters!
Two more dioceses’ worth of Special Interest groups databases to complete today…and I see a start on religious houses and retreats looming as well…it feels good to back at work!
Thanks for reading! Caroline
No comments:
Post a Comment