Playing Catch-up

I and Bishop Brignall

Lots to be getting on with after a week away! Monday was taken up with admin—contacting some new parish reps, answering emails, packing up some parcels to send out and getting myself ready for Tuesday, the day of my very first meeting with one of the bishops from my patch.

Bright and early on Tuesday morning, looking as presentable as possible and clutching a briefcase full of prayer cards and ACN literature (one must be ready for all eventualities!), I hopped on the train at Lancaster Station. Bound for Bishop’s House in Wrexham, I had two changes to make with very little time between connections. All went smoothly and within about two hours I found myself in a taxi on my way to see Bishop Peter Brignall. Bishop Brignall was wonderful; he spent well over an hour with me and we chatted very candidly both about the difficulties with awareness-raising faced by ACN and the current realities of the over-booked diaries and endless requests for appeals which today’s Parish Priests handle week in and week out. Bishop Peter made some very helpful suggestions about ways in which ACN could engage with the clergy and parishioners of his diocese, particularly with regard to the use of the Welsh language for prayer cards and ways to approach the primary and secondary Catholic schools in North Wales. Once again the alarm on my phone for the Angelus at noon disrupted my meeting, but this time with a very positive effect. I explained about the ACN’s daily praying of the Angelus and how I generally repeat it on my own in my dining room. Bishop Peter suggested that we say it together in his dining room (where we were meeting). I told him how saying the Angelus makes me feel connected to all of the other people who work with and for ACN and we agreed that introducing the Angelus to schools and parishes—ideally with  side-by-side Welsh-English translations would be a great way to begin to raise ACN’s profile in North Wales. I really enjoyed meeting Bishop Peter and I look forward to working with him in future.

We also discussed the possibility of mounting a prayer-based event at St Mary’s Cathedral in Wrexham following the launch of the Religious Freedom Report in early November. I outlined various forms that the prayer vigil might take and I agreed to stop by the Cathedral on the way back to the train station. The Cathedral Dean, Fr Simon, was not in, but I befriended Jan, the Cathedral Secretary and we swapped stories about our experiences running a busy cathedral office. I left some of our new prayer cards at the Cathedral and I agreed to contact Jan and Fr Simon to try and schedule an event later on this year.

Job done. What a lovely and fruitful day. No sooner had I arrived home than I received a phone call from Neville Kyrke-Smith, our National Director, to ask whether he could stop by today for lunch on his way home from an event in Scotland (congratulation to Scottish Lorraine for a job well done!). Eek! My first official visit to ACN NW Headquarters! I tidied up my reception area (aka the sitting room) and my office/dining room. I spoke to the head of catering who, ever accommodating, agreed to produce a  lovely onion tart and tomato salad (the’ head caterer’ does this dish well—if I may say so myself…). All was ready when Neville arrived and we had a lovely lunch (he had two helpings so it must have been good!). We talked about my ideas and how I was getting to grips with everything. Neville also gave me some names of keen ACN supporters on the region (perfect for my Diocesan Support Groups!) and we discussed ways that I might be able to help with major benefactors and potential corporate donors. All of the staff here at ACN NW thoroughly enjoyed Neville’s visit—especially my head of security, our 12-year-old Golden Retriever, Jassy.

Thanks for reading!  Caroline