I just knew this would happen!

No reason for anyone to be envious of the ACN-NW office today; we are back to grey and cold. Shucks!

This is probably for the best, though, because I have so much to do that today is not the day for distraction in the form of roses or bees or sunshine. I figured that it would be this way…first a trickle and then a steady flow of ideas and events which will, no doubt, build up to a massive gush (yes, GUSH) of ACN-NW activity. This always happens to me (and to everyone, I guess…or, at least, I hope it does!)

The trickle has been increasing over the past couple of months—more Parish Reps, more emails, more meetings, more plans—and, as of this weekend, ACN-NW has officially entered Phase 2 (the steadily increasing rush of jobs to do, documents to write, diaries to fill…). I felt this coming last week after I visited HQ with so much forward momentum inspired by my meetings with my colleagues in Sutton. My meetings with Archbishop McMahon and Bishop Brain made me more certain and I knew we were there when, by Monday morning, I had no fewer than three more initiatives floating around inside my head (and this total doesn’t even include the smaller ideas in there…)

I don’t want to say too much at this point—let’s face it, it’s my air of mystery that keep you coming back, isn’t it? Actually, the real reason is that things are all at a very early stage and need to be handled very delicately for now. For now…and this is top secret, ACN-NW classified information…just think: displaced Christians, refugees, oil paint, Franz Liszt and Luke 1:38. Curious? Good. Rest assured, you will see it here first once everything begins to materialise.

Lots to be getting on with, so this entry is a bit shorter than usual (and I haven’t even been able to get to it until just before noon on Wednesday—I usually do it on Tuesday!). Just one final note to say that today’s post brought my letter of confirmation from ACNUK. My probationary period is over—you are now stuck with this blog for the foreseeable future! Could ACNUK love employing me as much as I love my job? I'm not sure that this is even possible. Hurray!

Thanks for reading!  Caroline

And then there were none

Aid to the Church in Need, Sutton

Another beautiful day, but time is pressing me, so I shall write this at my desk, though my garden is beckoning!

Today’s meeting with the Bishop of Salford was a true test of my finely-honed public transport skills, but it was entirely worth it. I carefully planned my trip, as I always do, so I left ACN-NW HQ in good time to make my train. I transferred as required at Salford Crescent and headed for Swinton. I knew that it would be a long-ish walk from there, but I assumed that I could get a cab. Lesson learned: there was nothing resembling a taxi or a minicab in the immediate vicinity of Swinton Station. Undaunted and (luckily) wearing comfortable shoes, I strode out into the wilds of Salford. I found Cromwell Road easily enough (thank you, Google Maps!) and eventually got on to the A6 down which I walked and I walked and I walked. At 11:20 and in a (fairly uncharacteristic) moment of despair, I rang Fr Parkinson, Bishop Brain’s Private Secretary. He told me that I was nearly there and I continued forward only to encounter Fr P in his zippy red car as he headed out to rescue me! I figured with that level of concern for visitor comfort, I was in for a treat at Wardley Hall. I was right!

Bishop Brain was extremely hospitable and very happy to hear about what I am up to. We discussed lots of issues, but spent some time discussing the ACN-NW Seminarian Challenge; he was amazed to hear that ACN currently supports one in eleven of all seminarians and he laughed when I told him that the Catholic Community in NW was going to try to make it one in ten. Bishop Brain made some very helpful suggestions about the Primary Schools initiative—obviously, I wasn’t going to miss my last chance to say the Angelus with a one of my regional bishops, so that led naturally to a discussion about reintroducing this lovely prayer into schools. I will look into developing some resources on this prayer, what it means and how it is used to make available to Catholic primary and secondary schools. Bishop Brain suggested that an initial approach to schools that is strictly prayer-based might increase the take-up of our main initiative; this is a wise suggestion, I think. I shall run this past Scottish Lorraine and HQ next week.

I have also secured my fifth (and final!) bishop for our ACN-NW Prayer Vigils for Religious Freedom to run between early November and Easter 2015. That’s a full episcopal uptake for the vigils…I am already thinking about organizing next year’s vigils around vocations. I am currently looking for a second venue or two in each of my five dioceses; if your parish or school might be interested in coming board, why not email me or give me a ring?

Fr Parkinson conveniently popped up at the end of the meeting to take our picture (note the skull of St Ambrose Barlow in the small glass window above and to the right!) and then he offered to drive me back to Salford Crescent. The combination of my very warm welcome and the beautiful surroundings of historic Wardley Hall have made this final episcopal visit especially memorable.

I am so pleased to have so much support from the Bishops in my region; it is going to make all the difference.

Thanks for reading!  Caroline

This is the Life…

Limestone relief detail, Co-Cathedral of St John, Valletta

(Psst! This entry is a bit top secret as I am writing it from my satellite office in my garden; don’t tell anyone at HQ in Sutton in case word gets around and they all ask to be transferred to the NW office. Today it is beautiful up here, but I’ve managed to convince them all that it is always grey and miserable. Our little secret, ok? Thanks.)

Lots to catch you up on this week and even though I generally try to write a blog entry on a Tuesday, it’s late on a Wednesday afternoon and this is the first minute I’ve had to spare so far this week. I am working hard, but, as it is for a good cause, how can I possibly mind?

Monday and Tuesday were spent in an enjoyable and profitable visit to HQ. Despite the fact that lots of people were out of the office either for work or on holiday, I still managed to get loads done. No one had too much advance notice of my impending arrival so I am assuming that they didn’t clear out because NW Caroline was heading to town… On Monday I met with the National Director and Scottish Lorraine (via speaker phone) to talk about our new offering to primary schools; Neville is off to Lebanon and he has offered to do a bit of fact-finding for us (thank you!). Tomorrow I need to finalise what we need Neville to do and email him our Children’s Prayer for Refugees. I’ve never written a prayer before, but I’ve managed it and so far all of my critics have been supportive and very helpful (you know who you are!). Chris Kennedy, Neville’s PA, met with me, too, and she was able to provide me with lots more information and images for the schools initiative and for my ACN-NW Seminarian Challenge. Another big thank you!

Steve, my IT hero, and Carol and her fab team in Accounts spent lots of time talking me through ACN’s main data base and discussing various options we can set in place to monitor NW income and benefactor numbers. This will all take some careful consideration and probably a good bit of tinkering, but things are beginning to fall into place nicely.  I was also able to meet Antony Roullier, the newly appointed New Media Manager; I have a feeling that Antony is fast becoming one of my favourite people in the whole world. He will work with me to open up all sorts of new media avenues of communication. I hope before too  long that there will be any number of ways for you to find out about what is happening with ACN-NW—this is good as shortly there certainly will be an awful lot going on! Soon this blog may even go live and become available to millions of eager readers all over the world. Now wouldn’t that be something?

Yesterday saw me meeting with Johnny Dowling, the Database King. Compared to Johnny I have the spread sheet skills of a gerbil. I will work with Johnny and Scottish Lorraine to support the Area Secretaries and to look after the Parish Reps. I had better get all of my filing systems in order in case Mr Database visits the NW office! I headed back down to Accounts to tie up a few loose ends—I really have a much better sense of how things work now—before sitting down with John Pontifex, Head of Press and Information, to have a chat about developing a child-friendly ACN news bulletin for our schools initiative. Much work to be done there, but all to the good I say!

I also managed to have a good catch up with Portia, my highly esteemed line manager. Portia is calm and practical and I am really coming to value her skills as a trouble shooter. Not that I have much in the way of workplace difficulties (as I have one of the best jobs in the world), but when I have a question about the best way forward, Portia seems able to cut straight to the source of the confusion and provide me with clear, constructive advice about how to proceed. I love going to HQ for a visit!

Today I left home early to head to Mossley Hill in Liverpool to visit the (brand new) Archbishop of Liverpool. Archbishop McMahon, whose head must be spinning with all of the people he has met since his installation on 1 May, very kindly agreed to meet up with me for a chat about ACN and what I have planned for the region. He was very supportive of all that we do currently and he suggested that I speak to the editor of the Liverpool PIC, the archdiocesan magazine to see what kind of coverage I may be able to get there. This will be a big help with raising awareness about my search for Parish Reps, the Seminarian Challenge and the prayer vigils for Religious Freedom that I am planning for later this year and early 2015. He is happy to participate in one of these and I shall contact Liverpool Met shortly to see if we can all agree on a date. This time I remembered to turn off the Angelus alarm on my phone, but I told him about it anyway, so we said it together at the end of our meeting. By then, unfortunately, his PA had left for the day so I wasn’t able to ask her to take our picture (and I draw the line at taking a selfie with an Archibishop!), so I have included a picture of the front gate to Archbishop’s House so at least you will all know that I was actually there!

On Friday I meet with the Bishop of Salford in what will be my final introductory episcopal encounter. So far, all of the bishops have been so helpful and supportive; this will make a huge difference once all of my planning turns into action.

Yes, indeed, it is a lovely day here in the sunny North West…

Thanks for reading!  Caroline

Learning to rely on the Voice inside my Head

I and Bishop Brain

Considering the frequency and confidence with which I use my voice the extent to which I rely on my inner voice—the one inside my head—it somewhat startling. Just who is that voice in there? I’m not sure I know, but I am certain that that tiny whisper offers me far more than the stark Angel/Devil model that shows up in films…my interior self provides the rest of me with a sounding board without which I could not do my job.

I have always set great store by what I like to refer to as ‘mulling time.’ When I was a postgraduate and then a university lecturer, my penchant for spending an hour or two staring off into space wasn’t particularly noticeable—I had colleagues who behaved far more strangely than I—but except for my few years as an academic, my mulling has attracted a fair amount of negative attention. My siblings, who grew up with me pretending to pay attention to them when I was actually mid-mull, think that I am fairly batty.  I have worked with various people over the years who actually found it fairly irritating. What can I do? I am a confirmed muller!

I am currently at the mulling stage for two ACN initiatives: the offering for primary schools that I am working on with Scottish Lorraine and my ACN-NW Seminarian Challenge. As an award-winning multi-tasker, I am able to mull while answering emails, filling in spread sheets and sorting out parcels to take to the post office. I can talk on the phone and mull, but prefer not to as I do my strange phasing out routine which my sisters find so annoying. This week I have managed to have a couple of quiet days—this is prime mulling time—so I have just gotten on with it.

For Prayers & Hearts offering for schools I have been thinking about how the day might work within each school; how long the various components should be and in what order, the nature of the support materials that we will need to assemble and the topics that a seven-year-old might find interesting or palatable about life as an Iraqi or Syrian Christian child living as a refugee in Lebanon. I have also been pondering how Sister Hanan and her community in Lebanon continue to try their hardest to help the ever-increasing numbers of traumatized people who are daily forced to flee their countries in search of safety.

For my seminarian challenge, I have been thinking about ways to spread the word and to help people to team up if they want to help but can’t afford the full amount needed. I have been thinking about how it must feel when the voice inside your head tells you that you should leave your home and your family and devote your entire life to serving God and ministering to others and how much more difficult that must be for those Christians who happen to live in places where very real and physical dangers accompany the decision to follow a vocation.

I have also been thinking about footballers. Specifically about Catholic footballers. More specifically about Catholic footballers who play in the North West. Most specifically about how to approach them and exactly what I would like to ask of those whom I approach. Footballers and seminarians—perhaps an unlikely combination. But the voice inside my head just will not shut up about these footballers; I still can’t quite make out what it is saying to me, but I shall keep listening until I figure it out—I think it’s going to be very interesting…

Obviously most people think about what they are doing while they do it and generally for a bit before actually getting started. I think the voice in my head and I do it differently though; we bat ideas back and forth for however long it takes—not usually too long as my mulling occurs every minute of every day when I am involved in the creative process. When my mull is complete, my internal oven timer goes ‘ping’ and my mulled-over item springs forth—fully formed and carefully set- out, though still in need of editing and the occasional tweak.

This week I have moved forward at a pretty rapid pace on both of these initiatives; this is because I have completed the current mulling phase and so have produced quite an outpouring of documents. Next week I have a veritable festival of meetings—2 days at HQ in Sutton; the new Archbishop of Liverpool; Bishop Brain (of Salford), but, in between all of these, I shall re-examine this week’s offerings before moving on to my next mull.

Things are beginning to move quickly here at ACN-NW: meetings and initiatives and events and marketing strategies. Soon we will all look back (fondly, I hope!) at these more philosophical posts about things like focussing and mulling.  The past few weeks of waiting and planning are nearly over; bring it on! 

Thanks for reading!  Caroline

Cutting the Apron Strings

Te Deum large window

My main purpose in writing these diary entries is to introduce you—and me!—to the ups and downs (mostly ups!) of my new position with Aid to the Church in Need. I try not to dwell needlessly on my personal details, but it is inevitable that my life will impact on my work and vice versa; that symbiotic relationship between work and life, the past and the present, the public and the private is what makes our lives so rich and varied and interesting. Yesterday evening I had one of those experiences where my past life collided with my new ACN life and, much to my amazement, it all suddenly made sense. Here’s what happened:

I worked for Lancaster Cathedral for the past ten years. When I say ‘worked’ I don’t mean the 9-to-5 arrangement that one might expect; I mean WORKED. I laughed; I cried; I fell asleep at my desk; I dragged my husband and children in to set up chairs and act in plays and hand out flyers; I went in at 6:30 am to water flower displays and spent the night there when the priests took the parish on pilgrimage to Rome and someone had to stay on the premises because the fire alarm was acting up. I could go on, but I won’t (you may breathe a sigh of relief now!). When I decided that taking up my new post with ACN was the right thing for me to do and that it was time to leave the Cathedral, I cleared my desk, I left lists everywhere and I took off two weeks early so that I could stay home and answer the phone to help with all of the things that I was sure no one else knew how to do. I disappeared—‘cold turkey’ as they say (why do they say that?)—and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. I needed to shift my focus and the only way to manage it was to shine all of my light (however dim!) on to my new job. Someday I shall begin to help again, but for now all that is going on with ACN deserves my full attention.

Anyway, two weeks ago I received an email from the person who has taken over school visits (yes, I used to run those, too!). She asked if I would come and talk to the new guides about the Cathedral’s west window. Years of touring groups around the Cathedral means that I know it like the back of my hand—every image, every cupboard, every smell and every creak; I even dream about it sometimes. I agreed; actually I was pleased to be asked. I walked up the hill, like I have done for so many years, and arrived at 7pm to a room full of old friends who were all desperate to know all about my new job—“Read my blog,” I told them! Then I showed them which keys they would need to prepare for a school tour. As we stepped inside my (former) office, it began to pour outside. When it pours outside and the wind is coming in off Morecambe Bay, what I affectionately refer to as the office ‘water feature’ starts up. Water began to stream from the beautiful gothic arched windows down the wall and on to the bright, shiny new boxes of A4 paper. Sadly the tea towels I always kept there (not because I am a slob, but because I knew all about the water feature) had been removed,  so I calmly headed to the kitchen to grab some; such is the fabric of the regime change! However, no one was hurt—except a couple of reams of paper—and now people know for future reference. I realized that my Cathedral is fine without me there to take care of things; things won’t go so smoothly for a while, but it will be ok. My job there is done.

Next we headed into the Cathedral and up the spiral stairs into the organ loft. I then set about talking about the west window—as I have done hundreds of times to families, school groups, architectural historians and local history buffs. The late 19th-century window is a beautiful depiction of the Christ enthroned surrounded by the Communion of Saints. The window is a tour-de-force; it displays superb craftsmanship, excellent balance, marvellous use of colour and great attention to detail. All in a window so high off the ground that no one inside the church can actually make much of it out! This is a point I always make to people: “why create such a beautiful, complex composition and put it where no one can actually see it?” The answer, I have always maintained, is simple. Jesus and Mary and the Saints are always there with us and for us even when we don’t realise it. You can’t begin to imagine to how many people I have made that statement over the past decade. The strange thing was that, yesterday evening, with the evening sun streaming through and knowing that this might be the last time that I ever talk about ‘my’ window, I finally took this on board myself. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I know that they are watching over the Cathedral and me and my family and my friends and all of you. A very comforting thought.

Yesterday evening I walked into Lancaster Cathedral as (slightly jaded) Cathedral Caroline, but I left as invigorated, calm and collected ACN-NW Caroline. Maybe not quite as catchy, but a very significant shift for me.

Thanks for reading!  Caroline

Hearts & Prayers

Lorraine and her first woven heart

And now…on to the focussed portion of my week; see, I can do focussed! For the past month or so, Scottish Lorraine and I have been quietly working on an ACN offering for Primary Schools. I can’t say too much about this as we are still in the planning stages, but BOY, ARE WE GETTING EXCITED! We have loads of plans to involve schools in the important work that ACN carries out and to raise awareness of Christian suffering even among our youngest people; the systematic persecution of Christians is far too important to allow anyone of any age to ignore it! All of Wednesday was spent working on various documents and texts in preparation for the historic, epic-making Second Summit of ACN Scotland and ACN-NW. What an occasion it was—the pomp and ceremony were unforgettable! I even tidied up all of my piles of ACN literature in anticipation of Scottish Lorraine’s state visit to ACN-NW.

Two hearts made by me

Our meeting was fabulous—we got loads done. We have now generated a wish-list of resources for the initiatives and we’ve talked over various ways to organize our ACN-themed school days. We have even found two primary schools to trial the programme. We have narrowed down the title of the initiative to two choices and this afternoon we are unveiling the whole thing to the Marketing Committee at HQ. We know that they will love it, because it is perfect (well, almost…except for a few hundred more things we need to organize and about a million details that need tweaking). But, by the time it is ready, it will be marvellous; I KNOW this! We rounded off our meeting (which lasted for almost four hours, by the way—it takes a lot of time to create something this important!) with a little arts and crafts session. Part of our offering involves the children weaving paper hearts in which they will each place a prayer; the hearts and prayers will be sent to Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Lebanon. Heart-weaving is a Scandinavian tradition and yours truly is, much to the shame of my children, a devoted practitioner. True heart-weavers are always keen to share the love and to introduce others to this curiously satisfying art-form. I must say that Scottish Lorraine is a natural heart-weaver—possibly there is some Viking ancestry there—surely the attached picture clearly illustrates the pride and intense personal fulfilment that resulted from the weaving her first heart. Just imagine such big smiles on the faces of lots of schoolchildren as they prepare their hearts to be sent to Lebanon. Just to prove to myself that I still possess the heart-weaving magic, I made a couple myself; the results are in the second picture—maybe I am a tiny bit rusty…

Breaking news: I have now scheduled a meeting with the brand new Archbishop of Liverpool. I am so pleased that Archbishop McMahon felt able to spare me an hour so soon after his installation; surely this bodes well for ACN and the Archdiocese of Liverpool!

One final, heart-warming ACN-NW story to end another satisfying week: late yesterday I received this generous, unsolicited donation and, to end this week’s post, aren’t we lucky to live in a world where God inspires people to give so much of themselves for others?

Thanks for reading!  Caroline

Four Area Secretaries and a Bishop (but no funerals!)

I and Bishop Campbell

I am planning to become focussed and purposeful very, very soon…truly, I am, but it is already Tuesday and once again so much (most of it wonderful!) is happening that I am struggling to sit still even long enough to get this diary entry written! At least, like lentils (get it?), ACN- NW never gets boring!

Yesterday I held my very first Joint NW Area Secretaries’ meeting. We met in Manchester in some borrowed office space (thanks, Terry!) and I think that a good time was had by all. I was there (only slightly nervous, but full of ideas and plans), along with Chris Robson (Area Secretary for the Diocese of Lancaster and parts of Salford and Liverpool), Terry Gorman (Area Secretary for most of Shrewsbury and parts of Liverpool) and Karen Blundell (Area Secretary for Wrexham and the rest of Shrewsbury). William Pilkiewicz, who handles most of Salford and just a bit of Shrewsbury, wasn’t able to be there this time, but we will make sure that he is there for our next meeting. Chris, Terry, Karen and I had a good long chat about the current state of ACN affairs in the NW and I introduced a number of the initiatives that I plan to put in place. I got some very helpful and mostly positive feedback. These people are the ones who work at the ACN frontline; they speak to Parish Priests and arrange and give appeals in parishes so they receive constant feedback from congregations. When Area Secretaries say something might work, I believe them; if they tell me to go back and think again, I’ll be sure to do that. Another helpful resource to get me started. I am thankful for this. Following an hour and 15 minutes of me bubbling over with new ideas, the by-then exhausted Area Secretaries and I shared a delicious lunch and chatted generally about our lives and experiences. I couldn’t ask for nicer colleagues—what a shame that they all don’t work from my dining room!

Today I met with my own bishop, Michael Campbell, Bishop of Lancaster. Bishop Campbell is someone I know rather well from my days running the Cathedral office. In fact, I was one of the first people whom he met upon his initial visit to Lancaster after learning of his appointment. I was honoured to help to organize the hospitality both for his ordination as bishop  and his subsequent installation. Bishop Campbell kindly agreed to all of my suggestions for ways to raise the profile ACN throughout his diocese and he obviously holds ACN in high esteem and respects the work that we do. He told me that he spent several years in Nigeria (which I hadn’t known) and he was very interested in what the Archbishop of Jos had spoken about at our conference in Malta. True to form my pesky Angelus alarm went off during our meeting (this was NOT on purpose!), and yet again I was grateful to have my handy ACN Angelus prayer card at the ready. Bishop Michael and I prayed the Angelus together and talked about how wonderful it would be to get it back into our schools. I have lots to follow up from this meeting—various people to contact, diaries to co-ordinate, meetings to schedule—but this is only for the good. I even emerged with a picture of us both for this blog. AND I walked to the Curial Offices, so no waiting for connections on crowded platforms.

Once I arrived back at home, I caught up on some phone calls and correspondence. I spoke to the Dean of the Isle of Man and hope to schedule appeals there for early in 2015. I spoke to another enthusiastic former Area Secretary in Chester who is happy to meet with me to discuss my plans. ACN’s ICT 'superhero' Manager rang to tell me that my new laptop is ready; this will change everything as I will now be able to access ACN’s records for my region. This will help to put me in touch with more enthusiastic ACN-NW supporters. Finally, I received today another response to my letters to special interest groups sent out about a month ago. This one came from a Catenian. He has kindly offered to spread the word about my post and my offer to speak at meetings of the Catenian Association at any time. Just like the doctor last week, he has made that little extra effort to help. I love that I can make this point about two different people in two entries in a row! An ACN Regional Manager could get used to this sort of thing!

Thanks for reading!  Caroline