Is there anybody out there?

Jassy on guard duty

Where I come from, today, the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday. It is unfailingly warm and sunny and there are parades and picnics and barbeques and fireworks in the evening. I have never been able successfully to re-create the spirit of Independence Day in my adopted country; Thanksgiving goes down a treat, but Fourth of July will, at least for me, be an extremely low key, more personal affair—with nary a sparkler in sight!

This week has been an interesting one here at ACN-NW HQ. No meetings to speak of—which can only be a good thing as my recent punishing round of visits was exhausting (though very productive!) and barely left me time to get anything done! I’ve had lots of clear time to develop ideas, to mull them over (crucial, as you know!), to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard…) and to take care of those little administrative tasks that have a slight tendency to sit on my ‘to-do’ pile for slightly longer than they ought. Indeed, this week and last week saw huge strides towards the implementation of several of my new ACN-NW initiatives, most notably the offering for primary schools (still without a title!) and the Prayer Vigils for Religious Freedom to take place from November 2014. I have also begun work on a completely new idea—Angelus Angels—for a Day of Prayer across the North West and North Wales in March 2015 (more on this next week after I present it at the Regional Marketing Meeting on Tuesday). I have even had a bit of time to start thinking about content for my new media outlets—got to keep that ACN-NW Facebook page looking fresh and interesting…

Highpoints of the week included my day of a million prayer vigils on Tuesday; since then I have contacted quite a few more potential venues and I now have four definites and at least ten to twelve more that I am fairly certain will want to be involved. Next week I must contact all of the Catholic chaplains at the universities in my region—the Multi-Faith Reflection Hour option would go down very well in a university setting…Thursday was also full of surprises as Neville Kyrke-Smith, ACN UK National Director and now my personal ACN hero, returned from a trip to Lebanon laden with videos, photos and quotes from the Good Shepherd Sisters for Lorraine and me to use in the primary school initiative. Thank you, Neville!

There were parts of the week when I suffered a tiny bit from feeling rather lost and alone. Working from home is hard at times, for me anyway. It isn’t hard to stay focussed and I certainly have plenty to do, but sometimes I really miss the lack of companionship up here on my own. There was one day when I worked on my prayer vigils and sent out what felt like about a hundred emails. And no one replied…not a single person…not even an ‘out-of-office’ message. Zip. I began to wonder whether the world had ended and I (and my squad of ACN-NW animal volunteers) was all that was left. And then, finally, I had a call from Scottish Lorraine AND a text from Portia. Suddenly everything was bright and wonderful again; next time, I’ll make the first move! No more wallowing in regional isolation!

This week’s picture features another member of my ‘staff’; meet Jassy, our twelve-year-old golden retriever and head of ACN-NW’s ever-vigilant security team. Maybe she can act as a bouncer at future ACN-NW events?

Thanks for reading!  Caroline