Where does the time go? There was a time not so long ago when I was able
easily to book two ‘blog slots’ in my diary each week. These days I need to try
and sneak them in where and when I can. I don’t want to let this slide because a)
I love, love, love writing these entries (especially now that the blog is live
and people can actually read them!) and b) my new colleague in the Scottish
Office (a warm welcome to Michael Robinson!) is busy blogging his head off up
in Motherwell so now the pressure is really on! You can read Scottish Michael’s
blog at http://acnscotland.blogspot.co.uk/
(what I won’t do for the Scottish Office!); it is witty, entertaining and very
informative, so really you should head right there each week (but only after you've read the entries from
the NW Office…obviously.)
Right, back to the matter at hand.
The image featured in this entry will, I hope, soon appear in Catholic churches
and ACN literature all over North West England and North Wales; you will see it
on all of the publicity for the upcoming NW Prayer Vigils for Religious
Freedom. Please embrace this image and learn to love it! This picture—which I
took last May at the ACN Conference in Malta—depicts the central dome at St
Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina and, NO, I did not lie on my back to take it. I chose
it because I have always associated domes with freedom and heaven; there is
something about a good dome that is slightly miraculous, yet entirely attainable—a
big heavy structure that seems to float high above us and but can be created by
human hands out of the humblest of materials. (This, by the way, is not easy
for an historian of Gothic art and architecture to admit; we are rather fond of
our pointed vaults and soaring spires, you know!). Domes such as this one make
me feel that out there somewhere there is peace and light and universal
harmony. Just because we must all view a dome from our place far below on the
ground doesn't mean that we can’t lift our eyes and set our sights on the
bright blue oculus in the dome’s centre. (An oculus, for those of you who aren't up on your Roman architectural
terms—shame on you!—means ‘eye’ in Latin and refers to the hole in the very
centre of a classical dome—the oculus was generally uncovered, so you can
usually find it just above the bucket to catch the rain on the floor of a Roman
temple!)
This particular dome has an extra
significance for me. It is in Malta and it was there last May where I met so
many inspiring people who work hard and pray every day to nurture religious
freedom in some of the most troubled areas of the world. It reminds me of
Sister Hanan in Lebanon and her work with Iraqi and Syrian refugees and Bishop
Cyrillos of Assiut in Egypt and H.B. Patriarch Gregorius of Damascus. Malta is
also where I met Archbishop Kaigama from Jos in Nigeria; I am really looking
forward to seeing him again when he comes to the NW early in November to kick
off all of our Religious Freedom events here.
So there you have it, the
complicated, slightly wacky thinking behind my choice for the publicity image
for the Religious Freedom Events throughout the North West region. Maybe by now
you are glad that you get only the occasional glimpse inside the inner workings
of the NW Office—full-time it is pretty exhausting, let me tell you! Still, now
you will never look at a dome the same way again. My job here is done.
Thanks for
reading! Caroline
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