My Most Successful Parish Appeal to Date

Parish Appeal at St Catherine's, Penrith, Cumbria

This weekend I made my very first ACN Parish Appeal…so I feel entirely within my rights to refer to it as my best so far (surely I deserve a bit of indulgence here as I am only just getting started!). I was warmly welcomed by the Parish Priest and the Parishioners of St Catherine’s in Penrith and St Wulstan’s in Alston. Alston, as you may or may not know, is England’s highest market town with an altitude of 300m above sea level; compare that to the East End of London which is only 2 or 3 metres above sea level and you begin to realise that settling down (or ‘up’?) in Alston is not for the faint-hearted! The tiny church of St Wulstan has a parish of only 20 or so, so it was a lovely select group who listened to my first go at an appeal. Everyone was so kind on the way out that I went home feeling very proud of myself indeed!

I got up very early on Sunday morning so I could get to Penrith in time to set up before the 8:30am Mass. Despite the rain and the complicated one-way system in Penrith, I arrived by 7:45am and had just enough time to get myself sorted before I began to greet people with an ACN prayer card and an ACN smile. This Mass was followed by the Family Mass at 10:30—in all about 200 people attended. After both of my appeals I was inundated by people who wanted to buy Christmas cards or to let me know that they are regular supporters of ACN. I was very touched by the number of parishioners who came up to me to tell me how much they enjoyed my talk. I was asked beforehand by the Parish Priest not to take a collection so I mentioned in my talk that I would be handing out ACN donation envelopes to all interested parties at the end of each Mass; I couldn’t believe how many people made donations anyway AND, even more surprising, the large numbers of people who patiently waited for me to complete a chat or a sale only to ask for a donation envelope! Virtually everyone took an envelope, so even if most do not turn into donations, I am hoping that we will have generated a number of new names for our mailing list as a result of my appeal. On top of all of this, I also managed to recruit a Parish Rep for Alston and drive all the way to Penrith and back in Theodora without incident. All in all, an exhausting, but gratifying weekend for your NW Manager!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE PRIEST AND PARISHIONERS OF ST CATHERINE’S, PENRITH AND ST WULSTAN’S, ALSTON.

The week before last I promised to produce all of the details of the upcoming ACN NW Prayer Vigils for Religious Freedom. I always honour my promises, so please find below the details you have been waiting for… divided up by diocese to make things that little bit less complicated for everyone. I am planning to attend each and every one, so I hope to see some of you there!

Light in the Darkness: Young Christian in Syria

ACN North West Office Prayer Vigils for Religious Freedom:

Archdiocese of Liverpool: Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (Friday 6 February 2015; Speaker: The Most Rev Charles Bo,  Archbishop of Rangoon;  7:30-9:00pm); St Mary’s, Chorley (Sunday 8 March 2015; 3:00-4:30pm); St John’s, Wigan (Friday 13 March 2015; 7:30-9:00pm)

Diocese of Lancaster: Our Lady of Eden, Carlisle (Saturday 29 November 2014; 7:30-9:00pm); Lancaster Cathedral (Sunday 15 February 2015; 3:00-4:30pm); Our Lady of Furness, Barrow(Wednesday 25 February 2015; 7:00-8:30pm); Holy Family, Freckleton (Sunday 1 March 2015; 3:00-4:30pm); Tabor Carmelite Centre, Fulwood, Preston (Monday 2 March 2015; 7:00-10:00pm); Holy Trinity & St George, Kendal (Saturday 07 March 2015; 10:00-11:30am)

Diocese of Salford: St Joseph’s, Accrington (Thursday 13 November 2014; 7:00-8:30pm); Salford Cathedral (Saturday 22 November 2014; 2:00-3:30pm); Lee House, Thornley (Friday 5 December 2014; Speaker: Lord Alton of Liverpool; 7:30-9:00pm); St Peter’s, Stonyhurst (Saturday 7 February 2015; Speaker:  Archbishop Bo of Rangoon; 7:30-9:00pm)

Diocese of Shrewsbury: St Clare’s, Chester (Saturday 6 December 2014; Mass: 6:00pm; Vigil 7:00-11:00pm); St Mary’s, Middlewich (Sunday 15 March 2015; 4:00-5:30pm); Holy Apostles & Martyrs, Wallasey (Friday 20 March 2015; 7:00-8:30pm)

Diocese of Wrexham: Wrexham Cathedral (Sunday 23 November 2014; 4:00pm-5:30pm)

Thanks for reading!  Caroline