Friday, November 25, 2016

The Catholic Union of Great Britain...

...founded in the 19th century and with plenty to do in the 21st, held its annual meeting at Westminster on Thursday. The sung evening Mass  was dedicated to the work of the Union, and afterwards members gathered in Vaughan House nearby to hear reports and tackle plans for the year ahead. Sir Edward Leigh, President, spoke about religious freedom, alluding to the Red Wednesday witness of the previous day, and a major gathering in Parliament that had followed that very morning. Christians are being persecuted on a significant scale in various parts of the world, and the importance of true religious freedom needs to be promoted with vigour...

Sir Edward also spoke of the popularity and value of Church schools - noted recently by the Government which is giving encouragement to their development and removing restrictions on their growth.  It seems likely that we will see more new Catholic schools opening as demand for places is so high...

Among other reports and discussions, I was invited to report on the Catholic Young Writer Award and the "Our Father" project  in schools - both have been very popular this year and are planned again for 2017.

The Young Writer Award was initially run by The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild, but it grew  and flourished and the Catholic Union stepped in to help and now runs it every year, with Catholic schools across Britain taking part...

The Catholic Union's AGM is always an enjoyable gathering - J. and I have been members for years and been involved with  so many of its campaigns and projects  and we enjoyed the evening and its sense of solidarity, being among  so many friends  and with much lively discussion...

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