Saturday, January 13, 2007

New Year Retreat - Feedback

This week I received a couple of letters about the New Year Retreat which I thought it would be good to share with you. The first is from Sr Oneng FMDM, a religious from Sr Chiara's order, who is chaplain at Portsmouth university. She writes:

"Congratulations for the success of the youth retreat. I was so inspired by how so many young people turned up. My age group (35s-40s, mostly parents and chaperones of the youngest ones) were also so impressed at how organised the weekend was. All because of you and your team's hard work. Thank you for your hospitality. You also did a very excellent facilitation during the Vocations Forum. God bless."

The person in charge of Youth 2000 is Charlie Conner. He writes:

"I know that you said there is no need, but I wanted to to thank you and your parishioners once more for the great hospitality that you showed us over the New Year. We were all made to feel most welcome. The weekend was peaceful and ran smoothly and to a large degree that was down to you and your patience.
I have been involved in the organisation of many retreats around the country and the way in which your parishioners welcomed and helped us is second to none. It was most impressive to see all those who helped in the school with the catering, serving and cleaning. They all seemed so cheerful and I know that their presence and help was really appreciated by everyone who attended.
The food was excellent. You well know that the catering is normally a headache so Maxine and here team were a great remedy. Thank you also to al those who worked behind the scenes, especially Tom, Daniel & Valerie. There were others I am sure.

You are in our thoughts and prayers."


I wanted to pass these comments on because they show how important your help is. Thank you!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

A Good Current Affairs Website

I've recently had my attention drawn to a new website called MercatorNet. It promises to offer "fresh insight into the news and issues that are shaping our world". The site certainly seems very good and comprehensive with commentary on current affairs, film and book reviews, information on bio-ethics and family issues, and even background information for preparing talks. I'm happy to recommend it to our parishioners. You can visit MercatorNet by clicking on this link.