My name is Christine. I was born and raised in the Rhondda before going for Nurse Training at Bristol Eye Hospital in 1967. It was in Bristol that I met Peter, my husband of 50 years. I retired from nursing in 2017 after a long and varied nursing career including District Nursing, Palliative Care and finally as a Lecturer at UCHW Cardiff. I am a great user of charity shops both as a donor and a shopper. I am very enthusiastic Catholic, being a convert rather than a “cradle Catholic”. One of the great benefits of being retired means that I can attend Mass, most days.

I am a member of the cleaning team, here at St. Teilo’s and a Eucharistic Minister. With my husband we have set up and run a Prayer Group which meets at our home on the last Thursday of the month. I believe that amongst the biggest challenges facing the Church today is reaching out to those Catholics who have “disappeared” from our churches, during the Pandemic. This “evangelisation” of former practicing Catholics has to be to the forefront as we come out of the Pandemic. Another very real challenge is how we reach out and maintain contact with our elderly housebound Catholics.

It is estimated the 15% to 20% of people in Wales (especially among the housebound) have no internet. They are unable to receive “livestream” services or listen to the many Catholic TV/Radio stations e.g. EWTN, all of whom stream via the Internet. We have to ensure that we can still, somehow, reach out and maintain contacts with them. These are challenging times and I look forward to playing my part going forward. Thank you.