News

Archbishop blesses new caravan for disadvantaged families - April 2009

Mothers' Union News - Spring 2009 -In Touch Magazine

Mothers' Union News - Winter 2008 - In Touch Magazine

News from Tyann

Cost of Relationship- The MU theme for 2009

Dear MU Member,

I’ve just returned from HQ where I learned of all the work being done in the name of MU. We are affected by the ‘credit crunch’ as is all the charity sector at the moment but we were told that we are in a good position, owning our own property outright and able to weather the storms. We are not overcommitted and we can maintain our current level of work but with rising costs and declining membership we cannot go forward at the moment.

We, the members are encouraged to be faithful in prayer and constant in fellowship, supporting each other and reaching out to those in need. We need to give financially too and offer our voluntary action when we can.

The people I met in Uganda need our prayers. Their ‘credit crunch’ is ongoing along with the devastating effects of HIV/Aids and violence. I met Home-based Carers who are supported financially partly by their own dioceses and partly by our donations to the Overseas Fund. We were told at my recent conference how important it is to fulfil the commitment we have made to support these and our other workers.

We also react to emergencies through the Relief Fund which is able to give directly to the people on the spot, our members, who are able to inform us of their real needs. We give small amounts as we can afford to and we make a real difference to the people whose ‘lives have met with adversity.’ This year so far we have funded emergency food for refugees from fighting in the DR Congo, food and blankets for displaced families from Southern Sudan and food and water for flood victims in Fiji.

So, when you hold a fund-raising event, please target your giving to the Overseas Fund first, then the Relief Fund. If every branch raised just £20 it would have a big impact.

Try harder, aim higher, we were told!

Our campaign this year is to oppose the Commercialisationof Childhood, to give back childhood to our children who many of us feel are under pressure to be grown up too soon, particularly girls in this country. We can pray, lobby our AM’s and MP’s, be aware and act.

Many of you are in a privileged position in your families and communities to promote Christian values and reinforce the importance of family life. If you see a disturbing advert aimed at children, or see something in the media you object to, do something about it in your branch first, then be ready to act. Remember it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

With every Blesing Tyann.

Regional Confrence Kampala, Uganda

I have just returned from the Regional Conference held in Kampala, Uganda. There were about 85 delegates, 8 from the UK and Ireland and the rest from Tanzania and Uganda. We were placed in family groups of about 10- I was a Giraffe.
We worked and shared our life stories together, it was a very humbling experience meeting people with very little materially but with great spiritual riches. 'We haven't got much but we share the little we have', as one member put it.
Another delegate told me that she and her husband spent every Monday in prayer. Many said that their first priority is to preach the Gospel and then to do the work of caring.
We discovered that the Mother's Union is well known and respected in this part of East Africa. People see the practical help offered and the difference that the Family Life Programme makes to the lives of people affected by poverty, HIV/Aids and ignorance caused by lack of education. The needs are great but the MU supported by their own dioceses and by help from Mary Sumner House is making a real difference.
The church in Uganda couldn't run without the MU and one bishop described them as the pillar of the church.
We saw some sad sights but there is hope too, the Home-Based Carers supported in part by our donations to the Overseas Fund, visit and support AIDS orphans and their carers. Many families consist of grandparents and children or older siblings caring for younger ones. Everywhere we saw real poverty but smiles too. Most children are neat and clean in their school uniforms.
AIDS has decimated the population in this area but the battle to educate and treat the sufferers is being fought with our help. Praise God! Amen! the response we heard after every presentation. The other enthusiastic response was-

God is good!
All the time!
All the time.
God is good!
Because that is his nature.

Tyann

	Reg Bailey with the children of Luganda School
Tyann at the Equator	Abraham and his brothers and Sisters	AIDS drama with MU carers

Mother’s Union Quiet Day.

I along with between and seventy and eighty Mother’s Union members attended a quiet day at St. Elvan’s Church in Aberdare.

The day began with prayers and was led by Rev. Roger Dickson. The theme for the day was based on this year’s theme “the cost of relationship”. He explained that as tomorrow was Lady Day he would speak about Mary the mother of our Lord.

He told us about one of his former parishioners who thought that each of us had an affinity with different people in the Bible.

He decided that he was a Jesus man who really believed in the incarnation and this was what he was going to talk about.

He used the responses of The Angelus to illustrate the talk. He began with the first response.” and she conceived by the Holy Spirit” He asked each of us to imagine how Mary must have felt after her visit from Gabriel. It is almost impossible to try and put

into words what she must have felt and during a period of prayer he asked us to think about how we react to receiving shocking news.

We know that Mary accepted the position “and became the hand maiden of the Lord” and he asked us how did each of us react when we are asked to do something in God’s name that would take us out of our comfort zone.

He said that Mary did all that was asked of her without fuss. The Beatitudes tell us that the meek would inherit the earth. During our period of prayer he suggested that we ask for help with our lives so that we would live our lives as Mary did and not be afraid to do God’s will.

Because Mary accepted God’s will our Lord “dwelt among us”. Through his trial and crucifixion he showed us his love for each of us. Rev .Dickson illustrated each section of his talk with examples of poetry and hymns to illustrate his points.

We then as a church family came together to take part in the sacrament of the Eucharist which was celebrated by Fr. Robert Davies. I found this to be a very moving experience. Then we broke up for lunch.

It was nice to be able to share my time with friends old and new. We were given a tour of the church by June Ingram which was very interesting.

After lunch the talk ended with Rev. Roger’s pointing out that in the sacrament, we are being fed with the body and blood of our Lord through the Eucharist. He went on to look at both Mary and Joseph’s relationship with Jesus and God and to look at the cost of these relationships. His words made me think of all the relationships that I am in i,e family church and community and the cost of these relationships on time friendship etc, It made me realise that at times I like everyone else needed to think about the way I live my life.

Sheila Jones

OUR PILGRIMAGE TO THE RHONDDA DEANERY

Click Image for Larger Picture

September 4th will go down in the annuls of history as the wettest pilgrimage ever (to date) but OH how we did enjoy it.

We started off from a very wet Pontypridd, on 2 coaches for Dinas Mission. There we were welcomed by Rev Chris Lewis Jenkins. After a short enjoyable service and after a little potted history of the church we left for Tylorstown.

 Tylorstown

At Holy Trinity we were greeted with warm drinks and we were able to take advantage of a much needed loo stop! Then we listened to a short talk about the church, followed by our Mid-day Prayers then once more we were on our travels to Penrhys.

The shrine of Our Lady of Penrhys

Here the fun really starts; so did the rains, the wind it did blow but what the heck we were having fun. Poor Fr Michael Gill (Maris` parish priest) had been waiting for us, as true to M.U. form we were running late!

After prayers and a sprinkling with Holy Water it was back on the coaches for the journey to Penrhys Golf Club. Here we enjoyed a very welcome Buffet Lunch, joined by the Clergy that were involved in our day.

St Johns` Ystradyfodwg

Now it’s onwards and further into the valley to Ystradafodwg. There we were met by Mrs Janice Jones and her team. After a short interesting talk about St John’s, the Rev Haydn England Simon led us in prayer then we travelled on to our last church at Tonypandy.

St Andrews Tonypandy

Here we were greeted by the ladies with refreshments we ended our very enjoyable day with a service of Compline with Fr. Michael Gill once more.

Many, many thanks go to all the clergy and Mothers` Union members involved in planning the day especially our very own Faith and Policy Leader Mari Harrison.

We look forward to the next Pilgrimage day to be organized by Neath watch this space as they say.

LIFE AND MARRIAGE IN KENYA

The guest speaker at a meeting arranged by the Action and Outreach Unit held in November at the City Church was the Revd. Dr. John Njoroge, curate at the Rectorial Benefice of Llantwit Major, who spoke on the subject of life and marriage in Kenya.

He explained that there were three types of marriage in Kenya, a traditional marriage, a civil marriage and a Christian marriage. A traditional wedding involved ceremonies at the man’s home and separately at the woman’s home, but to be recognised by the law in Kenya it had to include the sacrifice of a particular male animal. A civil and a Christian ceremony were similar to those in this country; however to be married in a Christian ceremony, the groom had to renounce polygamy prior to the wedding.

Revd. John then went on to speak of the role of Mothers’ Union in the life of his country. There are two types of Mothers’ Union membership in Kenya, an associate member and a full member; they differ in that associate members cannot represent Mothers’ Union at events or hold office at any level, so a full membership is very important to the women in Kenya. To be a full member the woman has to have been married in a Christian ceremony, so much pressure is placed on the man to agree to this.

Mothers’ Union is very active in Kenya and the members are very important to the life of the church and their local community. As well as being involved with projects, members set aside one week a year to take part in organised events, e.g. one day they will visit the local school to advise the children on their role in the community when they reach adulthood, another day they visit a local hospital, and another day they may visit the sick of their village, then finally on the Sunday they take part in a special service when the male priests are present only by invite.

The morning passed very quickly as the Revd. John was so interesting in his talk on Kenya and so willing to answer all our many questions about Mothers’ Union in that country. Those of us who attended were very grateful to him for giving us his time.

Marilyn Davies – Action & Outreach Unit Adviser

Through the third objective of Mothers’ Union, we pledge ourselves to maintain a worldwide fellowship of Christians united in prayer, worship and service. Since 1920, Mothers’ Union has set out to maintain continual prayer around the world by encouraging members to use our Wave of Prayer calendar each midday.

The Wave of Prayer group is a ‘circle of friendship and fellowship’ - no diocese in a group should be seen as the main link – all are equal.

Through the Wave of Prayer, close links are made between members in different parts of the world.

Our Links correspondent, Irene Butler, writes regularly to our link dioceses and as a result, we are getting to know more about them.

She has recently heard from Katakwa, Koforidua and our newest link, Egba West.

Here are snippets from each letter.

Elizabeth Ekaset and Judith Emayet, Mothers’ Union workers in Katakwa say:

We have noted with appreciation the work you are doing in your diocese. May the Almighty God nurture you as you serve His people. Here we are capacity building orphans, widows/widowers, single parents and people living with HIV/AIDS, PLWAs to initiate and manage entrepreneurship projects for sustainable economic development e.g. with the help of Family Health International, we have given out school uniforms and blankets to the OVC’s (orphans and vulnerable children) within the diocese.

In our programme, we have captured imprisoned women and the sick both at home and in hospitals for relevant teaching, encouragement and prayers.

Pass our love to all the entire M.U. within your reach.

Mrs. Adenoti A. Ajani, the President of Egba West, in the first communication we have received from this link, tells us about the activities in which members are involved. She also says:

We had our first Mothers’ Union conference from Friday, 18 th to Sunday, 20 th July, 2008.The theme was ‘Occupy Till I Come’ (Luke 19:13b). We invited members of the Union in the West Zone Provinces. Many of them came to give goodwill messages and celebrate the first Conference with us. There were talks and Bible Study on the theme of the Conference. A Health Officer was invited to give a talk on Causes and Prevention of HIV/AIDS. This is to create awareness on the deadly disease ravaging lives of people of hundreds in Nigeria. There was a Bible Quiz competition among the nine archdeaconries in the diocese. The Conference recorded a resounding success.

Mothers in the diocese gather to fast and pray every first Wednesday of every month. This is a forum where mothers bring their prayer requests and we pray for Mothers’ Union work worldwide.

We shall put you in mind and pray for you.

Mrs. Charlotte Pinto, the Diocesan Worker in Koforidua says;

May the Almighty richly bless you and all members. I have shown the magazine (‘In Touch’) to the Bishop and the Diocesan President when they were cutting the tape on the re-opening day of the Mary Sumner School.

By God’s grace, the Mary Sumner Nursery and Creche school is growing gradually. The performance of the children is very encouraging. Parents have urged MU members to continue the school to KG1 – KG2. It is a big challenge to us. By God’s grace, we have 2 plots of land already. Our problem is how to put up the classroom block. We MU members, we have levied ourselves. .………. The school has a brighter future and so we should help the children.

It is good to hear what the members in our link dioceses are doing. Irene sends them copies of ‘In Touch’ and also tells them what we are doing in Llandaff and so they get to know more about us. When our group’s days in the Wave of Prayer calendar come around in May, it will mean more to us all after sharing our joys, challenges and prayer requests.