Hello!

Hello and welcome to this year’s Catholic Parliamentary Interns’ Blog!

First of all, some introductions. There are seven interns this year. Olivia and Oliver are working with MEPs in Brussels, whilst Alison, Laura and Luke are with MPs in the House of Commons in London. Amanda is working at the Catholic Education Service and I (Maeve) am in the Cardinal’s Public Affairs Office.

We’ve just spent the last two weeks being inducted into the scheme. This began with a four-day retreat at St Beuno’s in Wales, which was a great opportunity to pray, unwind and get to know each other. Upon our return, we spent a week visiting various different departments in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, as well as spending a day at CAFOD. Having been thoroughly inducted, we are now settling into our day-to-day roles. You’ll be hearing from the others over the next few weeks, so for now I’ll just update you on what I’ve been up to since I started work.

As the Public Affairs Intern, I work in Archbishop’s House. I’m involved in lots of Diocesan-based communications and so I attend many of the events that occur within Westminster Diocese. Recently these have included the Red Mass (the annual Mass for Catholic lawyers) and a Mass to mark the 80th anniversary of Opus Dei. I write press releases, update the Diocesan website (http://www.rcdow.org.uk/ – put it in your favourites now!) and partake in various meetings in connection with the Cardinal and the Diocese.

I think I speak on behalf of all us when I say that we’re really looking forward to everything this year has to offer, and for those of us in London, this includes immersing ourselves in Newman House life and studying Christian Ethics at Heythrop College. All in all it’s going to be a busy year, but one that is already shaping up very well indeed!

Maeve.