Visit to Rome

Early on Monday morning, the interns will be on their way to the airport for a once in a lifetime trip to Rome.

The visit is packed full of exciting meetings with important people in the Vatican, Mass in St Peter's Basilica, a tour of the Vatican Gardens and some free time to explore this beautiful city.



Casa Santa Brigida - our accommodation in Rome

After arriving mid-morning and settling into our accommodation for the three days we are in Italy's capital city, we will meet Fr John Paul Leonard who is the Pastoral Director of the Venerable English College which is next door to Casa Santa Brigida for a tour of the College and Mass.     

After lunch we have a meeting with   Lesley-Anne Knight who is the Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis. Prior to her appointment, she was International Director of CAFOD, the Caritas member in England and Wales and in the course of more than 25 years in international development, she has also worked with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Oxfam, and HelpAge International. As Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, Lesley-Anne Knight manages the General Secretariat in the Vatican City, and the confederation’s delegations to the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

Following this, we are meeting Monsignor Philip Whitmore from the Secretariat of State. The Secretariat of State is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia and is the pre-eminent department of the Vatican. Cardinal Bertone, the current Secretary of State is seen as the Prime Minister of the Vatican, the deputy to the Pope and is in charge of the political and diplomatic activities of the Holy See. Mgr Philip Whitmore is a priest of the Westminster diocese and works on translation and papal speeches within the Secretariat.

We are planning to meet up with Peter Stoddart, Catholic Parliamentary Intern last year, who is in his first year training for the priesthood at the Venerable English College, for dinner in the evening.

The stunning Vatican Gardens

After Mass celebrated by Fr John Paul Leonard first thing on Tuesday morning, we have more meetings lined up.  We are meeting Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office and Irish priest, Mgr Paul Tighe, who is the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication.  In the afternoon, we are walking through the beautiful Vatican Gardens to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to meet the Chancellor of the university, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo.  In the evening, we have been invited to dinner at the British Embassy to the Holy See hosted the Deputy Head of Mission.

Early on Wednesday morning we are going to Mass at St Peter’s Basilica followed by meetings at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas. After some free time on Wednesday afternoon, sadly we have to return to London.



St Peter's Basilica

I am incredibly excited about our visit to Rome. This really is a breathtaking list of inspiring people that we are meeting. We are extremely grateful for the unique opportunity we have been given as Catholic Parliamentary and Public Affairs interns to do this and I sincerely hope that we the make the most of it.

During our time in Rome we will be interviewing some of the people we meet and taking lots of pictures – so watch this space when we get back!  

Naomi Brandon

Public Affairs intern 

Media training day

On Friday 1st April, the five London based interns took part in an engaging, entertaining and enlightening day of media training. 

The day started with Mass in the chapel in Eccleston Square celebrated by Monsignor Andrew Faley.

The first session was presented by Maggie Doherty and Alexander DesForges who run the Catholic Communications Network (CCN). As well as leading the CCN team, Alexander is also Archbishop Vincent Nichols’ Press Secretary. Maggie, who has a background in PR, is a senior member of the CCN team as well as Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's Press Secretary. They explained the role of the CCN particularly in relation to the massive media operation that was the Papal Visit. They described their day-to-day work and told us that the current hot issues are the Ordinariate, the new translation of the Missal and World Youth Day in Madrid. As Public Affairs and Parliamentary interns we are frequently asked to use various forms of traditional media, new media and social media in order to get a message across, Alexander gave us some tips on how to be effective communicators in these mediums. He also highlighted one of the most successful messages that the Church put across during the Papal Visit that was often quoted in the mainstream media that religion is not a problem to be solved but a gift to be rediscovered.

After a quick break for coffee, Jack Valero told us about his highly successful Catholic media organisation, Catholic Voices, which he set up in advance of the Papal Visit. Described as a revival of apologetics for the 24 hour media era, Valero's Catholic Voices has a refreshingly positive approach to the most controversial issues associated with the Catholic Church and the Church's teaching. He asked us to pick one of these 'neuralgic' issues and come up with a short speech to portray the Church's point of view in a positive way. Most importantly he told us to know our faith inside-out so we could take part in informed debates about the contentious issues. 

Following that, we went up to the Bishops' Conference radio studio for an experience of radio interviews. We are arranging to have some practical experience with them soon - so watch this space to hear about that! 

After lunch we heard from political communications expert and Professor in the subject from Madrid, Karen Sanders. We talked about the functions of the media and their power of agenda-setting and framing stories. In the context of our own work, she reminded us that politicians need the media in democratic societies, she describes this symbiotic relationship between politicians and journalists in her work as a 'tense tango'. I particularly enjoyed this part of the day because my dissertation was on the subject of the influence of political public relations in modern democratic societies. This time last year when I was writing my dissertation there was very little research and literature on this specific area, but in the last twelve months, Karen told us, there has been more work done on it and a couple of books published including one of her own! At the end of her session, she split us into two groups to write the ten commandments of a media relations office, we then compared these to those written by Christopher Meyer, who was John Major's Press Secretary. 

Social media was the subject of the final session of the day. The Pope has described facebook as 'a truly human form of communication' but has also warned young people about the possible pitfalls of using social networks. We talked about the strengths and weaknesses of using social media tools such as facebook, blogs, twitter, youtube, flickr and so on both in a professional capacity and in our personal lives. We also discussed how the internship could benefit from a better social media profile. If you have any ideas, please comment on this post and let us know!

We are tremendously grateful to Maggie Doherty for organising the training day for us and to the speakers for making time to talk to us. We all learnt a lot and I can't wait to put everything I learnt into action as soon as possible. We gained so much knowledge and practical tips; I hope it will come in use in our current jobs as well as in the future. 

This has been one of so many great opportunities that the Catholic Parliamentary Internship has given us.  Next week we are going to a conference hosted by the Catholic Bishops' Conference on the Catholic Church's presence in our society today as it looks to foster a culture of greater social responsibility.

Naomi Brandon

Public Affairs intern at CESEW 

The Robin Hood Tax debate

Last night I went to a panel debate about banking, taxation and the Robin Hood Tax organised by CAFOD, St Paul’s Institute, Tearfund and the Salvation Army, held at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The event, expertly chaired by Today programme presenter and former BBC economics editor Evan Davis, was attended by several hundred people all keen to hear what the panellists had to say about whether banks have a responsibility to contribute to the common good and if the proposed Robin Hood Tax is the solution.

The Robin Hood Tax campaign has over a quarter of a million supporters in more than 25 countries worldwide and proposes:

·         A tax of 0.05% on financial transactions such as stocks, bonds, foreign currency and derivatives.

·         Raising up to £20 billion a year in the United Kingdom.

·         Spending 50% of the money on fighting poverty in the United Kingdom, 25% on fighting poverty overseas and 25% on mitigating the effects of climate change around the globe.

Baroness Shirley Williams, prominent Catholic member of the House of Lords and co-founder of the Liberal Democrats, kicked off the debate by putting forward the moral case for the Robin Hood Tax. She pointed out that the argument has existed far longer than the Robin Hood Tax campaign as the idea of the Tobin tax, put forward in the 1970s by the Nobel award winning James Tobin, has been around for a long time. She said that this kind of tax could be the ‘sand in the oyster’ that helps to produce a purer, clearer and fairer banking sector. She lamented the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor, the unequal society in which we live now and the scandalous bonus culture of the banks, which, she argued, have already gone back to their bad ways.  She showed the audience how much money could be raised to alleviate poverty in the UK, could be spent on international aid and to solve international crises such as climate change.  

The next speaker presented a contrasting view of the Robin Hood Tax. Michael Green, an independent economist and co-author of “The Road from Ruin: A New Capitalism for the Big Society” and “Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World”, began by saying that he is ‘deeply disturbed by the Robin Hood Tax’. He outlined his opposition to the Robin Hood Tax saying that he believes that a tax on banks would be passed on to the customers like you and me. He added that his ‘greatest concern is that the Robin Hood Tax is a distraction from the fundamental reform that global capitalism needs.'

Michael Izza, Chief Executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, was next up in the Robin Hood tax debate. He advocated a currency transaction levy and explained that we have the technology now to make this possible. Izza explained that in real terms, this currency transaction levy would take £5 from every £100,000 transaction, not a huge amount. He concluded by highlighting that the foreign exchange markets are an area of concern: ‘The Foreign Exchange markets are starting to show a lot of ‘bubble-like' characteristics.'

Former Anglican Bishop of Worcester, Rt Revd Peter Selby, concluded this section of the debate with a moral perspective on the financial industry. Although he agreed with the concept of taxing the rich to help the poor, he pointed out that 'taxation doesn't make something that isn't right alright’. He believes that the financial industry needs far more radical reform to serve the common good.

After the speeches, the panel took questions from the floor. There were some fantastic questions including one from Gavin Shuker MP about the possible international implications of the Robin Hood Tax and a question about whether the Robin Hood Tax is revenge for the financial crisis to which Shirley Williams responded that it is not but that it is an act of justice.

Evan Davis, who was chairing the debate, asked the audience a couple of questions about their attitudes to the Robin Hood Tax. He asked us whether we would prefer reform of the banking sector or the Robin Hood Tax, to which the overwhelming proportion preferred the former option. Many of us also said we would like to see both. At the end of the evening, however, the vast majority of the audience attending the debate said they were in favour of the Robin Hood Tax.

The Robin Hood Tax debate was very well organised by the four hosts and took place in a beautiful venue, the standard of debate was high and the arguments compelling, all in all, a very enjoyable and interesting evening.  

Naomi Brandon

Public Affairs Intern at CESEW

A historic conference for CESEW

Last week, as the Public Affairs Intern for the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales (CESEW), I attended the joint CESEW  / CATSC (Catholic Association of Teachers, Schools and Colleges) National Catholic Secondary School Conference at Hotel Russell in central London. This conference formed part of the Year of Catholic Education.

It was a two day conference, to which we were welcomed by Bishop Malcolm McMahon, who is the Chairman of the Catholic Education Service as well as Bishop of Nottingham. Father Jim O’Keefe who has a wealth of experience working in education and with Cafod gave a passionate speech reminding the conference of the theological context of their work.

Lord Hill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State from the Department for Education (DfE) addressed the conference offering the perspective from the DfE. He spoke about our shared purpose in seeking to promote the Common Good. He also said that “Catholic schools have a long and proud tradition of transforming lives” and that Catholic schools do a “fantastic job”. I spoke to his private secretary who sent me Lord Hill’s full speech, so you can read it here.

His main responsibility at the DfE is academies. He spoke at length about the Government’s innovative plans for academies. He made it clear that he is keen that faith schools should be free to become to academies but he also emphasised that he has “no wish to undermine the special status, values, freedoms, assets or anything else that is part of being a Catholic school”.

Bishop Malcolm at the Big Assembly

The Children’s Commissioner, Maggie Atkinson, also addressed the conference with a fervent speech urging the attendees, many of whom were headteachers or deputy headteachers of Catholic secondary schools or colleges as well as diocesan education representatives amongst others, of the need to consider the human rights of children in everything they do.

The final part of the conference involved two former headteachers as they explored the theme of the conference “Stewards of the Common Good”. They showed how excellent leadership of Catholic schools contributes to the common good in their communities.

The moment the conference had all been waiting for finally came when Chief Executive and Director of CESEW, my boss, Oona Stannard took to the stage. She started off by talking about the rapid pace of political change that is taking place in the area of education. There are a number of challenges and opportunities arising for the Catholic education sector as a result of Michael Gove’s frenetic activity in the DfE.  Many of the attendees expressed their dismay that RE hadn’t been included as a Humanity subject in the new English Baccalaureate. However, when she read out Bishop McMahon’s statement about academies there was an audible gasp and a tangible sense of excitement in the room. The announcement could plausibly change the shape of Catholic education provision for years to come. The statement, which opened the way for Catholic schools to become academies, reflected the work of most of my CESEW colleagues in recent months in preparing the ground for this decision.

I enjoyed attending this conference, it was fascinating to meet some very interesting and inspiring people who are leading Catholic schools into the future as well as learning a lot about education in general.

Naomi Brandon

Public Affairs Intern at CESEW

Mentoring with the Cardinal Hume Centre

As part of the Catholic Parliamentary Internship this year, some of the interns are taking part in the mentoring programme with the Cardinal Hume Centre.

The Cardinal Hume Centre works with homeless young people, badly housed families, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants helping them to obtain employment and break out of the cycle of homelessness and exclusion.

Homelessness was one of Cardinal Hume's priorities both as a diocesan bishop and as a Church leader. Early in his time as Archbishop, he became President of Shelter, and he was also President of the Catholic Housing Aid Society for 23 years. He was actively involved in both supporting and starting many homelessness initiatives in London. He often spoke out on the moral obligation to reduce homelessness, particularly when the problem of street living began to escalate in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The aim of the mentoring programme at the Cardinal Hume Centre is to provide the clients with additional one-to-one support and encouragement in working towards improving their 'employability'. As mentors, we will be helping our client develop aspirations, identify obstacles to progression and help them to set and work towards achievable goals.

We had a training day back in October when we were told what to expect from the scheme. And today I finally met my ‘client’. I will be mentoring a lovely, shy girl from South America who is planning to improve her English and go to college. I will be meeting her once a week over the next few months and helping her turn her life around and eventually to get into university to study Medicine. I am really looking forward to getting to know her and helping her achieve her aspirations.

The Cardinal Hume Centre is always looking for more people to volunteer so click here to find out more about them and how you can help.

Naomi Brandon
Public Affairs Intern at CESEW

Life in Newman House

As we are drawing close to Christmas and we have been on the Catholic Parliamentary Internship Scheme for almost three months, it is a good time to give you a taste of life at Newman House.

The five of us on the London based internships live at Newman House, which is the Catholic chaplaincy centre for the students in Central London. Sixty-two students live there as well as the chaplain, Fr Peter Wilson and the Pastoral Associates, Chris and Kate.

The interns are fully integrated into life at Newman House. We take part in house duties which include singing and reading at mass, preparing coffee for after mass, cooking Sunday lunch, maintaining the blogs and serving behind the bar.

Andrew can often be found playing some tunes on the guitar or the piano and starting a spontaneous sing-a-long. You might find Danny arguing over some details of Conservative Party policy at the bar. Jo-Anne can often be found watching Corrie or Eastenders whilst simultaneously taking part in a theological debate with another member of the community. You will find Naomi, with a glass of wine in her hand, cooking dinner to share with hungry Newman House inmates. And Nick, if he isn't still at work, you will be sure to find him watching Question Time on a Thursday evening.

We are very fortunate to be living at Newman House and very grateful to everyone for making us feel so welcome.

Please join us at Mass which is at 10.30am every Sunday and talk to us at coffee after Mass if you would like to find out more about living at Newman House and the Catholic Parliamentary Internship Scheme.

Naomi Brandon
Public Affairs Intern at CESEW

CAFOD's annual lecture

On Friday 12 November, Andrew, Nick, Danny and Naomi attended Cafod’s annual lecture which took place at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.

The lecture, an annual event for Cafod’s supporters and staff, is inspired by the late Pope Paul VI’s landmark encyclical letter, Populorum Progressio, published in 1967, in which the Pope urged people to work for a better world through an active spirit and the practice of global solidarity.

The lecture, entitled Life to the full? Development in solidarity was given by the General Secretary of Pax Christi and former Prime Minister of Haiti, Claudette Werleigh.

In January, a devastating earthquake forced Haiti into the international spotlight. In her lecture, former Haitian Prime Minister Claudette Werleigh explored the deeper issues behind the headlines when she discussed how true development, based on peace and justice, can enable all to live life to the full.

About 400 supporters attended the event, including Bishop John Rawsthorne, Bishop of Hallam and Chair of CAFOD, Bishop Patrick Lynch, Auxiliary Bishop in Southwark, and Bishop William Kenney, Auxiliary in Birmingham. The evening was chaired by Channel Four news presenter Jon Snow. Reflecting on her recent visits to Haiti, Werleigh spoke of the need for NGOs to work in partnership with local institutions, empowering the people of Haiti to participate through Consultation, in the decisions that determine the country’s recovery and development. Demonstrating trust, Werleigh says, plays an important part in recognising the dignity of others, and is a key factor in the international development process. Greater consultation will allow a more sustainable, deeply rooted process of recovery.

She draws on rich experience: “I have been blessed to have worked both in rich countries and one of the most impoverished ones, at grassroots level and at top level. I have learned that we all need to acknowledge our differences, to accept the other as equal and to cooperate in order to improve life.”

Naomi Brandon

Public Affairs Intern at CESEW

Catholic Parliamentary Interns 2010-2011

Andrew Duncan

I'm very much looking forward to the CPI. After the election it's an interesting time to be working in Westminster in a period of transition. I'm keen to see the process of law-making in action and learn how politicians work together, elements perhaps not always picked up in the press. To continue living in a student environment at Newman House and study at Heythrop College is very much welcomed too, this perhaps will release me gently into the "real world"!

Chris Morillon

Having known past interns, to various degrees, I witnessed first hand how the experience of the CPI helped them to develop themselves spiritually, personally and professionally. As a fresh-graduate everyone is on the look out for as inspiring a position to kick-start their post-uni career as possible; after much research into various graduate schemes, I believe this is the best one out there (and I'm not just saying that!). This year I'll be working in the European Parliament in Brussels with a French MEP; I'm expecting to learn more about economics and I look forward to gaining familiarity with how it is applied in practice, particularly to help the disadvantaged. Time to get stuck in!

Daniel Howard

I’m very excited to be on the CPI scheme this year. Having previously studied Politics and International Relations at University, it is a great honour and privilege to immerse oneself in the mother of all Parliaments, working for a Conservative MP after 13 years on the opposition benches shall surely prove a unique and exciting experience.
The CPI scheme incorporates so many elements of both public and religious life, and studying at Heythrop College will surely add to this education. In addition, I am eagerly anticipating life in Newman House; living in London for the first time, in a friendly and communal environment will not only help the transition from university to work, but also help foster a strong friendship between all of this year’s interns.
I am greatly looking forward to playing my part in helping my MP in her duty of public service, whilst applying Catholic principles to the everyday business of government.

Jo-Anne Rowney

I'm very excited to finally be started the internship, especially since I'll be based at Archbishop's House, working with the Public Affairs Office. I recently graduated from the University of Hertfordshire, after reading English Literature, Journalism and New Media Publishing for the past three years - so it'll be great to put my training into practice! I start work just before the Papal Visit so I plan to fully immerse myself in the excitement and media bubble. With working in the PA Office, studying at Heythrop and living at Newman House I'm sure we'll all be very busy!

Naomi Brandon

I'm incredibly excited about working as a Catholic Parliamentary Intern for the Catholic Education Service. I was absolutely thrilled to be selected and I can't wait to start. I think the multidimensional quality of this internship, combining the political work placement, spirituality and academic study, makes this internship really special and unique. I have just graduated from Manchester University having studied Politics and International Relations, so I am looking forward to putting my politics and my faith into action and to getting a grip on the complex and fascinating policy area of Catholic education. This year is going to be busy, challenging and lots of fun and I can't wait for it to begin!

Nick Keilty

I've been excited about coming London to start the Catholic Parliamentary Internship, so now it's actually happened I can't quite believe it! I'm working in Parliament for Simon Hughes MP, who is currently deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons. The first few weeks have been really intense with the coalition government's comprehensive spending review providing all of us who are working in Portcullis House with a varied but very busy time!

I'm looking forward to incorporating elements of my faith such as Catholic social teaching and spirituality into my everyday work and then taking a retrospective look at how this affects my decision making. This will hopefully be propagated by living in community at Newman House and by the education we are receiving via our MA in Contemporary Ethics at Heythrop College.