‘John’ was a severely disabled, housebound man with little to cheer his lonely existence until he was introduced to CARE.  Volunteers took him to do his own shopping, gave him the thrill of regular visits to the Bluebell Line and one supported him until his dying day. ‘John’ was one of hundreds of people CARE has been able to help since it started in 1984.

CARE is a local voluntary organization which offers practical help to residents in and around Haywards Heath. We take people shopping (an outing in itself for many who have little contact with the outside world), shop for them when they can no longer shop for themselves, transport them to surgeries, hospitals etc., undertake small tasks within the home, visit those who are lonely or housebound.

The hub of the whole scheme is a 24/7 Helpline and computerized recording system operated by a team of Duty Officers from their own homes.

CARE is completely dependent upon the help of volunteers and the need for new volunteers is on-going if we are to maintain our level of service.

At All Saints, we are all very busy people, many doing their own ‘caring’ already. However, others may be looking for some practical way in which to demonstrate Christ’s love, e.g. someone who has just retired or recently moved into the area or whose circumstances have changed. CARE would welcome you and can use as much or as little time as you can offer.

All Saints have always been well represented on the list of volunteers, but sadly we have lost several over the past year, including Christine Rayner and Helen Eldred who did so much for CARE. How delighted they would have been to know that others had come forward to help fill in the gaps as a result of this Lent Appeal. For further information,
please contact: Pat Newton or Jean Gorman
or click here to visit the CARE website for more details

I expect many of you have been following the St Paul’s Cathedral saga with increasing dismay, as I have. Many have found it utterly incomprehensible that the Dean and Chapter should have closed the Cathedral for a week on grounds of health and safety—grounds which subsequently have been shown to be spurious. Irrespective of the protesters’ case, St Paul’s, and by extension, the Church of England, has shown itself to be out of touch with the temper of the times, and perceived to be on the wrong side of the argument.

The one person to have emerged with credit is Canon Giles Fraser. Canon Fraser writes a weekly column for the Church Times. I usually have to sit down in a quiet place apart to read it because he has the capacity to infuriate and stimulate in equal measure. But there is no doubt that in this matter he has shown consistency and integrity. I would not go so far as to agree with Ruth Gledhill in Thursday's Times, that he should become the new Dean of St Paul’s, but he certainly deserves respect.

People are beginning to ask what is the Church of England really for? Occasionally, I get letters addressed to ‘the Curator’ of All Saints’ Church, as if the essential purpose of the church is to preserve an historic tradition, a kind of ecclesiastical museum. The historic tradition of the Christian faith is important to us—All Saints’ Day has just reminded us of our continuing fellowship with the saints of God down the ages and throughout the world—but we are also, and primarily, called to be witnesses of a living faith in Christ to our own generation. We are not dusty museums, but missional communities, radiating the love of Christ to a dark and lost world. And as such, the real life of the Church of England is to be found in the  myriad living church communities throughout the land, not in national shrines like St Paul’s Cathedral.

James