From St. Paul and St Agatha's, Woldingham, in Caterham Deanery, Maureen (right) is married with two adult children. She trained as a SPA 20 years ago and is currently training as a Reader.

She writes: "It is a joy and a privilege to be back serving the Mothers' Union in Southwark Diocese. I joined in 1972 and was involved until 6 years' ago. In 1995 I became a Trustee of the World-Wide MU and was part of the team that set our new structures into motion.

"My particular responsibility has been the global Prayer and Spirituality policy. Last year for the Millennium we produced the 'New Life Within Us' service for Lady Day, used by members in more than fifty countries.

"This year we celebrate 125 years since Mary Sumner founded the organisation. It is a special time for us as a 'union' and our members 'united' together are a powerful pro-active lobby for making change where it matters. Our participation in the Jubilee 2000 campaign proves we can influence change. Current projects for developing literacy programmes in Africa and our Parenting 2000 course show we have our feet firmly on the ground in today's issues.

"By meeting together in our local groups for prayer and fellowship we can strengthen each other in our commitment to 'the advancement of the Christian religion in the sphere of marriage and family life'. The same aim as 125 years' ago but still absolutely relevant today!"

She says "My wish is that the MU becomes a positive reality for families worldwide. The Action & Outreach team is responsible for co-ordinating the practical aspects of project work, involving women and men working in their own communities, from Birmingham to Zambia.

"Projects range from small scale farming projects to provide food for the family in Uganda to a network of family support groups in prisons around the UK. Who wouldn't be excited to be a part of this and especially as this year MU will be 125 years old!

"I am also thrilled to be a Central Trustee of the Mothers' Union when for the first time there will be representatives from MU groups from around the world giving the organisation a truly worldwide perspective. Our aim and mission never changes but the way we work does and this is vital if we are to remain in touch and effective in our outreach. We have to be relevant to today!'"

If you would like to know more about the work of MU, contact the MU Office at Trinity House, Tel 020 7403 5321 E-mail: mu@southwark.anglican.org or visit the Southwark MU website.

Bishop Peter's booklet is best seller - in IRAQ!

In 1999 Bishop Peter Price visited Iraq. Later that year a representative of one of the Christian groups he met visited him at home.

During the conversation he asked whether the Bishop had any simple resources to offer him for Iraqi Christians.

Bishop Peter takes up the story...

"I gave him a copy of my New Way booklet on Mark's Gospel - 'Mark 2000'. A few days later he called me to ask a favour. Would I allow him to translate it into Arabic for use in Iraq? I agreed.

"Just before Christmas, I received copies of my booklet translated, and printed in Jordan. A simple note came with it - ' Now being used by Chaldean Christians throughout Iraq.'

"I was delighted of course. Then in the New Year I had a call from Canon Andrew White of Coventry Cathedral who had visited Iraq recently and told me 'It's a best seller. Thousands of copies have been printed and are being used by Christian groups throughout the country.' Of course I am enormously thrilled by this".

Now the publishers are to send this year's New Way publication - The Jesus Manifesto - on Luke's Gospel for similar treatment!

Copies of Jesus Manifesto vols. 1&2 can be obtained from Kingston Area Office priced £2.20 each!

A day to celebrate Southwark's pastoral wealth

"Celebrating Pastoral Care and Counselling in the Diocese of Southwark" promises to be a bit special.

It celebrates the enormous wealth of initiatives and activities, small moments and large, that represent the outworking of loving care that goes on between Christians themselves, and which Christians offer to others.

Saturday 3 March at St. Barnabas Church, Clapham Common, North Side, SW11, (9.30 - 4.30) will be a day to gather together and celebrate just some of the pastoral wealth of the Diocese.

The morning will be spent updating skills and ideas. Workshops include story telling in pastoral care; managing stress; bereavement care; care of the dying; the pastoral care of minority ethnic people; preparing couples for marriage after divorce; current ideas in couples' work; the interface of psychotherapy and spirituality; the revival and future of spiritual direction; developing prayer ministry in the local Church; working with sex offenders; exploring some of the keys to unlock our unconscious; and many more.

There will be market stalls for parishes to show what they are doing, beginning or trying to do, in their care and outreach to others. The day will also enable participants to consider how and from where they gain support for the demanding work of pastoral care.

The organiser, the Rev. Dr Sue Walrond-Skinner, Adviser in Pastoral Care and Counselling said "Our hope is that the day will be above all a joyous occasion - a day to remember the past, affirm the present and plan and look forward to the future".

"Because the programme has been planned as a whole, you will get most out of it by being there for the entire day. There will be a bring and share lunch and everyone is welcome. So please do come, and let us celebrate, share, learn and plan together."

The opening talk of the year is on Saturday 17 February at Croydon Parish Church. The speaker is Dom Aidan Bellenger from Downside Abbey. His talk is entitled: Rules and relevance in an impatient world - focussing on the future of monasticism. This is the first time the group has devoted attention to a crucial area of Christian witness.

Father Aidan is one of the most academically distinguished monks at Downside, the Roman Catholic Benedictine abbey in Somerset near Shepton Mallet, which was founded by monks from Douai in Flanders in 1814. He is a historian of the Benedictine order with a number of current book projects and publications to his name. He is a well-known Roman Catholic lecturer - serving on many committees as well as pursuing his research projects. He did a stint as headmaster of Downside School and also has looked after one of the Abbey's daughter parishes in Little Malvern. He is very friendly, with a highly accessible style.

The talk (at 10.30am for 10.45) will as usual be followed by a mass and then a shared lunch. Before the lunch, as a bonus, there will be a chance to look round the medieval hall and chapel at the Old Palace next to Croydon Parish Church which is where some of the Prayer Book was written by Cranmer.

The following meeting on Saturday 17 March at St Leonard's, Tooting Bec Gardens, Streatham will follow the same pattern. The Revd Sue Walrond-Skinner will discuss: Altering prejudice and pastoral confidence, looking at the issues surrounding the management and support of our clergy, especially in relation to current moral and ethical controversies affecting the Church.

The 2001 programme has two talks by religious, and half of the speakers this year are women. Another talk by a religious is Sister Carol's on 27 October at St John the Divine, Goose Green, entitled A sense of the sacred - spirituality and society. Sister Carol is from the Community of the Holy Name. The talk at Southwark Cathedral on 21 November at 7.30pm is by the broadcaster Joan Bakewell, on 'The image and the message - how today's world sees and reads the Church'.

For more details contact Rev. Lisa Wright on 020 8671 8037, or me, 020 8677 5849 or email: tomsutcliffe@email.msn.com

Barry Barnes, (right) Lay Chair, said that a working party had been established to produce teaching documents on social issues crucial to the proclamation of the Gospel.

"The working group has already published two detailed documents of biblical texts and commentary on marriage after divorce together with a pamphlet on Euthanasia" Mr Barnes said. "These publications are a genuine attempt by traditionalists to contribute in a constructive way to debate within the diocese and wider church".

Copies are available from Canon Nicholas Turner of St Saviour's, Raynes Park (020 8542 2787) or Fr Martin Hislop, St Luke's, Kingston (020 8546 4064).

Further information about Forward in Faith is available from Barry (020 8686 5179) or Fr Andrew Stevens, the Clerical Chair (020 8854 0461).

Founded in 1701 by Thomas Bray, the society has been establishing and supporting churches and equipping them for mission for 300 years.

Today USPG Society is active in over 50 countries on every continent supporting evangelism, training, education and health programmes by sending missionaries and making grants. USPG is entirely supported by parish and individual giving in the UK and Ireland.

During the year there will be events all over the country to mark this significant date including a pilgrimage from Birmingham to London in June culminating in an international service in St. Paul's Cathedral on June 15.

A special exhibition called Mission Explorer has been designed to help people to experience the contemporary work of a mission agency. The CD-Rom exhibition will virtually give people the opportunity to fly around the world, visiting different countries, learning about other cultures, meeting missionaries and seeing what God is doing today. It will be on display in Southwark Cathedral, September 14 - 21 providing individuals and groups with the opportunity to experience this state-of-the-art presentation.

Connections between the society and the diocese are very strong - USPG's HQ is in Waterloo, the General Secretary, Mano Rumalshah is an assistant Bishop in the diocese and his predecessor, Peter Price, is now Bishop of Kingston.

For more information contact Richard Sewell USPG Mission Adviser Tel: 020 8648 5378 email: uspgfwrs@dircon.co.uk or visit the website www.uspg.org.uk