The Way Forward

Possible action points agreed by English and Scottish representatives 18 July 2006

At local level

1. Provide feedback from the Congress to our parishes.

At national level

2. Organise better communications between Augustinian lay groups in the Province, initially by building on what we already have such as the Friends of Augustine web site, if that is acceptable and practicable.
Arrange presentations on the Congress in all parishes (including Woodvale and Hammersmith who were not represented) and in the school in Carlisle. This might be in the form of a visual display giving the highlights of the talks, discussions, presentations by other national groups and decisions taken by the lay congress.

Augustinian formation

3. Decide on a programme of basic formation for Augustinian lay groups in the UK. To begin with the UK group suggests that we build on what we already have in the Province and organise:- an Augustinian Day in each parish within the year- a day retreat for the north of the Province (Edinburgh, Carlisle and possibly Birmingham) at Boarbank, and for the south (Hammersmith, Hoxton and Clare) at Clare Priory within the year;.- a national weekend retreat within one year or 18 months.
We should arrange wider lay access to existing Augustinian resources such as:- Nigel Bavidge’s booklets (which need to be republished);- John Rotelle’s Augustine Day by Day books 1 and 2 which are now out of print asking for permission for Augustinian Press UK to republish them if necessary;- the book of Augustinian Saints edited by John Rotelle (for general sale or reference and for use by the staff in Carlisle.

Making Augustine more manifest/Raising the Augustinian profile

4 To help our own own parishioners and visitors to our parish communities be more aware of …… we should produce, as Augustinian publications if possible:
- regular newsletters for parish and school use (and for posting on the Friends web site)- posters- [a series of] pamphlets

- an Augustinian family news bulletin as an insert for Austinform.

We need to make better use of the media, alerting local, national and church media (newspapers, radio and tv) to news stories and forthcoming events.

Irene Lally

Clare Priory, Suffolk, England.