Unsung Catholic women recognised

The founders of charities in Kenya and Nepal, a youth work leader and a sacristan, have been announced as the Catholic Women of the Year, writes Katherine Backler.

Launched 40 years ago, the award scheme aims to honour “unsung heroines” across the Church in England and Wales. After nominations were collected, the winners were chosen by secret ballot by a committee comprising various Catholic groups and organisations.

Among the winners this year is Mary-Jane Butler, the founder and organiser of Work (Widows and Orphans in Rural Kenya) which funds health care, education and training. Others include Dr Margaret Burgess, founder of the Promise Nepal charity for leprosy sufferers; Monica Cleaver, in charge of youth work at her parish in Hendon, North London; and Yolanda Fletcher, a sacristan in Wales who regularly visits the frail and elderly. 

Along with her work in Kenya, Ms Butler also coordinates spirituality for the Diocese of Plymouth, where she lives in a presbytery and runs Ignatian retreats in parishes throughout the diocese.

Speaking after the awards were announced this week she said the Church needed to be more imaginative when it came to dealing with a shortage of priests.

“You hear of parishes being shut down because they can’t have a Sunday Mass. No one thinks of having Mass on a Wednesday instead, or Mass once a month.”

She cited the example of Kenya’s thriving Catholic Church, which she said is heavily reliant on women. Frequently, one priest will have charge of thousands of parishioners, split up into 12 or so “sub-parishes”.

These sub-parishes are entirely run by trained catechists, often women. “Churches there are flourishing with almost no Masses – perhaps only one Mass every six weeks,” she said.

The rural Kenyan model of trained laypeople could work in rural Britain too, Ms Butler said.

“The Catholic Church could have Readers on the Anglican model: laypeople trained in seminaries or on two-year courses, men and women, but not ordained. That could be wonderful in Cornwall or rural parts of Devon.” The women will be recognised at a lunch in London on
23 October.