Clifford Longley’s call for another National Pastoral Congress (NPC) (19 September; Letters, 26 September) resonates with me. Many of those who, like me, were in Liverpool in 1980 will now be grandparents, so there is a generation of adults and young persons who have not had the opportunity of sharing in that wonderful experience. The preparation in parishes and deaneries involved grassroots discussions which created a powerful surge of energy and enthusiasm that in turn produced a groundswell of optimism. Those attending converged from all quarters and enjoyed being put up in the homes of the good folk of Liverpool; itself a wonderful gesture. The saddest part, of course, was, as Longley says, that it all fizzled out like a firework, briefly illuminating our lives before being snuf