Divorced Catholics look to the future

by Timothy Elphick
THE Association of Separated and Divorced Catholics is no longer an inward-looking group but one with the strength to look at ways to help those who need care in the midst of family breakdown, the outgoing chair of the organisation said this week.
Speaking at the ASDC's annual general meeting in Rochdale on Saturday Helen Norman praised the dedication of group members during her three years in office, and emphasised the importance of the work being done with children of divorced parents.
The highlight of the current year had been a mass concelebrated for those affected by divorce by Cardinal Basil Hume and the ASDC's patron Bishop Patrick Kelly of Salford at Westminster Cathedral in May. The mass offered for the association and its work had been an unexpected and magical moment, Ms Norman said. And Cardinal Hume had stayed on afterwards for more than an hour to talk with ASDC members, she added.
Other speakers at the annual meeting emphasised the importance of working with children, outlining the success in schools and parishes of the Rainbow for All God's Children programme. The project encourages children to express their own feelings of pain and uncertainty during and after the divorce of their parents.
Christine Hacklett, secretary of the ASDC, said that many children have great difficulty understanding their anger. They often need guidance to help them face the new life they and their single parents will lead after the family unit has disappeared, she said.
Ms Hacklett said that the retiring chair had "put her life and soul" into the work of the association during her term in office. She had won for the group charitable status and computerised its newsletter, News Vision. She would be succeeded by Joan Hall, the chair of the association's Stockport branch.
The ASDC is a lay organisation which enjoys the co-operation of the church with its activities. It offers prayer and discussion enabling individuals to cope with the distress associated with divorce and its aftermath.