From Peter Okell
wilEN Matt McCloskey the III. President of Serra International, presented Charters to two new Serra Clubs in England last week, at North
Cheshire and the Wirral, it brought the number of Chartered Clubs in this country to five, with six others in the process of formation.
At present there are Chartered Serra Clubs operating in Liverpool, St. Helen's, Manchester, North Cheshire and tee Wirral. Other clubs are in the process of formation at Preston, Brentwood, Westminster, South Yorkshire, Warrington, and Wigan.
Serra, a lay organisation for fostering vocations to the priesthood. has made "steady rather than phenomenal progress", says lIarry O'Haire. executive secretary of Serra International.
Mr. O'Haire, who was in Manchester recently, gave the following facts and figures about the organisation, which is named after Fr. Juniper° Serra, the famous Spanish Franciscan missionary.
Serra was founded by him us a lay organisation for fostering vocations to the priesthood, by a group of American businessmen at Seattle. Washington in 1935.
At its first international convention in 1938 it had 30 members and fie clubs, one by proxy. Two thousand. two hundred and fifty people attended this year's international convention in San Francisco.
At present there are 236 Serra clubs in the United States, four chartered clubs in Canada. and six in the process of formation; Mexico has three chartered clubs and five being formed, and in South America five are chartered and ten un-chartered.
The movement has over 11,000 Members in Il countries, See picture page 9