Ransom Guild agrees on grants

THE executive Council of the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom has voted grants totalling £138,000 as a fitting conclusion to the 1980s. The Guild, which is devoted to the conversion of England and Wales by means which include financial support for poor rural parishes and appreciation of Catholic heritage by publications and historical pilgrimages, decided to donate £130,000 to 19 dioceses.
The distribution of grants followed a familiar pattern to other, years, with East Anglia topping the list with a gift of £15,000 and Wrexham £12,500. Other parishes which benefitted included ones in Shrewsbury, Clifton, Gloucester, Somerset and the two metropolitan sees of Birmingham and Cardiff.
There were two smaller grants of £1,250 for the assisting of specific missionary work in Westminster and Southwark. The Guild also decided to donate £3,000 to the shrine at Walsingham, and £5,000 towards the Cardinal Newman cause.
The last Vv'alsingham Walk ot the 1980s produced the greatest response to date bringing in £42,491, Mgr Anthony Stark, Master of the Guild of Our Lady or Ransom, told fellow Ransomers at the executive meeting. The successful "Million Fund" established by the Guild means "that we can look forward to the 1990s with confidence that our grants in the coming decade will always be in excess of £150,000 each Christmas" he said.
He praised the generosity of the living Ransomers in their support of the Guild's Centenary Appeal of 1984-1987, and the gifts of deceased Ransomers in their wills.