'Catholic mothers can be the saints next door'

Mrs Val Ward, retiring UCM president image - S Caldwell

Catholic mothers can become "the saints next door" by answering the call to holiness in their daily lives, a bishop has said.

Preaching at a Mass for the Union of Catholic Mothers, Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood said that what the Church and the world needed more saints. He said that Pope Francis in Gaudete et Exsultate, an Apostolic Exhortation issued in April on "the call to holiness in today's world", has reminded the Church that sanctity is not reserved only for the great and well-known saints.

"We could all be saints next door, for others," said Bishop Williams, ecclesiastical adviser to the UCM at the National President's Triennial Mass. The world and the Church desperately needs saints.. It needs more priests, more religious, but actually more saints.

"We need more saints, we need more members of the UCM, we need that witness to continue in the world in which we live.

"Humanity is one thing, without divinity it is nothing," Bishop Williams added. "The world is one thing, without heaven it is nothing. The UCM exists to bring something of God into this world. If I may say so, you do it wonderfully well, by the grace of God."

In his homily at St Anne's Church in Rock Ferry, the Wirral, the bishop described the Pope's letter as a "terrific, practical guide to holiness, utterly readable, absolutely profound and very wonderful". He told the congregation, made up of more than 200 members of the UCM from all over the country, that the mission of their organisation very much reflected the objectives of the Holy Father.

The UCM, Bishop Williams noted, was dedicated to prayer, charity and supporting families, Catholic education and vocations.

"One could say many things about the UCM but if we look at your aims and objectives and things you aspire to I think we are probably talking about the call to holiness in the world," he said. "The UCM is about family life, about wives and husbands and children, about the divine life of the family," he said. "Thank goodness you are around to witness to families, to pray for families, to model families as they should be for others - in other words, saints who look to people around them in their families."

The Mass was celebrated in the Wirral because Val Ward, who steps down as the national president in May after serving a term of three years, is a parishioner of Holy Apostles and Martyrs' Church in Wallasey.

At the conclusion of the Mass, Mrs Ward led the congregation in the UCM prayer before thanking husband John, her family, clergy, members of the UCM and musicians from her home parish for their help, encouragement, understanding and prayers.

She said: "I would like to thank you all for being here. The last three years has passed in the blink of an eye and I would like to thank you all for your help and support during this time.

"There have been some ups and downs and we have laughed together and cried together and, most importantly, prayed together - the UCM at its best. I couldn't have done it without you."

She added: "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It has truly been the most enriching experience."

Mrs Ward will be succeeded next month by Margaret McDonald, a UCM member from Liverpool.

The chief celebrant at the Mass at St Anne's was Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury. It was also attended by Emeritus Bishop Terence Brain of Salford, a former ecclesiastical adviser to the UCM.

"In Shrewsbury Diocese we give special thanks today for the national service of Val Ward," said Bishop Davies in his opening remarks.

Two weeks earlier the bishops had collectively expressed their immense gratitude to the Pope for Gaudete et Exsultate. In a statement following their biannual plenary meeting in Leeds, the bishops of England and Wales explained that the Pope was teaching that holiness must be lived "in the daily reality of our lives".

"It is in small gestures and little things that we are led to be holy," the bishops said. "Jesus Christ not only invites us to this holiness but enables us, through his grace, to make the journey to God. This journey, although deeply personal, is never private. Our worship becomes pleasing to God when we devote ourselves to living generously. God's gifts, granted in prayer, are seen in our concern for our brothers and sisters, particularly those most in need. We are to set out afresh to do all we can to love the least in our society and culture."

They added: "As we receive Gaudete et Exsultate, we commit ourselves and commend all people to be bold and courageous in the mission of the Church and recognise that spiritual combat and renewal are at the heart of this journey to God."