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profile ‘As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ (Romans, 10:15) When Sister Angel Grant reflects on the path which led her to the Daughters of St Paul, a series of moments return to her from her youth in Scotland. There was the Mass celebrated by Pope Saint John Paul II at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in 1982 and his message that ‘when deciding your future, you must not decide for yourself alone’. There were retreats, organised by the Pauline Sisters, which she attended from the age of 15 and Saturdays spent travelling from her family home in Greenock to volunteer at the Pauline Book Centre in Glasgow. ‘I felt in my element surrounded by so many books and resources,’ she recalls. ‘Discovering the Pauline charism was totally overwhelming – something which I connected with instantly.’ Later, crucially, there was the chance encounter with a priest from Paisley Diocese who, over a cup of coffee, advised her to ‘listen to the voice within and read the sounds around’. As fate had it, it was actually here in Liverpool, on St Andrew’s Day in 1987, that ‘God caught up with me’ as she puts it. ‘I’d found myself for weeks reading the words from St John’s Gospel, Chapter 15. I was touched deeply by the words “You did not choose me, I chose you”. I then attended Mass at Bishop Eton and as the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 10, was read, I knew there was no escape and God was calling me.’ It seems fitting that Sr Angela should be citing passages from Scripture and things once said. Words are a fundamental part of the Pauline mission and today Sr Angela is back in the city where God ‘caught’ her, living in Aigburth and leading the work of the Daughters of St Paul at the new Pauline Books and Media Centre on Church Street. It is not the first time she has overseen the opening of a new centre, having done the same in Newcastle and Glasgow, and she is delighted to be putting those experiences to use here. ‘In Liverpool the people are just so welcoming,’ she says. ‘Now that we’ve relocated, people have been so appreciative of the fact we’ve not closed down and there’s still a presence here.’ Sr Angela’s many years in the Pauline family also include spells at the Pauline Book Centre in London and in their old production department in Slough, coordinating the creation of educational
Sister Angela Grant Following the Pauline way - by Simon Hart resources. ‘I collaborated with 16 dioceses throughout England and Scotland, marketing the products and offering in-service training to teachers and catechists.’ Crucially, she also spent over a decade in Italy where she began her formation in Rome in 1988, undertook her novitiate period and, between 1994 and 1998, studied Theology and Communication at the Gregorian University prior to taking her perpetual vows in 1999. She has particularly fond memories of leading summer youth camps in that time – and the memory of one particular camp, in Piedmont, still resonates today.
Piedmont is the region where the first Daughters of St Paul, back in 1915, helped set up the first Pauline typography, printing the Diocesan newspaper. ‘It was such an honour to walk those streets and hills to the more remote areas, bringing to each house the gift of the Word of God. I had the words from St Paul resounding in my heart as, in the footsteps of our first sisters , we were ‘bringing the Good News’. Then, in the evenings, we’d host meetings for the youth and have house prayer times where we’d reflect on Scripture.’ Words and reflections once more. It is the Pauline way.
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