Diocese of Westminster Annual Repor t & Accounts 2020
Cardinal’s Introduction
SINCE THE START of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we have been
living through a strange time: enervating, challenging, testing, a time of so much isolation and loneliness, of sadness and death, and yet of creativity and shining generosity. In the darkness of this pandemic so many of our comfortable assumptions are being shaken. Yet light penetrates this darkness. Have we not seen these months of difficulty marked by countless acts of random kindness, quiet heroism, selfless service, remarkable community efforts, all directed towards those most in need? In our nature, in our make-up, there is an indomitable spirit of goodness that responds with sacrifice and love. Deep within the heart of every person is a reservoir of love and compassion. We are made for love, for generosity, for kindness. Jesus is the gateway to that kindness. It is he who encourages and enables this kindness to flow freely, in and out. With him, then, we receive graciously, give generously, forgive compassionately, care especially for those who are most in need or, quite simply, lost. It is the spark of the divine within us. It is an instructive realisation that life in its essence is never private but shared with others, with the whole of creation. I am filled with admiration and hope when I ponder the tremendous kindness and service which has emerged in our midst during these difficult days: in all the structured works of charity that are taking place in our parishes for their neighbourhoods; the generosity of our parishioners, in these difficult economic times, that funds these initiatives; and all the unseen and unsung acts of kindness that flow from the open gate of the heart. We know that all that darkness, that corrosion of death we have seen so clearly in this last year, does not have the last word. Another word is spoken, the word of love: love that is stronger than death. It’s the love of God poured out for us to lift us up. I thank all in our diocese who daily embody this love of God for their neighbours.
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I thank, too, all who compiled this Report and the Annual Accounts.
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