Faith in Britain

have continued to arrive at my office, and at Ken Hargreaves' office, on an average of a dozen a day. Several thousand people have now joined.

Thirteen national and regional groups have been established in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in the English regions. Appropriately, the first of these inaugural meetings was held in Belfast in September 1990, at the Belfast home of John and Mary Larkin, and Christians interested in politics, from both sides of the divide, have joined. Professor Larkin addressed the Westminster rally on the subject of reconciliation.

Chris Graffius, the Movement's Interim Secretary General, was able to report to the autumn meeting of the Steering Committee that membership had just passed the 1000 mark and that more than 600 young people had attended the first Youth Day held in July 1990.

The Youth Day brought together students from University Christian Unions and Catholic Chaplaincies and was organised by former Durham student, Andy Dunnett, who had played a key role setting up the 1990 Epiphany meeting. The day included visits to the Commons and a series of seminars and sessions held at Westminster Chapel. These included sessions on 'Women and Public Life' (led by Jane Mellor, Elaine Storkey and Josephine Robinson), 'Social Justice and Economic Success' (led by Michael Hastings, Professor Nicholas Lash, and Dr Schluter) and 'Faith and Politics, Acquiescence or Activism' (led by Clive Calver, Denis Wrigley and Janice Price). The Reverend R. T. Kendall, who had kindly made available the Chapel and its facilities, talked about 'Scripture and Politics'.

In addition to these activities the Movement has published a bulletin, Christian Democracy, and has been actively developing international contacts with Christian Democrat International and the European People's Party. Representatives attended the forum on the future of Christian Democracy organised by Dutch Christian Democrats, held in Holland in October 1990; a seminar held in Paris; and the annual international conference of Christian Democrats held in Dublin in November 1990. With the French Christian Democrat parliamentarian, Monsieur Jean-Marie Daillet, Senator Huberta Hanquet, Christian Democrat Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the Belgian Parliament, and Alexandr Ogorodnikov, Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union of the Soviet Union, we launched Democrats Sans Frontières at a meeting in Moscow. M. Daillet, the Vice-Chairman of Christian Democrat International also met Chris Graffius and Bill Gribbin during a London visit. Christian Democrat MEPs, John Cushnahan and Pat Cooney arranged meetings with People's Party members in Strasbourg and Chris Graffius and myself travelled to Brussels to meet Thomas Jansen, and the International Secretary, M. Anton Louis.

By 1991 the Epiphany Group was ready to spend a full weekend considering the history and shape of Christian Democracy - and in reviewing the scale of our task.