The Board of Trustees 

 
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“Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” ― Homer, The Iliad

The Catholic Association is a private company limited by guarantee not having share capital. It is also a registered charity holding number 1071120 with the Charity Commission. Although the Catholic Association is formed as a limited company and the Directors are registered as such, the Directors refer to themselves as Trustees. 

The main duty of trustees is to advance the purposes of the charity and to always act in the charity’s best interest. Trustees ensure that the charity’s assets and resources are only used for the purposes for which the charity was set up. This extends to the charity's fundraising activities. The trustees must embody the CA’s values, act with integrity and facilitate the development and sustainability of the charity through sound governance and leadership.

The trustees also:

  • appoint the key executives, namely the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nurse, Chief Handmaid and Chief Brancardier, Youth Leader(s) and the leader of the Glanfield Children’s Group who all act as the operating committee (we call that the Pilgrimage Executive Group or “PEG”-chaired by a trustee). Supporting PEG is the “CA Hospitalité”. Trustees appoint its President, the members elect a council. They take on particular and general tasks as requested by the trustees or PEG, e.g., contacting assisted pilgrims, recruitment and comms in schools/parishes.

  • appoint a liturgical /spiritual team (we have a liturgical director/MD, plus Head of Music, Pilgrimage booklet editor etc ). This “ Liturgy Group” includes Bishop Paul Hendricks (Southwark), who is our president and trustee.

  • oversee all the policies, risk assessments, Safeguarding, training , DBS, insurance, etc - delegating to appropriate persons i.e. heads of safeguarding, or of DBS, etc (who advise/report both to us and to PEG as required)..

  • appoint a travel agent (currently - and for the last 50 years - Tangney Tours). All bookings are personal to the pilgrims, i.e. the trustees are not the travel agent at all - they charter the plane at their risk - but we agree prices, etc). PEG liaise closely with the travel agent re loading planes, baggage, need for assistance, wheelchairs etc. Pilgrims are welcome to travel independently too and do not need to book with Tangney Tours.

  • co-ordinate with the seven diocesan and group directors (Clifton, Southwark, Northampton, East Anglia, Stonyhurst, Glanfield, CA Annual (i.e. non-affiliated.

  • convene twice or so a year a meeting of the trustees , PEG, the Liturgy Group, and the DDs (when combined we call that the Pilgrimage Management Committee). That committee also meets daily in Lourdes chaired by a trustee.

  • are the duct for bookings with the authorities in Lourdes (“ the Sanctuaries”) for the hospital pilgrims (“the Accueil”) , locations for the various joint or diocesan liturgies, processions, outings , etc. We have a head of CA planning appointed by the trustees who performs the admin side of this.

  • settle the weekly programme with PEG, the DDs, the Liturgy Group and the Sanctuaries.

  • consider the various winds of change effecting pilgrimages, particularly to Lourdes, and consider (with as many other interested pilgrims as seems appropriate at team building days or away days ) the ways we need to change, to add/ subtract, to broaden our programme, but equally safeguard the essence of who we are , what and whom we are for, and why we go, and the reputation of the pilgrimage

  • maintain and refresh a strong and appropriate trustee board

The trustee board meet four times per year (virtually) with one/two ad-hoc meetings scheduled to be in-person. We occasionally meet for extraordinary meetings when certain business needs to be discussed, but this is rare. Meetings are generally mid-week, held in the evening (after 6) and can last for up to an hour and a half (but generally no more than an hour). There is also an occasional need for particularly trustees to join other meetings within the CA management – if they are chairing or have input (for example, PEG and Communications).

The CA is a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising(the membership body for fundraising) and a member of the CVTA and ABLPH.

The current trustees are here.

The CA’s current travel agency is Tangney Tours.