41st Annual Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon
9th October 2009

L to R: Fr Emmanuel, Margaret Mason, Margaret Mizen, Maureen Baldwin and Fr Jacob

Many members of the CWL joined around 300 people at the 41st Annual Catholic Women of the Year Luncheon on Friday 9th October 2009 at the Marble Arch Thistle Hotel, London to pay tribute to Catholic Women who have given outstanding service to the Church.

The theme this year was, ‘Blessed are the Poor. Finding True Riches in Financial Crisis’.  The keynote speaker was Father Emmanuel CFR from the Franciscan Fathers of the Renewal. In Canning Town, 6 of the Brothers run a Soup Kitchen, care for the poor and evangelise.  The Charity Speaker was Kate O’Sullivan from Loaves and Fishes, in Salford, who help the homeless and those with drug and alcohol addiction. 

The three Recipients of Awards this Year are:

Margaret Mizen whose son, Jimmy (the second youngest of her 9 children), was killed in an apparently random act of violence in May last year.  Speaking to the media outside her Parish Church after Sunday Mass the following day, she insisted she felt nothing but sympathy for her son’s attacker and his family.  ‘There’s so much anger in this world and it is anger that has killed my son.  If I am angry then I am exactly the same as this man. We have just got to get rid of this anger’.  She and her husband, Barry, have continued with their son’s ‘legacy of love’ speaking about young people without a hint of bitterness.

Maureen Baldwin,  a Catholic woman who lives out her faith and commitment in the broadest sense - in her home, her marriage, her parish and her dedication to faith-based education at national and international level.  Her teaching career was cut short when she was attacked in 2000 by a young school intruder and left disabled.  Despite this, her resolve to work with, and for, young people has never wavered.

Margaret Mason is a convert to Catholicism and is a Prayer Group Leader, Reader, Eucharistic Minister, a great Parish supporter and real friend to many.  She was a Probation Officer until retirement and also provided exemplary care for her mother and an aunt.  Living in a University Town, she has provided social and practical support for students, parents, children, the elderly, disabled and those suffering from a variety of addictions.

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