Fr Harry Doyle (Lancaster Diocese) and Fr Robert Miller (Clifton Diocese) represent the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (www.catholicchurch.org.uk) on the Churches' Rural Group, a co-ordinating group of Churches Together in England (www.cte.org.uk), which has on it representatives from all the churches in England and Wales. It usually meets at the Arthur Rank Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warks (www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk). Currently, Fr Harry is the Treasurer and Fr Robert the Chairman,
Each year Fr Harry and Fr Robert organise a national conference for rural Catholics. They also keep in touch with the International Catholic Rural Association in the Vatican (info@agrimissio.org) and the Churches' European Rural Network (job-rudi@online.de).
The Arthur Rank Centre works ecumenically to provide resources of all kinds for rural people. The national rural officers of the Church of England and the Methodist/URC churches have their desks there. It provides practical courses for lay and ordained ministry and the Centre for Studies in Rural Ministry. It houses Farm Crisis Network, the ARC-Addington fund, Care Farming, the Rural Stress Helpline, Hidden Britain, and the Agricultural Chaplains' Fellowship. Details of all this work can be found on its website (www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk).
Full details of the annual Catholic & Rural Conference can be obtained from:-
Fr. Robert Miller, 2 High Street, Dulverton, Somerset TA22 9HB.
Tel: 01398 324217
rescentre@amserve.com
