The Commission organised a Day of Reflection on 17 September in Settle. For those coming from farther parts of the diocese (i.e. most of us!) it was a lovely day for travelling into the Dales. The church (St.Mary & St.Michael) and associated hall are not much to look at from the outside but they provided a lovely venue within easy walking distance of the station.
Fr. Dennis Cassidy provided the reflections during the day. As well as giving us some of his personal history his input was wide-ranging – from thoughts about St.John of the Cross to a song by Christy Moore to an Umberto Eco novel to a poem by T S Eliot! One attendee commented: “I personally find John of the Cross very difficult, but it was good to hear from someone who had really connected with his ideas. Opening up some of the amazing mystics and thinkers in our church is something we need to do and which helps us to become more confident and questioning.”
Everyone had brought something to share for lunch and it seemed to be much more than if everyone had just brought a sandwich.
Afterwards some in the group took a riverside stroll – including taking a look at the 
community power generation scheme that uses the force of the river Ribble to drive an Archimedes screw which, at peak, can produce up to 44kW of electricity. We were grateful to Maggie McSherry (second from the right)– local parishioner (as well as being the Faith and Justice Worker for Lancaster Diocese) for providing much interesting local information as we walked around.
Another attendee commented: “Lovely being in Settle and having the walk at lunchtime which was a good opportunity to talk with people and see something of the town.”
Fr.Dennis has kindly made the text of his initial talk available and we have turned it into a little pamphlet that you can download if you are interested in finding out more about what went on during this day.
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