PA PROFILE
After also considering primary school teach-
ing as a career, Catherine decided to take a secretarial course after university and secured a job working for the Bishop in Europe. She then moved on to a post with the Mission to Sea- farers, before landing her role at Westminster Abbey. But while she has a solid foundation in the Church of Eng-
land — all her roles have been related to this faith — the job still involves research to keep faux pas to a minimum. “I am not always certain how to address someone from the
Roman Catholic Church or the Greek Orthodox Church — there is a set format for addressing them in a letter — so I will always check with someone who knows if I am unsure,” she says. And while her diligence means she’s managed to avoid
offending any religious correspondents, the sheer number of nationalities visiting the Abbey means it is inevitable there is the odd misunderstanding. Catherine laughs as she relates a particularly amusing story from the swine flu outbreak several years back. “When we had the swine flu three or four years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York decided that visitors were only to receive communion in one kind and that was the bread, and that people were just to receive it in their hand and then put it in their mouth. “Because we have so many foreign visitors to the Abbey we had
to have it translated very quickly and inserted into the service papers for the Sunday. I was typing up the German one and because there was someone waiting over me I misread the German word ‘mund’, which means mouth, for ‘hund’, which means dog. So that week the papers read: ‘If you usually receive communion in your tongue just receive it in your hand and then put it in your dog’.”
A ROYAL WEDDING As well as its many tourists, the Abbey also hosts some rather more famous visitors, and being involved in events such as the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is one of the perks of the job, says Catherine, who was seconded to the press team to field media questions on the day of the big event. “I was in the Abbey until Prince William and Prince Harry
arrived, then I was answering questions from the press in St Mar- garet’s, which is the church next door to the Abbey. So like every- body else I watched it on TV, albeit from next door. But after the service a couple of us went out on to the pavement and the
The Venerable Dr Jane Hedges (top), Canon David Stanton (middle) and Canon Andrew Tremlett (bottom)
carriage came past. There were just a few people on our side of the street, whereas on the other side there were banks of peo- ple so I was very fortunate. “It was a very exciting thing to be part of. Because it had been building up, as
anyone who has a high profile event will know, you get emails from people all over the world asking questions. The attention is quite constant and then you’ve done it and you think: ‘wow we actually did that, the team did that’.” Although it intensifies around big events such as the wed-
ding or the Queen’s Jubilee celebration, fielding random questions is a routine part of Catherine’s job. Among the many legitimate enquires, however, there’s also the odd curveball: early on in the role she says she was the subject of a prank call from a radio station, with the caller asking to bring a group of monks that included Friar Tuck and Brother Cadfael to the church. These small interruptions mean there really is never a typ-
ical day, but this is something that comes with the territory when working in such a famous building, says Catherine, who wouldn’t have it any other way. “The Abbey is such an amaz- ing building and reflects what is happening in the area so well. On a normal day in August we will have thousands of visitors come in any one day. Then we have a service and suddenly the atmosphere in the building changes and it is a church. When the Abbey is quiet it is very beautiful and I feel so lucky to be able to go there during those times.” E
10 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 |
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© The Dean and Chapter of Westminster
© The Dean and Chapter of Westminster
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