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PROFILEJudy Pellat, ‘charitabletraveller’ from theCathedral parishPERSONALITY PROFILEJudy Pellat was born on the Isle of Wightwhere she attended the local non-Catholic State Girls School. Undaunted byher failure to pass the 11-plus exam, Judywas determined to further her educationand widen her horizons. Aged 16, shepacked her bags and headed for Germany.And it was there that Judy began tounderstand that life is not easy. Sheearned her keep by working as a plongeur.Two years later, back in England, she started working as anurse and specialised in operating theatres. In 1979 she leftfor Holland and worked there for the Sant Andres MedicalInstitute of Amsterdam.In 1990 Judy’s career took the degree route and then on tostudy for her Masters and Phd.However, the desire to help needy people has alwaysbeen the leitmotif of Judy’s life. Between 1980 andSpecial thanks to four students fromItaly (l-r) – Silvia Solitario, Oscar Gori,Vincenzo Melilli, Filippo Scarcia - who,during their recent summer course inPortsmouth, interviewed Judy andcompiled this profile for PP. Ed.With this issueBEHIND THE SCENES takes a look at …REDEMPTORIST PUBLICATIONS: 50 NOT OUT!BTS2005 she shuttled between France and England spendingsome weeks each year working in the Lourdes’ piscinae. Sheworked in Switzerland too looking after Mexican andSpanish children aged between 11 and 19.But the best was yet to come when Judy fell in love withTibet. Being there in 2006, in front of the Potala Palace inLhasa, was a dream come true. She’s currently learningChinese to keep mentally fit and, God willing, to returnagain to China.Over the last decade she has dedicated herselfwholeheartedly to cancer research. Her objective is to helpraise money to fight this disease, setting up and runningclinical trials.Her dream? To win the lottery. Well, that’s a common wish.But what distinguishes Judy from others is that she wouldgive most of her winnings to charity, keeping just a bit forher travels.For fifty years Chawton, the ‘Jane Austen Hampshire village’,has been the home of Redemptorist Publications which, over theyears, has become a household name to Catholics throughoutthe English-speaking world.On 4 January 1961 the first members of the Community arrivedat the new foundation of the Redemptorist Fathers inHampshire, to be known as Alphonsus House. The principalpublications at that time were The Sunday Bulletin and TheNovena Magazine which was edited by Fr Francis Dickinson.The priests operated the company from what was Carlyle Housebefore moving into a purpose-built office block in September1963 with two lay members of staff. Over the years theoperation has expanded and Redemptorist leaflets now reach430,000 Christians in the UK on any given Sunday. Otherpublications include books and booklets offering guidance andinformation for weddings, funerals, the baptism of babies andother key moments in Christian life. How to Survive BeingMarried to a Catholic is a timeless Redemptorist classic thatpresents Catholic beliefs in a cartoon/article format, brilliant forits presentation, simplicity and humour. Since its publication in1986 some 500,000 copies have been sold worldwide.It was in the 1970s, that the then Sales Director, Jim McKell,launched the RP Bookservice to supply religious, mainlyCatholic, books to customers throughout the world. This servicecontinues to grow with at least 3,000 different titles in stockand representing nine US publishers in the UK. The operation isthe exclusively distributor books published by St PaulsPublishing UK and St Pauls Publishing Australia, The Teacher’sEnterprise for Religious Education, and Marilla Ness.Redemptorist Publications has had a long association with TheTablet providing their readers with books that were reviewed inthe magazine and then, in 2010, taking on the parish distributionof the weekly publication.Redemptorist Publications now employs 26 members of staff atits base in Chawton as well as editors and writers who workfrom home. The long-term strategy has been to deliver strongand consistent growth. Through diversification into newterritories, new and strengthened product ranges and newpartnerships, Redemptorist Publications continues to develop abusiness for the future.For more information:Trish Wilson, Redemptorist Publications, Chawton, Alton,GU34 3HQ e: trish@rpbooks.co.uk t: 01420 5929688 PORTSMOUTH PEOPLE
PPPProminent People from our PastWe continue our series on the founding spirits of our diocese with a tribute toFrançois Longuet 1771 - 1817Founder of the Reading Missionby Lindsay MullaneyAmong the hundredsof French priestswho came toEngland as exilesduring the FrenchRevolution was a young studentfrom the seminary of Caen, inNormandy. His name wasFrançois Longuet and he wasthe youngest of ten children ofa prosperous farmer. The onlysurviving picture of him,reproduced here, probablyshows him as a very young manbefore he left France.His elder brother, Louis, wasalready a priest and wasmurdered by a revolutionarymob in Paris in 1792. Françoiscame to Portsmouth shortlyafterwards, but we knownothing of his movements forten years, except that he wasordained somewhere inEngland.By 1802 François had definitelyarrived in Reading and we knowthat he earned his living by teachingFrench. In 1809 he asked for permissionto build a chapel for the Catholiccommunity in Reading. He found a plotof land and, with his own savings, thehelp of the Bishops and of some wealthyCatholics, was able to borrow enoughmoney to buy a house and build hischapel, which he named The Chapel ofthe Resurrection. Tradition has it thatit was where the modern pub called TheRising Sun now stands.François seems to have loved teachingthe children of his parish. In one letterBishop William Poynter, the VicarApostolic of the London district, wrotethat he was delighted by how well theyknew their catechism. Longuet washelped in his work by at least two nuns.François Longuet, a man with a visionWe know that he regularly went toReading prison where he met men whowere about to be transported toAustralia. His congregation grewsteadily and in January 1813 he wasable to report that ‘A month ago 174Catholics were reckoned in my Chapel’.‘His murderer wasnever found’Although his main work was to build upthe Catholic community he workedclosely with ministers of other Christianchurches, for example in raising fundsto build the Reading Dispensary, theforerunner of the Royal BerkshireHospital. He was strikingly modern insome of his attitudes and shocked someother priests and laity byencouraging women and girls tojoin in the servers’ responses atMass.Despite his work in the parishFrançois continued to teachFrench in the neighbourhood. Itwas while he was riding backfrom teaching in Wallingford,where he had been paid for halfa year’s work, that he waswaylaid and murdered on whatis now the Oxford Road to thewest of Reading. This was on thenight of 12 February 1817. Hishorribly mutilated body wasfound by a postman the nextmorning. The money had allbeen taken but not his watch orhis ring, engraved with the Latinmotto meaning For God and theKing.Despite a long police investigationand generous offers of areward, the culprit was neverfound. François’ congregation,and the whole town of Reading,were devastated and many peopleattended his funeral. He was buried inthe chapel he had founded. When StJames’ Church was opened in 1840 hiscoffin was placed under the high altarand a brass plaque commemoratingFrançois Longuet was placed over it. It isnow at the foot of the communionsteps.In a letter to a Protestant clergyman inWallingford, shortly before he wasmurdered, Francois wrote, ‘I daily prayfor the prosperity of the good andgenerous England; may She and herchildren be blessed to the end of theworld’. Reading and the diocese owe agreat deal to this remarkable man who,like other French priests, contributed somuch to Catholic life in England.PORTSMOUTH PEOPLE9
Page 1 and 2: PORTSMOUTHOct/Nov 2012 • Vol 12-5
Page 3 and 4: Jay Kettle-WilliamsThe Prince and T
Page 5: FAITH IN ACTIONCathedralDiscoveryCe
Page 8 and 9: TEENS & 20sTEENS & 20sDawn Harrison
Page 12 and 13: PRIE-DIEUJUST A CLICK AWAY…Loving
Page 14: REVIEWSREVIEWSWATERSHEDTurning poin
Page 18 and 19: BISHOP PHILIP EGANST JOHN'S CATHEDR
Page 20 and 21: JFJJust for Juniors‘Among you the
Page 22 and 23: NEWS ...CHEEKBY JOWL:Parishioners c
Page 24 and 25: VATICAN TWO... AND YOFVATICAN TWO O
Page 26 and 27: MOVERS ...MOVERS and SHAKERSWe pick
Page 28 and 29: PROFILEPRIEST'S PROFILEMonsignor Mu
Page 30 and 31: CHRIST THE KINGWhat Sort of King is
Page 32: When you have finished reading this

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