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| When I joined the staff of the Catholic bishops' newly founded Justice and Peace Commission in 1970, there were very few lay women in leadership roles in the church in Britain. My dear friend, Mildred Nevile, who has died of cancer aged 85, was a shining exception. | When I joined the staff of the Catholic bishops' newly founded Justice and Peace Commission in 1970, there were very few lay women in leadership roles in the church in Britain. My dear friend, Mildred Nevile, who has died of cancer aged 85, was a shining exception. |
| She was brought up in Lincolnshire, part of a devoutly Catholic family of diplomats and civil servants. Her work in the early 1950s with the Young Christian Students led her in 1958 into the Sword of the Spirit movement, which in 1965 became the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR). With Mildred at the helm as general secretary from 1967, it epitomised the enthusiasm for tackling poverty and injustice globally that swept Catholicism in the wake of the reforming Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s. | She was brought up in Lincolnshire, part of a devoutly Catholic family of diplomats and civil servants. Her work in the early 1950s with the Young Christian Students led her in 1958 into the Sword of the Spirit movement, which in 1965 became the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR). With Mildred at the helm as general secretary from 1967, it epitomised the enthusiasm for tackling poverty and injustice globally that swept Catholicism in the wake of the reforming Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s. |
| I was one of the many young people inspired by Mildred to join that fight. In my own case, her example also led me to convert to Catholicism. Under Mildred's guidance, CIIR, from its offices in the Africa Centre in Covent Garden, London, played an active role for change in Chile, El Salvador, apartheid South Africa, Rhodesia and East Timor. She established its volunteering programme, sending young people off around the globe to work in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, and then return to take up the struggle in Britain. Some of those she mentored and encouraged went on to run leading domestic and international charities and development agencies. | I was one of the many young people inspired by Mildred to join that fight. In my own case, her example also led me to convert to Catholicism. Under Mildred's guidance, CIIR, from its offices in the Africa Centre in Covent Garden, London, played an active role for change in Chile, El Salvador, apartheid South Africa, Rhodesia and East Timor. She established its volunteering programme, sending young people off around the globe to work in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, and then return to take up the struggle in Britain. Some of those she mentored and encouraged went on to run leading domestic and international charities and development agencies. |
| What was perhaps most powerful about Mildred was the practical way in which she lived out her commitment to social justice. She insisted that CIIR campaigns be evidence-based and carefully argued. She wanted to put the facts into the public arena and trusted that those who read them would share her sense of outrage at human rights abuses, poverty and marginalisation. | What was perhaps most powerful about Mildred was the practical way in which she lived out her commitment to social justice. She insisted that CIIR campaigns be evidence-based and carefully argued. She wanted to put the facts into the public arena and trusted that those who read them would share her sense of outrage at human rights abuses, poverty and marginalisation. |
| She had tremendous courage and a great freedom about her. She had no qualms about confronting those in power – whether in the secular or church world – but did it in a polite, well-mannered way that meant she had friends on all sides of the political spectrum, as well as among bishops and cardinals. Yet, she could be devastatingly sharp if they tried to ignore the evidence she presented. Her radicalism lived within a calm exterior that made it all more potent. | She had tremendous courage and a great freedom about her. She had no qualms about confronting those in power – whether in the secular or church world – but did it in a polite, well-mannered way that meant she had friends on all sides of the political spectrum, as well as among bishops and cardinals. Yet, she could be devastatingly sharp if they tried to ignore the evidence she presented. Her radicalism lived within a calm exterior that made it all more potent. |
| When she retired from CIIR in 1985, Mildred was appointed MBE and continued to support the organisation as it renamed itself Progressio. She was also a trustee of Cafod, the Catholic development agency, and the first chair of the Churches' National Housing Coalition (now Housing Justice). Most recently she was an active patron of the Denis Hurley Association, formed to help to build a new community centre in Durban, South Africa. | When she retired from CIIR in 1985, Mildred was appointed MBE and continued to support the organisation as it renamed itself Progressio. She was also a trustee of Cafod, the Catholic development agency, and the first chair of the Churches' National Housing Coalition (now Housing Justice). Most recently she was an active patron of the Denis Hurley Association, formed to help to build a new community centre in Durban, South Africa. |
| She continued tirelessly to dedicate herself to those in need – whether it be the asylum seekers she befriended, those in the detention centres she visited, or individuals she worked with as an ecumenical spiritual director (having gained an MA in theology from Leeds University as a mature student). She took the demand of the gospels to love our neighbour and lived it out to the full, holding firm to the view that love must include justice. | She continued tirelessly to dedicate herself to those in need – whether it be the asylum seekers she befriended, those in the detention centres she visited, or individuals she worked with as an ecumenical spiritual director (having gained an MA in theology from Leeds University as a mature student). She took the demand of the gospels to love our neighbour and lived it out to the full, holding firm to the view that love must include justice. |
| There was, alongside her wisdom and holiness, a tremendous sense of fun in Mildred. Whatever the setbacks she encountered, her optimism and belief that something could be done never faltered. | There was, alongside her wisdom and holiness, a tremendous sense of fun in Mildred. Whatever the setbacks she encountered, her optimism and belief that something could be done never faltered. |
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