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Philomena receives top papal award
A Peterborough woman has received a top award from the Roman Catholic church for her dedication to community work.
A Peterborough woman has received a top award from the Roman Catholic church for her dedication to community work.Philomena Mendonca (66), from Ravensthorpe, was given the Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice - the church's highest honour for laypeople. The retired teacher received the papal award from Father Bruce Burbridge at St Oswald's Church, on Lincoln Road, Walton on Wednesday.
She said: "I am extremely pleased to get the award. I am involved in anything that happens in church - arranging the flowers, fund-raising, you name it, I have done it.
"Church to me is not just about praying, it's about being part of it and belonging. It's my community."
She is on the parish's pastoral council and is a safeguarding officer responsible for ensuring church members involved with children have a criminal records check.
In 1972 she moved from Uganda to the UK and taught at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Bretton for 35 years. She retired last year, but continues to work as a supply teacher.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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