The Archdiocese of Liverpool celebrates 25 years since staff moved into the Liverpool Archdiocese Centre for Evangelisation (LACE), now St Margaret Clitherow Centre (SMCC). 

On 22 January 2001, more than 30 members of staff relocated from a Victorian building on Brownlow Hill to the newly developed SMCC. Previously the site of St Margaret Clitherow school, the new building provided space for the team to grow, collaborate, and develop new programmes to support priests, parishes, and the wider diocesan community. 

The site also included a chapel, allowing for regular Mass for staff and visitors. Since then, the staff supporting the archdiocese has doubled, enabling support for priests and parishes in all aspects of parish life.

As well as being the administrative base for the archdiocese, SMCC’s conference and events facilities have enabled the centre to welcome thousands of visitors and delegates each year, hosting meetings, training days, retreats, and gatherings for parishes, schools, organisations, and external partners.

Five current members of staff were among those who made the move in 2001 — Aaron Kiely, Maureen Stigberg, Elena Stopforth, John McMahon and Sandra Brennan — offering a living link between the centre’s earliest days and its present role at the heart of the archdiocese.

The offices were formally opened by Archbishop Patrick Kelly, who found the conference facilities a particularly useful addition: “At the new Centre for Evangelisation, we will be able to develop new initiatives, some of which will take place at the centre, others across the archdiocese”. 

The 25th anniversary will be marked with a celebration of Mass, to be offered by Canon Aidan Prescott VG, bringing staff together in prayer and thanksgiving for the past, present and future of the centre.