Key Green Methodist Chapel

In 2004, when he was mayor of the town of Congleton, Douglas Parker paid a civic visit to Hungary.  He happened to meet there the chairman of a Franciscan Foundation caring for destitute children in Romania.  He then revealed that one of his ambitions in life was to drive a lorry-load of goods to a children’s orphanage in Romania.  A vital connection had been made.  

With the help of friends and colleagues Douglas managed to borrow a minibus, acquire a load of clothing and then take it to the home run by the Foundation.  

He was shown round the home and taken into the town to see the ‘phantom blocks’ where 10 - 12 people were living in one room, without water, gas or electricity.  Douglas was so moved by the appalling conditions and impressed by the work of the Franciscan Foundation caring for destitute children there, that he decided to set up a charity to support the Foundation.  

And so ‘Children of Romania (Congleton)’ began.

In 1989, when the Communists left Romania, the state-controlled industries collapsed and mass unemployment followed.  In the autumn of 1992, a friar named Csaba travelled to Deva in south Transylvania and broke down the doors of the derelict, long abandoned and desecrated monastery, previously closed down by the Communists. 

Brother Csaba began working to rebuild the monastery.  However, local children started to come to him for help and soon he had taken in 15 starving, filthy, abandoned youngsters and made a home for them in the cloisters.

As social conditions in the country deteriorated, the number of children seeking help increased rapidly and soon there was no more room in the monastery.  With the help of three of his Franciscan brothers and some supporters, Brother Csaba began to buy up the flats in a block adjacent to the monastery buildings.  Here they created homes for the children, with 10-12 youngsters living in each small flat under the care of a housemother.

A party of sixteen members & friends of Trinity Methodist Church visited Romania to see the work being undertaken by the Saint Francis Foundation and the Children of Romania (Congleton) charity which was administered at that time by Douglas and Hilary Parker, Colin and Margaret Barlow and Mavis Stonier.  

Rev. Philip Berry and his wife, Joanna, joined Douglas Parker on one of his trips to Romania to see some of the children’s homes that he and his wife Hilary have been supporting through their charity, Children of Romania.

In Budapest, the Canadian Ambassador, no less, told us that what we would see would be a life-changing experience.  She was absolutely right.