The Repository: Serving with Warmth.

Margaret and Penny, bringing kindness and welcome to the Repository each week

The Repository at St Charles Borromeo is one of those small corners of parish life that many people walk past without realising how much warmth, friendship and quiet dedication lies behind it. After Sunday Mass, when the church begins to empty and conversations drift into the aisles, a small team of three women can usually be found at the back, greeting people, answering questions, and offering devotional items that have supported the faith of generations. Margaret McKnight, Penny Dixie and Ruramai Ndawana together embody the blend of steadiness, kindness and quiet service that gives St Charles much of its character.

Margaret has been part of the parish for around forty years, and for fifteen of those she has helped in the Repository. She is one of the familiar faces of St Charles, someone people instinctively approach because she carries an ease and calmness that reflect long experience. Her work here sits alongside her roles as a reader and a Eucharistic Minister, both of which she has carried out with the same sense of gentle responsibility. She is also involved in a charity for the housebound.

Although she once handled the buying for the Repository, this has now passed to Penny. Margaret represents continuity, knowledge of how things work, and the quiet understanding of parish rhythms that comes from years of involvement. She speaks very highly of Penny and Ruramai and really appreciates their hard work and commitment.

Penny is keen to acknowledge the importance of Margaret’s experience - not simply as helpful but as something she deeply respects.

Penny has been attending St Charles for about fifteen years. She does not live in the immediate vicinity, but like so many who travel in, she was drawn to the parish by the church’s beauty and the community’s warmth. Around eighteen months ago she began helping in the Repository and gradually took on the responsibility of sourcing the items they sell. What stands out most when speaking to Penny is how much she values the human encounters that happen across that small tables at the back. She says that meeting people is easily the most rewarding part of the work. A person might come looking for a rosary, or a prayer card, or something for a child preparing for First Communion, but very often the conversation widens into something more personal. Penny enjoys listening, and she has discovered that the Repository is one of the places where brief but meaningful conversations can take place — moments that help people feel known and accompanied.

Her involvement in the parish extends beyond this. Through the SVP, Penny helps with eucharistic ministry outreach, arranges occasional outings and takes part in other visits to residential homes. These experiences sit naturally alongside her Repository work because they both come from the same instinct: to be present, to accompany, and to make time for others. She is careful to recognise that she has stepped into a role shaped over many years by Margaret, whose long service, she says, provides the foundation on which she now builds.

The third member of the team, Ruramai, supports the Repository whenever her work schedule allows, usually around one Sunday in four. Although her time is limited, her contribution adds another layer of warmth to the little group. When she is available, the sense of companionship behind the table becomes even more evident, with conversations unfolding easily and parishioners lingering a little longer.

Penny speaks eloquently about how faith is often lived most vividly in these small encounters. The Repository, she says, allows her to meet people where they are: not with grand gestures but with simple attentiveness. Margaret, through her long service, has lived this truth for many years — a quiet witness to the value of steady, unassuming commitment. And Ruramai’s willingness to help even when her schedule is demanding reflects the generosity that keeps parish life alive.

In a church as historic and architecturally striking as St Charles, it is easy to focus on the beauty of the building. Yet the life of the parish is shaped far more by the people within it than by any stone or stained glass. The Repository team, in their understated way, reveal this truth clearly. Their service ensures that parishioners can easily find rosaries, medals and devotional items, but it also ensures something deeper: that everyone who pauses there is met with dignity, kindness and a sense of belonging.

The Repository is, in many ways, a small ministry. But it is precisely the small ministries that bind the life of a parish together. Through conversation, presence and quiet dedication, Margaret, Penny and Ruramai offer something that cannot be listed on a shelf or priced with a label — the simple gift of welcome. And in doing so, they reflect what St Charles strives to be: a community shaped by faith, strengthened by friendship and enriched by the people who serve it with love.

Together, these three women ensure that the Repository continues to offer items that support the devotional life of a diverse parish. St Charles now brings together people from around twenty-six nationalities, something the team keeps in mind when selecting stock. Rosaries remain the most popular purchase, followed closely by small crosses, medals and prayer cards. There are also items for children, including simple devotional gifts, and materials for those preparing for sacraments. Christmas and Easter are naturally the busiest times of year, though between these seasons demand can fluctuate unpredictably. Whatever is sold, the profits go directly back into helping the church.

Yet the Repository is more than a place of transactions. It has become a quiet ministry of presence, where the items are often secondary to the human exchange that takes place. People come for a prayer card but end up sharing something of their week. Others stop simply because the familiar faces of Penny and Margaret and, when she is free, Ruramai, invite conversation. The Repository is one of the first places visitors and parishioners encounter after Mass, standing close to where Madge hands out the hymn books. Together they form a small welcoming point where friendliness and conversation come as naturally as the selling of religious articles.