Catholic Herald Reporter ONDON'S Catholic Build
ing Society announced plans this week for opening centres in Birmingham and Liverpool hefore the end of the year. This will bring the society closer to its ultimate aim of having offices in every large town in the country.
Since it was founded three years ago the society has helped more than 200 Catholic families as well as priests and nuns. It has supporters in the U.S.A., Africa, Great Britain and Ireland, and its assets now stand at more than £300,000.
Wing Commander V. G. Byrne, founder and managing director, said this week that the society's aims were fourfold: to help large families buy their own homes; to help widows and spinsters; to encourage Catholics to save; and finally to help clergy and religious orders in purchasing property. Wing Cdr. Byrne was the first Spitfire pilot shot down during the war and was a prisoner of war for four years. He founded the Margaret Mullin Home for old people in Chelsea and is also chairman of the London Irish Centre's Kennedy Appeal Committee.