The story of Networking Catholic Education Today is no more and no less but one answer to the question ''what do Headteachers do when they retire?

Peter Boylan, John Shoreland and Willie Slavin, later joined by the slightly more youthful John Clarke, all retired from Headships in Catholic schools around the turn of the century, after a lifetime in Catholic education. The promotion of the Church's mission to educate remains an abiding interest and in September 1999 the first issue of Networking was published. To the sophisticated eye Accrington, Northampton, Whitehaven and Bradford may seem improbable places to find such visionary thinking but spreading the Good News was not left in the hands of the sophisticated.

The vision arose out of a perceived need for a forum in which Catholic education could be discussed, commented upon and celebrated. Shared vision is of course wonderful to behold, making that real or, in this case, putting pen to paper, owes everything to Peter Boylan's leadership and hard work as Editor.

Now into its fifth year of publication, the journal has gone from strength to strength. From the initial base of support from CATSC (the Catholic Association of Teachers Schools and Colleges) and CISC (the Catholic Independent Schools Conference) we are now supported by regular subscriptions from the Birmingham and Manchester Secondary Schools Partnerships, ACCE (the Association of Catholic Chaplains in Education) and PACYO (the Professional Association of Catholic Youth Officers).

The breadth of this constituency, while in no way detracting from the original service to Catholic schools, offers a unique opportunity to develop an understanding across all the agencies charged with delivering the Church's mission to young people. The potential for development is yet to be exploited but is firmly on the agenda.

Ownership of the journal lies with the holding company NETCET Ltd. Peter Anwyl, James Fagan-King, Carmel O’Malley, Kevin Quigley and Bob Shepphard have joined the four founding members as directors. Publication is in the hands of Bellcourt Ltd, a company based in Newark, owned by John Clawson, whose interests include publication of a number of Diocesan newspapers.

In addition to offering their financial support, our key partner organisations make a most valuable contribution to the editorial policy making of the journal. The regular features on research and development, CAFOD and work with young people are entirely dependent upon the commitment of key contributors. In singling out Professor Gerald Grace, we acknowledge his quite unique service to the cause of promoting a sound research base on which we can inform, support and develop Catholic educational policy and practice. A collaboration offering the neatest fit with our own mission.

Mission Statement
The mission of the journal will be to provide a service in support of the distinctive mission of the Catholic Church in education and to young people. In particular:

• To foster co-operation among Catholic schools by sharing good practice
• To celebrate their success
• To report and reflect on research and development issues related to
  Catholic education
• To offer comment related to the Church's mission in education.