Healing comes to the Parish

Healing comes to the Parish

Frances Weaver shares some of her faith journey and how after 36 years of faithfulness to Catholic Charismatic Renewal in her parish, the Holy Spirit acted in an extraordinary way with some miraculous healings during a parish healing weekend they organised in January this year.

Frances I have lived in the same parish in Shirley in Southampton for many years. We had moved there from London, where I had been active as a 3rd order Servite, to a situation where there seemed nothing and I was spiritually very hungry. Thus when the curate at the time who had been to America invited those interested in prayer to a meeting I was delighted. About 25 people came to the first meeting and we talked about various forms of prayer. The priest then suggested that we start a prayer group like the ones he had seen in America. He never mentioned Charismatic Renewal and as none of us really had a clue, our first meetings were very tentative.

Then one of the group heard about an event that was being held at Hopwood Hall with Francis McNutt and Barbara Schlemon from America. So we went. It was there that I was baptised in the Holy Spirit and experienced for the first time what CCR was all about. Our prayer group began to flourish and we decided we would like to organise a conference a bit like the one we had seen at Hopwood. Thus five of us went to the La Sainte Unione College to see if they would let us hold a conference there. It was a real act of faith, as we were all very ordinary Catholics and none of us was equipped or experienced at organising anything like this. About 200 people came and it was a great success. This became the Southampton conference, which in turn gave birth to the Celebrate conference which takes place annually in Ilfracombe.

Staying faithful

We were very busy in the early days running Life in the Spirit seminars and monthly days of Renewal all during the 70s and 80s. But my own parish priest, although a good man, was very suspicious of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and I couldn’t bring any of this to the parish. It was very hard as I felt very spiritually undernourished and for my own formation I used to go to the Southampton Community Church, where they had the most amazing preachers of the Word. I knew, however, that because of the Eucharist and God’s call on my life, my place was in the Catholic Church and I should stay faithful whatever. We were very blessed during this time in that we received a lot of support from the de Montfort Fathers at Ashurst. They were involved in Charismatic Renewal in the area and helped to guide and direct us.

The healing team

In the 90s numbers at the days of renewal started going down, and I found myself doing more work in the parish. Four years ago, after 30 years, our priest retired and then eventually three years ago, we got a new one, who was more open. A few of us started a parish prayer group on Friday mornings and about a year ago we felt the Lord saying we should organise a healing weekend in the parish. A member of the prayer group asked the parish priest, Fr David Sillince for permission to do this. At first he said no, but our group prayed, and he came back to us and told us he had changed his mind.

Healing weekend in the parish

We invited Pauline Edwards and Fr Laurence Brassil OSA whom we know well, but even we weren’t prepared for the amazing healings that would take place and the effect that this has had on our parish priest and the parish. The retreat began on the Thursday evening, and on the Friday there was personal one-to-one prayer ministry and counselling by Pauline and Fr Laurence and then there was a general healing and renewal day on the Saturday and Sunday. Things got off to an incredible start on the first night when a woman with terminal mouth cancer was healed. A local female doctor who had had a bad accident causing a spinal injury and had to wear a metal corset because of the constant pain was also healed, and proved it by taking off her corset. It was amazing. I just couldn’t believe that all this was actually happening in MY parish!

Amazing healings happened

Even now some weeks after the weekend we are still getting letters from people telling us about their healings. One woman at Mass told me that her daughter had been getting constant headaches for months and was on daily painkillers, and she hadn’t had a headache since she was prayed for and another woman who had lost her speech because of a stroke got her vocal clarity back.

Following this Fr David has now suggested that we set up a permanent parish healing team which will be formally commissioned to pray for people. We are now in the process of training people to do this. In this we are being helped by Fr Ronnie Mitchell from the de Montfort Fathers, who are back at Ashurst. There are about 11 people from the parish doing this and 6 people from other parishes. I still have to pinch myself that this is all happening. For me it is a confirmation of the importance of staying faithful and waiting on the Lord. It is, after all, his work and his timing. We just have to pray and wait until he opens the doors for us. It can sometimes feel like nothing is happening, but that is not true, God is always at work, it’s just we don’t always see what He is doing until his power suddenly breaks through and you realise what He has been doing all along.

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I have lived in the same parish in Shirley in Southampton for many years. We had moved there from London, where I had been active as a 3rd order Servite, to a situation where there seemed nothing and I was spiritually very hungry. Thus when the curate at the time who had been to America invited those interested in prayer to a meeting I was delighted. About 25 people came to the first meeting and we talked about various forms of prayer. The priest then suggested that we start a prayer group like the ones he had seen in America. He never mentioned Charismatic Renewal and as none of us really had a clue, our first meetings were very tentative. Then one of the group heard about an event that was being held at Hopwood Hall with Francis McNutt and Barbara Schlemon from America. So we went. It was there that I was baptised in the Holy Spirit and experienced for the first time what CCR was all about. Our prayer group began to flourish and we decided we would like to organise a conference a bit like the one we had seen at Hopwood. Thus five of us went to the La Sainte Unione College to see if they would let us hold a conference there. It was a real act of faith, as we were all very ordinary Catholics and none of us was equipped or experienced at organising anything like this. About 200 people came and it was a great success. This became the Southampton conference, which in turn gave birth to the Celebrate conference which takes place annually in Ilfracombe. Staying faithful We were very busy in the early days running Life in the Spirit seminars and monthly days of Renewal all during the 70s and 80s. But my own parish priest, although a good man, was very suspicious of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and I couldn’t bring any of this to the parish. It was very hard as I felt very spiritually undernourished and for my own formation I used to go to the Southampton Community Church, where they had the most amazing preachers of the Word. I knew, however, that because of the Eucharist and God’s call on my life, my place was in the Catholic Church and I should stay faithful whatever. We were very blessed during this time in that we received a lot of support from the de Montfort Fathers at Ashurst. They were involved in Charismatic Renewal in the area and helped to guide and direct us. The healing team In the 90s numbers at the days of renewal started going down, and I found myself doing more work in the parish. Four years ago, after 30 years, our priest retired and then eventually three years ago, we got a new one, who was more open. A few of us started a parish prayer group on Friday mornings and about a year ago we felt the Lord saying we should organise a healing weekend in the parish. A member of the prayer group asked the parish priest, Fr David Sillince for permission to do this. At first he said no, but our group prayed, and he came back to us and told us he had changed his mind. Healing weekend in the parish We invited Pauline Edwards and Fr Laurence Brassil OSA whom we know well, but even we weren’t prepared for the amazing healings that would take place and the effect that this has had on our parish priest and the parish. The retreat began on the Thursday evening, and on the Friday there was personal one-to-one prayer ministry and counselling by Pauline and Fr Laurence and then there was a general healing and renewal day on the Saturday and Sunday. Things got off to an incredible start on the first night when a woman with terminal mouth cancer was healed. A local female doctor who had had a bad accident causing a spinal injury and had to wear a metal corset because of the constant pain was also healed, and proved it by taking off her corset. It was amazing. I just couldn’t believe that all this was actually happening in MY parish! Amazing healings happened Even now some weeks after the weekend we are still getting letters from people telling us about their healings. One woman at Mass told me that her daughter had been getting constant headaches for months and was on daily painkillers, and she hadn’t had a headache since she was prayed for and another woman who had lost her speech because of a stroke got her vocal clarity back. Following this Fr David has now suggested that we set up a permanent parish healing team which will be formally commissioned to pray for people. We are now in the process of training people to do this. In this we are being helped by Fr Ronnie Mitchell from the de Montfort Fathers, who are back at Ashurst. There are about 11 people from the parish doing this and 6 people from other parishes. I still have to pinch myself that this is all happening. For me it is a confirmation of the importance of staying faithful and waiting on the Lord. It is, after all, his work and his timing. We just have to pray and wait until he opens the doors for us. It can sometimes feel like nothing is happening, but that is not true, God is always at work, it’s just we don’t always see what He is doing until his power suddenly breaks through and you realise what He has been doing all along. << Top Home >>