|
News News from the British Isles and around the world
|
|
RECONCILIATION OF THE ISLES A PILGRIM STATUE OF OUR LADY OF RECONCILIATION HAS BEEN THE FOCUS FOR PRAYING FOR RECONCILIATION & CHRISTIAN UNITY Antonia Moffat reports – For the last ten years, following a papal blessing by Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1997, the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Reconciliation has been travelling across the dioceses of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In each diocese visited the bishop has given his blessing and each week it has resided in a different parish where it has acted as a focus for special services and times of prayer. Ecumenical gatherings have also been inspired by the pilgrim statue’s visit and it has spent some time in Anglican parishes too. Many individuals have come to pray before Our Lady for personal intentions and for healing in their own families and communities.
The idea was in part inspired by the vision of Claude Fisher, the Walsingham historian, who foresaw that there would come a “time to bear Our Lady of Walsingham in an ecumenical endeavour of prayer throughout England and Wales” and from the call of Pope John Paul II in Tertio Millennio Adveniente to prepare spiritually for the millennium. The statue was sculpted by noted sculptor, Sheila Mitchell. On the sides of Our Lady’s chair are the emblems of the 4 countries of the northern isles – the rose of England, the shamrock of Ireland, the Leek of Wales and the thistle of Scotland. The original intention also included “reparation for the sins, past and present, of Christians in these Isles which have caused scandal and disunity, and intercession for Christian Unity, Reconciliation and Conversion.” Fr Hope Patten, the Anglican vicar of Walsingham, wanting the Anglican Shrine to serve as a “living act of reparation” for the sins of the disunity of the Church had embedded in the walls of the Holy House as an “act of Reparation” stones from most of the major monastic houses, suppressed during the reformation. The main altar was built from stones which formed the original Walsingham priory church destroyed in the reign of Henry VIII. Behind this is the belief that only by acknowledging the sins of the past can we really grow together in reconciliation and unity. In some ways people rather lost sight of the idea until it was given a powerful reinforcement by Pope John Paul II in 1994 when he began to make what he called “acts of purification of memory” to recall in penitence the past sins of “the sons and daughters of the Church” in such events as the Fourth Crusade and the Reformation. The destruction of the holy shrine at Walsingham and the death of the martyrs here has meant that the divisions and hatred of Reformation times have been acutely felt in Walsingham and the remains of the religious houses are a constant reminder of that period of history. Pope John Paul II called on the Church to look back on such events in penitence because the roots of current division often lie in the sins of the past. Conflicts long forgotten can continue to exert an influence on us. In this important task we have a particular responsibility to make reparation for the sins of the families, communities and nations to which we belong, whether the sins are recent or in the distant past. Pope John Paul did this in particular way through his encyclicals and apostolic letter as well as in his meetings with various heads of state, political leaders and senior church leaders and in particular during his visit to the wailing wall in Israel in the year 2000. Currently the statue is in Scotland where Frances O’Donnell, the organiser of the Scottish pilgrimage tour has plans for it to travel the length and breadth of Scotland and even to the Western Isles. It is likely that the statue will remain there about two years.
Another reconciliation initiative also took place at the end of September (28th September – 5th October) when a small group from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the isle of Man walked in pilgrimage to Assisi following a suggestion given by Fr Pat Collins at the Newman Consultation three years for a prophetic act to show that the countries were being called to forget past divisions and for representatives from each of the countries to walk in pilgrimage together to Assisi. This idea was taken up by Margaret Thomas from Wales. There were 12 people who took part in this from the four countries. They were also joined by 3 anglicans at the end of the pilgrimage. Margaret Thomas commented ”It was a wonderful experience and we felt that, although it was a small group, it had a significance beyond our numbers, which we are praying about”. We will report back on this in a future issue of Goodnews.
As a follow up to the Newman Consultation in Birmingham 2 years ago, the Irish NSC for CCR has invited some leaders to come together for a meeting in January 2008, to pray for future vision for Ireland. Chairwoman Marie Beirne comments “ I feel the Lord is stressing the importance of prayer and intercession in a special way at this time.”
NATIONAL SCOTTISH CONFERENCE This year’s national conference for CCR will take place at the St Thomas Aquinas School in Jordanhill, Glasgow 9th-10th November. The theme for the conference is from Isaiah 40:3 “A voice cries in the wilderness, “Prepare a straight highway for our God across the wilderness.” And Isaiah 43:18-19 “No need to remember past events, no need to think about what was done before. Look I am doing something new, now it emerges, can you not see it? Yes, I am making a road in the desert and rivers in the wasteland.” The main speaker is Charles Whitehead who will talk about future vision and there will be workshops by Jamus Smith on prayer groups, Magnus McFarlane Barrow on Scottish Relief Services and Mary’s Meals, Pauline Byers on Mothers’ Prayers, Colin Symnes on working together ecumenically, Andy Hall on New Things, and Fr Stefan Park on working with young people. See page 36 for contact details
This year’s national conference for CCR will take place at the St Thomas Aquinas School in Jordanhill, Glasgow 9th-10th November. The theme for the conference is from Isaiah 40:3 “A voice cries in the wilderness, “Prepare a straight highway for our God across the wilderness.” And Isaiah 43:18-19 “No need to remember past events, no need to think about what was done before. Look I am doing something new, now it emerges, can you not see it? Yes, I am making a road in the desert and rivers in the wasteland.” The main speaker is Charles Whitehead who will talk about future vision and there will be workshops by Jamus Smith on prayer groups, Magnus McFarlane Barrow on Scottish Relief Services and Mary’s Meals, Pauline Byers on Mothers’ Prayers, Colin Symnes on working together ecumenically, Andy Hall on New Things, and Fr Stefan Park on working with young people. See page 36 for contact details
For the first time this year the Welsh national conference was not held in Carmarthen, but in Noddfa, Penmaenmawr, in North Wales 7th-10th August. From now onwards each year the national conference will be held at a different venue. The theme was “I will be their God and they shall be my people”, taken from the many places in scriptures which describe God’s remnant people after periods of trials, persecution and purification, and God’s promise of restoration for them. Following the trend of recent years, the numbers have continued to get smaller, and only 50 people managed to attend. The speakers were excellent, however, and included Marie Beirne, the chairperson of the Irish NSC and Fr Ambrose Walsh from Cardiff. One lady I met was one of the original team members of the Welsh NSC, when it was first set up by Bishop Langton Fox 27 years ago. She told me that Bishop Langton had consecrated the Welsh NSC and all the prayer groups in Wales to Our Lady. I see this as significant. Although we might have stormy waters ahead for the CCR in Wales, as long as we, like in Don Bosco’s dream, allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, anchored to the Lord in the Eucharist, with our heavenly Mother to intercede for us, we will be safe. Next year the National conference will be held in Lampeter.
Over the summer months and early autumn there have been the usual rosta of wonderful conferences round various parts of England. Small camps, like the Spirit of Truth Family Camp in the Midlands and Campers Renewal in York, have a relaxed programme and do it yourself atmosphere where it is easy to get to know everyone. While big conferences like New Dawn at Walsingham, which regularly attract over 2000 people, have the advantage of drawing in international speakers from abroad. Terrible summer flooding meant there was a question as to whether the fields would have dried out in time for New Dawn, and in the event the family camp had to be moved to higher ground, but the weather was good all week and the conference passed off smoothly. The conference gets more international each year, not only due to the speakers, who included Fr Anthony Mursala and Fr John Bashibora from Uganda, but the growing groups coming from different countries. The gospel now is read in four languages – Portuguese, Polish and Czech – to cater for those who can’t speak English. Meanwhile the numbers were up at the Birmingham conference, attracted not only by the music and speakers, who included Dennis Wrigley from Maranatha, Charles Whitehead and Michelle Moran and Fr Leonard May, but the comfortable surroundings, which are ideal for those who are older or on their own. One of the unexpected messages to have emerged from Birmingham was a sense of urgency and expectation about the Second Coming. This came out in Mgr John Moran’s opening homily and the popularity of Sr Elizabeth Tuttle’s workshop about the spirituality of Anne, lay apostle and the spirituality of Jesus the returning king. The importance of listening to the prophetic was brought home by Roy Hendy, from the House of the Open Door Community’s, who shared how the Lord had warned them, in subtle ways, of the coming floods that damaged the community premises, but they were so committed to what they were doing that they didn’t listen. Jean Vanier spoke movingly and prophetically at the Come and See conference at the Floral Hall in Southport, where 700 people gathered organised by Fr Chris Thomas. He stressed the importance of reaching out to the broken parts within ourselves and serving the broken in society.
Jesus Youth Wales Over 250 young Catholic charismatics, who are part of the Jesus Youth Movement, founded over 20 years ago in Kerala, India, gathered at Cefin Lea Park, Newtown in North Wales for an European Convention (7th-11th Sept 2007). The Group were a mix of teens and young families and came from 6 European countries where Jesus Youth has rapidly grown over the last couple of years, due to increased immigration. the speakers were Mark Nimo from Ghana and Michelle Moran from the UK. Praise, worship and creativity was led by the REX Band from India, who have performed at the World Youth Day several times and are known for their powerful and professional performances.
“It’s not only you who celebrate this anniversary, it’s the whole Church”, said the new archbishop of Warsaw, Kazimierz Nycz at the closing Eucharist of the gathering of 150 leaders of the CCR, who had met in Warsaw to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the CCR 27th-30th September 2007. The meeting had been organised by the European sub committee of ICCRS, the Vatican link organisation, to celebrate the past and look to the future. There were representatives from all corners of Europe from Turkey to Norway and Romania and Ukraine to Spain and Switzerland. These included NSC representatives or, where there were no NSCs, major leaders or representatives from some of the international networks such as the Sword of the Spirit communities, the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Communities and Evangelisation 2000. Marie Beirne, the Irish NSC chairperson, Sr Bridget Dunne, Tom O’Dwyer, Jim Corr, Mary Curran came from Ireland, Steve Lavery and Gerry Loughlin from Scotland, and Michelle Moran, the current president of ICCRS, Charles Whitehead and Neil Hughes were there from England. Oreste Pesare, the director of ICCRS invited the CCR to focus on its central goals which he saw as conversion, sanctification, building the Church through the charisms, evangelisation and integration into the pastoral life of the Church. He said, “We need the power from above. We have to give the power back to God. It is not us who are the principle actors of our lives, but the Lord is.”He stressed three ways to go back to the roots of the CCR : to be humble, to listen and to act. Other speakers included:Marie Beirne from Ireland, Jude Muscat from Malta, Charles Whitehead from UK, Christopher Hemberger from Germany, Kriszta and Laszlo Gorove from Hungary, Sr Mary O’Duffy from Evangelisation 2000 and Martin Steinbereithner from Belfast. The final talk was given by Michelle Moran who shared her experiences of the CCR in Ghana and Brazil where CCR is flourishing and has huge numbers of young people who want to be active. Michelle commented, “We can learn from them”. She also mentioned the New Europeans who have come to our continent from far off countries and who had a lot to contribute to the work of evangelisation, she told how in England representatives from the English NSC had started to dialogue with some of the catholic charismatic groups in London who are from immigrants background. Recently she had visited Wales where there was a European meeting of 250 charismatic catholics from Kerala in India, who live all over Europe and who are keen to evangelise. “Do we welcome them?” she challenged. Edited version of EUCCRIL report by Kees Slijkerman
Anne Marie Salgo shares a few thoughts on the fifth of the city evangelisation congresses which took place 16th-22nd September in Budapest, Hungary. It was a great 10 days I spent in Budapest and I was pleasantly surprised to see wonderful signs of renewal in the Hungarian Church. I have never seen the Church in Hungary so alive. It was a great sign of revival and the influence of the movements. The whole city mission was very professionally done, with about 120 venues and 1500 events across the city. There were central events on public squares and shopping centres, as well as parish events. These included such things as public reading of the bible, concerts, movie screenings and art events – a whole range of activities filled the city for the whole week. There was a huge screen erected in front of one of the churches, opposite a tube station, which had either talks from the conference or movies playing on it the whole time, letting everyone know what was going on. Several of us gave workshops It was a pity that were only about 10 of us from the UK, while 27 Australians travelled across the world to be there but we all enjoyed it. Mgr Keith Barltrop and Emily Davis from CASE(Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation)spoke about making parishes more evangelistic, while Bishop Ambrose Griffiths, spoke about the development of Catholic Youth work, and Sheila and Dennis Keefe, spoke about KIT (Keeping in Touch) and Jeanine from St Patrick’s School of Evangelisation (SPES) and I, spoke about the challenges of evangelising in the centre of London and shared our experiences of street evangelisation and Spirit in the City. Two of the main conference talks in English by Ralph Martin on faith and evangelisation and Rev Nicky Gumbel from Holy Trinity Brompton on hope, are actually on the web site www.icne.hu and can be downloaded. There was also a fantastic talk by a Hungarian Franciscan who has opened dozens of homes for orphans in Transylvania and has a very powerful message about how to love today. Another highlight was the day of pilgrimage to Esztergom, which is Hungary’s Canterbury and a beautiful historic town where the archbishop lives. Here we heard some testimonies from priests who were persecuted during communism. There were rumours about the next season of city
missions. Someone mentioned Dublin, but at the end of the Congress,
Cardinal Erdo handed a mission cross to a bishop from Warsaw, so in
about two years time the congress and city missions it seems will continue
there, so watch this space!
|
|
|||
 |
||||
|
|
|
Fr
Gareth Leyshon, who is 33, was recently ordained for the Cardiff
diocese. A convert to Catholicism, as a child Gareth was sent
to the Salvation Army for Sunday school, but feeling a call to
receive the Eucharist he became a Catholic at the age of 16. A
physicist, he studied for a PhD at the university of Wales in
Cardiff but eventually felt the call to the priesthood and left
his academic career to study for the priesthood at Wonersh. A
committed supporter of Youth2000 and Catholic Charismatic Renewal,
he also spent 3 months while doing his seminary studies with the
Sion Community for evangelisation. Now ordained he is part of
a team ministry serving Caerphilly, Pontypridd and Rhondda Valleys.
Penny
Cavill was baptised in the Holy Spirit in May 2005 during a healing
service at Cardiff Cathedral. She comments, “At the time
I had just started attending the Life in the Spirit seminars run
by our local prayer group of St Mary’s, Chepstow and St Paul’s
Caldicot. From that day forward the priorities in my life changed
from following my own agenda to seeking the Lord’s. He has
kept me quite busy since then, attending and leading prayer groups,
as well being part of our newly formed diocesan service team.
I have also started doing a theology course. My vision for Renewal
in Wales is that we reach out to our youth and capture their enthusiasm
in a new Pentecost! 
Ged
Farrell, who is the leader of the Aberdeen Diocesan Service Team
for CCR, is the newly elected chairman of the Scottish National
Service Committee. He takes over from Tom Mullen from Edinburgh,
who has held the post for six years, and who will hand over at
this year’s national conference in November.