Monday, May 14, 2012

St.Anne's Youths Lourdes Pilgrimage from Ormskirk 2012

Ormskirk Youths Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2012
Ormskirk Youths Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2012
Article by Eleanor Cantwell
The text of a recent talk given to parishioners at St. Anne's Church

“My name is Eleanor and I’m one of over 450 young people from the Liverpool Diocese who will be travelling to Lourdes this summer.

Just to tell you a little bit about the (voluntary) work we do when we’re in Lourdes, it involves lots of late nights, early mornings and hard work, which is all made worthwhile by the people you meet there and the atmosphere that constantly surrounds you.

A typical day will involve meeting the pilgrims at St. Frai hospital and pushing them in their wheelchairs to a mass in the domain, or to the baths or maybe even take them shopping or to a café in their free time.  The "Accueil Marie Saint-Frai" was the first hospital founded in Lourdes in 1874 and can receive up to 400 sick pilgrims.

As well as this we have a coach Mass and lots of other opportunities to reflect upon our journey to Lourdes and why we go there.

My favourite part of Lourdes has to be the torchlight precession. I really can’t do any justice trying to describe it, but seeing the entire domain scattered with candles with the night sky out is such a breathtaking sight.

After recent Masses at S Anne's Church, we have been holding a collection at the back of church as well as a cake sale in the parish centre.

Ormskirk Youths Pilgrimage to Lourdes Fundraising 2012
Ormskirk Youths Pilgrimage to Lourdes Fundraising 2012

Each year we do lots of fundraising which makes our journey possible. We truly appreciate your continued support,

Over in the parish centre we displayed some pictures to show the work we do in Lourdes. If anyone has any petitions they would like us to take with us to the grotto at Lourdes, then we are more than happy to do so.

We will be leaving a basket at the back of church for a couple of weeks for anyone who would like to put one in. “

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Editorial Comment

We should be proud that we have young citizens in our community who are such an exemplary model of how to lead a Christian life.

These young Christians have been fundraising by selling cakes. It's a long way to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, so they'll need to sell a lot of cakes!

If you can help them in their fundraising, any contributions would be very welcome. Your contribution can be given in a marked envelope “Youth Lourdes Trip 2012” to the St. Anne's Parish Office at the Priory on Prescot Road in Ormskirk.

Do you have some community news from around the Ormskirk area to share or a story to tell? Yes!

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