COMING UP:

Next month Bishop Tom Williams will be making official visitations of both parishes. Since his retirement, he has Confirmed a good number of our young people and now we welcome him back into our two parishes, where he has many friends. Retirement in the Church takes various shapes and forms!

AN EVENTFUL WEEK:

It has been another busy but rewarding week. I would ask you again to remember in your prayers the repose of the souls of Dr Neil Carmichael (St Mary’s) and Mr Brendan Kelly (Bishop Eton), whose funerals were on Monday and Thursday. As always, their funerals were beautifully prepared and reverently celebrated. Please also keep their grieving families in your prayers. There have also been two weddings, so please ask the Lord’s blessing on Richard and Katy, married at St Mary’s on Friday and Joshua and Beth at Bishop Eton on Saturday. Both Bishop Eton (Tuesday) and Much Woolton (Friday) have had Masses to launch the school year, Carleton House having had a celebration the previous week. I have managed to sandwich in a birthday celebration, assuring the children there is something comforting about having only sevens in the equation! Thank you for the many generous good wishes and greetings. You may be pleased to know that I also had my flu and covid vaccinations, so hopefully I will be well protected from whatever the winter months throw at us.

Talking of sevens, I noted another milestone last weekend: seven years of walking with a FITBIT. Converting kilometres into miles, I calculated that I have walked 16,084 miles in that time (almost two-thirds of the distance around the Equator).

The latest research suggests that you get as much benefit from 4,000 steps as from 10,000, but I am not persuaded, so you will still see me heading for the park whenever possible.

BACK FROM MY TRAVELS:

As I indicated in my recorded message on Thursday, my visit to Ireland went smoothly and provided me with an opportunity to catch up with many of my confrères in that Province, where they are having to respond to the same challenges that confront us here in the United Kingdom. At the same time, it is always good to share experiences and learn from one another, and I enjoyed the opportunity to have a number of thoughtful conversations which have helped to clarify my thinking and my expectations.

For example, when it comes to Shrine Ministry, what the Irish Redemptorists have developed over the years could not simply be replicated here in Liverpool. In Dundalk the Novena to St Gerard, leading up to the Feast on the 16^th of October, began in the 1930s and remains part and parcel of the life not only of the town but also of the surrounding countryside. Prior to the pandemic there were ten sessions each day and an estimated 10,000 people attended each day. Since the pandemic they have reduced the number of sessions to eight, but thousands of people continue to attend the nine days. It is recognised that an intriguing phenomenon of the event is that for many people this is their one contact with the church throughout the year. 

It surely suggests that people continue to value the need for God and our spiritual selves continue to need nurturing. I guess the challenge for us is to find ways of tapping into that yearning among Liverpudlians today?

WELCOME BACK:

With the beginning of another academic year, I sense a mood of optimism and good will and an opportunity to make some fresh starts in all sorts of areas. I have observed with interest and satisfaction the gradual revival of many areas of parish and school life since the pandemic. I am hoping that during the autumn we can gently review what needs doing in order to help us cope as efficiently as possible. For example, last Wednesday I attended a day on Safeguarding at the Archdiocesan Centre, and inevitably, there are new recommendations and protocols resulting from past experience, which it is important that we discuss with all those who have the DBS safeguarding clearance for different fields of ministry. I do not have the numbers at my fingertips, but it is a measure of how many of you are involved that they must run into the hundreds if we take the two parishes together. Likewise, I think the time has come to review the main structures of parish life, finding out who is available to serve on councils or teams to ensure the greatest efficiency. We will not rush at all this but find opportunities to meet and discuss with all of you who wish to contribute.

Meanwhile, I will continue to explore the possibility of the mutual support that could be forthcoming if some kind of twinning with another Redemptorist parish across the Irish Sea proves feasible. On Thursday I will be going to Ireland on behalf of the Provincial Council, and then I plan to spend the weekend in Dundalk, where Fr Brendan Callanan is the Rector and Parish Priest. He is even older than I am, and we struck up a good rapport when we were in Rome together a few weeks ago. So, watch this space in a couple of weeks’ time for the early fruits of our meeting!

Our Irish confrères have been instrumental in promoting annual Novenas which attract tens of thousands of people in places like Belfast and Limerick. Most of these are unique in that they focus on Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, but Dundalk is unique in that its Novena focuses on St Gerard Majella. Since we have shrines to both, we should have much to learn from them about developing our shrine ministry.

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND:

Enjoy the last of the Bank Holidays until Christmas and whatever holiday may remain before we launch into the new academic year. In my recorded message, I mentioned the possibility of having a ‘Backpack Blessing” for the children returning to school. The idea arose because it is something the Redemptorists in Dundalk are offering at all the Masses this weekend: obviously their children return sooner than ours! Perhaps we could offer a special blessing next weekend at the 10am and 11am Masses in our respective parishes. Backpacks would not be obligatory!

A NOSTALGIC VISIT TO HAWKSTONE:

I chose to drive down to Shropshire last Wednesday and visit Hawkstone Hall, which had been in the hands of the Redemptorists for 90 years. Bought in 1926 to provide us with a seminary, it served the Congregation in that capacity until 1973. In the 1950s and 1960s the numbers grew to the extent that a new wing was built to accommodate up to sixty students. A year or two before Andrew and I completed our novitiate and moved to Hawkstone in October 1965, the numbers had reached forty-nine and for most of our six years there were over forty students. Indeed, in two of the years following us the numbers coming from the novitiate were in double figures. However, by 1973 a dramatic decline led to the decision to join the Franciscans in a new venture in Canterbury and we remained there until 1998, when we literally ran out of students altogether. Under the inspired leadership of Fr Jim McManus and those who succeeded him the Redemptorists seized the initiative and opened up Hawkstone Hall as a Pastoral Centre. With courses and retreats designed to help people adjust to the renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council, Hawkstone served the Church magnificently and built itself an international reputation. However, by 2016, it was realised that even that venture had served its purpose and sadly we had to leave and move.

The buildings have now been transformed into a hotel, specialising in weddings and it seems to be flourishing. I was warmly welcomed and was able to explore both the house and the gardens. Everything is in magnificent condition, including the cemetery, where seventeen of our confrères are buried. It is a consolation to know that Hawkstone has found a new purpose and, unlike so many similar buildings, has not fallen into rack and ruin. In a book on historic houses in Shropshire, it was clear that the author was not enamoured by the style of the new wing, but I was delighted to read the following:

“Throughout the 1980s, though, they (the Redemptorists) restored the historic fabric of the house and most of the historic rooms in an exemplary fashion. The gardens around the house also regained much of their late nineteenth-century glory.”

STAYCATION UPDATE:

The Redemptorist Community continues to enjoy a relatively relaxing August. Fr Andrew, our Rector, after all his challenging health issues in recent years, is taking a well-deserved break, firstly with friends from Marriage Encounter in northern Spain and then with his family in Yorkshire. He will be back before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, I remain indebted to Frs Casey and Henesy for all their help in keeping the timetable going.

MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR:

In my short, recorded message I was able to draw attention to the success of Adel, the son of Ismael and Ghofran, our wonderful family from Syria. With so many others, yesterday he received his exam results and Mr David Hayes, the Head Teacher of SFX, was kind enough to email me with a photograph of Adel, holding the good news in one hand and punching the air with the other! Hopefully, he will now be able to take up a place at university and pursue his dreams. It is to the great credit of everyone that this whole venture has been so successful. I want to renew my thanks to the members of the team who pooled their resources to ensure that the family was made welcome to this country, and just as importantly, have continued to support them throughout the best part of the past five years. My hope is that all our young people receiving their results around this time are similarly happy with the outcome. However, should any be disappointed, may I offer a word of encouragement: I did not do well at A level, but other avenues and opportunities do open up for us in life. If we can put our faith in the providence of God, we will know that the Lord can turn everything to good: see St Paul’s letter to the Romans, 8:28.                 

It was when I looked back on my life some years ago and, after a particularly challenging period, that I felt the need to write my book, Take Heart. It was an attempt to piece together the story and share it with others. It was explained like this on the back cover: “By sharing his own story and meditation on the scriptures, he shows that it is by living through times of disappointment and difficulty that we can often find that the love of God is revealed.”

RECHARGING THE BATTERIES:

Fr Andrew’s suggestion that our Redemptorist Community has a kind of staycation during the month of August is proving very effective. Psychologically, we all need time to relax and take stock and I am hoping that everyone, whether you are getting away on holiday or not, will be able to recharge the batteries during these few weeks. As I write the weather has become more summer-like, although the outlook does not look too promising. It reminds me of summer holidays in the south of England as a child, when my father would be constantly checking the weather bulletins and planning accordingly. My mother was more sanguine about it all. Indeed, I recall one particularly wet afternoon in Ilfracombe when my mother insisted that we should go for a walk in the rain. I was the only one to respond to her invitation and duly donned my sou’wester. It proved a surprisingly enjoyable afternoon: one of those treasured childhood memories which taught me that we don’t have to allow adverse circumstances dictate to us. Indeed, I suspect this is a lesson that all of us need to keep re-learning throughout our lives! This Saturday afternoon

Fr Andrew is working with a Cursillo Group, and I have to go to London for the day on Provincial Council business. We are blessed to have Frs Casey and Henesy willing to step in on these occasions. Fr Jim has graciously agreed to cover the Evening Mass at St Mary’s and, likewise, Fr Michael the Confessions at Bishop Eton on Saturday afternoon.

In my recorded message this week I mentioned a few truly encouraging developments, among them the fact that our Shrine Ministry Website has now gone live. The address can be found on the top of the bulletin.  (www.ourladyshrine.org)

Enjoy the coming week.

CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF LOURDES: 

In my recorded message this week I referred to the outstanding contribution of the team of young people who cared for the assisted pilgrims in Lourdes. I have been reflecting on this and wondering how we can capture that spirit and transfer it back into the life of our parishes.

An interesting insight into how we receive the message of the Gospel was shared with me by David Delaney – a parishioner of St Mary’s and the Head Teacher of Christ the King School. Quoting a priest friend of his, he pointed out that we take Jesus at his word when, at the Last Supper, he told us to pray over the bread and wine with the instruction: “Do this in memory of me”; but then came the question as to whether we take quite so seriously the instruction after Jesus had washed the disciples on their arrival for that Last Supper: “I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.” When I listened back to my message yesterday evening, I realised that commenting on the enthusiasm of the youngsters as they ministered to the sick and disabled pilgrims, I said that they were “metaphorically” taking Jesus at his word, but, of course, it was not metaphorical: they were putting into practice this call of Jesus and, for all I know, may actually have washed some feet into the bargain. They were finding the whole experience rewarding precisely because they were selflessly giving of themselves and had something to do.

It is a perennial challenge for the Christian community to find ways of making the liturgy in church reflect the

practical living out of the Christian life: “Go forth in peace, glorifying the Lord with your lives.”