New Portsmouth Bishop Announced

Shrewsbury vicar general appointed as new Bishop of Portsmouth. 

From Bishop Crispian Hollis:

Our New Bishop

Dear Brothers,

I am delighted to be able to give you the news that my successor has been appointed by the Holy See.

Mgr Philip Egan’s appointment to become the 8th Bishop of Portsmouth will be formally announced in Rome and here on Wednesday July 11th.

Needless to say, I warmly welcome this appointment for which we have been waiting a long time and I know that Bishop Philip will be very quickly made welcome in your midst as your diocesan bishop.

It looks at the moment as if his ordination will take place in the last week of September but as soon as there is a precise date and time, I will let you know. It is certainly very important that he is in post in time for the two overnight meetings with Fr Gerry O’Collins SJ. Those meetings (Oct 3rd/4th and Oct 9th/10th) were specifically planned for our inauguration of the Year of Faith and for that early and vital meeting between our new Bishop and the clergy.

Please note that as from Thursday, the prayer for the Bishop in the Eucharistic Prayer should be “…for Crispian, our Apostolic Administrator and Philip, our Bishop-elect…”

I can’t end this short note of joy without once again thanking you for all the love and patience you have shown me over the years and, in particular, in the last year when I have been ill.

With my blessings and prayers,

+Crispian

Canon Brian Murphy-O’Connor

Canon Brian Murphy-O’Connor, priest of the Diocese of Portsmouth and one time CA Chaplain to the Sick & Hospitalité, died in the early hours of Monday 11th June. May he rest in peace.

Brian was a great supporter of the CA Annual Pilgrimage and well known to many of us. He was also one of the founding members of the August stage group, which will be at it's strongest for some years, in 2012.

Canon Brian Murphy-O’Connor’s Funeral Mass will be concelebrated at St. Peter’s, Winchester on  

Wednesday 20^th June at 11.00 am.  There is no parking on site but it is only 10 minutes walk from the Railway Station

Photo (c) Anthony Martin

Congratulations to...

....Tracey & Nimal Hemelge on the birth of their daughter, Analena Hemelge born this morning weighing 8lb 1oz. Congratulations to them all. 

CA Hospitalité Newsletter - Spring 2012

From the CA Hospitalité:

The Hospitalite Newsletter is now available online for you to download and print out, here.

The hard copies through the post will start to arrive in the next week or so.  If you do have moved / changed your name in the last 12 months please email me with your details as soon as possible, as our records on file for you may be incorrect / out of date.

Equally if you no longer wish to receive your hard copy through the post, or prefer to read online / print it out yourself please email me to confirm your decision.  Printing the Newsletter out yourself, not only means you can print it out in colour, but of course it saves the CA Hospitalite a lot of money which means money can be better spent on other things.

This year’s newsletter has articles on our 2012 Lourdes theme, “Praying the Rosary with Bernadette”; a wonderful reflection by David Lewis alongside a look forward by Fr Nick King SJ; plus the usual favourites including Ask Les (now on page 3).

Our thanks go to all our contributors.

We look forward to seeing as many of you at the preparation days and in Lourdes as possible.

We hope you enjoy it.

Nimal Hemelge

Secretary

Ave Maria Accommodation

Ave Maria Hostel – Bookings for 2012

Many people will be aware that we usually have a group of helpers staying in the Ave Maria hostel – this is budget accommodation with a cafeteria-style restaurant in the same building.  Following renovations in the winter of 2010-11, all bedrooms have full en-suite facilities, but they are small and you have to make up your own bed. 

We have 14 places for the week of the 2012 pilgrimage, and some were still remaining at the time of the Newsletter going to press. If you want to apply, please let your Head of Service know as soon as possible.  Any helper can apply, particularly those on a limited budget.  If you have a friend(s) with whom you want to share, that’s great; otherwise Sadie will organise shares depending on the rooms (doubles and triples) which we are allocated.

Including all meals, the daily cost will be 25Euros, although you actually only pay for the meals that you eat.  Including travel with Tangney Tours, the whole week of the Pilgrimage would cost about £550 travelling by plane or £460 by train.

Pope Benedict XVI's 85th Birthday - Lourdes connection

On his 85th birthday (yesterday, 16 April 2012), Pope Benedict XVI, preached about two saints with strong connections with Lourdes. The first, Saint Bernadette is well known to us all, the second, is much less well known - Saint Benedict Joseph Labre. Saint Benedict Joseph Labre is the patron saint of pilgrims as he spent much of his life in pilgrimage. He is often invoked in Lourdes, although few will know why.

Here's a link to a brief report on Pope Benedict XVI's homily:

http://www.zenit.org/article-34609?l=english

Angela Imobeke

Those who have been to Lourdes recently, will remember Angela Imobeke, a girl who came to Lourdes with the Glanfield Group for many years with her mother Georgina.  

Sadly Angela died on Sunday night after a long illness and a brave fight.  

Please remember Angela and her family in your prayers at this very difficult time. Please also remember her Glanfield family in your prayers. 

Lance Thwaytes

Lancelot Henry Thwaytes died aged 86 on 26th February while visiting his son John Paul for a holiday in France.

Lance has been visiting all his five children regularly at their homes in Switzerland, France and Scotland respectively since they all lead busy lives and do not have much time to visit him in Appleby.  Lance's funeral will be Friday 16th March at 11.00am at Our Lady of Appleby Church .

Lance first went to Lourdes in 1948 - then in 1955/56 he joined the Catholic Association Pilgrimage and was a brancardier under Peter Crane and then Pat Tombe.  He brought his fiance Fiona to Lourdes in 1958 and she came a few times with him in the early days of their marriage but she was not so keen on Lourdes as Lance so he came and worked as a Branc when he could.

After Fiona died in 2004 he again came to Lourdes and was last on pilgrimage with the CA last August when we three all stayed together in the Padoue Hotel and had a very good week together. 

Both Michael and I will miss him and his particular form of humour greatly. We had planned to be in Lourdes again together this coming August but the Lord has had other plans for him!

May he Rest in Peace and rise in glory..

Ann Whitehead

Spring Serenade

An evening of favourites from the world of opera and song, followed by supper!

Annie Gill - mezzo soprano
Nicholas Mulroy - soprano
Joseph Middleton - piano

on Saturday 14 April 2012 at 7.30pm

Tickets are just £40 including interval refreshments or £30 for under 25s. Supper is £20.

Book your tickets early to avoid disappointment!

Contact Beverley Sillitoe at association@stonyhurst.ac.ukor by telephone:             01254 827043 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            01254 827043      end_of_the_skype_highlighting      

All proceeds to go to the Stonyhurst Pilgrimage Trust to help provide funds for assisted pilgrims, current pupils and recent OS.

Lent 2012

As members of the Catholic Association, it is important to consider our own personal pilgrimages, as well as the one in August. As such, on this first Friday in Lent, we wondered what have you given up for Lent? Or what have you taken on?

Let us know how your Lent devotions are going and what reading you recommend. We can then share ideas and thoughts

One popular practice is to read something "spiritual"? What spiritual reading do you recommend?

CA Hospitalité AGM 2012

Thanks to everyone who came along to our Annual General Meeting on 11 February 2012 in Sawston (East Anglia Diocese). The Council would like to thank Colette Sharrock for organising our AGM.

For photos and more information, please see the Carmelite report on the event by visiting: http://www.carmelite.org/index.php?nuc=news&func=view&item=676

The AGM report will be available soon. Past reports can be found here: http://www.catholicassociation.co.uk/hospitalite/agm.shtml

Praying the Rosary

This year the Pastoral Theme for Lourdes is With Bernadette, Praying the Rosary.

The Catholic Association Pilgrimage offers some thoughts on the theme in the Pilgrimage booklet and our website, but as this will not be till later in the year, the CA web team would like to share some early ideas.

The rosary is a popular devotion, and in addition to meditating on the mysteries, it is normal to say the rosary for a particular intention. How often do you pray the rosary? Why not try it this month?

If you are already confused, have a look at these pages of our website, which will provide some guidance:
http://www.catholicassociation.co.uk/spirituality/sayrosary.shtml and http://www.catholicassociation.co.uk/spirituality/rosaryabout.shtml

Given this year's theme, we are inviting our fellow pilgrims to pray the rosary for their bishops and priests. Our clergy need all the support that they can get as the tide of secularism increases, and many of them found the prayers during the Year for Priests (2009/2010) very helpful.

There is even a handy site where one can sign up and get reminders to pray for one's bishop:

http://rosaryforthebishop.org/

Let us know how your devotion has gone, or if you have any further thoughts, please let us know below…

CA web team

Piscines

"The Lourdes authorities plan to move its baths for pilgrims from the crowded concrete building near the famous grotto to a field just across the Gave River that allows more room for a modern and more welcoming structure. The new facility should open in 2014. Announcing the decision, Jacques Perrier, the retiring bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, said the waiting area at the current site was not well suited for meditation before the bath and the building lacked individual changing rooms. The area was also said to be overcrowded during peak pilgrimage periods."

(Thanks to Richard King)

New Bishop for Lourdes

Yesterday, a new Bishop of Tarbes & Lourdes was announced at the Grotto. The official Lourdes website states: "On February 11, at midday, at the Grotto, the archbishop of Toulouse, Mgr Robert Gall, announced that the Pope Benedict XVI had just named Mgr Nicolas Brouwet as the new Bishop of the diocese of Tarbes and Lourdes. He succeeds Mgr Jacques Perrier, who has been Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes for the last fifteen years."

A video is available here of the Service is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOADftKiiSA

Congratulations to...

..Dom and Clare Hartley on the birth of their son, Benjy Graham Hartley who was born at home on Saturday 11 February at 12.49pm, weighing 9lbs 11oz.

East Anglia

Message from Fr David Bagstaff

The process of appointment [of a new Bishop] will involve discernment of the present needs of the Church in East Anglia, so that we may be an ever more effective channel of God's love and grace for all the people who live in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Central to this discernment is prayer: prayer for the Diocese, prayer for those charged with its care during the period without a bishop, prayer for those involved in the choice of a new bishop. Please use the prayer below in your own daily prayer, that the Holy Spirit guide us all to know the Father's will.

Eternal God, shepherd and guide,

in your mercy give your Church in East Anglia

a shepherd after your own heart

who will watch over your people with loving care;

a leader of vision and a teacher of your truth

who will inspire young and old alike.

So may your Church be built up,

your Gospel heard,

and your name be glorified.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Our Lady of Walsingham - pray for us!

St. Felix - pray for us!

St. Edmund, King & Martyr - pray for us!

St. Etheldreda - pray for us!

More information: http://www.catholiceastanglia.org/files/uplink/frb.pdf

2012 CA changes

News from the Catholic Association Trustees

New appointments to the Pilgrimage Management Team

Chief Nurse

As advised in the recent Hospitalité Newsletter, Rachel Easton has been confirmed as Chief Nurse and will be in this role for the 2012 pilgrimage. If you know any nurses who are interested in joining the Pilgrimage, please pass them Rachel's contact details - chief_nurse@catholicassociation.co.uk

Chaplain to the Sick & CA Hospitalité

The newsletter also contained the news of the appointment of Fr Antony Lester, O.Carm as Chaplain to the Sick and to the Hospitalité.

Young Helpers’ Group Leaders

Shortly before Christmas, Becky Banfield regretfully informed the Trustees that she was unable to take on the role of Leader of the Young Helpers Group. Luckily David and Judy Ball, who live in Norwich, are prepared to take on this major pilgrimage responsibility.

David and Judy are well known to the Pilgrimage, and have been coming to Lourdes as a family for many years. Judy has been the Director of Music in Lourdes for the past few years, and David has been an elected member of the Hospitalité Council since 2010 and was deputy of the ceremonies team in 2011. They can be contacted by email using young_helpers@catholicassociation.co.uk or by phone on 01603 456627.

Tangney Tours were very flexible, and held back from printing the Pilgrimage Brochure while these arrangements were finalised. Those of you who travel with Tangney Tours should receive the CA Pilgrimage brochure and booking form in the next few days.

Music Group

Before they knew about this new role, Judy had already advised the CA Trustees that she wanted to step down as Director of Music after the 2012 pilgrimage. This role will be taken by Catherine Christmas of Portsmouth Diocese, who has been part of the music group for several years. She will work closely with Judy during 2012 to enable a smooth transition, and take overall responsibility from the end of the year.

East Anglia Diocesan Director

And finally - Ian Hatfield stepped down as East Anglia Diocesan Director at the end of the 2011 Pilgrimage. This role will now be taken by two Suffolk based deacons as a job-share. During the year, supporting publicity, recruitment etc, the main responsibility will be with Rev Alan McMahon who lives in Bury St Edmunds, phone 01284 756324. In Lourdes, the group will be led by Rev Clive Brooks who lives in East Bergholt. They can both be contacted at: eastanglia@catholicassociation.co.uk

Contact details for all members of the management team can be found here.

The Trustees would like to thank all these people who are volunteering their time to organise various aspects of the Pilgrimage, and we welcome them all to the management team.

Congratulations to...

...Victor and Anna Fauvelle on the birth of their son, Leopold Henry Fauvelle.

Hospitalité Winter Newsletter

From Nimal Hemelge:

The Hospitalité Newsletter is now available online for you to download and print out.

• View here

The hard copies through the post have started to arrive already. If you do not receive your copy through the post within three weeks and you have previously requested one, or you have moved / changed your name in the last 12 months please email me with your details as soon as possible, as our records on file for you may be incorrect / out of date.

Equally if you no longer wish to receive your hard copy through the post, or prefer to read online / print it out yourself please email me to confirm your decision. Printing the Newsletter out yourself, not only means you can print it out in colour, but of course it saves the CA Hospitalité a lot of money which means money can be better spent on other things.

This year’s newsletter has articles on our 2011 Lourdes theme, the Our Father; a wonderful reflection by Bishop Crispian; plus an article by Lourdes stalwart Nell Atkin on her experiences of travelling to Lourdes as an Assisted Pilgrim for the first time.

Our thanks go to all our contributors, including the Heads of Service and the Young Helper's Group Leader.

We look forward to seeing as many of you at the AGM (11 Feb 20112 – Sawston, see newsletter for details) as possible.

We hope you enjoy it.

God Bless,

Nimal Hemelge

Denise Phillips

Denise Phillips who died last week, was a long standing member of East Anglia and the CA Hospitalite. Denise originally went with her son to Lourdes with the CA group - GOBS (Grand Order of Babysitters). She would divide her time between the GOBS and the main Pilgrimage working as a part of the water team. Denise also looked after all the handmaid uniforms for a number of years.

Denise had a massive stroke a few years ago, and has been seriously unwell since.

Please keep Denise and her family in your prayers.

Bishop John Jukes - Southwark

Please pray for Bishop John Jukes who died on 21 November 2011 and who has been connected and contributed to the Catholic Association Pilgrimage a few times.

The Right Reverend John Jukes OFM Conv., S.T.L., Emeritus Bishop of Southwark was born at Eltham, London, 7th August 1923. Ordained Priest 19th July 1952. Ordained Bishop of the Titular See of Strathearn and Auxiliary in Southwark by Archbishop Bowen 30th January 1980.

His body will be received at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, on Sunday, 4th December, at 5:45 pm followed by the parish Mass at 6:00 pm. Franciscan Vespers at St George's Cathedral on Monday, 5th December, at 7:00 pm

His Requiem Mass will be held at St George's Cathedral on Tuesday, 6th December, at 12 noon

May he rest in peace

Congratulations to...

...Rupert Bell and Insa on the birth of their daughter Franziska. She was born today in Munich weighing 3,37kg and was 53 cm long.

Rupert was Chief Brancardier from 2006 - 2010.

Congratulations to...

...Mary (nee Dujardin) and Shane Edwards on the birth of their son Charlie James. He was born today at 5.33am, weighing 3.43kg.

Dr Derek Bedford

Dr Derek Bedford died last Friday evening in Reigate Hospital about 7pm as a resulting of a worsening of a heart condition that has troubled him for some time. His family were with him when he died, and Sr Maureen had managed to visit him a few days ago.

Dr Derek Bedford has been a great supporter of the CA Pilgrimage for many, many years and is a friend to many people. He assisted Sr Maureen for a number of years in working with the hotel APs. He will be greatly missed by all his friends.

May he Rest in Peace and rise in glory.

Ellen Davis

Ellen Davis (on the right hand side of photo), who was an Assisted Pilgrim on our pilgrimage, died on 2 October at a nursing home.

Ellen was a great supporter of the Carmelites and the parish of English Martyrs, Walworth. Having joined our pilgrimage in 2008, she was admitted to the Catholic Association Hospitalité as a prayer member in 2009, and was on our 2010 pilgrimage.

Sadly she was too unwell to join us this year, but always had a special fondness for Lourdes, and we remembered her in prayer at the Grotto.

Please keep Ellen and her family in your prayers.

May Ellen rest in peace, and rise in glory.

Jim Dujardin

Mr James Dujardin died on 22nd September 2011.

James has been a great supporter of the CA Pilgrimage for a few years and is a friend to many people. He was both an assisted pilgrim and a helper for a couple of years.

May he Rest in Peace and rise in glory.

Living by Giving Trust

From: Johan Bergstrom-Allen, Matt Betts, Stephen Daly, Dail Maudsley, and Sadie Vile

In 2010 a small group of us who have been involved with the CA for many years, set up a small charity which aims to support various causes and is currently focussed on "Living by Giving...young people new experiences".

Amongst various undertakings we have been able to support, in 2010 we sponsored a child to travel on the CA Pilgrimage with the Glanfield group and in 2011 we gave financial support to three CA pilgrimage helpers. We also provided some funding to support the gap year work of a past CA brancardier, Roy Scivyer.

If you would like to support us in fundraising for future projects like this, and also to catch up with many people you met in Lourdes, please join us for our "First Birthday Celebration" on 22nd October 2011 in London. Our event will include music, raffle, a fully stocked bar, food, and much more, and will take place at the famous St Bride's Hall in the City of London, close to the historic area of Fleet Street and the famous St Paul’s Cathedral. If you would like to attend, please book your tickets before 1st October 2011 and they will cost just £15 each. You can purchase tickets online here:http://www.bmycharity.com/1stBirthday.

Have a look at our Facebook event page and say you're coming along: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205842466133693

We look forward to seeing you there!

More information: www.livingbygivingtrust.com

Lourdes revisited....

Jimmy Burns, writer and journalist, has written in his blog about his experiences of Lourdes this year with the CA. Have a look here.

CA Lourdes Pilgrimage 2011

A number of our groups and dioceses have produced a page about their pilgrimages to Lourdes with the Catholic Association this year. These can be viewed below:

• British Province of the Carmelites
• Southwark Archdiocese

CA Novena

Many people find it very helpful to prepare for Lourdes by praying the nine or ten days leading up to the pilgrimage: to help you with this spiritual preparation, please click here: http://www.catholicassociation.co.uk/spirituality/novena.shtml to go to our CA novena, written by Fr Nicholas King, SJ (one of the CA's experienced brancs).

The idea of the novena is to assist all helpers to get their spiritual focus right. Lourdes itself is such a hectic dash that sometimes it may seem that we don't even have time to pray. So, try and get there with your spiritual antennae already alert and receptive; read the meditations for each day, and the suggested scripture reading, and take as much time for quiet prayer as you can manage.

Listen out for what the Lord is saying to you.

Best wishes for a safe journey,

Catholic Association Hospitalité