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.

Nurses

The CA Hospitalité would like to ask all members who live in any of the CA Dioceses (Clifton, East Anglia, Northampton, Portsmouth, and Southwark) to contact their local hospital chaplains and see if they would be interested in putting up a poster about our Pilgrimage, and particularly our appeal for more nurses. Please use the posters below...

• East Anglia Diocese
• Northampton Diocese
• Portsmouth Diocese
• Southwark Diocese

Bishop Crispian receives a road honour

The road outside Bishop's House, Portsmouth and St John's Cathedral was re-named Bishop Crispian Way on Sunday, to mark his forthcoming retirement after 22 years service.

The road naming was a surprise for the Bishop and was revealed to him after Mass on Sunday morning by the Leader of Portsmouth City Council, Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson. Bishop Hollis was installed as the seventh Bishop of Portsmouth on 27 January 1989.

Bishop Crispian said: 'I am overwhelmed by the honour that is being done to me by the renaming of what I might call our section of Edinburgh Rd. As far as I know, no such honour has been done to any of my predecessors and I am still at a little bit of a loss to know what I have done to deserve this honour.

'I have now lived in the city of Portsmouth for nearly 23 years and I have come to love it as my home. I have always tried to engage myself in the life of the wider community of the city and when the time comes for me to leave, I will do so with great sadness.

'But I don't want to dwell on that today. Suffice it to say that I thank the Leader of the Council and his colleagues for the honour that they do me and the honour that they do to the whole diocese at the heart of which is our great city of Portsmouth.'

Bishop Crispian is leading the CA Pilgrimage this year, and is the CA Hospitalité Patron.

CA Hospitalité AGM

For those attending the AGM, the CA Hospitalité Secretary has provided us with the draft AGM agenda, so that attendees have the opportunity to ask questions or seek answers at the meeting.

Annual General Meeting 2011
12th February 2011, 11.00am – 12.15pm - Corpus Christi, Wokingham

President Welcome: Chris Buller
Opening Prayer and Act of Consecration: Fr Simon Blakesley.
Apologies
Secretary’s update: Nimal Hemelge
Treasurer’s update: Richard Long-Fox
Lourdes 2010 review: Read by Anna Jackson
Lourdes 2011:
· Spirituality and 2011 Lourdes Theme : Fr Simon Blakesley
· Chief Branc and Chief Handmaid: Matt Betts and Anna Jackson
· Travel Details: Matt Betts
· Chief Nurse: Sue Woodford
· Chief Doctor: Dr Adam Famer
· Young Helpers Group: Tina Walker
· Glanfield Group
· Stage
· HCP
· Music

Newsletter: Nimal Hemelge
Fundraising
Future Events
· Retreat: Pat Richardson – Walsingham

· Next AGM: 11th February 2012.
· Pilgrimage dates 19-26th August
· CA Sponsored Walk 2011
CA Hospitalité Insert: Matt Betts
Pilgrimage DVD:
BBC Documentary Production: Anna Jackson
Any other business

Followed by:

12.30pm : Mass, celebrated by Fr Simon Blakesley (CA Hospitalité Chaplain) in the Parish Church.

1.30pm : Lunch

If you still need to vote and advise your attendance/send your apology, please view details here.

Appeal from the BBC

The BBC are putting together a documentary film project about being Catholic in the UK.

Three 60 minute documentary films are being made for BBC4 by Wingspan Productions, an independent production company, about the experience of being Catholic in Britain today. The films will be made over the coming 12 months.

Wingspan are currently planning to make one film about men, one about women, and one about children. They are researching a number of possibilities for each film but are actively considering basing the film about women around a pilgrimage to Lourdes. They would therefore like to speak to women planning to go to Lourdes in 2011, either as nurses, handmaids, or indeed pilgrims themselves.

The production company would like to speak to both seasoned volunteers and those for whom this will be their first trip; those travelling alone and also those bringing family; and both those who are devout Catholics as well as those who may be less certain about their faith but nevertheless see the value of such acts of Catholic charity or pilgrimages.

In the first instance the company are really just hoping to speak to people as part of their research; getting in touch with them in no way commits you to taking part in the programme.

If you would be interested in finding out more about this project, please contact Anna Jackson (Chief Handmaid) on Chief_Handmaid@catholicassociation.co.uk.

We would love to hear from you.

Volunteer helpers - 2011 Pilgrimage

Our next Pilgrimage takes place from 19 – 26 August 2011, Each year, the Catholic Association Hospitalité of Our Lady of Lourdes is responsible for coordinating the welcome and care of pilgrims, especially our assisted pilgrims, who come to Lourdes.

If you are planning to travel independently, please view our form and further details by clicking on the link below.

• Apply to be a Volunteer Helper
• Further information our Pilgrimage

Lourdes 2011

Our next Pilgrimage takes place from 19 – 26 August 2011. Each year, the Catholic Association Hospitalité of Our Lady of Lourdes is responsible for coordinating the welcome and care of pilgrims, especially our assisted pilgrims, who come to Lourdes.

Assisted Pilgrims:
If you, or a friend/family member would like to come to Lourdes as an Assisted Pilgrim next year, please contact the Chief Doctor on: chief_doctor@catholicassociation.co.uk. Our Assisted Pilgrims are those who are ill or disabled, and would like to stay at the Accueil or a hotel, and will need assistance from our team of helpers. Financial help may be available, either through your Diocesan/Group Director, or through any member of the CA Hospitalité.

Volunteer Helpers:
Men and women of all ages and backgrounds come to Lourdes as volunteer helpers to answer Mary’s request for people to ‘come in procession’, but more importantly they come in response to the command of her son Jesus to love God and to love our neighbours as ourselves (Gospel of Mark 12:29-31).These volunteer-helpers, who are pilgrims themselves, strive to encounter Jesus in each pilgrim, caring for their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. The CA Hospitalité includes doctors, nurses, and non-medical helpers: brancardiers (male) and handmaids (female).

If you would be interested, or know someone who would be interested in coming on Pilgrimage next year as a volunteer-helper, please let us know at: volunteer@catholicassociation.co.uk, and someone will be in contact with you as soon as possible. Minimum age for helping is now 17 and there is no maximum age. NB, if you are aged 17-25, you can be a part of the Young Helpers’ Group, (a supervised group staying in a separate hotel) please let us know on above email address. Although we are unable to include people under 17 as full volunteers under the terms of our insurance, we welcome enthusiastic younger people whose families are on the Pilgrimage and who are interested in coming as volunteers when they reach 17 and wish to see what volunteer work is like.

Additionally, if you have children, the CA organises the Helpers' Children's Programme (HCP), which offers a programme of activities for the children (0 - 16) of helpers working on the Pilgrimage. It is generally open from 8.30 - 12 and 2 - 6 each day and your duties can be adjusted accordingly.