Catching Up

It seems like ages since I last posted a blog. Life gets a little bit busier in the summer and some things get forgotten! Sorry.

Anyway we have had lots of school groups visiting. Some groups come for explicitly religious reasons and others for an historical study of an ancient religious house. There was a lovely day for the Good Shepherd Schools Liturgy. About 1200 primary school children came to celebrate their faith in different ways along with Bishop Hendricks. In the afternoon the sun shone on them for their games.

We have had several retreat groups focusing on prayer and Carmelite spirituality.

Pentecost was celebrated along with the parishioners of the Anglican parish in Aylesford. The village is closed to traffic at the moment. No-one really knows why or when it will eventually be open again. So for the moment, if you are coming to Aylesford, please make your way through the village of Eccles.

Members of the community are often asked to go here, there and everywhere to give talks, celebrate Mass, hear confessions and so on. Fr. Desiderio was in Rome on the Preparatory Commission for the Carmelite General Chapter to be held in the month of September next year. Delegates of all the Provinces of the Order will gather together in Rome to decide the direction for the Order for the following six years. Such a meeting has to be worked out meticulously. Fr. Joseph went to Scotland to speak to the summer conference of the religious in Scotland. That was held in Edinburgh this year. He took along with him Fr. Sutiono, an Indonesian Carmelite who lives in our parish in Walworth, London. Fr. Sutiono now has many photographs of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Magnus MacFarlane Barrow

On the Jubilee weekend we have a pilgrimage on Saturday in honour of Our Lady Queen of Peace.  One of the speakers at this is Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow, the founder of Mary's Meals which feeds over 600,000 children each day. 

About 600-700 people are expected for that the Quuen of Peace Pilgrimage. On Sunday we have the annual Italian pilgrimage. The community always looks forward to that as there is usually a gift of wine left behind and during the pilgrimage there is the opportunity to taste some home made pasta. It’s a hard life being a friar!