Three Prayer Vigils, Six ACN Cakes & a Puncture: Part II

This past weekend saw the next two Prayer Vigils for Religious Freedom. On Saturday I drove Theodora (stuffed once again!) to Salford Cathedral for an afternoon vigil. The Cathedral Dean, Fr Michael Jones, was incredibly helpful and welcoming, and Bishop Brain arrived to lead the vigil. His Private Secretary, Fr Steven Parkinson, was there as well; he deserves special thanks for helping to distribute publicity around the diocese. This vigil was just as moving as the vigil in Accrington, though the number of people was much smaller. The period of Exposition in the middle of the Vigil—15 minutes or so—felt very special to me, with all of us, including two priests and the bishop, on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament to pray for those suffering so much for their faith, it was deeply moving. Afterwards I received similar comments from those who attended, in particular about Sahar’s moving words. I was delighted to meet some lovely people from the area, including an Iraqi-born Christian and several people whom I had just met on Thursday at a Social Action Networking meeting in the Cathedral Centre. I mentioned the vigil when I introduced myself at the meeting and they took the time to come. I was so pleased to see them and I look forward to working together with the many parishes, schools and special interest groups in the Diocese of Salford.

Before I move on to Sunday’s vigil in Wrexham, I would like to mention my final adventure in Salford. Theodora works hard for the NW Office; she never complains! Obviously I am not as observant of her needs as I should be because when I got to the car park after the vigil at Salford Cathedral it was apparent that she had a had a slow leak for some time in one of her tyres and that it was virtually flat. The AA was called—but until they arrived I had wonderful help from Bishop Brain and Fr Parkinson as well as two people who attended the vigil. Thank you all for looking after us. Thanks, too, to William Pilkiewicz, the ACN Area Secretary for Salford, who kindly came along to run the trading stall for me. A spare pair of hands is a wonderful thing!

Messages and Hearts from Wrexham

On to Wrexham. With Theodora out of commission my husband and I had to take our other car, Sharon, down to Wrexham. This was handy, actually, as I had even more to take with me: before the vigil I ran a workshop for the Youth of the Diocese. The afternoon yielded more messages of support and more paper hearts, and the vigil was, once again, different from the others, but just as moving. Fr Simon Treloar, the Cathedral Dean and Deacon Ian Cameron, were very hospitable and Bishop Brignall was there to lend his prayers and thoughts to the vigil as well. Again, I was met with overwhelmingly supportive comments at the end of the vigil. Two or three people told me that they were so pleased that North Wales was not being overlooked by the new NW Office—‘certainly not,’ was my reply. Afterwards Fr Simon invited my husband and me in for a cup of tea. We had a lovely chat with Bishop Brignall, Fr Simon and a few others—I really appreciated the chance to talk about ways in which the NW Office can reach out to the Catholic Community in North Wales. I left with lots of ideas…

Just a quick mention of the cakes to which I allude in the title of the last two entries. Your NW Manager has a bit of a baking complex…I make cakes: LOTS of cakes. So I have undertaken to take a cake to each bishop and each priest who has hosted a prayer vigil. That’s six so far (two bishops and four priests). Shameless bribery, you say—no, just heartfelt thanks. Thank you to Bishop Brain and Bishop Brignall, and to the other members of the clergy whom I have met at the first three Prayer Vigils for Religious Freedom! (cranberry and orange bread, in case you are wondering…recipe available on request!)

I am definitely catching up on myself now! Hurray!

Thanks for reading!  Caroline