North West Branch report
Posted by esbvm on September 30th, 2006
Sat 30 Sept. Visit to St Hubert’s Church at Dunsop Bridge in the Trough of Bowland. 2-4 pm. Talk at the Church on the Rosary followed by the Ecumenical Office. The church is set in beautiful countryside and we are grateful to Fr. John Challenor for his hospitality.
Our branch has held three meetings this year. In April, we met at Lymm to explore the most recent ARCIC statement on Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ. We saw how important this document is in providing for future growth and in not perpetuating past controversy. We praise Mary because she brings Christians together to show them Jesus. In the following month we were at St Chrysostom’s Church in Manchester for an inspiring evening of readings and music in praise of Mary. The programme had four sections- the Middle Ages, the post-Reformation period, the nineteenth century and the present age. The readings varied from devotional poems to an extract from David Wilbourne’s vivid and earthy A Virgin’s Diary. A large screen showed paintings from the four periods as a background. In July, we made our annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady at Ladyewell, near Preston. The new director, Fr. Thomas Hoole, welcomed us as we visited the well, said the Rosary and ended the afternoon with the Office. The shrine is very much a place of prayer and peace, down a meandering lane just off the M6. We appreciated that time apart on a warm July day.