ESBVM

We are sorry to record the deaths of the following faithful members.

Sister M. Joseph of the Carmelite monastery, Stillorgan, Republic of Ireland
Miss K.M. Pfister of Bloomesbury
Br. Francis Barker

May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

Br Francis Barker
Br Francis Barker was a member of the North West branch of the Society. Until ill health intervened, he attended our meetings. He was born in Ipswich in 1923 and was brought up as an Anglican. Educated at Stowe and Trinity College, Cambridge, he became a Roman Catholic at the age of 32 and, twenty years later joined the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. He remained very ecumenically minded and never forgot the debt he owed to his Anglican roots.

Francis was a deeply cultured person and well-informed. He shared his gifts generously and befriended many. He will not be forgotten for the contribution that he made to the local society and the wider community. He died in Liverpool, aged 85.

The South Yorkshire branch was very active throughout 2007. In May, it joined in an Orthodox celebration of the divine liturgy and a pilgrimage to Harpham in East Yorkshire, birthplace of St John of Beverley, who became Bishop of Hexham in 687, being later translated to York as Archbishop in 705, from which he retired in 714, dying in 721. He founded a minster at Beverly, the present building being constructed around his tomb. After the Orthodox eucharist at Harpham, the party travelled to Beverley where they heard the Minster choir rehearsing for evensong in this beautiful setting.

After this, five new members joined the Society.

In the Autumn, there were no less than four events.

In September we joined the Orthodox pilgrimage to Lastingham in North Yorkshire, to celebrate ‘The Nativity of Our Lady’. A monastery was founded there on the edge of the Moors, in 654, by St Cedd. A leaflet was kindly provided by our Chairman outlining the Divine Liturgy, which proved to be very useful to the members of our group of 16. In addition, the Vicar, Fr Ferguson, welcomed us and spoke briefly about the history of the Crypt and the Church of St Mary. We later travelled to nearby Pickering in superb weather, where members relaxed in various ways. Some visited an interesting ‘open day’ exhibition in the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, and to see the famous wall paintings of the 15th century, now fully restored. The return journey was enlivened by enthusiastic singing of hymns of Our Lady, and the reciting of the Rosary.

In October, a group of 14 made a pilgrimage to the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Egmanton near Tuxford, and just off the A1. This was led by Fr Kevin Smith, and attended by almost 100 pilgrims.

The Liturgy included The Angelus, Solemn Mass and Sermon. After lunch provided by the ladies of the village, we followed on with a solemn Magnificat, a procession into the village, and Benediction in the parish church and Shrine of our Lady, to conclude a most enjoyable ecumenical pilgrimage.

Also in October, we were invited to a talk in Sheffield entitled ‘Mary Grace and Hope in Christ’. This was given by Bishop Malcolm MacMahon of the RC Diocese of Nottingham, and he gave a stimulating insight into progress and the problems of ARCIC, of which he is a member. After the talk, group discussions followed by a Plenary Session, completed an excellent, informative and lively event. Bishop John Rawsthorne of the Diocese of Hallam, who chaired the meeting, had previously welcomed us and made mention of ESBVM before the talk. We made a number of ecumenical contacts, at this gathering.

Our AGM was held in November at the Orthodox Church of Saints Columba and Kentigern, in Edlington, Doncaster. Fr Dennis, our Chairman, led us as we prayed the Society’s Office. Our officers presented reviews on previous events, on our Finances (healthy), and on the input of a small ’steering group’ which had been set up to recommend future Branch Strategy with particular regard for membership and activities. One early recommendation was to print a ‘Membership Leaflet’ more suited to Branch needs and local requirements. This has now been implemented, and has proved useful in publicising the Society, and in recruiting new members.

Our Officers were re-elected for another year, after which there was a short break for refreshments.

Our Chairman then gave an interesting talk on ‘The Mystical unity of the Church’, with emphasis on what we should be doing, and how we might work towards the unity for which Christ prayed. This was followed by a discussion on the current problems, with the view expressed that unity would only really move forward when it to become stronger at local church level. The meeting closed after over two hours of enthusiastic participation by those who attended what was in effect, a comprehensive and positive review of our Branch and its activities.

In the second week of Advent, we joined with the Mothers’ Union at St Oswald’s for an Advent devotion Beyond the Corridors of Grace, produced by our Treasurer, Merelina. This was a delightful service of readings, prayers and hymns, supported by organ, cello and piano music. Over fifty people attended, the Society being well represented. Over £100 was raised for a mother and baby home in Ghana.

Our plans for events in 2008 are as follows

Monday January 21st – Dunscroft St Edwin’s Church. Near Doncaster

To celebrate the ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’. We have an invitation from Father Alan Watson and our members at St Edwin’s to join them for Mass at 7.00pm. Refreshments afterwards and an opportunity to meet members and other interested parishioners. Rev. Fr. Richard Power, Vicar of Moorends, will preach.

February – Sheffield. 26 years under Mary’s mantle. Talk by Sister Ruth Bleakley OCV. Details later.

Tuesday March 11th – Mass at 12.45 including the Liturgy of Anointing, at St Marie’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Sheffield. This will be followed by refreshments, then a talk and short tour of the cathedral. This should be of historical interest, both marian and ecumenical.

Saturday May 10th – Pilgrimage to Mount Grace Priory and The Lady Chapel at Osmotherley in North Yorks. The Society Office in the restored Monks’ Cell at Mount Grace. At 12 Noon. Vigil Mass at the Lady Chapel 3.30pm. Refreshments afterwards. Tea in Thirsk on return. A special Invitation will be sent to individual members residing in North Yorkshire. We thank Fr Hilary Alflatt for setting up this event.

Saturday July 19th – Pilgrimage to Crowland Abbey near Peterborough.

August – Pilgrimage to Egmanton near Tuxford. Shrine of Our Lady.

September – Pilgrimage to Lastingham in North Yorks. Orthodox Eucharist. Visit to Pickering afterwards.

October – Sheffield. Talk, ‘The Methodist approach to Mary’. Provisional.
November – Branch AGM. To be arranged.

Tuesday December 16th – 2.00pm. Advent Service, St Oswald’s. Abbeydale Road, Sheffield. Invitation from the Mothers Union and our members at St. Oswald’s Anglican Church.

On Tuesday 23 January, several members accepted the kind invitation to attend a mass with the intention of praying for the unity of all Christians. This invitation came from Fr. Alan Watson , vicar of St Edwin’s, Dunscroft, near Doncaster.

The beautifully celebrated Mass was attended by about forty people. In addition to Fr. Alan’s congregation, representatives were present from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Methodist churches. After Mass, there was a time for fellowship and an excellent buffet supper.

Monday, 18 September at 7.30. pm, Mrs Patty Baxter will talk about ‘hope for people in need’, in the Upper Room of St Thomas’ Church.
Monday, 25 September at 7.30pm, Miss Barbara Markham will talk about the hidden life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Upper Room.
On Monday, 4 December in the Upper Room, at 1pm. Mrs Tina Hamilton will talk about ‘devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
On Monday 26 March, 2007 in the Upper Room, at 1. pm, a celebration of the feast of the Annunciation will take place. A speaker has been approached, but has not yet responded.
On Monday, 2 July, 2007 at 2. pm, the Rev Mark Griffin will conduct a tour of St Mary the Virgin Church, Wingham. He will trace its story from the timber Anglo-Saxon original church to its Cathedral like structure today.

Each meeting will be followed by tea.

On Saturday the 13th May, Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, the Canterbury members were again invited to St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Deal. Here we met up with other local members including our chairman. Fr Stanley Evans and his charming wife Marie. It was lovely to meet them again, especially the vicar, Fr Christopher Landler and his wife, not to mention the many parishioners who turned up for the celebratory Mass at ll am. The reason for this invitation was the Blessing of the Sea. Fr Chris had introduced this custom only last year but it had already been accepted in Deal as a tradition and like all English traditions, once established it had come to stay. As described in a previous report, St Andrew’s Church is very beautiful and its congregation have a great devotion to Our Lady. I reported that on our last visit in July 2005, several of us witnessed a miraculous image of Our Lady on the wall of the sanctuary, so St Andrew’s is very blessed. Assisting at the Mass was Fr Michael Boag, a priest from the Royal Chapel at Windsor Castle and after we had filed into the hall for lunch, he and the vicar sat at our table and chatted to us. I have no idea of his status at Windsor but he looked very important, dressed in a red cassock which 1 suppose is the standard colour for royal chapels. After a magnificent lunch (I couldn’t possibly go into details:), we filed back into the church where Fr Michael gave us a talk about Windsor and past English kings and then it was time to prepare for the procession through the town at 2pm. People were delegated to carry the banners. incense and the ceremonial model boat bearing a statue of Our Lady and decked with beautiful flowers. To my surprise, two of us from Canterbury were chosen to carry the wreath of flowers which was destined to be cast into the sea at the actual blessing. I found it rather heavy as it had to be carried in a special basket with handles. However, we took our place in the procession and wound our way through the streets of Deal with their charming little old cottages and eventually we emerged onto the promenade and the beach. During the procession we sang hymns to Our Lady and recited the Litany of Our Lady. Arriving at the beach there was a small crowd awaiting us, mostly made up from the local yacht club who held their oars aloft in tribute to Our Lady. Here the model boat was placed on trestles, facing the sea and Fr Chris conducted a short service and blessing. As we approached the sea we shivered with cold as a fresh sea breeze was blowing, but we manfully stuck it out until right in the middle of the service there was a sudden downpour and I am ashamed to say that I dashed for cover, although the braver ones amongst us accepted this shower as a blessing from heaven. And that’s what it really was in fact as suddenly the sky cleared and the sun shone with such intensity that whereas we had been shivering only minutes beforehand, we now began to feel uncomfortably warm. but that’s typical English weather. As it was the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, I could not help recalling that a similar event had taken place at Fatima back in 1917 when there was another downpour followed by a very hot sun which dried up all the soaking wet pilgrims and, on that occasion. actually danced in the sky. Well, we didn’t witness any dancing but we were grateful for a bit of warmth to dry us out. The time had now arrived to actually bless the sea and drop the wreath of flowers into the waves? Some of us therefore scrambled over the sea wall and crossed the shingled beach. Fr Chris intoned the blessing and a young man threw the wreath as far out as he could. To round off the ceremony we were all startled when two petards were exploded into the sea as a royal salute to Our Lady Queen of Heaven. It was the end of a perfect day at Deal.

VISIT TO THE SHRINE OF ST JUDE, FAVERSHAM
On 26th June 2006, the Canterbury members gathered at the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Faversham to visit the National Shrine of St Jude. We were warmly welcomed by Fr Brendan Grady who gave us a long talk about the history of the shrine. Last year saw the Golden Jubilee of the dedication of the shrine of St Jude, The Carmelite Friars came to the small market town of Faversham in 1926. In 1937 they took over the present building that had originally been built as a school for girls and until 1936 had been the Empire Cinema. The shrine to St Jude was dedicated on 28th October 1955. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and contains two murals by Edward Ardizzone. They depict the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple and The Visitation. There are shrines to the Infant of Prague and St Therese of Jesus. The shrine of St Jude adjoins the church. There are some striking windows by Richard Joseph King. In the gardens there is a Rosary Way by Adam Kossowski. Jude, son of James, is only mentioned in St Luke’s gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, as being one of the twelve apostles. Though universally honoured as a martyr, the facts are shrouded in mystery. His body was ultimately conveyed to Rome and the major relies are kept in St Peter’s basilica. From this account it will be seen that we possess little information about the apostle himself in his own time. In order to distinguish him from the other apostle who had the name of Judas, he is often called by his nickname, Jude Thaddeus. Nevertheless. the similarity of his name to that of Judas Iscariot led to devotion to the apostle being virtually non-existent until the last two hundred years. Thousands daily invoke his aid and many have seen their prayers answered in a seemingly miraculous way, even when to all human calculation the petition bordered on the hopeless. Be it in sickness. poverty, misery# distress of heart and soul, even in despair. people go to this great saint that he might find the solution to their difficulties. In the 1930s Fr Elias Lynch O. Carm began writing the newsletter that now goes out to all over the world. He received hundreds of requests for holy pictures of St Jude. He eventually printed thousands of them and that began the association of St Jude with Faversham. Today, pilgrims come from far and wide to the Shrine of St Jude in Faversham. Many write of the peace and prayerfulness of the shrine. After Father Brendan’s talk we filed into the Friars’ refectory where we enjoyed a welcome cup of tea with chocolate biscuits. There was much lively discussion around the table and we all agreed that it had been a lovely informative afternoon. Fr. Stanley Evans then thanked Fr. Brendan for his talk.

VISIT TO WHITSTABLE
On Saturday, 15th July, the Canterbury Branch members were invited to the launch of an exhibition of Our Lady of Lourdes at the Horsebridge Arts Centre in Whitstable, presented by Susan Shaw. The Horsebridge is the very heart of Whitstable, close to the sea and the famous oyster Fisheries. As we arrived, we could not help notice that all the big showroom windows of the centre were filled with large pictures and statues of Our Lady so that visitors and holidaymakers to the town could not fail to see her even if they had no intention of visiting the exhibition which, in any case, was quite free. As one of our members commented, Susan has brought Our Lady to more people than all the rest of us put together. Whitstable in July is packed with people especially on such a glorious summer day. The total number of people who therefore saw an image of Our Lady in Whitstable this summer must have numbered thousands. Although the exhibition had already been an show for nearly a week and had another week to go, Susan opted to have the official launch on a Saturday to enable everyone who contributed to it to be able to attend. So while we all stood around with glasses of wine in our hands, she gave us a talk and showed us a DVD about Our Lady. Around the walls there were photographs of individual statues which people had sent in. But I must go back to the beginning:- Six years ago Susan was studying for her Masters degree in Fine Arts and after a short visit to Lourdes that summer she chose to give her thesis a religious slant based on Lourdes as she absolutely fell in love with the place. This was surprising as Susan is not a Catholic. She then obtained a plaster statue from Hayes & Finch and approached a concrete factory on the Isle of Sheppey to make a mould for her so that she could reproduce the statue as a multiple. The result was an exhibition of over 100 concrete statues at the Kent Institute of Art & Design in Canterbury. After the exhibition. Susan advertised the statues to the general public and 100 people snapped them up. Two of them were bought by ESBVM members for their gardens. Susan then had the brilliant idea of asking each purchaser to send in photographs of their particular statue in situ. Not all of them were garden ornaments and some of them have settled down in sitting rooms# orchards, graves and forests. Some of them have left these isles and can be found in France, Germany, Australia and Western Samoa. Those in the UK are located in Essex, Whitstable, Brighton, Canterbury, the New Forest, Rochester and Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire). I end with a comment by one lady from Rochester:- ‘I say the rosary outside with her when the weather is nice. I never forget coming back to collect the statue from Rochester Cathedral. The children from Thomas Aveling School had kindly placed her on the corner of the pavement outside Rochester Cathedral with a cardboard sign balancing on her hands saying LOURDES. It was as though she was waiting for a lift back to Lourdes!’ After visiting the exhibition we had tea at the centre and made our way home to Canterbury.

REPORT ON VISIT TO ROCHESTER
By Barbara Markham – Treasurer. On Friday, 21st July 2006, and as a representative of the ESBVM, I was invited to a Garden Party given by the Bishop of Rochester. the Rt. Rev Michael Nazir-Ali and his wife Valerie. It was a scorching hot day but ideal weather for those arranging the garden party as their particular dread was the threat of rain. Personally, I felt a bit of a fraud as I was not the first choice for this event and was actually the third in line of succession so to speak. However. in my best bib and tucker, I turned up promptly at the appointed time at the gate of Bishopscourt and was greeted by the Bishop himself and also his secretary. As I was quite alone, I gravitated to one of the tables on the lawn where a nice middle-aged couple were sitting. (No fools these as it was one of the few tables in the shade!). We were soon chatting away and I discovered that they came from Tunbridge Wells and Mike was a retired Anglican priest. His wife Christine was a charming lady and a retired primary school teacher. Soon, other ladies joined us from the Tunbridge Wells area and they asked me what I did in the Church (obviously meaning Church of England). I had to explain that I was Catholic and probably my most important job was to visit the sick and housebound and take them Holy Communion each week. They were surprised to find a Catholic in their midst and I got the impression that the gathering was solidly C of E. It was also knee-deep in civil dignitories and I was dazzled by the number of mayoral chains of office. I dared to ask Mike what it was really all about and his opinion was that it was an annual get-together of the great and the good. And even he didn’t expect to be invited next year as most of his friends had already disappeared from the scene! I had to smile at this but by this time we were pressed to partake of an excellent tea and we all did justice to it. During the Proceedings W were treated to live music and one lady played and sang a few solos on the harp. There was more entertainment in the form of a dance group which displayed their skills in three dances. The last dance impressed me very much as it was similar to my own amateurish efforts at our local charismatic days of renewal. (I draw a veil over this!) The afternoon ended soon after 6pm but we had a last-minute visit to the stalls on site selling items to help the foreign missions. I took some snapshots of the Bishop, also Christine and Mike and the ladies from Tunbridge Wells and then, sadly, we had to leave for home. I think everyone enjoyed the garden party. I know I did!

The UK launch in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey on 19th May 2005 of the 60 page ARCIC document entitled ‘Mary, Grace & Hope in Christ’ is seen by many as a a considerable achievement in advancing the understanding of the positions on the Blessed Virgin Mary by Anglicans and Catholics worldwide. It is not at this stage an authoritative statement but is meant for wider discussion by both communions. With nearly a third of the text devoted to Mary’s place in the Bible, the document concludes that “It is impossible to be faithful to Scripture without giving due attention to the person of Mary”. The document is a recognition of the importance of her place in life and Liturgy. It also addresses the issue of the Marian dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption in such a way that makes a clear distinction between the content of the dogmas versus the authority by which they were defined, thereby opening up the possibility between the communions of agreement on the issue.

Members of ARCIC, Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP, and The Rev’d Dr Nicholas Sagovsky both spoke at the launch, which was attended by invited guests including the Hon. General Secretary of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Fr.Bill McLoughlin OSM, seen with them in the Jersualem Chamber in the photograph above.

Professor Sagovsky had given a paper at the Chester International ESBVM Congress in 2002 while working on ARCIC and acknowledged the contribution of the ESBVM to this important area of ecumenism in which it has been working over the past 37 years.