Friday 9 July 2010

Catholic Travellers Renewal

... is the title of an article in Good News, the magazine of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the UK.

Two particular paragraphs caught my attention. The first was because of its reference to the Appleby Horse Fair, about which I have posted in the past. The woman referred to is Margaret, about whom the article in Good News largely centres:
A woman of deep prayer and mystical experiences, several years ago she had a vivid dream that the Lord was calling her to set up a tent with Eucharistic adoration at the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria, to which 30,000 Gypsies, Romanies and Travellers come every year, as a witness to his presence among his people. The first couple of years it was just herself and a friend leading the outreach, backed by Charlie Connor from Youth2000 and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, but this last year, a much bigger team of Travellers gave their services, due to the growth of the Charismatic Renewal among them over the last nine months or so, as well as support from the local parish priest of Appleby Fr Aleks.
And it was the rather no-nonsense approach to the clergy that caught my attention in this paragraph:
The meeting had been called because the Travellers wanted to share with their chaplain, Fr Joe Brown, a laid back bespectacled Irish priest, their dream to build a church for the Traveling People in the UK. Fr Joe had just suggested that, rather than the big £3 million white twin towered church they had in mind, it would be more sensible to settle for a small prayer centre or a disused parish somewhere instead. But they were having none of it. They wanted to build something big and beautiful for the glory of God.
If you read the article in full you will see that the lay faithful are probably going to get what they want ...

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