FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 15th – 22nd SEPTEMBER 2024
I recently heard of one of our lay Passionist companions in Dublin being interviewed on a very famous daytime phone-in show on Irish radio. His interview was with regard to the pilgrimage with the relics of St Bernadette that is taking place throughout Ireland at this time. You may remember that the relics came to Carfin Grotto a couple of years ago as part of a UK pilgrimage. As I write the relics are at present in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Limerick. There would be no better person to speak about the visit of these relics to Ireland than this particular Passionist companion who is a dedicated member and leader of the renowned Oblate Lourdes Pilgrimage. The Oblates were the first group to organise pilgrimages to Lourdes from Britain and Ireland and have been organising pilgrimages to Lourdes since 1883, and this person has been an integral part of those for a very long time.
Of course, it got me to thinking about my own experiences of Lourdes, which roughly divide into two periods, not counting a short 3-day visit as an eighteen-year-old. After completing my Passionist novitiate and returning to Dublin for Theology studies in 1980, I was approached by a recently formed association for people with disabilities, asking if I would be spiritual director to a group that they were seeking to establish in Mount Argus Parish. Prior to my novitiate I had been mostly involved in music ministry with the Mount Argus Folk Group, and also in prayer group ministry, both in Mount Argus and further afield. This would be a new challenge and I was happy to take it on. My years of involvement with this group was a very formative time for me, and part of the experience was to be with them on annual pilgrimages to Lourdes. I went for a number of years while still a student, leading prayer and music, but also as a carer for one of the pilgrims with a disability. On these occasions I found myself being more cared for than caring. My first experience was with an MS sufferer with very little mobility. At the beginning I was quite hopeless at helping him do the things I was meant to be helping with and we had such great laughs at my incompetence. By the end of the pilgrimage, he had guided me into being much more confident and capable in my tasks. On another occasion I had the care of a lad who was deaf and dumb. Again, we laughed at my poor attempts to communicate, but by the end of the pilgrimage he had given me a good grounding in Irish Sign Language, which sadly I have now forgotten. Later on, after I was ordained, I became one of the priest-leaders on the pilgrimage. At first, I tried to combine that with a caring role as well, as I found it so enriching, but, in the end, it proved to be too much.
Many years later, returning to Mount Argus as parish priest in 2001, I inherited an annual parish pilgrimage to Lourdes. This was a different experience in that we didn’t have any seriously ill or disabled people with us, just dedicated pilgrims, and those with perhaps less serious illnesses. There was a wonderful group of organisers for these pilgrimages and my task, together with a small liturgy group, was to lead times of prayer, and celebrate the Masses in the various beautiful locations that would have been pre-booked for us, connecting us to the story of Bernadette and to the apparitions. We were a small enough group, and these were always very special and intimate occasions. Of course, as with my first experiences with the earlier group, we joined in with the Rosary and Blessed Sacrament Processions with the host of other pilgrims from all over the world, and had our regular visits to the baths, and these were precious moments too. In total, I have probably been to Lourdes around 15 times. My last visit was with Mount Argus Parish in 2008, the 150th anniversary of the apparitions. After that, following on from the Canonization of St Charles of Mount Argus in 2007, and because it was becoming more difficult to find pilgrim tour companies to take smaller groups to Lourdes, we began to hold an annual pilgrimage to Munstergeleen, Fr Charles’s birth place in the Netherlands. But the special memories of Lourdes will always remain.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
I recently heard of one of our lay Passionist companions in Dublin being interviewed on a very famous daytime phone-in show on Irish radio. His interview was with regard to the pilgrimage with the relics of St Bernadette that is taking place throughout Ireland at this time. You may remember that the relics came to Carfin Grotto a couple of years ago as part of a UK pilgrimage. As I write the relics are at present in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Limerick. There would be no better person to speak about the visit of these relics to Ireland than this particular Passionist companion who is a dedicated member and leader of the renowned Oblate Lourdes Pilgrimage. The Oblates were the first group to organise pilgrimages to Lourdes from Britain and Ireland and have been organising pilgrimages to Lourdes since 1883, and this person has been an integral part of those for a very long time.
Of course, it got me to thinking about my own experiences of Lourdes, which roughly divide into two periods, not counting a short 3-day visit as an eighteen-year-old. After completing my Passionist novitiate and returning to Dublin for Theology studies in 1980, I was approached by a recently formed association for people with disabilities, asking if I would be spiritual director to a group that they were seeking to establish in Mount Argus Parish. Prior to my novitiate I had been mostly involved in music ministry with the Mount Argus Folk Group, and also in prayer group ministry, both in Mount Argus and further afield. This would be a new challenge and I was happy to take it on. My years of involvement with this group was a very formative time for me, and part of the experience was to be with them on annual pilgrimages to Lourdes. I went for a number of years while still a student, leading prayer and music, but also as a carer for one of the pilgrims with a disability. On these occasions I found myself being more cared for than caring. My first experience was with an MS sufferer with very little mobility. At the beginning I was quite hopeless at helping him do the things I was meant to be helping with and we had such great laughs at my incompetence. By the end of the pilgrimage, he had guided me into being much more confident and capable in my tasks. On another occasion I had the care of a lad who was deaf and dumb. Again, we laughed at my poor attempts to communicate, but by the end of the pilgrimage he had given me a good grounding in Irish Sign Language, which sadly I have now forgotten. Later on, after I was ordained, I became one of the priest-leaders on the pilgrimage. At first, I tried to combine that with a caring role as well, as I found it so enriching, but, in the end, it proved to be too much.
Many years later, returning to Mount Argus as parish priest in 2001, I inherited an annual parish pilgrimage to Lourdes. This was a different experience in that we didn’t have any seriously ill or disabled people with us, just dedicated pilgrims, and those with perhaps less serious illnesses. There was a wonderful group of organisers for these pilgrimages and my task, together with a small liturgy group, was to lead times of prayer, and celebrate the Masses in the various beautiful locations that would have been pre-booked for us, connecting us to the story of Bernadette and to the apparitions. We were a small enough group, and these were always very special and intimate occasions. Of course, as with my first experiences with the earlier group, we joined in with the Rosary and Blessed Sacrament Processions with the host of other pilgrims from all over the world, and had our regular visits to the baths, and these were precious moments too. In total, I have probably been to Lourdes around 15 times. My last visit was with Mount Argus Parish in 2008, the 150th anniversary of the apparitions. After that, following on from the Canonization of St Charles of Mount Argus in 2007, and because it was becoming more difficult to find pilgrim tour companies to take smaller groups to Lourdes, we began to hold an annual pilgrimage to Munstergeleen, Fr Charles’s birth place in the Netherlands. But the special memories of Lourdes will always remain.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
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