July / August '09 News

The Community are delighted to welcome Fr Peter Gooden of the Salford Diocese as our new chaplain. He was inaugurated at a special Mass on 4th August, the Feast of St John Vianney, and his sermon included an account of a namesake of his, from the same village, who had served in this diocese in penal times! After the Mass, we welcomed him and his family to the Refectory for an appropriately celebratory meal. We wish Fr Peter many happy years of ministry with us. Deo Gratias!

Fr Peter’s availability coincided with the conclusion of the inquest for Fr High’s death, which has enabled some closure for Fr Hugh’s family and friends. We remember Fr Hugh with great affection and appreciation and thank God for his years with us. May he rest in peace. We are most grateful to Fr Dixie, who ministered to us in the interim, providing stability and continuity and allowing us the time to wait for Fr Gooden to come to us. Fr Gooden is a former student of Fr Dixie. We are also grateful to Fr Severs, former parish priest of St Charles and friend of the Community, who supplied for three weeks while Fr Dixie was away. It was good to have him and his sister with us again.

Fr Dixie went to Lourdes for a week in June to lecture on St John to a group of diocesan auxiliaries from all over the world.

Sr Margaret taught a couple of days for the Catholic Certificate for Religious Studies in Carlisle, on ethics, and gave a talk to a Catholic Youth Group based at Lancaster Cathedral on religious life and the Divine Office. She also preached to a parish renewal week in Eccleston, in the Liverpool Diocese, where she was given warm hospitality by Fr Michael O’Dowd and his parishioners.

On June 19th, Sr Annette was able to return to join her parish of St Bede’s in Carlisle to celebrate their Jubilee.

Sr Geneviève attended the recital in the Victoria Hall in June given by the violinist Thomas Gould and the pianist John Reid and described it as the best she had been to. Congratulations and thanks to the Grange and District Concert Club.

The Guest House has been full over the summer, including plenty of younger guests. We welcomed Sr Genevieve’s nephew Xavier and his family from France; as usual when we have French visitors, the sun shone for almost the entire time. During the last week of July our usual group of families visited for their action-packed annual reunion. This year it included an 80th birthday celebration, a 10th birthday celebration, and a showing of photographs of several of the group at Boarbank more than 20 years ago!

The families' reunion

Activities in Marymount have included a couple of Music Nights, including one on the theme ‘Animal Magic’, a couple of minibus trips to the Lakes with Angelo as driver, and a very successful barbecue, masterminded by Jane, with musical accompaniment by Angelo’s nephew Michael. This was attended by patients, guests, Boarbank staff and Sisters, and even by some unexpectedly good sunshine. Many thanks to Janet for the photos.

Marymount	Barbecue

Minibus trip to the Lakes

Mr and Mrs Fitchett kindly invited the Sisters one afternoon to visit their very interesting house and gardens for tea. We are very grateful for their hospitality.

Visiting the Fitchetts

The Community have enjoyed participating in various celebrations here, including a sixth birthday party for Matthew, whose aunt lives in Marymount, and the Golden Wedding anniversary of Veronica and Arthur, and that of Annette, one of our staff, and her husband, Eddie.

We are sad to announce the deaths of Ruth Holmes and Mary Wearden, long-term residents of Marymount. Sr Eileen and Sr Imelda wer able to represent the Community at the funeral of Miss June Byford, who worked in Marymount almost thirty years ago and later continued to serve as a coffee lady. We are grateful for all she did to help the Community in caring for others. We also offer condolences to Fr Parker on the death of his brother Kevin, who was a parishioner of St Charles’ Parish and well known to several of the Sisters. May they all rest in peace.

We have been greatly helped this summer, as usual, by foreign assistants, this year Mathilde from France, Erika from Hungary, Erica and Nicoletta from Italy and Akemi from Japan, as well as Sarah from Manchester. We thank them and wish them all the best on their return home. It is also the time of the year for work placements and we wish Tom, Jordan and Joseph every happiness and success in the future after their experience with us.

On Wednesday 1st July we met in Marymount to wish farewell to Helena Allingham, and to thank her for her wonderful contribution during ten years as an RGN in Marymount. She has moved to a post in Kendal working with Alzheimer’s patients. Luckily she and her family still live nearby, so we will be able to keep in touch.

Farewell to Helena

Mrs Pat Benning came to give the Sisters and Marymount Staff a short presentation about Bowen Therapy, which she is now offering to patients on a weekly basis. Bowen can help with a wide range of conditions, but is especially good for neck and back problems (as a couple of the Sisters can already testify). If you are interested in using her services, please ring Pat on 015394-42199. For more, see www.bowen-technique.co.uk.

The fifth Thinking Faith week for Catholic students and young professionals took place at Boarbank Hall from 18th to 24th July 2009. The eighteen participants brought a variety of academic and professional experience to the week, not to mention a wide range of languages! We enjoyed the usual mix of prayer, talks, and social activities, including this year a boat trip on Windermere. The week included an open lecture from our local M.P., Mr Tim Farron, whom we welcomed to Boarbank for the first time. Mr Farron spoke on ‘Being a Christian in Politics’. We are very grateful to the team that gave their time both to presenting talks and to making our guests so welcome.

Thinking Faith group in the Langdales	Visit from Tim Farron

For a full report see the Thinking Faith page. Next year’s Thinking Faith week will take place from 24th to 30th July. To book, please contact Sr Margaret@Boarbank.

Several Sisters have now had the opportunity to enjoy a holiday, returning refreshed and renewed. Sr Geneviève has returned to France for the month of August to visit her Sisters, family and friends. Sr Michael, during her visit to Newcastle, laid some flowers in the Cathedral crypt for Fr Hugh on behalf of the Community; she also met up with Fr Richmond, one of our regular guests, and visited Mount St Grace Priory. We wish you all a very happy summertime with the opportunity for some relaxation, refreshment and renewal.

Flowers at the Cathedral Crypt	Sr Michael and Fr Redmond

Mount Grace Priory

We continue to be contacted by many people requesting prayers for various intentions. We are grateful to be able to offer this support to people in their time of pain and difficulty, in joy and thanksgiving.

[As we were rather late with last month’s news, here is a short supplement to bring us up to the beginnning of September. We will leave the July/August news up for another month as well.]

The two main events of the last few weeks have been celebrations: Sr Michael’s Silver Jubilee of Profession on 11th August, the Feast of St Clare, and the Feast of St Augustine on 28th August. Fr Paul McCourt celebrated the Mass for Sr Michael, and Fr John Butters preached. Bishop Michael joined us to preside and preach for our patronal feast. On both occasions, the Community was joined by friends for an appropriately celebratory meal. As always on such occasions, we are indebted to our friends and staff, who work hard in many ways to help us to enjoy the celebrations.

Erika from Hungary and Erica and Nicoletta from Italy returned home on 18th August. Many thanks to them for their help in the Guest House. We much enjoyed having them. At present Jan and Mark, from Germany, are with us, working mainly in the garden.

Sr Eileen and Sr Annette are in France for three weeks during September, representing the Community at the General Chapter, being held in L’Ile Blanche in Brittany. The Chapter takes place every four years and helps to focus and orientate each of the communities of the Federation. Please keep them and all the Sisters at the Chapter in your prayers.

Future Events

The Thinking Scripture week beginning on 12th September is almost full. There are still places for the Health and Salvation retreats for healthcare workers in November on the theme ‘A Good Ending’ (which will also feature a famous clown talking about using his work for healing) and in January on the theme ‘Health and Community’. We are also taking bookings for Thinking Scripture on St John in February 2010. For more, see the Events page.

 

Previous News Pages

June 2009

May 2009

April 2009

March 2009

January / February 2009

December 2008

November 2008

October 2008

August 2008

July 2008

June 2008

May 2008

April 2008