Ditchingham Celebration

A group of us have just returned from our annual Anglo Catholic Charismatic Celebration at Ditchingham, Norfolk after an uplifting time of closeness of the Holy Spirit, Sacramental worship & fellowship.

The theme this year was thanksgiving- for what we have had, what we have & what's to come. In the changing scene of the church today it was to this theme, which our speaker, Bishop Lindsay Urwin co-incidentally spoke about in his keynote addresses. He said we should be aware at every mass that when we take the bread and wine we have a charismatic experience. Four of our young people led all the worship at our daily mass, by a PowerPoint presentation. The mass included anointing, confessions and healing ministry, ministry delivered through the working of the Holy Spirit by lay people and ordained. The young people led the celebration on the last evening with worship with a difference. This included drama, songs and prayer with 6 balls if wool (do ask them about this) a web of prayers! As usual we had to take advantage of a visit to Great Yarmouth and some were led onto the pleasure beach and especially the log flume! Our finale was the ‘Christian disco' which composed of folk dancing, the famous Ditchingham line dance and McNamara's band. Altogether a time of closeness with the Lord, great food and friendships. We look forward to the changes next year as we relocate our celebration to Walsingham, with our guest speaker Bishop Martyn Jarrett.

Mary Howe

See the Glory, Feel the Love, Pass it on!

Walsingham Youth Camp

Try imagining a campsite (or more realistically a farmer's field) of 800 young people aged 11-18. Then try adding 16 portaloos, 10 showers, a circus big top with worship band CJM, throw in some very fetching orange coloured tees' and to top it off a passionate buzz for Jesus everywhere you go, and with everyone you meet… welcome to Walsingham youth pilgrimage 2010! This is what we experience for 5 days a year at Walsingham youth camp, no wonder we keep going back.

The theme this year was the rosary and so each day concentrated on one of the mysteries of the rosary and with this, each campsite area was named after one, with us being the glorious section of the campsite. There were also bible studies each morning which were led by Bishop Lyndsay who gave us a real insight into how we can apply passages in the bible to our everyday lives. After bible study there was a mass which was full to the brim of enthusiasm, contemporary songs and a vast range of ways to present young people with God's word, in an exciting and relevant way.

The week consisted of diverse and exciting activities, some of which the campsite did as a whole; the holy mile. This was an awesome experience… some people did it barefoot, which, not only gave them a holy pedicure but also helped us gather with others and carry on something which has been done for years by people from all over the world. During this somewhat lengthy walk we arrived at the shrine's grounds where we had benediction, having exhausted all the songs we could possibly think of that were relevant and then a few of us decided to divert on to a more festive theme: Christmas! (I can assure you it didn't last long), A service of healing, anointing, confessions and ministry followed by an all-night vigil which continued throughout the night, we stayed from 11-12pm (which was sensible compared to some groups who braved the hours 3-4am). Some of us encountered a ‘holy nap' during this; it was a bonus! A luminous, lycra disco/karaoke night in which people dressed up in exactly that. In our group Harriet, Chloe, Sophie and Sally all dressed up, Harriet had a customised outfit. Fr.Philip had a token of luminous accessories by wearing a ‘glow in the dark stick' round his wrist however the lycra was absent! At the karaoke we sang ‘Waterloo' (or more familiarly to us, ‘Portaloo') with the help of Fr Corbie who became enthusiastic as the song went along, with ‘ooing' and ‘ahhing' in the appropriate places. There were also other activities which our group from the Priory did; for example the trip to Wells (which was followed by fish &chips).

There were also some competitions which we entered in to, such as the ‘best rosary… (we had to beat one which had been made out of sweets by a group on the first day) It will come as no surprise to you all that we won with a ‘homemade fudge rosary'. This is because we got the highest round of applause on the ‘Bishop Lyndsay clapometer'. Our competitors were a rosary made out of shoes, another made out of recycled materials and various others!

We think it should be said that we weren't disappointed with what we received this year from Jesus working through the youth camp. This year was fantastic, leaving us only able to say…Next year… here we come!

By Bekkie and Lizzie Howe

Papal Visit to the UK

Pope Benedict XVI will visit England and Scotland on a four-day Papal visit from 16-19 September 2010. There will be opportunities to see the Holy Father in Edinburgh and London travelling the streets in the Popemobile. On the 16 th pope Benedict arrives in Edinburg where he will be received by Her Majesty The Queen, members of the Royal Family and people representing British society in the Palace of Holyrood House . Having met the Queen, the Pope will travel to Glasgow where he will celebrate an open-air Mass at Bellahouston Park in the evening and then he will fly from Glasgow to London.

On the second day of the visit, Pope Benedict is going to St Mary's University College , Twickenham, where meet 3,000 young people - schoolchildren, students - to celebrate Catholic education. Then he will meet with religious leaders and people of religious faith to discuss with them religion and belief in our society. Later he will meet the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace in the presence of the Anglican diocesan bishops and the Catholic diocesan bishops of England and Wales. He has then been invited, as part of the State visit, to address British society. Representatives of British society will be invited to Westminster Hall to hear the Pope's address. He will finish off the day with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Paul and Bishop Martyn and Christian leaders at Westminster Abbey to celebrate Evening Prayer. The Holy Father will also pray at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and also at the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor .

On day three, Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass in Westminster Cathedral at the end of which he will greet around 2,500 young people gathered in the Piazza. Later in the day he will visit St Peter's Residential Home for the elderly in Vauxhall, giving the Pope an opportunity to go to those who cannot meet with him, and then be present at an open air Vigil of prayer in London's Hyde Park .

The final day of the visit is focused very much on the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, and the Pope will celebrate that beatification in Cofton Park in Birmingham - adjacent, fittingly, to Rednal where Cardinal Newman was buried and the place where Newman and his community came for rest and recreation in the Lickey Hills. The Holy Father will then make a private visit to the Oratory of St Philip Neri , Edgbaston, Birmingham where he will be the first person to pray at the new shrine for the "Blessed" John Henry Newman as he will be then.

The Roman Catholics here in Worksop have invited us to a service of prayer in preparation for the visit at S Mary's at 7pm Tuesday 14 th September 2010.

Please use this payer at home from now until after the Pope's Visit.

Prayer of Preparation for the Visit of Pope Benedict

God of truth and love,

your Son, Jesus Christ, stands as the light

to all who seek you with a sincere heart.

As we strive with your grace

to be faithful in word and deed,

may we reflect the kindly light of Christ

and offer a witness of hope and peace to all.

We pray for Pope Benedict

and look forward with joy

to his forthcoming visit to our countries.

May he be a witness to the unity and hope

which is your will for all people.

We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Lady, Mother of the Church — pray for us.

St Andrew — pray for us.

St George — pray for us.

St David — pray for us.