I would like to report that the Bishop of Brentwood, Thomas McMahon, along with half the Priests of the diocese and 10,000 of the faithful went in prayerful procession today to Marie Stopes abortuary in Buckhurst Hill.
But I would be lying.
Bishop McMahon did lead 50 or 60 of the faithful to the said abortuary. We prayed in procession going there and said 15 decades of the Rosary at the site. A female member of staff was clearly upset by our presence. She came out of the abortuary and escorted any girls she could see into the abortuary, or away from it when they were leaving so as to avoid them being offered help by the pavement counsellors. I didn’t see any dramatic turnarounds, but who knows whether anybody just drove past and did not go in as a result of their Shepherd being there. As we processed back to the Church I did notice that one other Cleric was present (apart from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who are always there).
It was quite moving to be singing “Faith of Our Fathers” the day after the feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. This is yet another example of a small number of the faithful bearing witness to the Faith.
As Bishop McMahon said in his homily the first time he went to this abortuary the word “Martyr” means witness. We are all called to be martyrs and whilst I don’t go to the abortuary as often as I should, I am aware that we should all go there more often than we feel we have time to.
I was rather proud of the 20 miles (each way) I had travelled to attend, only to find two people who had travelled 100 miles from Birmingham along with somebody else who had travelled form Guildford or thereabouts, which is a fair old step as well. For your local vigil see The Helper of God's Precious Infants who will no doubt have better photos, as the one above was taken on my phone!
But I would be lying.
Bishop McMahon did lead 50 or 60 of the faithful to the said abortuary. We prayed in procession going there and said 15 decades of the Rosary at the site. A female member of staff was clearly upset by our presence. She came out of the abortuary and escorted any girls she could see into the abortuary, or away from it when they were leaving so as to avoid them being offered help by the pavement counsellors. I didn’t see any dramatic turnarounds, but who knows whether anybody just drove past and did not go in as a result of their Shepherd being there. As we processed back to the Church I did notice that one other Cleric was present (apart from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who are always there).
It was quite moving to be singing “Faith of Our Fathers” the day after the feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. This is yet another example of a small number of the faithful bearing witness to the Faith.
As Bishop McMahon said in his homily the first time he went to this abortuary the word “Martyr” means witness. We are all called to be martyrs and whilst I don’t go to the abortuary as often as I should, I am aware that we should all go there more often than we feel we have time to.
I was rather proud of the 20 miles (each way) I had travelled to attend, only to find two people who had travelled 100 miles from Birmingham along with somebody else who had travelled form Guildford or thereabouts, which is a fair old step as well. For your local vigil see The Helper of God's Precious Infants who will no doubt have better photos, as the one above was taken on my phone!
4 comments:
I'm proud of my bishop. I wish I could have attended but I had a prior engagement. I prayed the rosary however when you all would have been outside witnessing.
Unfortunately I live too far (1,000 miles) away to join you, but I thank God that we have clergy, religious, and laity with the coutage to bear witness.
"It was quite moving to be singing “Faith of Our Fathers” the day after the feast of Saints John Fisher "
Let's pray to St John Fisher that three days after his feastday someone in the Diocese of East Anglia will prevent schoolchildren, in a school named after him in Peterborough, from being indoctrinated with the new Inju5tice "faith" all the details are here
There is a deep issue within our Church. People sit back and pontificate but do not put anything into practice. It is totally pathetic that so few people turned out for the event. This could be because of poor publicity or the Church leaders getting behind it. I think it is the latter.
P.S. Like your blog - keep going even when ..... Pax
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