The Diocese of East Anglia Pilgrimage to Walsingham

It was a gloriously hot and sunny start to the day, by 10am Walsingham was already alive with people buzzing about and coaches dropping people off.

The first item on the agenda was the Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the Church of the Annunciation.

This was followed at 12:30 by the crowning of the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, she was sprinkled with Holy Water and honoured with incense, we prayed, had a reading from the Gospel and sang a hymn.

For me this was the most moving part of the day.

Then we all set off behind the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham on a silent procession to the Shrine.

We actually went along the road and not down the old railway path, luckily there were marshals there to stop the traffic, a peaceful walk is a good time to reflect, the silence was broken by the birds in the hedgerow, I managed to see Gold Finch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Oyster Catcher, Lapwing as well as the usual ducks, geese and rabbits. I was quite glad that we had processed down the road as there was shade given to us by the trees as the sun was now beating down on us.

On arrival at the Shrine we gathered in front of the Chapel of Reconciliation for the Penitential Litany, prayers and a hymn. It was now time for Lunch and a sit down preferably in the shade.

After Lunch and a bit of shopping, Janice now has a new hat and statue, we met with Fr Tony our priest at St. Anthony in Fakenham. Fr went off to get in to his robes ready for Mass and we found a seat in the centre of the gardens ready for Mass.

Mass was splendid, the choir sang beautifully and all the while the sun kept on shinning, this was the first outdoor Mass I had attended at the Shrine as on previous occasions the weather had been too bad to hold anything outside. At the end of Mass we were introduced to our youth representatives who are going to Brazil for the youth pilgrimage later this year.

Janice and I then set off back to Walsingham village to catch our bus back home, we decided to walk back along the old railway path as the road could prove a little dangerous with all the people making their way back home by car

On walking back we both noted how much quieter it was than the silent procession we were on earlier!!

The Diocese of East Anglia Pilgrimage to Walsingham was over and now we are looking forward to the 2^nd Annual Ordinariate Pilgrimage to Walsingham which is on Saturday 22^nd June.

Birds

Our first Blackbird has fledged from the nest.
He is doing a lot of walking around the garden which is making it hard work for his parents to keep track of where he is.  The rest are moving around the shrub but not brave enough to leave it yet.
The Starlings are making a lot of noise so they may be next to go.

At long last

After nearly a year my life is starting to get sorted out at last.
I have left my job of 28 years, moved 150 miles away from friends and family and looking forward to making new friends.
I will endeavour to post regularly and keep you all updated.
I have started to do a bit more artwork and get more back to nature.
So keep looking back to see my news and what I have been up to.

It was a nice day

The day started well. Janice and I had a full day planned in London.
We started with a visit to the Padre Pio Bookshop, which is an interesting place to visit, very small but crammed full with all sorts of books, statues, prayer cards a shrine and at certain times they also hold services there.
We then went to the 'forward to advent' held in the Westminster Cathedral hall. We met some old friends, the Walsingham Nuns and even a couple from the Sevenoaks Ordinariate. After meeting people from various Catholic groups and buying some gifts for Christmas we went into the Cathedral. We had a wander round and while Janice sat in a side chapel with a small group and did the Rosary I went and watched a baptism that was taking place. After this we went and had a coffee and a cake in the Cathedral tea rooms, this was our first visit to the tea room but it won't be our last.
After our usual tour of St. Pauls bookshop and the CTS bookshop with obligatory purchase we headed for the Brompton Oratory.
We have had mixed reports regarding the Oratory but all we can say is WOW, everywhere you looked there is a statue or a chapel, it was just like visiting a sacred place in Italy. I would like to say to anybody at the Oratory that I think you could do with someone to help put together leaflets, brochures, postcards and small indiscreet signs / labels, all this would increase the pleasure of visitors - tourists and bring funds into the church. I don't have much spare time but I would help with these matters if required.
Time was now getting on so we thought we would pay a quick visit to the Winter Market in Hyde Park, yes I know it is only November but we don't go to London everyday. The tube was frighteningly busy due to a couple of lines being closed for 'essential repairs'.
On reaching Hyde Park Janice stoped and shouted 'Oh No'. It was then that we saw that some thieving little *!!* had stolen the digital camera from out of her ruck sack, so it was back to Hyde Park underground and 3/4 of an hour giving our infomation to the Police.
What had been a very good day was now totally ruined and we just wanted to get home, it's strange that when something like that happens to you, you start looking at everyone differently.
Still as they say nobody was hurt, the camera can be replaced and life goes on, it's just a shame that the memories from our recent holiday and our days out are now gone. No doubt we will learn but next time we go to London everyone we meet on the underground will now be a foe.

Ordinariate - Good times ahead !!

Hello To all my new followers and visitors.

You are all most welcome to view my blog and please do leave comments.

I would especially welcome your views regarding the Ordinariate.
Are you a member of the Ordinariate?
Is the Ordinariate all that you believed it would be?
Are you thinking of joining?
Do you think it is a good idea?
Have you had members of the Ordinariate join your church?

I am a member of an Ordinariate group. However, the group I joined has left my local area and I along with a few others have stayed with our local Catholic church  where we have been made most welcome.

I look forward to hearing from you all and hopefully we can have some good comments and discussions.

Back from Sunny Wales

We are now back from our holiday in Wales, again only 1 day of rain ( Thursday) but we did have rain in the evenings which made the walking a bit boggy and muddy in places.
The holiday started with us arriving into Talgarth on the back of a recovery truck!!
It was good for a change to be able to sit back, relax and take in the scenery.
Our first walk took us via Talgarth gliding club where we met a nice friendly bunch of people and I was able to collect the gliders numbers. We had lunch atop of the ruins of Castle Dinas, it was high and windy but a very good vantage point from which to enjoy Tomato soup.
Sunday because the car was out of action we took the bus into Brecon and arrived at St. Michael's in time for Mass. After the service we had a good long chat with the Nunn in residence and took some photos. Janice as usual was plugging pilgrimages to Walsingham and we learnt about the recent pilgrimage St. Michael's had taken to Fatima. We then purchased fish 'n' chips and found somewhere nice along the canal to eat them.We finished walking 5 miles along the canal but had to be back to catch the one and only bus from Brecon to Talgarth at 5:30.
The rest of the holiday was full of exhilarating walks, finding our way across fields of cows and sheep, across small brooks and streams, up steep hills and finding hidden gems like a small church with its yew whipping tree, we also visited Hay on Wye and bought several more books !!! Bluith Wells and Brecon again.
The car was repaired very quickly and cheaply by a local garage in Talgarth called Orion Motors. I would definitely recommend these guys to anybody they are friendly, knowledgeable and quick.