The CA Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2022
“Be Part of the Miracle”
CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION LOURDES PILGRIMAGE 2022
After two ‘grace years’ dictated by the pandemic, the Catholic Association is returning to Lourdes this year. You are warmly invited to join us. The key facts and figures for our pilgrimage follow.
WHERE:
The Shrine of Lady of Lourdes, France
WHEN:
19 – 26 August 2022
WHO IS INVITED:
Whilst we have in the past drawn most of our pilgrims from specific dioceses and groups, increasingly we have pilgrims from elsewhere; this is a pilgrimage that is open to all.
However, despite our initial hopes, we have concluded that one of the lingering effects of the pandemic is that we will be unable to provide medical or nursing support for adults on this year's CA pilgrimage. This means that we will have no CA doctors or nurses on hand to advise on and lead our adult pilgrims' medical and nursing care - any medical attention needed whilst in Lourdes will be provided by local doctors and nurses. We will not be using the Accueil this year and, regrettably, we will not be able to support adult pilgrims with personal care needs.
We recognise that this will mean that many of our regular assisted pilgrims may not be able to join us this year, and that this will be very disappointing for them. Nevertheless, we will have access to a stock of wheelchairs and we are recruiting volunteer helpers (handmaids and brancardiers) who will be able to push those wheelchairs while in Lourdes. Therefore, we hope that those who require assistance from us for their mobility issues but can independently meet their medical and personal care needs will still be able to join us.
We also invite volunteer helpers; youth, school and university groups; clergy and their parishioners: indeed ALL are welcome.
WHY DO WE GO?
Lourdes is a place of healing; where our spirits can be restored to wholeness; where we share our experience of faith and humanity; where everyone is accepted. It is a shrine particularly for those who suffer: we go there to be with them, to care for them, to learn from them, and to experience the fact that faith and love redefine suffering. Lourdes is not a place of sorrow but of joy. In the words of St Bernadette “love overcomes, love delights”.
Our pilgrimage programme is designed to reinvigorate our sense of common humanity and purpose through faith.
TRAVEL:
We strongly encourage you to take the flights that we have arranged (through our travel agent Tangney Tours) from Birmingham and Stansted.
This will enable us to ensure that your travel documentation and insurance arrangements, particularly within the context of the pandemic, are correctly completed, not solely to fulfil regulations, but also to ensure that, as a group, we can operate as safely as possible together. We can only take pilgrims who are fully vaccinated.
Pilgrims who travel independently will also be required to complete the rigorous paperwork required under French travel regulations (post Covid) and our own covid, health and safeguarding procedures.
TRAVEL AGENT:
TANGNEY TOURS Catholic Association - Lourdes - Tangney Tours (tangney-tours.com)
PRICES:
We expect the cost for the week to be in the region of £900, including air travel. Coach travel for young people and helpers may be available at a lower price.
ACCOMODATION IN LOURDES:
As this is our first year post-Covid all our pilgrims will be accommodated in a small number of hotels, our wish being to create a unified, cohesive pilgrimage, with a strong sense of community. To help achieve this, again we encourage you to book through Tangney Tours.
SUPPORT AND CARE:
Pastoral Care:
All pilgrims will be encouraged to involve themselves in our programme of activities to create a tight and loving bond across the pilgrimage. We shall share accommodation, meals, and other social events, as well as our spiritual and religious programme.
Spiritual Care:
There will be both the traditional programme of liturgies and processions, and opportunities for discussion groups, talks, rosary and prayer times, enabling us to bring to and from the week in Lourdes all the broader issues and the life of the Church – such as Catholic Social Teaching, justice and peace issues, Laudato Si, the Synod.
SAFEGUARDING AND HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICIES:
We must show the highest standards of care to each other, particularly to those pilgrims who are more vulnerable. Our pilgrimage Safeguarding Policies are vetted and agreed by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency. All our helpers are trained appropriately and annually (following the guidelines of the British Lourdes Medical Association), and are DBS checked as required by UK law. The Sanctuaries and hotels in Lourdes are also run with the highest standards of care as required by the French authorities. The Pilgrimage arranges insurance cover for all relevant risks relating to the care of our pilgrims and their helpers.
PLEASE JOIN US!
Together we will put our faith into action, and, through the experience of love, under the smile of Our Lady of Lourdes, deepen our understanding and faith, seeing God in each other and in all things.