Challenges for OCD Seculars

I visited the Spirit of Carmel OCDS community on Saturday in Preston, Lancashire.  Preston was for many decades one of the most Catholic towns in the country.  I was struck by the challenges the Spirit of Carmel community has faced in recent times, for they once had the support of OCD Sisters and Friars based in the town.  Both have now pulled out – and that is quite a bereavement for the local Seculars.  A member of the Spirit of Carmel commented that the Seculars now have to carry the flag on their own, and generally the shortage of priests and the closing of convents means that this is the case all over the country, and perhaps in many parts of Europe.  We have to step up and both pray for priests and do what we can to fill the gaps left by them.  We cannot of course be priests but we can perform some priestly tasks that are open to lay persons, and that is what the times seem to call for.

Intercessions

RIP Chinaka, Jacqui

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children), Theresa K, Elena

Sophie – newborn having heart surgery; Sianna, young child in the post-operative phase; James, recovering from surgery

Ivy – sick child

Brian (recovering from Pneumonia)

Kevin (heart attack)

William Gove (in recovery)

Illness:  Katy Keeling, Noreen

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Mark – brain infection

Michael, Kira – vulnerable youngsters

Defence of the unborn and the elderly