HCPT - A Lourdes pilgrimage where children come first

Group candles

The Easter Pilgrimage of HCPT (Hosanna House and Children's Pilgrimage Trust) to the French shrine of Lourdes was the biggest since Covid. More than 3,500 people spent a week in Lourdes with the Trust. Nearly 1,000 were disabled and disadvantaged children and young people. Around 2,340 people from England, Scotland and Wales travelled with HCPT. The remainder were from sister organisations in Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, the West Indies and the USA.

The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, was the main celebrant at the Trust Mass on 13 April, with the Merseyside region taking the lead on liturgy under the theme "The Good Shepherd". It was the one time in the week when the whole pilgrimage gathered. Concelebrating was Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh in Scotland (HCPT's president), Bishop Manuel Cruz and Bishop Gregory Studerus of Newark in the USA, Bishop Fintan Gavin of Cork and Ross in Ireland, Bishop Paul Mason of the Bishopric of the Forces, Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry in Ireland, Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell in Scotland, Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood, and Emeritus Bishop Tom Williams of Liverpool. And there were around 40 priest chaplains with groups.

Thousands watched the event live on the internet and enjoyed the participatory music and the array of colourful banners as groups processed out at the end. The pilgrimage featured popular music by Mike Anderson, Maria Parkinson, Matt Redman, Bernadette Farrell and Stuart Townsend, and 'My Lighthouse' by the Rend Collective was sung everywhere. Musical director Dr Marie Giles led musicians and singers from Merseyside.

It was a youthful pilgrimage with more than half the participants under the age of 30. Faith formation and young people reaching out to and learning from the vulnerable are part of the HCPT experience. And the dedication of young helpers is inspiring and life-affirming, whether helping children to eat and drink, playing parachute games on the prairie opposite the Grotto or running back to the hotel to pick up a gluten-free host that had been left behind. Two pupils from the Nicholas Breakspear school in Hertfordshire made wonderful contributions to my own West London Group.

Our group also enjoyed our own group liturgies, with personal bidding prayers and intentions. A very special visit was to the Sheep Fold chapel at the City of the Poor where we were reminded of the need to pray and work for Justice and Peace. We prayed at the Grotto together and towards the end lit and placed a large group candle decorated with peace doves containing all our names. Our chaplain drew attention to all the intentions the group brought to Lourdes and the names of people we knew who are sick at this time or who have died. Children and helpers will never forget this poignant moment. We filled our Lourdes water bottles in the candlelight.

At a Regional Mass prepared with other groups in South-East England and celebrated together, each group had its own toy lamb to present at the Offertory, representing the group and decorated with its colours, fitting in with the pilgrimage theme. We had several masses with other groups and what a blessing they were. I must confess initial surprise that a blind child offered to do the reading at one Mass. Of course, he managed it with the support of his helper. At a healing service some children struggled to hold out the palms of their hands for oil but with a bit of patience from the rest of us they managed. The children - particularly the vulnerable - come first and that is just as it should be in a caring Christian community. Children who rarely venture far from their homes and schools for the rest of the year have the run of the town in Lourdes, where there are other children like them - perhaps in wheelchairs, perhaps disfigured or deaf. Children with social problems or children bullied at school are listened to in Lourdes and valued.

HCPT's pilgrimage groups wore colours unique to their group and were prominent within the shrine area and at other sites around the town connected to St Bernadette. HCPT led the torchlight procession on the Tuesday evening, and the Blessed Sacrament procession on Thursday afternoon, carrying colourful banners and introducing modern Marian and other hymns to the usual programme of traditional music. Both were livestreamed.

Of all the day trips away from Lourdes, the one to Gavarnie is the most popular with HCPT groups. We gazed at the statue of Our Lady of the Snows up on the hill to the right of the road into the town and then took a breath-taking first view of the Cirque de Gavarnie ahead of us. HCPT groups love the beautiful natural environment of Gavarnie, which reminds us all of the life and joy provided by God's creation. The area is in the heart of the Pyrenees National Park. The awesomeness of the fresh air, the little brook running through the valley, and the beauty of the snow-covered hills and mountains caused quiet prayers of thanks to be raised to God for the opportunity to be here again, and some for the first time.

Long before HCPT was formed, the people of Gavarnie have believed that Our Lady watches over them and accompanies them in their sufferings and joys. We had Mass in the little Church of St John the Baptist which overlooks the town. It testifies to a thriving Catholic community going back at least eight centuries. As a stage on one of the routes to Santiago de Compostela, the village of Gavarnie is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for its parish church.

The week is an inspirational experience of the Kingdom of God. It challenges HCPT pilgrims to carry away from Lourdes an Easter message for families, parishes, schools and the world: a message of new life, love, hope and joy.

HCPT's pilgrimage season continues from May to October at its Hosanna House property. The house, in the hills above Lourdes, will host over 1,500 pilgrims of all ages this year, many of them with disabilities or life-limiting conditions.

Watch the HCPT Trust Mass 2023 here: www.youtube.com/live/VmW91x1WhjA