Archbishop John Wilson asks to be prayed over by congregation

Archbishop John Wilson, in a striking symbolic gesture, came down from the sanctuary of St George's cathedral on Tuesday, 25th June 2024, knelt in the nave and asked the congregation to extend their hands and pray over him as he set out on his travels for Nigeria the following day.

Liz Corcoran, a member of the Southwark charismatic team then led a beautiful prayer of blessing for the trip and for his ministry generally. The wave of love for the archbishop by his people was palpable.

Earlier, sensing the mood, he had set aside his prepared talk to deliver an extempore address. One participant, for whom this was all new commented: " I thought this is gonna be long, full of pomp and lots of singing and its gonna go on for ages. I had such a good time I couldn't believe it. Amazing event so glad I made it. The bishop was amazing. It's great when a sermon gets you laughing and ends with a point. I loved his humour and humility".

The evening was one of celebration for the recent Life in the Spirit seminars that had taken place at the cathedral in the Easter tide period which had been streamed to hubs over the diocese. As well as a concelebrated Mass with all the cathedral clergy led by Archbishop John, there had been a time of praise and worship led by the Rev Javier Elderfield, the cathedral's deacon, and personal witnesses by a selection of people who shared their experiences of the Life in the Spirit Seminars and what they had received from them and how they had grown in their faith. One participant had come all the way from Oxford and another from Hull to be there.

One young man, who doesn't attend a church, had come to the Holy Week liturgies at the cathedral and been profoundly touched. After seeing the flyer for the Life in the Spirit seminars, he signed up for these. As a result of his experiences he has now joined the RCIA at the cathedral and is planning to become a Catholic.

The life in the Spirit seminars is a series of evangelistic talks which proclaim the basic gospel message in a personal and inspirational way and encourage participants to open themselves up to the reality of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The sessions, which had been given at the cathedral, had been delivered by a mixture of priests and lay people, men and women. These included Episcopal vicar, Canon Gerard Bradley, Joan Fernandes from the Divine Retreat Centre in Ramsgate, Janet Iannicelli from Come and See Ministries, Alegra Mutanda, director of evangelisation in Winchester parish in Portsmouth, Gary Stephens, director of the New Dawn Conference and Fr Emmanuel Mansford CFR from Bradford.