Light for the Pope
Posted: 02 Nov 2006 @ 00:00
THEY ARE taking a miner’s lamp to give to the Pope, together with a petition
signed by thousands (“it should be hundreds of thousands”) “as a sign from the
common people of God’s desire for unity in line with Christ’s own mission”.
This is the latest idea from Grimethorpe in Wakefield
diocese, and its Vicar, the Revd Peter Needham SSC (pictured), to raise
enthusi-asm and money for the near-derelict church of St Luke which Fr Needham
inherited with its tiny congregation of ten. (He started the fund by raising
£12,000 when he walked barefoot from Grimethorpe to York).
His regular congregation in the ex-mining village is now 70, “with an
average of 15 communicants a day”. Nine of them are going in the minibus,
including a couple of nurses, four drivers (including Fr Needham), and three
non-church people. Some of them have never been abroad before.
It will be a strenuous drive through Luxembourg, Zurich, Venice, Padua, and
Assisi to Rome, and Geneva on the way back. In Padua they will visit the
recently verified remains of St Luke in the Abbey of St Justina, and will give
another miner’s lamp to the Bishop. In Rome, they will meet Bishop John Flack
at the Anglican Centre before going to see the Pope. It will take two full
weeks, and they are hoping to raise £100,000 towards their target of £1.5
million.