ISSUE 324 MAY 2024 20p WHERE SOLD
Catholic News MORE THAN 25 YEARS OF BRINGING THE NOTTINGHAM DIOCESE TOGETHER
Published by Bellcourt Ltd, N2 Blois Meadow Business Centre, Steeple Bumpstead, Haverhill, Suffolk, CB9 7BN Telephone: 01440 730399 Editor Nick Layton E-mail cn@cathcom.org or davidl@cathcom.org
The Big Love Walk The Big Lent Walk organised by CAFOD, the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales with its Scottish partner, SCIAF, is a multi national event that takes place each year to raise awareness of global poverty and help raise funds to eradicate it.
sing/sspp-big-lent-walk to track progress of the walk, offer encouragement and collect donations; £140 has been raised for CAFOD to help fight global poverty (equivalent to providing fifty-six palm trees to protect land from the effects of climate change).
Last year, during Lent, the parish of St Peter & St Paul, in Lincoln, hosted a day event for the Big Lent Walk for our deanery and this year, Stuart, one of the parishioners who took part, felt inspired to take on the complete challenge, but rather than just doing it as an individual by himself, he wanted to involve others and make it a parish affair, helping to build relationships. So, it was decided rather than one individual needing to walk 5km for the full forty days, a person or group could commit to undertake a single 5km walk. With the desire nobody would be excluded from taking part, those unable to walk 5km were invited to pray or donate to the charity, with Rosary ‘warriors’ sought to pray for CAFOD’s intentions.
Six individuals committed themselves to prayer and twenty-nine individuals, including both the young and the not so young, undertook walks, with one person doing the walk in their home. A group walk, through a nearby park and along a river path, was organised and seven individuals joined in that, including two from another Catholic church and one from another denomination. ‘Purple heart’ bookmarks were created by a parishioner and given to each individual who took part in the event, as a small thank you and memento.
The invitation ‘Be a part of something Big!’ and get involved was made to parishioners and then to the wider Lincoln Catholic community, together with our Christian neighbours in nearby churches. A huge banner from CAFOD was erected and a display board created in SSPP church, using CAFOD posters and photos of those taking part. A CAFOD JustGiving web page was created https://parishes.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundrai
The Big Lent Walk beautifully encapsulates God’s big love (Ephesians 3:18) and how He invites all people to share in His life of love, to be united heart and soul and testify to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:32-33), for the good of others (and ourselves), no matter how small or insignificant we may feel. At Easter, when we renew our Baptismal promises, we renew our ‘yes’ to that invitation, thank you Lord for such kindness and thank you, too, to CAFOD (and Stuart) for the opportunity, invitation and challenge to participate in this event and be a tiny, tiny, part of something big. With May, being the month of Mary, let us ask the Mother of Our Lord, to intercede for us and help us give our fiat.