St Matthew's Church, Northampton: Parish Cell

Cell Secretary: Miss Jean Collins (who may be contacted via the Parish Office)

A Parish Cell was formed at St Matthew's and an Inaugural Mass held on Wednesday 23 February 2005. The preacher at this occasion was Fr Philip North, the Priest Administrator of the Anglican Shrine. A certificate recording the event hangs of the south wall of the original sanctuary in the Lady Chapel. Father Nicholas is Ward Superior, and Father Graham is a Priest Associate of the Holy House.

The Aims and Objectives of the Society
This organization exists to encourage and support devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham and Pilgrimage to the Shrine. Members receive information and news from the Shrine three times during the year, including the Walsingham Review in December and August.

In addition Priests Associate are asked to offer Mass, monthly if possible, for the work of the Shrine and for all who visit the Holy House and are interceded for there.

A lamp burns for members of the Society and Priests Associate in the Holy House; they are prayed for each day at Shrine Prayers at Walsingham and by members of the Living Rosary.

Departed members are remembered at Shrine Prayers, at a Requiem Mass and their names are recorded in the Walsingham Review.

Membership and Masses
There are currently twenty-three members of the Cell. We meet each month for a Mass of the Holy House which is normally held on the second Saturday at 9.30am in the Lady Chapel (other observances permitting). Access to church is via the North Door. All are welcome.

New propers have been published recently for six Masses of the Holy House. The themes of which are as follows:

Mass I - The Annunciation
Mass II - The Visitation
Mass III - The Word made Flesh
Mass IV - The visit of the Shepherds
Mass V - The Wedding at Cana in Galilee
Mass VI - Our Lady, Type of the Church

Mass concludes with the recitation of the Angelus or Regina Caeli, is followed by refreshments and a meeting of Cell members in our Parish Centre. At these gatherings Cell business is advanced.

Since its formation Cell members, and others, have attended two residential pilgrimages to the Shrine. A third is planned for June 2007 when the conductor will be Canon Michael Whitehead, a Guardian of the Shrine. It is hoped that this will also attract those who are not currently members of the Society, including children. Members also attended 'privately' and support a range of other events at the Shrine throughout the year, including the National Pilgrimage, in May.

St Matthew's maintains a lamp in the Holy House at the Shrine, and actively supports the on-going renewal and development of the Shrine and its facilities through subscription and fundraising activities.

† In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
All Amen.

My brothers and sisters,
the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham exists to give honour to Our Lady
under her ancient title of Our Lady of Walsingham,
and to bring more people to know and love the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, England's Nazareth,
and to encourage Christians to seek our Lady's help by pilgrimage to that holy place.

May membership of this Society bring you closer to Our Lord and his most holy mother,
and ever remind you of the love of God in sending his only Son to be born of a pure Virgin, to raise our lowly nature to the heights of Godhead.

Let us pray

Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem fallen humanity you came to earth,
one like us in all things but sin:
bless we pray, this badge (these badges)
fashioned to honour the Shrine of the Holy House of the blessed Virgin Mary,
Our Lady of Walsingham;
may those who bear this sign be likewise pure temples for you to dwell in,
and be found worthy to live with you for ever in glory.

The priest sprinkles the badge(s) with holy water, and presents it to the new member, saying

Receive, dear fellow pilgrim, the badge of the Holy House of England's Nazareth;
through the intercession of blessed Mary, Our Lady of Walsingham,
having put off your former sins and being cleansed from every stain,
may you bear it without fault to life everlasting.

We receive you into all the spiritual privileges of the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham
† in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

When all have been admitted a seasonal anthem to Our Lady may be said or sung.

your divine son, dying on the cross,
confided us to your maternal care.
You are our Mother,
we desire ever to remain your devout children.
Let us therefore feel the effects of your powerful intercession with Jesus Christ.
Make your name again glorious in this place
once renowned throughout our land by your visits,
favours and many miracles.
Pray, O holy Mother of God for the conversion of England,
restoration of the sick, consolation for the afflicted,
repentance of sinners, peace to the departed.
O blessed Mary, Mother of God,
our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for us. Amen.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

Fr Nicholas and I had adjacent rooms at St. Stephen's House. He can testify that I'm quiet, compliant, calm, obedient sort of person who never once kept him awake with rowdy parties!

Sadly, not always thus. About one year ago, I went back to my old Secondary School to preach at Founders Day. Teachers who remembered me found it highly amusing that I was a priest and began to remind me of all the scrapes and scandalous episodes of my youth.

The biology teacher had an especially good memory. Everyone in class had to bring in a flower to identify the constituent parts. Boys of course conveniently forgot. Girls brought beautiful bunches of daffodils. For a bet, my friend Brian Harries and I went round the whole class eating all the daffodils, so beautiful bunches of flowers became less than beautiful clumps of stems. Not only were we banned from the biology laboratory for the rest of year, we were both horribly and violently sick!

Results of all this - I have little knowledge on the subject of cells, I'm sure they covered them in biology. I just wasn't there. And it's a bad thing to miss because they're what I'm made of. I do, however, know one thing about cells. They grow. In fact, that's about all they do. Don't choose to grow. They just do. It's there natural state.

It's wonderful to be with you tonight as we celebrate the birth of a new cell - the cell of Our Lady and St. Matthew - a cell of the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham. First thing I want to do on behalf of the Shrine is to say thank you. Thanks to Fr Nicholas, to Jean (Collins), to the members and to all who have been involved in this new enterprise. It's an exciting day not just for you but for all who love Walsingham. Big new cells such as this are a really encouraging sign of the health of pilgrimage to Walsingham as we prepare to celebrate our 75th anniversary 2006. But what's it all about? What is your cell for? Well, like all cells - it's there to grow. In particular, I hope it will grow in three ways, each one of which reflects something of the ministry of the Shrine as a whole.

First of all: I hope that in your cell you will grow together in love. I hope that you'll enjoy being a cell, that you'll look forward to each meeting, that you'll take delight in each others company. I hope you'll become a real community, joined together by your love for Mary and her Son. Because that oneness amongst you - it's not just about having good times. It will reflect to your parish and to this community something of the Shrines ministry of reconciliation.

I spent some of last week in Bosnia. It was a fascinating but very disturbing visit. I have never seen poverty like it, and a sense of menace hangs over the country, not because war is going to start again, but because forgiveness has not yet begun. We were there under auspices of a church called Soul of Europe who try to get people who have been in conflict to talk to each other. They want to arrange a conversation between Croat and Serb-Catholic Orthodox. And they rang up out of the blue to say that the only place in world where that conversation could take place was in Walsingham.

Walsingham - a place where, through Mary's prayers, people are brought closer to God. And as they do so, they are brought closer to each other, and forgiveness and reconciliation can begin. So as a cell, grow together in love. Enjoy the fellowship you have with each other. And remember - it goes far deeper than you can begin to imagine.

Then second way in which cells should grow is in faith. We've just heard in the Gospel a most astonishing story. A young woman gives her life to God in an act of reckless, dangerous discipleship. How could Mary take such risks? Because her life was patterned on God. And so it continued. How often do we read of Mary pondering things of God in her heart? She listened and she went on listening. That's how she could discern where God was leading her. That's how she could remain faithful, even at the foot of the cross and in the upper room.

A cell is there that its members might come together to pray. Each time you come together you will go in heart to Walsingham to pray in Holy House. And as you do so, you will draw ever closer to God, and discern his will in your life.

It gets on my nerves when people call Walsingham a pilgrim centre. That's not what it is at all. It's a place of prayer and because it's a place of prayer people go there on pilgrimage. The praying is everything. Through your cell, you will become part of that daily round of prayer. And as you do so, your life will become more and more patterned on God's life, and you will grow in him.

And the third way I hope your cell will grow is, quite simply, in strength. In numbers. Occasionally - though fortunately not all that often. I come across a cell that has lost its way. It's become a holy huddle, a group of people for whom Walsingham is, 'their thing!' But what is at the very heart of the Shrine? A Holy House where a young girl gave her life to God. Walsingham - a place of conversion. It's a place where, through experience of pilgrimage and through Mary's prayers, others might be drawn more deeply into mysteries of faith. How dare we keep that to ourselves? So part of the role of a cell - to promote. You with others - have received joys and benefits of pilgrimage. So encourage others to discover that too. I hope that a cell can be an ambassador for the Shrine within its parish. There's something for everyone at Walsingham. For younger pilgrims there's children's pilgrimage or youth pilgrimages in the Summer. There's a special weekend for families in November when children come free of charge. There's a young adults pilgrimage at the end of this season.

Those are really lovely opportunities for people of all ages to find something special on Walsingham's holy ground. So I hope we can work together to tell the good news. Growing together in God. Growing in faith. Growing in strength. That you might grow in the school of Mary - may that be our prayer for your cell as it is formally launched tonight.

Parish Cell of the Society of the Holy House of Our Lady of Walsingham