BY
DANIEL HARKINS | SEPTEMBER 18 | 
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Young
Catholics enjoy Spirit-filled pilgrimage to Nunraw
Around
160 young people from across Scotland where joined by priests and religious
last Sunday as they took part in a national youth pilgrimage to Nunraw Abbey in
East Lothian.
The event, organised by Catholic Youth
Service Scotland (CYSS), follows on from last year’s pilgrimage to Dunfermline
Abbey, and like last year the weather stayed clear throughout the day.
The pilgrims gathered at the start of
their journey in St Mary’s Church in Haddington, where they prayed the Angelus,
before moving to the pre-reformation St Mary’s Parish, where they were joined
by the Church of Scotland minister as they prayed for Christian unity and for
the journey ahead.
After a visit to the Chapel of the Three
Kings within St Mary’s, the young pilgrims, from six of the eight dioceses in
Scotland, walked seven miles to the Cistercian Abbey of Sancta Maria at Nunraw.
Along the way they took questions from the odd passer-by, receiving a positive
response to their efforts.
Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and
Edinburgh led the pilgrimage from the front and was joined by parish priests
and religious brothers and sisters in conversing with the youngsters as they
processed through villages and country roads.
The pilgrimage had been organised around
the theme of the Year of Consecrated Life, which Pope Francis in 2014
established to draw attention to vocations and other forms of consecrated
living.
Amongst those represented on the day
were the Jesuit community from Edinburgh and Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia
from Elgin. Pilgrim groups from a number of parishes took part including from
St Augustine’s in Coatbridge, St Edward’s in Airdrie, St Teresa’s in
Craigmillar, and St Maria Goretti in Cranhill, Glasgow.
“It was a lovely occasion,” the
Archbishop said. “The weather was absolutely perfect. The rain stayed away. The
sun came out often. It was a beautiful day for walking through East Lothian.”
The archbishop was keen that the young
people learn from the advice given them by Abbot Emeritus Raymond Jaconelli of
Nunraw who told of the need for periods of silent prayer in life in order to
let God speak.
“Continue to listen for the voice of the
Lord both today and throughout your life,” the archbishop said in his homily.
“Especially to find time to be quiet, to be silent and to listen again for the
voice of Jesus.”
Elizabeth Millar from CYSS said the
whole day was great and thanked Abbot Mark Caira for his hospitality.
—daniel@sconews.co.uk
—Pic: Paul McSherry
—This story ran in full in the September
18 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.
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Photos: Anne Marie...
