“The procession sets the scene so that God enters into and acts in the hearts of people”
Manchester, 10/31/13 (Sodalit News – United Kingdom). On October 5th the neighborhood stress of Rusholme and Fallowfield from the city of Manchester turned into a place of beautiful devotion, where more than one thousand faithful were able to participate in the procession of Our Lady of Reconciliation.
The Marian Community of Reconciliation was responsible for the procession of the Immaculate Lady of Sorrows, with Ada Collazos, member of the Marian Community, as the head of the team. She described the procession as a big “celebration of faith” and as “a marvelous opportunity to be together as Catholics, giving public testimony of our faith in Jesus.” Together with them were members of the Christian Life Movement and friends of the Sodalit Family.
For the last three years the diocese of Salford, together with the Christian Life Movement (CLM) in England, has organized this procession which goes for 3.3 kilometers throughout the city of Manchester look to give public testimony and increase Marian filial piety in English lands. This year the procession was unique in having the presence of a replica of the famous World Youth Day cross that was carried by many young people from different parishes in the diocese going before the image of the Virgin during the procession.
This event brought together adults, children, high school and college students, priests, young people and parishioners from different parishes, as well as worshippers coming from different cultures who were present in order to pay homage to the Virgin. Hymns, praying the rosary, and Angelus were some of the manifestations with which the faithful expressed their devotion to Mary, while her image went through the streets of Manchester.
The procession finished with a tribute to and coronation of our Lady in Platt Fields Park, done by Bishop Terence Brain, bishop of Salford, the diocese in which the Fraternas have been present since the year 2004.
María del Pilar Cerdeña, Fraterna, highlighted that “it is beautiful to see how we work ‘to set the scene’ so that God enters and acts in the hearts of people. He does not waste this opportunity and does marvelous things. Even though we have heard several testimonies from the faithful who are very thankful for the procession and how it has helped them, I am sure that there are many more ways in which God has worked, ways that perhaps we will never know because the fruits belong to God.”
We invite you to visit the Image Gallery from the Procession thanks to Anne-Marie Kelly and Catherine Callaghan
The Marian Community of Reconciliation, founded in Lima on the 25th of March of 1991, has a specific spirituality and style: the sodalit spirituality which was confirmed by Pope John Paulo II as a valid path to attain holiness. The Fraternas, with a spirit of humility, seek to serve and love the Church intensely. The following three characteristics define them: full apostolic availability, their lay identity and the community life.