This
article was first
published in The
Catholic Herald
The
Renewal of Walsingham
By
Dwight Longenecker
I
first visited Walsingham
as an Anglican priest.
As a former Evangelical,
it might be supposed
that I had turned
up to support the
placard carrying
Protestants in their
annual pilgrimage
to condemn idolatry
and shout down the
Anglo-Catholics.
But by the time I
had become an Anglican
priest my attitudes
had softened and
I was increasingly
curious about the
role of the Blessed
Virgin. Part of my
Anglican pilgrimage
to Walsingham included
a visit to the Roman
Catholic shrine where
we removed our shoes
and walked back to
the village barefoot,
all the time praying
for church unity.
I
didn’t realise at
the time that my
prayers would be
answered when, about
ten years later,
I was received into
the Catholic Church.
On that first visit
to Walsingham I can
remember being repulsed
by the Anglican shrine.
The Holy House was
fine, but the rest
of the place seemed
like the retirement
bungalow of a flamboyant
Anglo-Catholic who
had holidayed in
Spain. I was much
more attracted by
the simple blend
of history, tradition
and modernity at
the Catholic Shrine.
At the Catholic Shrine
there was a sense
of sadness over what
was destroyed at
the Reformation mingled
with the joy of restoration
and an optimism for
the future. The Anglican
shrine, by contrast,
seemed like an exercise
in faux medievalism.
Over
the years, as I returned
to the Catholic shrine
I came to appreciate
the courage and vision
of Charlotte Pearson
Boyd—who purchased
the Slipper Chapel
and restored it for
Catholic use in 1897.
Her simple devotion
echoed the feminine
determination and
devotion of the shrine’s
first foundress Richeldis
de Faverches in the
eleventh century.
Linking them together
with the shrine at
Walshingham is the
theme of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy
House is meant to
be a replica of the
house where the Annunciation
took place. As the
Holy Spirit overshadowed
the Blessed Virgin,
so Walsingham seems
especially blessed
by the presence of
the Holy Spirit.
There really is an
air to the place
which seems more
pure and that is
not just because
Walsingham is a stone’s
throw from the sea.
As
I came to appreciate
Walsingham more I
also realised that
as I was opening
up to the role of
the Blessed Virgin,
I had also been opening
up to the power of
the Holy Spirit.
During my time as
an Anglican priest,
my own life was touched
by the renewal ministry
as I got involved
in a counselling
and healing ministry.
This was preceded
by a difficult time
when I went through
some personal crises,
and accepted both
the healing power
of the Holy Spirit
and the powerful
intercession of the
Blessed Virgin. It
was no co-incidence
that the crises that
prompted an inner
healing co-incided
with the beginning
of my use of the
rosary.
That
is why, for me, the
heart of the Walsingham
Shrine is not so
much the Slipper
Chapel, but the Chapel
of the Holy Ghost
adjacent to it. In
this little chapel
a mosaic of the day
of Pentecost dominates
the darkened room.
Before the mosaic,
like a hundred Pentecostal
tongues of fire,
candles flicker on
a honeycomb arrangement
of bricks. This chapel
symbolises the heart
of fire that the
Holy Spirit kept
aflame throughout
the centuries of
persecution in England,
but it also represents
the healing fire
of the Holy Spirit
at work in the parts
of our lives that
seem most dark and
impenetrable.
This
same work of the
Holy Spirit draws
people to the shrine
of Walsingham as
never before. What
is most interesting
about Walsingham
today is how the
devotees of the shrine
illustrate the current
state of the Catholic
Church in England,
as well as her direction
for the future. Traditional
Diocesan pilgrimages
still dominate the
calendar, but these
are interspersed
with some fascinating
new developments.
The multi-cultural
aspect of modern
Britain England comes
alive at Walsingham
as the Tamils, the
Poles, the Indo-Lankan
and Caribbean pilgrimages
continue to grow
in numbers and fervency. As
I travel around parishes
throughout England
this same multi-cultural
element of modern
Catholicism is vibrantly
apparent. In city
after city the masses
are dominated by
non-Anglo Saxon Catholics.
Members
of the new ecclesial
movements also love
Walsingham. Every
August the place
is swamped with followers
of the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal as the annual
New Dawn Conference
takes place. Later
in the month the
annual Youth2000
pilgrimage takes
over and the shrine
is filled with young
Catholics learning
about their faith,
worshipping together
and growing into
the church of tomorrow
today.
This
diverse, multi-cultural
and youthful group
of pilgrims reveal
the universality
of the Catholic Church
as well as the future
direction of the
Catholic Church in
Britain. Those who
go on pilgrimage
are those who care
enough about their
faith to get involved
and get busy. These
are the ones to whom
the Catholic Church
in England increasingly
belongs. What can
we discern about
the future make-up
of the Catholic Church
from the crowds flocking
to Walsingham?
First
they are multi-cultural.
The pilgrims to Walsingham
today are not just
elderly middle class
religious ladies
who fancy a coach
trip to Norfolk topped
by a cream bun and
a cucumber sandwich.
Those who travel
to the edge of Norfolk
today are the faithful
from the Third World
who have settled
in England. The big
crowds are the Tamils,
the Ino-Lankans and
the Poles. The second
characteristic of
the pilgrims is that
they are the young.
The ethnic pilgrimage
groups are crowded
with young families.
The Youth2000 pilgrimage
attracted over a
thousand young people
last summer. This
year the numbers
will probably be
greater. The young
also make up a large
number of the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal
crowd. For example,
at the annual Celebrate conference
during Easter week
this year over 40%
of the thousands
large crowd will
be twenty two years
old or younger. Thirdly,
those who make their
way to Walsingham
are the contemporary
orthodox. They are
not seeking to turn
back the clock to
indulge in some fake
1950s lace and mantillas
religious trip. Neither
do they wish to turn
back the clock to
the groovy 1970s
of Fr Folkmass and
Sister Sandals.
Instead
they are simple twenty-first
century Catholics
who want to hold
firm today to the
faith that has been
handed down to them
from the apostles.
These are the crowds
of the committed
who realise that
the ancient faith
is up to date because
it has never been
out of date. These
twenty first century
pilgrims go to Walsingham
because they have
eschewed pick ‘n’ mix,
greeting card religion
for something with
more oomph. They
have embarked on
the Adventure of
Orthodoxy and the
ancient but modern
shrine of Walsingham
is one of the milestones
on their journey.
Dwight
Longenecker has
just finished writing Christianity
Pure&Simple--a
new series of booklets
for the Catholic
Truth Society to
be used in primary
evangelisation.
