Cathedral to host charismatic-style healing services

St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen is to host a three-day “healing mission” run by a group offering the charismatic-style ­laying-on of hands, writes Brian Morton.

In what is a relatively rare event to be held in a British Catholic cathedral, St Mary’s is next Thursday welcoming the Little Way Healing Ministries which is led by Augustinian friar Fr Laurence Brassill and Pauline Edwards.

They will host a healing evening, open day and, after Masses on Sunday, a prayer ­ministry including the laying on of hands which seeks to heal memories and contribute to the New Evangelisation.

Little Way Healing Ministries said it would like to encourage parishes to set up their own healing programmes. Ms Edwards explained on the group’s website that she was brought up a Catholic, lapsed but rediscovered her faith after the death of her middle child.  She and Fr Laurence started their ministry 15 years ago at the instigation of another Augustinian friar, Fr Malachy Loughran. 

“When people are healed, often spontaneously, by the power of the Holy Spirit, they then begin to realise and acknowledge that Jesus is alive and walking among us,” she writes.

The Charismatic Renewal is well established in the Diocese of Aberdeen, which is led by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, a Benedictine monk and former Abbot of Pluscarden Abbey.

In recent weeks, Pope Francis has shown a willingness to deepen links with charismatics and Evangelicals by visiting an Evangelical church in Caserta, Italy. He also attended a Catholic Charismatic Renewal gathering in Rome’s Olympic Stadium earlier this year.

And when the Archbishop of Canterbury visited the Pope in June, he explained that the Alpha Course – an introduction to Christianity from the charismatic tradition in the Church of England – was now in more Catholic Churches worldwide than Protestant ones.