HCPT’s Easter Pilgrimage, which travels to Lourdes over the Easter weekend, will be the biggest since Covid. More than 3,500 people are signed up to go with the trust.
Phil Sparke, HCPT chief executive, told The Tablet: “We’re thrilled to be back in Lourdes for HCPT’s biggest Easter pilgrimage since the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m so proud of our volunteer helpers, priests and nurses who are with us, helping to change the lives of hundreds of disabled and disadvantaged children and young people.”
Around 2,340 people from England, Scotland and Wales are travelling with HCPT. The remainder are from sister organisations in Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, the West Indies and the USA. Nearly 1,000 members of the group are disabled and disadvantaged children and young people, 570 of them with HCPT.
The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, will be the main celebrant at the Trust Mass next Thursday, with the Merseyside region taking the lead on liturgy under the theme “The Good Shepherd”. Alongside him will be Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh in Scotland (HCPT’s president), Bishop Manuel Cruz and Bishop Gregory Studerus of Newark in the USA, Bishop Fintan Gavin of Cork and Ross in Ireland, Bishop Paul Mason of the Bishopric of the Forces, Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry in Ireland, Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell in Scotland, Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood, and Emeritus Bishop Tom Williams of Liverpool.
The pilgrimage will feature popular music by Mike Anderson, Maria Parkinson, Matt Redman, Bernadette Farrell and Stuart Townsend, and will include HCPT favourites “Rise and Shine” and “Sing it in the Valleys”. Musical director Dr Marie Giles will lead musicians and singers from Merseyside.
With more than half the people on the pilgrimage aged under 30, there will be plenty of dance, drama and visuals, broadcast on big screens and live-streamed during the week. HCPT groups will be a colourful presence around Lourdes, with each group wearing distinctive colours and badges.
The HCPT (Hosanna House and Children’s Pilgrimage Trust) is a charity registered in England & Wales and in Scotland. Its first Easter pilgrimage was in 1956.
Phil Sparke is keen to bring the joy of the pilgrimage to people back at home and live-streams and daily news will be available at www.hcpt.org.uk/easter-2023.
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