The diocese of East Anglia is launching a campaign to promote the Cause of Leonard Cheshire, the war hero who founded a worldwide network of homes for disabled people.
The campaign will begin with a centenary Mass next month celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes.
Cheshire, an RAF bomber pilot during World War II, was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honour, for his bravery in carrying out over 100 missions.
After the war he cared for sick ex-servicemen and became a Catholic, aged 31. He went on to set up residential homes for disabled people. By his death in 1992 his charity operated 270 homes. In 1959 he married Sue Ryder, a fellow convert and charity pioneer.
Fr James Fyfe, who will be promoting the Cause, said the campaign would “begin to try to collect any evidence for sainthood from among the faithful. There is a prayer which invites people to pray to Leonard for a particular reason. If the prayers are answered then evidence is collected, examined and presented. This does not mean that we already think he is a saint – that part is a very long way off and it may be 50 or 100 years hence – it is a discovery process.”
He said the diocese was starting the campaign because Cheshire lived in Cavendish, Suffolk, but that he was a “worldwide figure and many people will be praying for the success of the Cause and we shall reach out to them”.
Anyone interested in the campaign is invited to contact Fr James Fyfe, 69 Queen’s Road, Wisbech, PE13 2PH for more information.
The Requiem Mass will be held in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Cavendish, Suffolk, at 7pm on September 7.
Bishop advises priests on ministering to gay Catholics
The bishop of Motherwell has asked his priests to encourage those experiencing same-sex attraction to “lead a chaste life”.
Bishop Joseph Toal issued his statement after a diocesan priest published a Facebook post that was subsequently widely shared. The priest, Fr Paul Morton of St Bride’s Church in Cambuslang, wrote: “We must do everything we can to redress the harm that has been done in the past by the negative stance we seem to have taken up [about gay people].”
Bishop Toal said he had been asked about the subject by a number of priests. “One such approach commended to me is to make available the Courage ministry/programme,” he said. “This encourages those who live with same-sex attraction to live a chaste life – which is also expected of all heterosexual Catholics who are not married – supported by the sacramental and prayer life of the Church.”
Bishop Toal said that “many scoff at this option as unrealistic in today’s society”, but that “it is the way of life proposed in the Church’s tradition”.
A note said the statement was a response to coverage of the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
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