Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach will be first United States host of the National Grandparents Pilgrimage
On September 26, 2009 the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach will be first United States host of the National Grandparents Pilgrimage consisting of a Mass celebrated by Most Rev. Gerald M. Barbarito, in honor of all grandparents and the special role they play in family life and faith formation.All families are invited to “pilgrim” to the Cathedral for this special Mass scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola, 9999 N. Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, FL. A light reception will follow in the Cathedral Hall. The National Grandparents Pilgrimage supports and encourages grandparents in the transmission of the faith. A Universal Prayer for Grandparents was composed by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 for the National Grandparents Pilgrimage which has touched many countries around the world.
For more information contact the Office of Marriage and Family Life at 561-775-9557 or visit www.diocesepb.org. or visit: www.stignatiuspb.com/Grandparents
Palm Beach Pilgrimage for Grandparents
Diocese to celebrate grandparents in a grand way
A Sept. 26 event will honor grandparents with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Barbarito and a reception.
FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF REPORT
Posted: 08.27.09
PALM BEACH GARDENS | It’s time to load Grandma, Grandpa and the children in the car and join in a big celebration.
The Diocese of Palm Beach will host the 2009 National Grandparents Pilgrimage Sept. 26, gathering grandparents and family members. “We are excited,” said Janice Petersen Minshew of the diocesan Family Life and Marriage office, who is organizing the day’s activities.
The morning event will pay tribute to grandparents, who are sometimes taken for granted.
“In many cases, grandparents are holding families together,” saidCatherine Wiley, a part-time resident of Delray Beach active at St. Joan and Ascension parishes in Boca Raton, who presented the pilgrimage concept to the diocese last year. “They play a crucial role in transmitting the faith from generation to generation.”
Wiley also was the driving force behind Ireland’s National Grandparents Pilgrimage, which began in 2007 and drew 15,000 pilgrims to Knock Shrine in County Mayo last year, according to its organizers. The Ireland event, scheduled to be repeated this September, was inspired by a similar event that has taken place each July since 2003 – around the feast of Jesus’ grandparents St. Anne and St. Joachim – at the National Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham, England.
Wiley also came up with the idea of a prayer for grandparents and presented the idea to the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI liked the idea, and the prayer he wrote in response was read publicly for the first time by Wiley during last year’s pilgrimage in Ireland.
“We are deeply honored to receive the ‘Prayer for Grandparents’ composed by Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,” Wiley told the Florida Catholic.
The prayer will be read at the first U.S. National Grandparents Pilgrimage, which organizers hope will draw families from all over Florida and beyond to the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola.
The local event will include a Mass with Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito presiding, followed by a reception and lots of photos.
The Office of Marriage and Family Life has asked pastors and Catholic school principals to coordinate a photo project, collecting family photos from parishioners. Those seeking to submit photos of grandparents with the children are asked to contact their parishes for details.
It is up to pastors and principals to coordinate the image-gathering process. Parish photo organizers are asked to submit collections on a diskette along with releases authorizing their publication, because some of the pictures may be displayed on the diocesan Web site and presented in a slideshow. The releases must be signed by all adults in the photo and by the parent or guardian of all people younger than 18 who are pictured. Diskettes and releases should be mailed to Petersen Minshew in the Office of Marriage and Family Life, 9995 N. Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410.
The National Grandparents Pilgrimage will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26. The cathedral is at 9999 N. Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens. For information, call 561-775-9557.
Children’s Prayer –
Jesus Jesus Please protect
me, please protect my
family and especially my
gransis and grandads. I hope
you pray for them everyday
and I will pray for you
My grannsis are in heaven
But live near me.
Emma Fannon
Age 9
Wanna share your grandchilds prayer? Email us at info@catholicgrandparentsassociation.com and we will include it on this blog.
Wanna share a prayer for your grandparents, parents or a family member? Send them to us!
Children’s Prayers – God, I Must Thank You For My…
My Grandparents
God, I must thank you for my grandparents,
They mind me like I was a god,
They teach me things I
though was impossible,
Tea is always made as if it
were an important visitor,
Their storytelling grips my
heart with all kinds of emotion
For this I must be thankful,
Amen.
Grandchild’s Prayer – Dear Granny & Grandad…
Dear Granny & Grandad,
You’re the best in the west!
I’m so happy you’re 50 years married.
I hope I can stay married that long!
If I get married at all!
You’re an insiration to everyone.
And Grandad dont fall off any more ladders,
your nine lives have to run out eventually!
And Granny keep on cooking as you do!Amen
Dedicated to my grandparents. Love always
Thomas
Prayers for Megans Grandmother and Family
Megans Grandmother, , died today. She was nearly 93 years old. She had 3 Children and 8 or 9 Grandchildren. Please God take her to Heaven, look after her and love her as we looked after her and loved her here on earth. We will miss her everyday of our lives, but we know she will be with you in heaven, and one day we will all be re-united with her.
Please everybody pray for Megan, her Grandmother and her Family, we will pray for you. We send them all our love, comfort and strength and wish them every prayerful wish and thought at this time.
From all of us at the Catholic Grandparents Association in Ireland.
Grandchild’s Prayer- Dear God…
Dear God,
I Want to thank you for grandparents because my grandparents are great.
They are really special to me. Without them I would be lost.
Soo many times there would have been no one to pick me up from school. Soo many times I would have no one to play with. Soo many times I would have no one to cudle with. Soo many times I would not have understood why my parents were cross. So, I just want to say thank you lord.
Amen
This is dedicated to my grandma Jenny and Grandpa Tom
Grandads gather with grannies at Knock shrine
Grandparents Pilgrimage at Knock Shrine
ALISON HEALY
GRANDPARENTS HAVE finally found their voice, the founder of the new Catholic Grandparents Association said yesterday as an estimated 14,000 grandmothers and grandfathers gathered at Knock shrine, Co Mayo.
They were attending the third annual National Grandparents Pilgrimage and the launch of the new organisation by Co Mayo grandmother Catherine Wiley.
She said the response from pilgrims had “stunned” her and people from all over the country told her that they wanted to be involved in the new association.
“People are coming up to me saying ‘I want to start a branch’. I think there will be branches in every town in the country . . .
“The association will be a voice for grandparents and will also offer them practical assistance. In many cases, grandparents are the ones holding families together.”
Among the pilgrims at yesterday’s event was Michael Lambert (102) from Co Roscommon and Tom Ketterick (95), the Mayo man who recently reached the final of the World Cup Brown Trout Angling competition.
Seán and Margaret Davin travelled from Dublin for the event. Mr Davin said it was “an extraordinary day” for grandparents. The key role played by grandparents had often been overlooked, he said, but now a “fascinating new consciousness of that role has been raised”.
The Primate of All-Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, said the “Bank of grandma and grandad” was critical to the success of the Celtic Tiger and the resources of grandparents would be critical to our economic recovery.
In years gone by, it was commonplace for children to take on financial responsibility for their parents as they grew older but that situation had reversed, Cardinal Brady said. “It is your time and money which is now holding many families in this country together as they struggle with the consequences of the global economic crisis,” he told grandparents.
He also alluded to the controversy over civil partnerships and gay marriage. “Any society which diminishes the value of the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, diminishes the very foundation of society itself.”
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0914/1224254474558.html
Mayo News – Grandma and Grandad’s ‘bank’ easing financial crisis
THE financial resources of grandparents – ‘the Bank of Grandma and Grandad’ – are helping many families through the current economic crisis,
Cardinal Sean Brady
the Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady said whem speaking at the foundation of the world’s first-ever national Catholic Grandparents Association at Knock Shrine last weekend.
Over 14,000 people turned out in resplendent sunshine for the National Grandparents Pilgrimage, including a 102 year-old Co Roscommon man, Michael Lambert.
“The resources of grandparents will be critical to the pace of our economic recovery. We salute with gratitude the Christian vocation of being a grandparent,” added Cardinal Brady.
By passing on the faith, grandparents could protect their grandchildren against “something more dangerous than swine flu” – the “deadly danger of despair.”
He also assured pilgrims that Ireland will come through the current recession.
Catherine Wiley, the Castlebar born grandmother who founded the Catholic Grandparents Association after establishing the National Grandparents Pilgrimage in 2007, said she was ‘stunned’ by the turn-out.
“We expected about 10,000 people, based on the attendance at last year’s National Grandparents Pilgrimage. We must thank God and Our Lady for giving us such a beautiful day which allowed so many people to come along,” she said. “The Association will be a voice for grandparents, and will also offer them practical assistance. In many cases, grandparents are the ones holding families together.”
The occasion also saw the launch of a song – My Guiding Light, a Tribute to Grandparents – by ten year-old Emma Humber.
Among the special guests was 95 year-old, Tom Ketterick, who recently qualified for the final of the World Cup Brown Trout angling finals on Lough Mask. He was accompanied by three other generations of his family, including four great-grandchildren.
The Association will be formed at parish level around the country. Membership will be €20 per year, which will help to cover the cost of newsletters, the annual Pilgrimage, and other events.
A website – CatholicGrandparentsAssociation.com – has been built to help spread the news of the Association’s existence.
Independand.ie News – New association for Catholic grandparents launched
A new national association for Catholic grandparents has been launched.
The founder Catherine Wiley says the association plans to become a voice for grandparents in the church and also in society.
Mrs. Wiley from Co. Mayo has ten grandchildren and established the National Grandparents Pilgrimage at Knock Shrine two years ago.
‘Grandparents are often the glue binding the family during and after marital breakdown. They bring children to school, pass the faith onto them and frequently are the ones children can turn to at difficult times in their lives’, said Mrs. Wiley.
The association will be formed at parish level around the country.
The launch of the new association took place at the National Grandparents Pilgrimage at Knock Shrine in County Mayo.
