by Marg Siberry, Commission Member
Jubilee 2025 Pilgrims of Hope
Saturday, the 4th of October, the feast of Saint Francis, St Benedict’s Garforth.
Even Storm Amy didn’t dampen the spirits of pilgrims as they gathered at St Benedict’s, Garforth to celebrate the end of the Season of Creation as the next ‘station’ on the diocesan Jubilee pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage opened with the celebration of the new Mass for Creation, recently approved by Pope Leo to mark the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si – Care for our Common Home. In his homily, parish priest Fr Henry Longbottom, reminded us that the teaching and example of St Francis can still speak to the challenges facing us today as we strive to live in right relationship within and as an integral part of God’s creation.
Excitement built after Mass as parishioners had been invited to bring their pets for a special blessing in the parish grounds. Instead, because of the inclement weather, the parish centre offered welcome shelter, becoming the happy focal point where very well behaved dogs, plus a very young kitten, gathered round Fr Henry to the delight of their families. Fr Henry read St Francis’ Canticle to Creation before blessing all the animals, including all those gathered – the two legged variety!
The parish CAFOD/LiveSimply group had planned a reflective pilgrimage walk around the parish allotment as a significant part of this special day, but instead produce from the allotment was brought into the church. As we prayed the opening prayer, we were encouraged to be mindful of people who have to leave their homes because of drought, floods, famine, conflict, and climate change.
The unique design of St Benedict’s enabled pilgrims to process round and especially appreciate the ‘Creation Windows’, depicting Christ’s presence within all aspects of creation and within all the ‘seasons’ of our lives.
As well as giving thanks for the manifold gifts of creation, the liturgy focused on the call to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people who are poor. The first ‘station’ celebrated the parish receiving the Livesimply award before moving to a wheelbarrow full of vegetables from the allotment for the second station. The third station was at the baptismal font, its flowing water reminding us not to take for granted the gift of fresh water.
We then moved to the altar and the ambo where resplendent displays of flowers, grown by a parishioner and also in the allotment, celebrated the beauty and diversity of creation. As part of the parish livesimply commitment, we try to grow flowers for church rather than buying ones that may have travelled many miles by air.
St Benedict’s primary school had also brought their harvest donations to demonstrate their commitment to give thanks by sharing their gifts. These gifts of food will be given to the St Vincent’s Centre. The children present also had their own quiz enabling them them to explore and discover the different produce from the allotment spread around the church. Afterwards children were invited to colour a leaf and write a prayer of thanks for the hard work of the parish allotment group.
We were pleased to be able to welcome small group of lay Franciscans who had joined us to celebrate the saint’s feast day. They followed a long-held tradition of displaying a Franciscan habit surrounded by candles and explained how St Francis wanted to free himself of all attachments.
We ended the mini-pilgrimage at the Creation windows where we were invited to reflect for a moment before gathering again in the parish centre to share friendship and a simple meal of soup and bread. As well as the buzz of conversation there was a quiz that highlighted facts about climate change and people were offered a summary sheet of the key points from Laudato Si. We hope that our mini pilgrimage will encourage us all to reflect and act, as individuals and as a communities, to help reverse the effects of climate change.
To learn more about becoming a LiveSimply parish follow the link below:
https://cafod.org.uk/campaign/livesimply-award
The next diocesan Laudato Si event will be an Advent Eco-Fair at Hinsley Hall on Saturday 13 December 2025.
For more details or to request a (FREE!) stall for your parish, environmental charity, ‘repair cafe’, allotment produce, fairly-traded goods, arts and crafts or eco-business etc, please contact communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk