A TALE OF... 4 JESUITS, 2 MARATHONS & 1 GREAT GROUP
Wimbledon parishioner, Jerry Hawthorne, tries his hand at bi-location. Did he succeed? read on..
In Wimbledon - a strong Jesuit Parish - there are surely many tales to be told, over the years, about many more than four Jesuits; but the four in question did add to the list during Easter 2004. Also relevant to the tale are three French trains, two different marathons and one great HCPT Group.
Easter Sunday fell this year on 11th April and Low Sunday on the 18th. The annual Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT) to Lourdes starts on Easter Sunday and finishes on Low Sunday when - alas - this year’s Flora London Marathon was scheduled to start. The obvious conclusion was that leading an HCPT group could not be combined with running in the Jesuit Missions’ London Marathon Team. However, when my daughter, Alice, joined the Jesuit Missions runners, the idea of running alongside her overcame the obvious!
Although Group 35 has, for well over thirty years, been part of the annual HCPT pilgrimage to Lourdes, this year we had to find most of the helpers from scratch - many of the old-timers were unable to come. Jesuit No 1, therefore, is Fr Gerard Mitchell, Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon. He allowed me to advertise in the parish newsletter and along came a whole host of ‘new‘ people, amongst them Felicity and Neil, who were making their first visit to our church, and a whole host of others. Gradually the team started to take shape and by Christmas the group was full and raring to go.
HCPT Lourdes pilgrims come from a variety of countries, as well as from the UK. The majority fly into the nearby airport of Tarbes. However, about 500, including our Wimbledon group, travel by overland on the specially chartered couchette train from Calais. On arrival at the port there was no sign of the train! Eventually, after many excuses, they found that our non-standard couchette train had been parked in a siding somewhere near Paris. The solution was that we should board a Paris bound TGV, which had no luggage car or beds. The tiredness of small children dictated that we accept this plan. So Train No 1 was the TGV. HCPT commandeered the bar as a luggage compartment (Editor: Shame!) and we all ‘enjoyed a smooth ride to Paris. On waking in the city we transferred to our old couchette - Train No 2 - not ideal, but all took it in great spirits.
Space does not permit each day’s tales to be told in full, but Jesuit No 2 is Fr Phelim McGowan who accepted the Group’s request to travel with us as our Chaplain. As a native Glaswegian, he introduced himself to a Scottish party in our hotel, as someone who had been sent to convert the southerners. The ice was broken!
Jesuit No 3 is Simon Bishop - now Father Simon Bishop - who was a former chaplain to our group and is currently studying in France. He was in Lourdes over the Easter weekend with a huge Parisian youth pilgrimage. They seemed to be holding a perpetual party, whenever we saw him and his group, as we moved about the town.
Saturday - our day of departure - arrived all too soon. In order to return in time for the London Marathon I intended to fly back, leaving Paul, our deputy leader, to, lead the group back by train. Train No 3 the return couchette arrived promptly and departed on time. Little did I know that Marathon No 1 was beginning for me!
On arrival at the airport there was a five hour delay for my plane. However, it was there I spotted Jesuit No 4, Fr John Moffatt with his Enfield Group. It was a great boost to my morale. In his Wimbledon days John had also been a Chaplain to our group. Eventually, after that Marathon, I arrived back at Wimbledon at 2 am on the Sunday morning, in time for the 6.30 start of Marathon No 2.
This year Alan Fernandes had gathered a Jesuit Missions team of some 45 runners for the Flora London Marathon. As we gathered together at 7am for the minibus to take us to London Waterloo, the diversity of our ages, nationalities and cultures soon became apparent. Some even came with a totem pole depicting scenes from the Jesuit Mission in Guyana; others were from Stonyhurst College, a number from Boston, USA, plus our smallish Wimbledon contingent.
At the start at Blackheath it was wet and windy; the queues for the portaloos were huge. The effects of a dehydrating plane and too little sleep began to be felt. I spotted a pub on the edge of the Heath - the Princess Diana. The landlord welcomed anyone connected with the race, not even requiring drinks to be purchased and no queue for the loos. There was even a widescreen TV to see the women’s race start.
Morale soon lifted and we were off. Well, biological truths cannot be suppressed for ever, and by mile 22 I thought I had had it and began to walk unseen - or so I thought - through the Blackfriars underpass. Just at that moment another Jesuit Mission Team runner - a young lady from Boston - tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘keep going’. That was a real boost and helped me overcome the dreaded ‘Wall’. Then at mile 26, Jesuit No 4 miraculously re-appeared - John Moffatt SJ, who had also experienced that dreadful delay in France, had taken the time to cheer on the Jesuit Missions runners.
Well it was then on to the finish and - at last - rest.
Thank you to everyone who helped us all run the 2004 Flora London Marathon.
In Wimbledon - a strong Jesuit Parish - there are surely many tales to be told, over the years, about many more than four Jesuits; but the four in question did add to the list during Easter 2004. Also relevant to the tale are three French trains, two different marathons and one great HCPT Group.
Easter Sunday fell this year on 11th April and Low Sunday on the 18th. The annual Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT) to Lourdes starts on Easter Sunday and finishes on Low Sunday when - alas - this year’s Flora London Marathon was scheduled to start. The obvious conclusion was that leading an HCPT group could not be combined with running in the Jesuit Missions’ London Marathon Team. However, when my daughter, Alice, joined the Jesuit Missions runners, the idea of running alongside her overcame the obvious!
Although Group 35 has, for well over thirty years, been part of the annual HCPT pilgrimage to Lourdes, this year we had to find most of the helpers from scratch - many of the old-timers were unable to come. Jesuit No 1, therefore, is Fr Gerard Mitchell, Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon. He allowed me to advertise in the parish newsletter and along came a whole host of ‘new‘ people, amongst them Felicity and Neil, who were making their first visit to our church, and a whole host of others. Gradually the team started to take shape and by Christmas the group was full and raring to go.
HCPT Lourdes pilgrims come from a variety of countries, as well as from the UK. The majority fly into the nearby airport of Tarbes. However, about 500, including our Wimbledon group, travel by overland on the specially chartered couchette train from Calais. On arrival at the port there was no sign of the train! Eventually, after many excuses, they found that our non-standard couchette train had been parked in a siding somewhere near Paris. The solution was that we should board a Paris bound TGV, which had no luggage car or beds. The tiredness of small children dictated that we accept this plan. So Train No 1 was the TGV. HCPT commandeered the bar as a luggage compartment (Editor: Shame!) and we all ‘enjoyed a smooth ride to Paris. On waking in the city we transferred to our old couchette - Train No 2 - not ideal, but all took it in great spirits.
Space does not permit each day’s tales to be told in full, but Jesuit No 2 is Fr Phelim McGowan who accepted the Group’s request to travel with us as our Chaplain. As a native Glaswegian, he introduced himself to a Scottish party in our hotel, as someone who had been sent to convert the southerners. The ice was broken!
Jesuit No 3 is Simon Bishop - now Father Simon Bishop - who was a former chaplain to our group and is currently studying in France. He was in Lourdes over the Easter weekend with a huge Parisian youth pilgrimage. They seemed to be holding a perpetual party, whenever we saw him and his group, as we moved about the town.
Saturday - our day of departure - arrived all too soon. In order to return in time for the London Marathon I intended to fly back, leaving Paul, our deputy leader, to, lead the group back by train. Train No 3 the return couchette arrived promptly and departed on time. Little did I know that Marathon No 1 was beginning for me!
On arrival at the airport there was a five hour delay for my plane. However, it was there I spotted Jesuit No 4, Fr John Moffatt with his Enfield Group. It was a great boost to my morale. In his Wimbledon days John had also been a Chaplain to our group. Eventually, after that Marathon, I arrived back at Wimbledon at 2 am on the Sunday morning, in time for the 6.30 start of Marathon No 2.
This year Alan Fernandes had gathered a Jesuit Missions team of some 45 runners for the Flora London Marathon. As we gathered together at 7am for the minibus to take us to London Waterloo, the diversity of our ages, nationalities and cultures soon became apparent. Some even came with a totem pole depicting scenes from the Jesuit Mission in Guyana; others were from Stonyhurst College, a number from Boston, USA, plus our smallish Wimbledon contingent.
At the start at Blackheath it was wet and windy; the queues for the portaloos were huge. The effects of a dehydrating plane and too little sleep began to be felt. I spotted a pub on the edge of the Heath - the Princess Diana. The landlord welcomed anyone connected with the race, not even requiring drinks to be purchased and no queue for the loos. There was even a widescreen TV to see the women’s race start.
Morale soon lifted and we were off. Well, biological truths cannot be suppressed for ever, and by mile 22 I thought I had had it and began to walk unseen - or so I thought - through the Blackfriars underpass. Just at that moment another Jesuit Mission Team runner - a young lady from Boston - tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘keep going’. That was a real boost and helped me overcome the dreaded ‘Wall’. Then at mile 26, Jesuit No 4 miraculously re-appeared - John Moffatt SJ, who had also experienced that dreadful delay in France, had taken the time to cheer on the Jesuit Missions runners.
Well it was then on to the finish and - at last - rest.
Thank you to everyone who helped us all run the 2004 Flora London Marathon.