Joining OCULP 2022

 

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OCULP 2022

All things being equal, we are really hoping to be able to resume the Oxford and Cambridge Pilgrimage in 2022.

The proposed dates are Sunday 24th July to Sunday July 31st  2022

There will be more information etc available in February, but anybody who is interested in coming is warmly invited to let us know (lourdesoandc@gmail.com) so we can add you to the contact list.  (Doing this doesn't imply any commitment!)

Students requiring financial assistance should not feel any anxiety about this - as posts elsewhere suggest, the Pilgrimage tries to subsidise students generously.

In the near future, the work might be a little different from what we are used to, not least in the Piscines, but there will still be plenty for us to do, and we hope and pray that life returns to normal soon!

More thoughts about working on Stage

Another Cambridge Modern Languages undergraduate, gives her thoughts on 'doing stage' in Lourdes 

 

I had been to Lourdes before last summer, but 2019 was my first pilgrimage with OCULP; this being the case, I had my fair share of questions and uncertainties before arriving. However, I was blown away by the warm welcome all of us first-timers found from the very beginning, both at our respective services, and within the OCULP group itself. The number of people who come back year on year (and meet friends for life, and sometimes spouses!) is a testament to the group’s strong sense of community and camaraderie.

 

As you will hear, the volunteering can be rather full on at times. Spending the better portion of the day washing dishes, or disinfecting *lots* of chairs, or helping pilgrims on and off trains, or working at the piscines, is the most important and valuable part of the trip. Serving others is our main reason for going to Lourdes in the first place. However, after busy days, I cherished going to Mass with the group in the evenings and getting to know each other over dinners at the Casa Italia, nights in the foyer, choir rehearsals (not compulsory), and our fair share of train journeys.

 

I learnt so much from the sisters at the St Frai —special shoutout to Soeur Amal 😀—  as well as from Fr Nick, who was always full of wisdom and happy to chat about whatever was on your mind. I quickly got to know the rest of the group, a kind and hilarious bunch, and after just having finished first year, I benefitted massively from getting to know Catholics with a bit more life experience.

 

The week also offers plenty of time for prayer and self-reflection. We prayed the Stations of the Cross as a group, and I’ll recommend what Fr Nick recommended, which is to take the unique opportunity to go and spend time alone at the grotto. It’s open at night, and is a great opportunity to reflect and to pray for others.

 

It was sad not to be able to return in 2020, but I can’t wait to go back to Lourdes and to see the rest of the OCULP gang again when we are able!

 

Working at the St Frai

Anna Whitehead, a Cambridge undergraduate, writes about her experience working at the St Frai in 2019

Last summer was my first trip to Lourdes and the time I spent volunteering at the St Frai formed the basis of many of the wonderful memories and friendships I took away from the pilgrimage. The St Frai is probably best described as a cross between a care home, a hospital and a hotel, and is run by a team of endearing (but occasionally quite demanding!) French sisters. The work is varied and depends on the pilgrimages taking place that week, but you can usually expect to spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen during mealtimes; setting the tables, drying crockery and making sure everything runs smoothly. Every morning there are also cleaning jobs to be undertaken, such as changing bed linen or wiping down surfaces.

There is not much direct contact with the pilgrims in this role, so if you’re really looking for that aspect from the trip it’s probably best to head to the Piscines. Having said that, although the tasks might initially feel repetitive, you soon realise what an indispensable part the HNDL volunteers play in the smooth running of pilgrimages to Lourdes. I found that there was also quite a bit of free time during the day, which meant that nothing felt too strenuous or overwhelming, and there were plenty of opportunities to spend time with the other volunteers.

I would say that working in the St Frai requires a certain willingness to do whatever may be asked of you – I found myself disinfecting seemingly endless stacks of chairs on the hottest day of the week last year! There is however a great sense of camaraderie and there is something incredibly unique to be found amidst all the mundane tasks. Only in Lourdes will you find people from all over the world and from all walks of life coming together to give their time to love their neighbour in this very special way. 

O&C Lourdes 2021

The information below will, we hope and pray, hold for 2021.

The only changes necessary, at this stage, will be the dates.

We propose to travel out on Sunday 25th July 2021, and return on August 1st.

Photos of Lourdes

Here are some fairly random photos of Lourdes. 

During the Torchlight Procession

At the International Mass

At work in the St Frai cafe

In the St Frai

In the St Frai chapel, where we hold our group Masses. 

One of the baths in the Piscines

Practising wheeling a pilgrim on a 'chaise bleue', between train arrivals. 

Snatching a few minutes for a quick choir practice before the Medal Mass. 

After the Medal Mass, a group from all over (but including three OCULP members) preparing to process together in the BSP, having made their commitment and received their medals the night before. 

Outside at the Foyer. 

Outside the Brancardiers bar. 

Group photo before dinner. 

The 2019 current Cambridge students with Bishop of Portsmouth, +Philip Egan, who was Assistant Chaplain at Fisher House in the late 1980s. 

Some of the 'ladies of the Piscines' at the dinner. 

Oxford and Cambridge Lourdes Pilgrimage 2020

2020 marks the 60^th anniversary of the first Oxford University pilgrimage to Lourdes, and the 25^th anniversary of the time it became the joint Oxford and Cambridge group.

This year, the group will travel to Lourdes on Sunday 26th July, probably leaving St Pancras International at about 9am, and we will return on Sunday 2^nd August.

Pilgrimage funds and the Catholic Chaplaincies will work together to help students financially, to enable them to join the pilgrimage.  The plan is that students will pay for their travel (a large part of the reason why we travel out on Sunday is that this makes the journey considerably cheaper), and then funds will be available to pay for their accommodation and meals in the canteen throughout the week – more details below.

The work we do

Unlike most pilgrimages, the OCULP doesn’t take any sick pilgrims to Lourdes.  Rather, we work for the Hospitalité Notre Dame de Lourdes, which is to say that we work for the Shrine itself.  We have a lot of interaction with all sorts of pilgrims who visit Lourdes, handicapped and able-bodied, and from a wide variety of countries.  July and early August, however, are times when a significant number of British and Irish groups visit Lourdes, so it is of great help to the Hospitalité that our English-speaking group works at this time.  Traditionally, OCULP largely overlaps with the Westminster Diocesan pilgrimage, as well as Brentwood, the Order of Malta Volunteers, Liverpool, and a number of other GB groups.  This year, we will also overlap with Arundel & Brighton, Wrexham, Lancaster, and Shrewsbury Dioceses. 

There are three main strands to the work members of the OCULP do.

1 – Service St Jospeh (male volunteers)

Men who are ‘en stage’ (in the first few years of volunteering) will do a variety of jobs.  Stagaires are assigned to ‘equipes’, a team of between 6 and 10 volunteers who, between them, speak a variety of languages.  The ‘Chef d’equippe’ is a more experienced stagaire or hospitalier (someone who has made a commitment to the HNDL – they can be identified by the silver medals they wear), and the equipe will work together for the whole of their ‘stage’.

Piscines (interior): please see below, in the Service St Jean Baptiste section for details of this.

Piscines (exterior): while people are waiting to take their bath, there is often a considerable queue, of both men and women.  Those who are able to walk easily will just move along the benches, generally praying quietly, but pilgrims who arrive in a wheelchair or on a stretcher will need looking after particularly.  Under the direction of the chefs de service, hospitaliers and stagaires working in Piscines Ext will help these pilgrims, often moving them from their own stretchers to the more specialised Piscines equipment, or onto the Piscines’ ‘chaises bleues’, enable help the people working in the Piscines to help them get ready for their bath.

Grotto*: throughout the morning, there are several group masses taking place in the Grotto.  Groups will need help to get into and out of the Grotto area efficiently but prayerfully and, during the Masses, particularly when Holy Communion is being distributed, volunteers will need to be available to assist the clergy.

Processions*: there are two large processions every day.  At 5pm every afternoon, there is the Blessed Sacrament Procession.  Weather permitting, this starts outside St Bernadette’s Church with a period of Eucharistic Exposition, followed by a procession to the Pius X Basilica (an enormous, underground church with a capacity of 20,000), where there is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament followed by Benediction.  With a significant number of pilgrims in wheelchairs, it is important to help them to ‘park’, and more generally to marshal the procession.
Then at 9pm every evening, there is the Torchlight Procession, where thousands of pilgrims will process from near St Bernadette’s Church, up to St Joseph’s Gate and back to the Rosary Basilica, praying the Rosary.  Again, some help is needed marshalling this, and helping people in wheelchairs to ‘park’ in a suitable place, as they arrive at the head of the procession.

The International Mass*:  on Wednesdays and Sundays, at 9am, there is a huge Mass in the Pius X.  Like the BSP, but with significantly more people, again there is a need for people to ensure that groups are safely and efficiently placed

Esplanade*: some help is necessary in the mornings on the Esplanade, where some diocesan groups will hold their Masses.

Station: a large number of people, particularly from Italy and France, arrive in Lourdes by train.  Some of these will need help getting off the train (and, of course, getting back on, when they leave Lourdes).  The volunteers are often the first people these pilgrims see on their arrival in Lourdes, and the warm welcome they give, and sensitive help they offer, can often set the tone for the forthcoming pilgrimage.  Some pilgrimages arrive in trains with special ‘ambulance carriages’ – others arrive by TGV, and chair-bound and bed-bound pilgrims need help (sometimes very considerable assistance) getting on and off the trains.  They come with their own helpers, of course, but manoeuvring in the very limited space afforded by a train requires some specialised work, and HNDL volunteers are needed.

Airport: on some occasions, volunteers are needed to help get pilgrims on and off planes.  This is fairly rare, since there is, inevitably, limited space and Airport volunteers are usually fairly experienced hospitaliers, but sometimes stagaires will be needed to help here. Bring your passport!

*when working on these tasks, dress is collar-and-tie, and the HNDL like us to wear the Hospitalité tie, available to buy at the Hospitalité bureau.  When working at the piscines or station, dress is more informal, since the work is more physical (and, often, quite wet).  Trainers are good shoes to wear for these jobs…

2 – Service St Jean Baptiste (women and men: the Piscines)

In the Piscines, volunteers are allocated to a team, for each half day session, who work in one of the baths (there are five baths for men, and ten for women). Volunteers have two key roles: to ensure that pilgrims have a prayerful but also safe experience of their bath, and to help them change with dignity and in safety (in a quite limited space). Assisting disabled and elderly pilgrims is a key element of the work. It is reasonably physical work, but does not require particular skills and knowledge, just a willingness to help and welcome all pilgrims, giving them the appropriate care and attention. Each team will have experienced HNDL volunteers who will always help and advise, and very special camaraderie is built among through this work.

Clothing needs to be comfortable and easy to move in. Shoulders must be covered and no low fronted tops worn, trousers are fine but jeans are not practical (n.b. whilst aprons are provided you will sometimes get splashed and so clothes that dry quickly are most useful). The formal dress for women working in Piscines (worn at the Medal Mass and some other occasions such as BSP) is a navy skirt and white top. Working hours in this service are fairly predictable.  The piscines are officially open 9-11am and 2-4pm.  On a busy day, though, you might find yourself working until 12.30 or 5.30 – even though the queue closes significantly before the official closing time, at busy times, the work will go on.

3 – Service St Frai (women: working in one of the hospitals)

Someone with experience of working in the St Frai will update this soon(!)  However:

The St Frai is one of the two large hospitals run by the HNDL, where pilgrims whose needs mean that they cannot stay in a hotel will stay.  Such pilgrims always have helpers from their own pilgrimages, but there are more general jobs that need to be done.  These include setting up the canteen for meals, washing up afterwards, cleaning wards when pilgrimages leave, and changing beds.  Also, on the ground floor of the St Frai, there is a coffee bar, and volunteers run this: this is open to the sick and helpers from pilgrimages, and other volunteers.  Working hours can be quite varied here, but there is always some time off during the day.

No matter which Service people are on, in their first few Stages, there is also 'Formation'. This is a mixture of very practical information, which we can share with people with questions, like what time they can go to Mass and where are the public toilets, and an introduction to understanding the mission and spirituality of Lourdes, and an opportunity to reflect on the work we do there. 

When not working…

We travel as a group and try, where possible, to meet as a group.  On arrival on the Sunday, we dump our bags in the accommodation then go to eat at the Casa Italia, essentially a pizza restaurant very close to the shrine.

Every day, there is Mass and, though work takes priority, we are encouraged to join the group for Mass when possible.  This year, the plan is that we will meet for Mass in the Upper St Frai Chapel at 6.30 on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  On Monday, we take part in the Stagaires’ Mass in the Crypt at 8.30 pm. On Wednesday, we go to the Hospitalité Mass in St Joseph’s Chapel at 8pm.  This is the weekly HNDL Mass, where some stagaires make their ‘Engagement’ (ie their commitment to return every year), and is known informally as ‘the Medal Mass’.  Traditionally, the OCULP form a choir and sing one or two short works during communion – despite the extremely limited rehearsal time, this is hugely appreciated.

On the Tuesday, this year, we will hold our annual Pilgrimage Dinner.  While not formal, this is a ‘jacket and tie’ occasion, and is preceded by the group photo.  The dinner usually costs around 20 Euros, and is a very convivial occasion.

This year, we are very fortunate to have chaplains from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities coming with us: Fr Nick King (who was a member of this pilgrimage in the 1970s) from Oxford, and Mgr Mark Langham from Cambridge.

Accommodation and meals

There is a variety of place for volunteers to stay.  HNDL allow students to stay for just 3 euros per night in their more basic accommodation.

For men this is at the Abri S Michel, which is inside the ‘domaine’.  People will sleep in a ‘box’ – this means a converted dormitory, which has been partitioned so that there is privacy.  There is also a locker in each ‘box’, so people are encouraged to bring a small padlock to secure their things.

For women, the accommodation is a little more luxurious, but also a little further away from the domain (just a few minutes walk, though), in the Hospitalet.

(If volunteers wish to stay somewhere little more luxurious, there is the Ave Maria for women, which is very near the St Frai, and the Notre Dame du Oui or the HNDL hotel for men and women; the pilgrimage subsidy can’t stretch to this, though…  A single room is 22 Euros per night, shared 18/19 Euros each)

Meals are usually taken in the Abri canteen – the pilgrimage is prepared to pay for students’ meal tickets (which are 6.80 euros for main meals, and 2.40  euros for breakfast).  Lunch and supper both comprise a starter, main course, puddling, and cheese – wine is extra, but cheap.  The quality of the food is often really good, but can, in all honesty, pretty variable but, if necessary, the Casa Italia is just over the river, a couple of minutes walk away from the Abri, and very affordable and an excellent pizzeria.  Breakfast is largely sliced baguette and coffee of hot chocolate.

At the end of the day, we often have a brief meeting to pray together, then go to the Foyer des Hospitaliers, a very inexpensive bar run by and for members of the Hospitalité; it has a large outdoor space, and on Wednesday, after the Medal Mass, it is packed with hospitaliers.  There are numerous other bars, and people often go to some of these after the Foyer.  The Riviera Sol (or Terasse, to people who have been going to Lourdes for 20+ years!) is very near the St Frai, and is popular before and after our Masses; the Brancardiers is also very close to the St Frai, and very popular, particularly with members of the OMV (Order of Malta Volunteers), a British group, largely comprised of sixth formers and university students, with their ‘Hospital Pilgrims’.  There is no requirement to stick to the whole group all evening, limpet-like, should people want to meet friends from other groups, go to the Grotto to pray, or just go to bed early!

A lot of what we do may seem pretty mundane, and it isn’t like praying the Rosary quietly all day!  It is, however, absolutely essential for enabling the Shrine to function, and all the interactions with have with other pilgrims are important.  We are often reminded to welcome people with gentleness and a smile. The hymn Teach me, my God and King might spring to mind:

‘If done t'obey Thy laws, e’en servile labours shine;
hallowed is toil, if this the cause, the meanest work divine.’

As we start the week, we all have to pay a small ‘cotisation’ (about 10 Euros) – this essentially is insurance, and covers us to work for HNDL.

At the end of the week, we generally travel back pretty tired but hugely refreshed.