Growing Old Grace-fully is hosting an online Stations of the Cross on Tuesday 24th March 7pm – 8pm. These special Stations of the Cross have been written by Fr Eamonn Hegarty and Michelle Anderson specifically with carers in mind. Fr Eamonn is Parish Priest of St. Mary of the Angels, Batley and St. Patrick’s, Birstall and Michelle is Co-ordinator of the Growing Old Grace-fully Carers Project.
The invitation to carers through the Stations
Through the Stations of the Cross, we discover that Jesus walks this road with us. These Stations invite carers to see their own lives reflected in Christ’s journey – not as something to be explained away, spiritualised too quickly, or endured in silence, but as a place where God is already present and at work. While the event is part of the Carers Project it is open to all.
Join us on Tuesday 24th March as we approach Holy Week and prepare for the Holy Season of Easter.
The last time I wrote a Lent Reflection for Growing Old Grace-fully we were in the throes of the Covid global pandemic. Now we see war and struggles around the world in Ukraine, Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, the Sudan, Nigeria, and so many countries globally. Each is unique in its context but the suffering, injury and loss of life have universal similarities in the way people are hurting, deeply worried, struggling for meaning and wondering how to continue. Climate change, conflict, and poverty are combining to drive people from their homes. Nationalism and racism seem to be increasing. Love and compassion are evident, but hard line rhetoric is threatening community dialogue and discouraging diverse communities from working out daily life issues together.
It need not be like this…
Perhaps this Lenten Season is a time to reflect on how we each travel with Jesus on his Way to Jerusalem to Calvary, and the hope of His Resurrection. Reflecting too closely on how governments and political leaders are responding may be too painful at times. Instant news means we know almost immediately what is happening. We now have to factor in possible fake news and the toxic culture that exists in parts of the Internet. BUT, as adults, we also need to discern, pray and act in a way that leads to God and Resurrection.
As Micah wrote “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (6:8) ( New International Version )
Desert Experience
Jesus went into the desert at the start of his ministry. It was a time of isolation, hardship and temptation. A time to reflect and prepare for ministry. Perhaps our Lent journey leads us into a desert: a place alone to concentrate on God and abstain from comfort and distraction.
The Desert Mothers and Fathers lived during the 3rd to the 5th centuries in Egypt and the Middle East. They lived “a white martyrdom” where they left their communities, led a solitary ascetic life of poverty and self denial, whereas “a red martyrdom” meant losing their lives for God. Monasticism developed from these “white martyrs” as hermits tended to attract disciples and subsequently communities.
I go to North Wales to a Retreat Centre most years where a number of us learn about the local Celtic Saints. Amongst these, Saints Beuno, Seiriol, Winifred and Melangell lived a “white martyrdom” as hermits: a radical life of poverty, solitude and prayer, until followers sought them out and baptismal communities grew around them. There are many stories of saints continuing to seek solitude and escape at times from community life. It is believed that after finding St Seiriol’s Island (Puffin Island) and Anglesey too crowded, St Seiriol would set off at low tide to Penmaenmawr on the North Wales coastline opposite, up towards the area of Noddfa, the Retreat Centre where I stay! I am constantly aware of “Holy ground” when I am there. On Lindisfarne, St Cuthbert would do the same, spending time alone on a tiny island off the Northumbrian Coast and finally one of the Farne Islands.
How do we manage or even value time alone?
Some of the Celtic Saints talked about the desert experience of being at the top of a mountain, or by the sea or on the sea: remote places where they could live and pray or wander.
Might we think about those places in that way too?
Some saints like the 5th century Irish St Brendan was a sea explorer searching for the Promised Land. St Samson, another 5th century Saint, sailed between Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, the route of other Celtic Saints. He founded monasteries but also for him the sailing on the desert Sea was a pilgrimage of self discovery, prayer and Redemption in itself. For some Celtic Seafarers the journey was more important than the destination… until the Final Destination with God. Seeking God….
Prayer
Why have I spent time this year on the Celtic Saints for Lent? Because their whole life tried to be a prayer. There were prayers for times of day, for meals, for different tasks, for protection, for everything. For the Celts as for many others, the veil between life and death was thin. Lent would be a time to think about Jesus’ life and death. Perhaps one way to respond to the challenges of our world – and to remind ourselves not to despair and that there is ‘nothing new under the sun’ and ALWAYS HOPE IN GOD, is to study and pray with some of the Celtic Saints and reflect on our own life and death and rising with the Resurrected Lord at Easter.
Pilgrimage and Healing
St Winifred (Gwenfrewi in Welsh) was a 7th century Celtic Saint. Her (Winifred’s) Well for Baptism and Healing is at Holywell in North Wales and later became a great centre of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. She was a niece of St Beuno. She was raped by a Welsh Prince, survived despite rumours of her death, protected and nursed by St Beuno and subsequently she withdrew to Gwytherin south of Conwy. She lived as a hermit and a community grew around her. She became an Abbess. She was known as a wounded healer. An ancient church at Gwytherin, with a Bronze Age burial mound next to it and surrounded by ancient yew trees thousands of years old, became an early pilgrimage site in the 7th-8th century. Her body was supposed to have been transferred in the 12th Century to Shrewsbury Abbey but many believe she is still buried at Gwytherin. Pilgrims continue to visit the peaceful old church for prayer. During Lent as a saint, a survivor of violence, a wounded healer, Winifred might be someone to pray with for solace and healing.
Prayer and Nature
Melangell is the site of the Cell of St Melanga. She was a 7th century Irish Princess escaping an arranged marriage. She landed in Wales and walked to a valley in Powys where she protected a hare from a Prince out hunting. She is known as the patron saint of hares. She was given land in the valley where she lived as a hermit, later as Abbess of a nunnery that developed there at Pennant Melangell. It remains a pilgrimage site where people come to the ancient yew trees thousands of years old and the old church that was built in the 12th century. Perhaps during Lent we too can imagine ourselves in the beautiful deep valley seeking solace and strength in the Church, praying with St Melanga and sitting among the yew trees, as so many have done before.
Focus
So, Lent may be about being abstemious, alone or with companions, where we focus on God, without too much distraction on a pilgrimage journey towards Easter. We might be seeking solace, healing from violence or a time to appreciate the beauty and strength of nature. We might be at a crossroads in our lives. As older people we might feel tired and overwhelmed by world events. The Celtic Saints (and there are many others of course) may be guides during this time.
Good works
Lent may also be about good works: working with a good cause, or giving money to charity. There are many opportunities for this. If we are housebound or short of money, prayer is, as always, invaluable. Prayer for others is always needed.
I travelled in a taxi recently. I learned on the journey the driver came from Sudan. He is now an engineer living in a North of England city with his wife and family. So why does he also drive a taxi? Because he sends the taxi money back to the senior class of a school in Sudan to buy extras for the pupils and their families, to persuade the pupils to stay at school for another year. He told me extra education also increases the likelihood of boys treating girls better in the future….
Vigils
Lent may be about keeping Vigil. On Maundy Thursday some of us may keep Vigil with Christ at Gethsemane. For me the image of Mary the mother of Jesus keeping Vigil with the other women and St John at the foot of the cross at Calvary is especially powerful. They risked death, attack and must have experienced horror and sadness at the torture and death of their beloved Jesus. Vigils can focus on issues of today: for example: in big cities or small towns about the situation in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel; the silent monthly Vigils outside the Home Office about Asylum Seekers; and the Women in Black who regularly silently stand vigil in Leeds and elsewhere to remember the children and adults who are suffering and have died in the Middle East as a result of war. Silent, peaceful Vigil can be a Lenten Practice, a Witness, where we pray for peace and justice, for asylum seekers and for victims of war, sometimes at the risk of hostility from others. If we cannot be physically present we can pray for a variety of issues. My housebound 96 year old mother put a light in her window on Holocaust Memorial Day this year. The response was an anti-semitic remark from a neighbour. It can take courage to do what we believe in. It can also connect us to other human beings and give us a sense of community and solidarity.
Celtic spirituality in Lent
This is multi faceted and encompasses a creative dynamic of stillness and journey. In Lent do we make a spiritual journey or consolidate our search in one place? Do we spend time alone like a hermit or do we seek community? Do we stay with the Known or do we venture into the Unknown? These are not either/ or alternatives, they can be both / and alternatives. As Older People who are housebound we might not believe we have a choice, but spiritually, in our prayer life we can wander and seek.
The Seeking of God in the desert, the mountain top, valley, among trees or on the sea.
Perhaps this Lent we can concentrate on the spiritual journey, the Seeking of God. Abraham set out for the Promised Land through the desert without knowing where he was going. Or we can stand on the hill top of Mount Tabor the place of Transfiguration, or on the Mount of Olives, a place of confronting crucifixion, or on a hill in Galilee where we hear the Beatitudes. Or we might seek God by or on the sea, perhaps on the Sea of Galilee with its calm and its storms. We can place ourselves anywhere.
The following (apparently anonymous) prayer is said at Leeds A Call to Action Meetings. It seems appropriate as a conclusion to this Celtic Spiritual Reflection.
Seeking is Seeing
Seeking God is as good as seeing God.
Who, but a saint,
Would know so clearly
That the journey is the reality.
The steps are sight.
The effort is reward.
The seeing is the searching.
The dream is the reality?
Seeking God is seeing God.
Have a fruitful Lenten time of seeking and seeing!
Pippa Bonner, February 2026
Thanks to North Wales, Lindisfarne and the Celtic Saints; Gratitude to Julie Hopkins who has taught me a lot about Celtic spirituality whilst sharing the hospitality of the Sisters at Noddfa Retreat Centre in Penmaenmawr. Many thanks to the Sisters and Staff too.
Dr Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People at Mary Mother of God Parish in Bradford has done her first report, which gives an excellent account of the amazing work she has been doing.
The Pastoral Worker for Older People is a project proposed and commissioned by Growing Old Grace-fully and funded by The Ladies of the Grail.
Dr Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People, Mary Mother of God Parish, Bradford
Frances describes how she has been a regular visitor to older people of Mary Mother of God parish in Bradford, to offer older people spiritual opportunities, giving space to develop a fuller faith and prayer life.
She has organised trips: To Our Lady of the Crag, Knaresborough, Our Lady of Doncaster (at St Peter-in-Chains), Our Lady of Manchester (at St. Mary’s, ‘the Hidden Gem’) and also organised also one-off events funded through local council bids, such as the icon painting and brambling for the Feast of the Assumption; and afternoon tea and memory box crafts.
This is a great start to this very positive and special project. We thank The Ladies of the Grail for the funding, Monsignor Paul Grogan and the parish for taking on and overseeing the project and role – and of course to Frances for delivering the work!
To read Frances report, click on the button below.
The Growing Old Grace-fully Annual Review 2025 gives an account of our activities in 2025.
Carol Burns, Growing Old Grace-fully Chair of Trustees gives an overview in her Chair’s Report.
There is also a first report from the Dr. Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People at Mary Mother of God Parish, Bradford, which is very exciting – and gives a good sense of the amazing work she is doing there in this role. This is a project proposed and commissioned by Growing Old Grace-fully and funded by The Ladies of the Grail. Frances has also done the first of her own reports here, which is well worth a read and shows the difference she and this project is making in the parish and area.
On page 2, there are details of Growing Old Grace-fully’s two main overall activities – dementia awareness and training (online and in-parish); and our programme of spiritual events, online and in-person, which in 2025 were centred around the theme of being Pilgrims of Hope, as part of the 2025 Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church.
As ever, we thank our funders who enable our work to happen – and who support and engage with us.
Growing Old Grace-fully produces a handy calendar of key dates in 2026 related to older people and later life. This can help parishes and other communities plan specific events around Feasts in the Church calendar or national events related to later life and older people.
Our mission is to enhance the spiritual, emotional and physical wellbeing of older people across the Catholic Diocese of Leeds through raising awareness, inspiring and supporting responsive action in parishes. Part of this is to encourage parishes to have events and specific services for older people. Events and services celebrating later life and the contribution older people make to parish, community and society. Plus events and services related to the challenges of later life – such as healing Masses, services to remember loved ones and to deal with grief, bereavement, dementia and loneliness.
In the Calendar you will find relevant Catholic Feast Days and other Church occassions, most notably World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in July, as well as national and international events and weeks related to older people and later life.
Do consider marking some of these in your parish – as well as using them as an opportunity for reflection and prayer.
You can download the calendar here by clicking on the button below:
Growing Old Grace-fully is looking for an energetic self-starter to work on a freelance basis assisting the development of a new project supporting spiritual and emotional needs of unpaid Carers in the Catholic Diocese of Leeds.
The appointee will build upon the work of the Growing Old Gracefully project which has been celebrating older people for over 15 years.
The project involves providing online support to reduce isolation and work in parishes.
The successful appointee will be an excellent organiser with outstanding communication skills, a good understanding of the needs of older people and sympathy with the ethos of the Catholic Church as well as commitment to ecumenical partnerships.
The project has funding for a part-time role, working 12 hours per week (or monthly equivalent) at £20 per hour plus travel expense.
We have funding initially for a one-year contract.
The closing date is January 16th 2026
Interviews will be held on Thursday January 28th 2026
As we enter this holy season of Advent, we reflect as people who have travelled many years and gathered much wisdom along the way. This Advent is in the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, with us invited as Pilgrims of Hope to remain anchored in the hope of Jesus Christ and to do so especially in this season of hopeful waiting.
Later life brings its own blessings—time for reflection, deeper gratitude, and often a clearer sense of what truly matters—but it can also bring worries. Many of us look at the troubling state of our world, the divisions between people, and the growing cost-of-living pressures and often feel a heaviness that is hard to shake. Questions about the future surface more easily now – our own and the future of our loved ones and our world – and our prayers may reflect these fears and troubles as we turn anxiously to God for help.
Yet Advent invites us to lift our eyes. It reminds us that God draws near not in times of ease, but precisely in times of uncertainty. Into a troubled world, into an occupied land, into a humble stable, Jesus Christ was born. His coming—then and now—brings light that no darkness can overcome.
As we journey through these precious weeks, towards the end of the Jubilee Year of Hope, may we find comfort in the promise of Emmanuel, “God with us.” May the hope of Christ’s birth renew our courage, steady our hearts, and assure us that even in later life—and perhaps especially then—God is still at work, guiding us toward peace, joy, and a love that endures.
God of Hope
God of hope, we cling to you, for you renew the face of the earth.
Through the gift of your Son, our Lord Jesus, we follow you on the path of dawn.
Enlightened by your love and wisdom, help us to lead each other and all creatures back to your open arms. Amen.
Rachel McCarthy/CAFOD
Advent Prayer by Henri Nouwen
Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom. We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence. We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”
Amen
The Jubilee Prayer
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.
On Wednesday 8th October 2025, Growing Old Grace-fully welcomed people to Cathedral Hall, formerly Wheeler Hall, a beautiful, accessible space behind Leeds Cathedral, for a morning of reflection as part of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope.
After registration and welcome refreshments, Carol Burns, Growing Old Grace-fully’s Chair of Trustees, introduced the event, led by Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey.
Paula introduced the theme of the morning by briefly reviewing the themes of the ‘Doorways of Hope’ series of reflections that have taken place on Zoom throughout this year of Pilgrimage: First of all, seeing Glimpses of Hope, then Living in the Flow of Hope and then Holding Hope throughout life. She explained that the invitation for people was for a deeper sense of themselves as pilgrims of hope in their daily lives at this stage of life.
The morning of reflection then began with a stilling – a time of guided prayer. A candle was lit within a centrepiece, which had been placed in the centre of the circle.
Paula gently guided the group in a time of prayer to settle their bodies and minds and become still and centred. She based this on a quote by Fr Richard Rohr, ‘God’s love is the still point and centre of this turning world.’
The group were asked to notice their hopes and desires for the morning and to spend some time speaking with God about this. The stilling ended with the group listening to, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’ and a time of silence.
The first session was led by Mgr Donal who spoke about our history of being pilgrims. He explored the theme of the journey of our lives and acknowledged the importance of each different stage.
He quoted from the poem Somewhere by RS Thomas, “The point of travelling is not to arrive, but to return homeladen with pollen you shall work up into the honey the mind feeds on“.
Paula then explored aspects of the themes ‘Glimpses of Hope’ and ‘Living in the Flow of Hope’. She used images, music, poetry and time for silent reflection to help the group to go deeper and open their awareness more fully the presence of Hope in their lives. To notice the glimpses of Hope offer within each day and the places where there is a sense of ‘flow’ within their lives and within themselves. To see these all as places of invitation to a deeper sense of God’s presence and love that is already with them. A time of prayer then followed using Lectio Davina on Psalm 23 and the group were given some questions for personal reflection.
Mgr Donal then spoke to the group on the final theme, ‘Holding Hope in a Fragile World.’ He explored the fragility of the world and how the wisdom, faith and strength of older people are all gifts that the world needs.
He also stressed the gifts of encouragement and time that we have to offer, particularly to the younger people in our lives.
The morning concluded with a closing liturgy based on the theme of being pilgrims. Isaiah 40: 28-31, bidding prayers and a blessing were read by different members of the GOG team.
Paula has prepared a summary sheet from the event, which can be downloaded here.
At the end of the event, everyone was invited to leave a thought from the day, a comment or a reflection, and stick it on a feedback board.
The comments people left were as follows:
“Wonderful, powerful presentation with deeply meaningful slides. A lot of preparation and prayer must have gone into it before.”
“A thought provoking morning. I feel uplifted. The interaction was beneficial.”
“Very affirming and encouraging. A good balance of input and meditation. God bless and thank you.”
“Thank you a million times!”
“Really good thank you. Nice to meet other “old” “graceful” peers!”
“Very thoughtful and inspiring window into the fruitfulness of old age. Thank you!”
“Our role – to ENCOURAGE. Breakthrough from action.”
“That was a beautiful morning, thank you all who contributed. Will come again. Love, thanks and prayers.”
Doorways of Hope is a series of three hour long online reflections, hosted by Growing Old Grace-fully.
In the three reflections, Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey explore the invitation to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, the theme of the 2025 Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church.
In the three reflections, they explore and offer ways of noticing the nature & presence of hope, what it means to live this hope & how we can share hope with others in our ordinary, daily lives. You can access the three sessions here, the videos on our YouTube channel and a one page summary for each one, produced by Paula. Just click on the image or heading.
Paula Shanks & Mgr. Donal Lucey explore the the theme of ‘Springtime’ to explore how we can awaken to the invitation to be renewed in hope. A hope rooted in God who chooses to be with us in how things are, where we are.
Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey explore how to notice spaces where hope is held out for us in everyday life and the ways in which we do this for others.
We thank Paula and Fr. Donal for leading this powerful series of reflections.
Growing Old Grace-fully is hosting a half day event offering a chance to reflect on our own journey into later life, as Pilgrims of Hope. This reflects the theme of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, the theme of which is Pilgrims of Hope.
Our aim in gathering together in person is to continue to explore the reflections and conversations so beautifully expressed by Paula Shanks and Mgr Donal Lucey in the “Doorways of Hope” online series. Video recordings of the Doorways of Hope events can be viewed here.
The event will reflect on our own life’s journey, whatever age we are, and explore finding the God of where we are now in our own life.
It will also include suggestions for practical ways of finding and nurturing hope; for example, through meditations on gospel passages, poems and art and also through ways of practising gratitude.
The event will end with a shared lunch over which we can continue the conversations from the day.
If you would like to attend, please book a place on EventBrite here.
From the Jubilee Prayer
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.
