Aid to the Church in Need will close April with a «Pilgrimage of Hope» — a day of prayer for the suffering Church. The April 30 event will be held at Scotland’s national shrine to Our Lady, the Carfin Lourdes Grotto.
«Even in the midst of adversity and oppression the prayers and actions of ACN mean that those we are helping know that they are remembered and not forgotten — this is the one thing that gives them hope,» said national director Neville Kyrke-Smith.
The day will include a rosary procession and stations of the cross. It will be led by Father Francis McGachey, the new rector of the shrine, who took up his role in February.
The ACN director of operations in Scotland, Lorraine McMahon, is organizing the event.
«Prayer is the lifeblood of ACN – just as it is the lifeblood of the persecuted Church,» she said. «It is vitally important for us to pray for our suffering brothers and sisters, and remember the terrible situations that they have to endure all over the world.»
