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St Leonard Cheshire VC....
Campaign to start looking into making Leonard Cheshire a saint
A centenary Mass in September will mark the start of formal efforts to promote his possible canonisation The Diocese of East Anglia is launching a campaign to promote the Cause of Leonard Cheshire, the war hero who founded a worldwide network of homes for disabled people. The campaign will begin with a centenary Mass on September 7 celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes. Cheshire, an RAF bomber pilot during the Second World War, was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honour, for his bravery in carrying out over 100 missions. After the war he cared for sick ex-servicemen. It was the faith of one of these men, Arthur Dykes, which inspired him to become a Catholic aged 31. He went on to set up residential homes for disabled people. By the time of his death in 1992 his charity, now known as Leonard Cheshire Disability, operated 270 homes in 49 countries. Fr James Fyfe, who will be promoting the Cause, explained: “It means to begin to try to collect any evidence for sainthood from among the faithful. There is a prayer which invites people to pray to Leonard for a particular reason. If the prayers are answered then evidence is collected, examined and presented. This does not mean that we already think he is a saint – that part is a very long way off and it may be 50 or 100 years hence – it is a discovery process. “Bishop Alan and the Diocese are embarking on the process because Leonard lived in Cavendish. But he is a worldwide figure and many people will be praying for the success of the Cause and we shall reach out to them. However, we shall begin in East Anglia first because there are people here who knew him and remember him and who may have something to tell us.” Cheshire married Sue Ryder, a fellow peer who had set up her own homes for sick, disabled and elderly people, in 1959. Remarkably, there is already a campaign underway for her Cause. In Poland, where she worked after the war, she is a national heroine, with schools and public places named in her honour. Polish-born Halina Kent, who was involved in the campaign, told the Herald in 2006 that “almost all of the letters that have started to pour in have said the same thing: why not a joint canonisation of both Leonard Cheshire and Sue Ryder, as a married couple who gave so much to the Church and to humanity, serving God together in the most magnificent way?” Anyone interested in the campaign for the Cause of Leonard Cheshire is invited to contact: Fr James Fyfe, 69 Queen’s Road, Wisbech, PE13 2PH for more information. The Requiem Mass will be held in the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Cavendish, Suffolk, at 7pm. |
Very interesting. I once had a copy of Hiroshima Pilot which had been signed by Cheshire. Maybe I should have kept it as it would have been great to have a book signed by a saint!
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Why is this still a thing in the modern world? Seriously, the guy was amazing but this is just ridiculous.
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Without wishing to arouse religious controversy, IMHO one of the more unfortunate consequences of Vatican II has been this unseemly rush to canonization - however worthy the cause.
In former centuries (and the RC Church is accustomed to dealing in centuries), you waited a century or so before putting a case up, and then the Vatican put it on the back burner for another century or two to think about it, They appointed a "Devil's Advocate" to dig up all the dirt on the candidate he could find, and took account of his findings in reaching a decision. Nothing was rushed. It recalls the apocryphal (?) story that a President of China (post- Mao), when asked what he thought of the effects of the French Revolution, replied that it was: "too early to judge yet". Wikipedia has a detailed history of the procedure of canonization (if anybody is interested !) |
Originally Posted by RAF_Techie101
(Post 9849760)
Why is this still a thing in the modern world? Seriously, the guy was amazing but this is just ridiculous.
(I agree with Danny42C about Vatican II, though.) |
Much simpler to name a canal boat after him...
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He'll find his Feast Day (July 12) a bit crowded - there's one Geoffrey there already, and a Joachim as well !
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I would rather the Church put their efforts into managing what they have - a reduction in the number of paedophiles might be a good start.
That may seem churlish, but consider canonisation neatly removes the spotlight from all the previous, unchallenged, nefarious activity. A house divided against itself etc etc. |
I am with techie and BWM. Making people saints is clearly a nonsense, and the Catholic church , and probably the C of E as well need to rid themselves of the child abusers and make atonement for their failure to root them out in the past. Righteous Indignations switch "off"
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Fr James Fyfe, who will be promoting the Cause, explained: “It means to begin to try to collect any evidence for sainthood from among the faithful. There is a prayer which invites people to pray to Leonard for a particular reason. If the prayers are answered then evidence is collected, examined and presented |
Methinks Diana will be beatified first, if the 20th anniversary of her death is anything to go by....
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Originally Posted by tmmorris
(Post 9849841)
Aren't you basically asking why the Roman Catholic Church is still a thing in the modern world?
Originally Posted by tmmorris
(Post 9849841)
Assuming it is, why shouldn't it continue to canonize?
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I gave up on the Sky Pixies theory some years ago, when my B-I-L [holder of some Papal award for being an outstandingly good chap] subsequently suffered a couple of decades of constant grief and misfortune. If that's the reward for good works, I'd rather not have one.
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It means nothing to you so ignore it.
Your reaction suggests you do care... |
How Pious. Bishop Hopes and Fr James Fyfe are, in my view, misguided in their beliefs. The Cheshires will be held in the highest human regard in perpetuity; religious meddling is unwarranted. In my view.
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He spoke to us at Staff College. Afterwards I felt I had been witness to something compellingly special.
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Originally Posted by Danny42C
(Post 9849837)
It recalls the apocryphal (?) story that a President of China (post- Mao), when asked what he thought of the effects of the French Revolution, replied that it was: "too early to judge yet".
The students there had spoken in terms of communes and the like, and Zhou - not unreasonably - concluded that the question must be referring to that, since who on earth would want him to offer an historical analysis of what Robespierre and chums got up to? One of the US diplomats present (IIRC, he was the interpreter) later - about 40 years later - said that the misunderstanding, was 'too delicious to invite correction' and said nothing about it until the author of a book on China spoke to him about the incident. The author then asked the Chinese if they could confirm/deny this version of events and their Foreign Ministry replied that after looking at their records, it seemed quite clear that Zhou had been talking about 1968 rather than 1789... Henry Kissinger, with whom Zhou'd been meeting was asked for his recollections, and while he was unable to recall exactly, he did observe that the context suggested that Zhou would have been focused on more recent events in France than those of 1789. Apologies for digression from the topic at hand! |
Originally Posted by Wander00
(Post 9850021)
I am with techie and BWM. Making people saints is clearly a nonsense, and the Catholic church , and probably the C of E as well need to rid themselves of the child abusers and make atonement for their failure to root them out in the past. Righteous Indignations switch "off"
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Speaking as a cradle Catholic who is now an agnostic, I find some of the comments about paedophiles rather silly. Its quite possible for one part of the Church to investigate and eliminate paedophilia while another involves itself in canonisation. If the Roman Catholic church wishes to canonise Cheshire then it is entirely up to them and does nobody else any harm. I do agree with Danny, though, this "sancto subito" thing seems to be a modern phenomenon, and smacks of unseemly haste.
57mm other than in the minds of millions of sentimental admirers, Diana will never be beatified or canonised as in spite of expressing an interest in the Church she never became a Roman Catholic. |
Archimedes (#17),
No need to apologise - digression is the lifeblood of these Threads ! D. |
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