Scottish Catholic Observer

SCOTTISH pilgrimages to Lourdes are going ahead despite the flash floods that closed the shrine and took the lives of three people last week.

The first Scottish pilgrimage of the year, from Paisley Diocese, will leave on Monday, despite the fact that large parts of the shrine may be closed for months.

Mgr Charles Cavanagh, who is organising the Paisley pilgrimage, said they would be travelling as planned, as their hotel was one of the few unaffected by the floods. Much of the pilgrimage site was under water for two days as floods swamped much of southwestern France.

The St Andrews and Edinburgh Archdiocesan pilgrimage leaves a week today, and its organiser, Mgr Tony Duffy said it was going ahead as planned.

“We may have to relocate some of the pilgrims as so many of the hotels have been badly damaged,” Mgr Duffy said. “We are still just taking each day as it comes, waiting for information. Even in Lourdes they are only beginning to discover the extent of the damage.”

Fr Brian da Bruca, the English speaking co-ordinator of Lourdes, said that the flooding had been caused by a combination of heavy storms and the melting of the winter’s heavy snowfall.

“Many mountain passes were still blocked with snow until last weekend,” he said. “We had had sudden hot weather and then loads of rain and storm.”

Fr da Bruca said that the floods had come with ‘unbelievable suddenness’ and affected much of the grotto.

“This time, water entered St Bernadette’s up to where the choir and concelebrants are,” he said. “There was water on Rosary Square and of course mud everywhere; three metres of water in Pius X Basilica where water was below the pictures of saints displayed all around—up to the main sacristy door and there were benches floating around the Church.”

A huge clean up effort is now underway in Lourdes with crews working around the clock to clear debris and mud away from crucial areas.

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— This story ran in full in the June 21 print edition of the SCO

PIC: PA PHOTOS