Scottish Catholic Observer

On Sunday September 13, pilgrims will set off from the pre-Reformation shrine of Our Lady of Haddington and will then walk seven miles to the Benedictine Abbey of Sancta Maria at Nunraw where Holy Mass will be offered.

“Young people from across Scotland are invited to walk the seven miles from Haddington to Nunraw Abbey on a safe and tested walking route,” a statement from the Youth Service said. “Bring a packed lunch and enjoy meeting old friends and making new ones. You will have the opportunity to see a real monastery in action when we gather with the monks for a celebration of Mass in the monastery chapel!”

The event is coordinated by Catholic Youth Service Scotland and is open to anybody aged 11 to 25. Light refreshments will be available at Nunraw.

Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh has urged young Catholics to attend and a coach will transport young people from Galloway Diocese to arrive in Haddington about 12 noon and will bring them back.

Last year almost 200 young people followed in the footsteps of St Margaret as they gathered in Dunfermline for the first national pilgrimage to St Margaret organised by the Catholic Youth Service Scotland. The young Catholics visited the cave where St Margaret went to pray and to escape the hustle and bustle of her life as well as visiting her tomb and Dunfermline Abbey. The pilgrimage culminated in Mass in St Margaret’s Church with Archbishop Cushley, Episcopal president of CYSS, Bishop John Keenan of Paisley and Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell and a number of priests from the different dioceses. At the end of Mass each pilgrim was presented with a medal of St Margaret by one of the bishops.

To find out more about this year’s event contact your diocesan youth officer.

Pic: Paul McSherry