Due to our plentiful numbers, we decided to begin our outing on Saturday morning with Mass at the Cathedral in Bessbrook, Newry, followed by breakfast, and a short presentation by Catherine on the subject of the Miraculous Medal.
Following that, we headed out to the two shopping centres in Newry, where we handed out some leaflets explaining the Miraculous Medal to some of the locals, and also offered them Miraculous Medals as well. Some of the wee locals seemed to have difficulty comprehending the southern accents, but apart from that, our apostolate was a great success.
We planned on a short hike after our morning’s apostolate, but afterwards decided to do something a little more suited to the rainy weather. It was decided that there could be no better option than by filling up at Price’s Ices.
Filled with many flavours of ice-cream, and drenched from head to toe, we next decided to play a special form of hide and seek before heading back to the hostel for a short talk, involving frenzied car hunting for one of the members of the group. Unfortunately, he made a clean getaway, and we instead asked St. Anthony to find him for us. St. Anthony being the patron saint of lost objects, we thought our lost member fitted into this category very neatly! (Having sent him a message during the chase, I received a reply some 24 hours later, confidently informing me that he was in fact not lost).
Upon everyone’s final arrival at the hostel, Fr. Ockerse gave us a very detailed conference, where he discussed how our experiences in life teach us and help us overcome our faults. He mentioned that in a world surrounded by dangers, we need to remain faithful in the midst of them.
Our heads full of wisdom, we then satisfied our appetites with much good food, the highlight of which were the organic cucumbers which Bernadette had accidentally purchased. We followed our banquet with our own unique brand of singing, a competitive quiz on some of the few questions we were able to answer about the faith, and an entertaining game of psychiatrist.
On Sunday, we once again attended Mass at Newry, followed by lunch, the Stations of the Cross, a wee hike, and a trip to the town of Carlingford, where we admired the old medieval town, (and especially the art gallery in the 12th Century castle). A fine dinner was also had by all in Carlingford, before we headed out to admire the view at Flagstaff view point, where we concluded our very well attended and eventful outing.