Priests & Deacons Associate of the Holy House
All membership links with pilgrims is important. Our links with Priests and Deacons, though, is especially important to the outreach and message the Shrine offers the world. In Fr Patten’s first Pilgrim Guide in 1931 the newly restored Shrine was described as ‘The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Walsingham’
The College of Guardians of the Shrine have recently reflected on the word Sanctuary in order to define what the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is called to be in the 21st Century. Their reflection has produced a three-part definition of what the Shrine stands for and promotes.
Worship
That compelling round of worship offered at the Shrine is the heart of its life, reflecting John’s vision in Revelation of heaven as a sanctuary and place of worship to the sovereign majesty of God. This worship rooted in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England expands the vision of pilgrims both towards the worship of heaven as well as the connections and commitments demanded of us within the wider Church universal on Earth.
Refuge: Of safety and security
The vision of the heavenly sanctuary in modern parlance as a place of refuge, of safety and security. Recognising the common reflection of pilgrims that they find in the Shrine a place where it is safe to be vulnerable and where traumas can be healed and restless minds find peace.
Home and Hospitality
The Sanctuary at Walsingham as a home, the Holy House around which all the other buildings of the Shrine are arranged. In offering tis kind of sanctuary to her pilgrims and visitors we recall the words of the Rule of St Benedict, who tells monks that guests to the monastery are to be received ‘as Christ’.
There are currently 1,900 Priests & Deacons Associate who come with, or without, their congregation to minister at the Shrine and if you feel that you can commit to these ideals, we invite you to join the specific Priest or Deacon Associate level of membership. You must be a priest who is permitted to minister sacramentally at the Shrine: of the Anglican Communion who is in good standing with their Bishop and episcopally ordained priest of Churches with whom the Anglican Communion is in full communion.
The Guardians maintain the discipline of reserving sacramental ministry in the Shrine to male priests who have been ordained to the diaconate and to the priesthood by a male bishop at whose episcopal ordination a male bishop, himself ordained in the historic apostolic succession of bishops, presided.
Membership of the Association is open to both male and female permanent deacons of the Anglican Communion who have been ordained to the diaconate by a bishop who stands in the historic succession of male bishops.
Priests & Deacons* Associate of the Holy House undertake:
- To honour Mary, the Mother of God and to deepen faith in the incarnation of Our Lord.
- To promote devotion to Our Lady and pilgrimage to Walsingham.
- To further, with the aid of Our Lady's prayers, the conversion of the nations and the re-union of Christendom.
- To seek holiness of life through prayer, the scriptures and the sacraments.
- To say the Angelus each day. Priests Associate are asked to offer Mass, monthly if possible, for the work of the Shrine and for all who visit the Holy House and are interceded for there.
A lamp burns in the Holy House for Priests Associate; they are prayed for each day by members of the Living Rosary and in the intercessions at Shrine Prayers in Walsingham. A monthly requiem is offered at the Shrine for departed Priests Associate; their names are recorded in the Walsingham Review, the magazine of the Association and the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham, in thanksgiving for their life and ministry.
Priest or Deacon Associate membership is £20 per year. You receive a specific Priest or Deacon Associate badge and a book of Masses of Our Lady of Walsingham as well as other services for use by Priests and Deacons
Priests Associate are invited to concelebrate at the National Pilgrimage and at other evens organised by the Shrine.
If you have any questions about the Priest / Deacons Association please mail us on membs@olw-shrine.org.uk
Details of each Priest Associate's name and address are recorded at the Shrine. Priests Associate are asked to inform the Membership Secretary of any change of address by emailing: membs@olw-shrine.org.uk
For an application form click here
Existing members - priests and deacons wishing to renew their annual subscription should visit the Renew Your Membership page.