Craig Lodge Community News  Snippets

• Baby News!! We are delighted to announce the arrival of Magnus and Julie's new baby girl, Anna Maria.  Born February 13th.

• 100 Club We still need more people for our 100 club. The proceeds will be going towards the running of the house. A one-off payment of £25 is made for the year and then there is a monthly draw with cash prizes of £25 and £50. Once we have 100 people signed up, we can begin. If you would like to take part please contact us.
  
• Medjugorje Youth Pilgrimage for ages 18-35 The 2007 pilgrimage was a very grace filled time for everyone. Over 40,000 youth from all over the world were there. Many young people’s eyes and hearts were opened to God’s desire for a personal relationship with them and what the call to holiness means. Plans are now underway for the 2008 pilgrimage.

Join the 100 travelling from Glasgow to represent Scotland on 31st July - 7th August. Due to fundraising we are offering discounted prices of £345.00 per person, age 26 – 35 and £305.00 per person, age 18 – 25. Prices include half board accommodation, flights, bus transfers, insurance and a full religious programme.

Contact: Nicky on 01838 200216 to book or for more details.

• Community CDs We are delighted that our new music ministry CD "In His Presence" is ready. The songs have been carefully selected so that the CD can be used for Adoration and Prayer Ministry times. Several of the tracks were recorded live at our last youth festival during the healing service.

  The community have also made a Rosary CD with meditations led by Br Paul. Each music or Rosary CD will be £10 plus £2 for postage if being sent.

• Hellos and goodbyes Aisling from Glasgow is our newest community member and we are so happy that she has come to join us for the next year. The House Community are all just brilliant and work hard welcoming all who come here. The house community is now made up of Aisling, Pawel from Poland, Janet from England, Rachel and Paul from Dundee, Christina and Mark from Glasgow, Kateri from Lourdes, and Br Paul.  We very sadly had to say goodbye to dear Marie from New york but we are very excited that she is coming to visit soon.  She is going on to work in Liberia and will be helping to set up a farming project in one of the areas where Mary's Meals are being provided.

• Highland H oliday (June 2nd – 6th)   2008

  On this Retreat we will be visiting both celtic and archaeological sites of great interest and outstanding beauty.

   Retreatants will arrive on the Monday and in the evening there will be an  introduction as to what we will be doing over the next three days. 

  We are very fortunate to have Fr. John J. O’Riordan (CSsR) from Dundalk in Ireland to lead us.  Not only does he have an unrivalled knowledge of Celtic spirituality within Ireland but he is equally well-versed in that of the highlands of Scotland.  He is the author of several books on Celtic spirituality and has lead many retreats on the subject. 

  Each day will begin with Morning Prayer/Mass and again there will be prayer in the evening.  The programme for the next three days will briefly be as follows:-

  Tuesday  3rd June

  Mass will be 8.00am followed by breakfast. At 10.00am we will drive to Kilmartin – just over one hour - and visit the famous museum there, which has a wealth of information on the archaeology of the area.(www.kilmartin.org).  We will also visit Dunadd, the hill fort which was the seat of the kings of Dalriada which is well worth a visit. More info on www.gla.ac.uk/archaelogy/resources/dunadd .   We will return to Craig Lodge for supper at 6.00pm .

  Wednesday  4th June

  Today is really exciting! -  we have chartered a boat to visit Oronsay, an island associated with St. Columba and his disciple St. Oran and it will be really interesting to visit the remains of the medieval Augustinian monastery and see the carved stones and celtic crosses.  And the scenery should be stunning. We should also have time to visit the Corrievreckan, en route, which is the world’s third largest whirlpool!  As this will be a long day, we will begin with an early breakfast at 6.30am and drive to Balvicar (south of Oban).  Our boat sails at 8.30am to reach Oransay at 10.30am and with 2 to 3 hours on the island we should comfortably make it back to Craig Lodge for supper at 6.00pm We just have to pray that the weather is OK. Further info. on www.virtualhebrides.com –click on Colonsay and Oronsay, and www.sealife-adventures.com for our boat.

  Thursday  5th June

  Today we will drive east  -one and a half hours- to visit Dunkeld Cathedral (again associated with St. Columba) which is a very fine and impressive  building and steeped in history.  En route we will visit Kirkton , site of St. Fillan’s cell and  Fortingall to see the famous Yew Tree (the oldest living tree in Europe) said to be between 2000 and 5000 years old.  More info on www.dunkeldcathedral.co.uk 

  Friday  6th June

  After breakfast we will do the Stations of the Cross up the hill behind the house and will be back in time for the retreatants to have a light lunch before they leave for their journeys home, hoping they will have had a memorable few days.  We look forward to seeing you all and if you have any queries please get in touch and we will try and help. 

   

• Wildlife and Photography Retreat  (Sept.29th – 3rd Oct)  2008

  “Jesus went into the hills to pray”

  Each day will begin with Morning Prayer and Mass/ Eucharistic Service and we will end the day with prayer in the evening.  We can also meditate on the mountain and come to experience Jesus in a special way in the beauty of his creation.

  This is a totally new retreat and came about through two friends who came out with us to watch the red deer during the rut in October.  They both had good cameras and were delighted with their day and this gave us the idea of doing a photographic retreat.

  Much will depend on the weather and wind direction as to which glen or hill we will visit but mostly we should be quite close to Craig Lodge.  We may choose to drive for half an hour or so to reach some areas or set off walking directly from Craig Lodge. 

  In addition to red deer, which we should see in abundance, we may also see roe deer.  The walking /climbing should be quite gentle but if the weather is suitable and the retreatants are up to it we could climb up to the 3000ft mark where we might  see ptarmigan and perhaps a mountain hare; and lower down the possibility of some grouse.   In addition, we may see ravens , buzzards and perhaps a golden eagle.

  In the sheltered glens we should also see woodcock.

  The scenery at this time of year, especially if the weather is good, will be outstanding with all the autumn tints coming into play.

  It is imperative that you bring good stout footwear (climbing boots ideally) and warm and waterproof clothing. The clothing should be dullish green to provide good camouflage – no garish reds, blues or yellows! Also a good pair of binoculars as well as your camera. 

  We look forward to seeing you and if you have any queries please get in touch and we will try and help.

• Wednesday Prayer Group The number of people coming to our prayer group is on the increase, please feel free to join us for praise and worship at 7pm on Wednesdays.

• Loop System in Chapel Thanks to one generous friend, we now have a loop system installed in the chapel which has already benefited many.

• Recorded Talks We are now also able to record weekends talks. A set of talks starts at £10, plus £2 for postage.

• Facebookers! For the faithful followers of the Facebook internet site, why not join our Craig Lodge & Mary Meals Group for updates and staying in touch with friends.