Regarding the bad behaviour, the article does not exaggerate. I visit Lourdes every year and I am sick and tired of having to look sheepish in the morning after the hotel staff and guests from other countries have been kept awake half the night by the loutish antics of British yoof. Apparently their behavious has meant that the local gendarmerie have now called in the CRS to sort things out.
The standard excuse given by Pilgrimage organisers is that "they have been working hard all day and need to let their hair down". There is also a good deal of collusion with the attitude summed up by one young lady who was quoted as saying "We come here to party after being reverential all day". It may have escaped their notice but there are thousands of Italian youngsters with the UNITALSI pilgrimages, and many others with French, German, Dutch, Belgian and Eastern European pilgrimages who do not find that they need to seek relief from their hard work or their spiritual exercises by getting ratted until 2 in the morning and then waking everyone up on their way back to their hotel.
The attitude on the part of many pilgrimage organisers and chaplains is that we must all pat ourselves on the back for getting youngsters anywhere near a shrine. This is seen as such a triumph that no further demands are made regarding moral behaviour. Frankly, I have not wanted to enquire into the all too obvious further consequences of allowing youngsters simply to go out on the town every evening. Fr Ray Blake fills in some of the details in his post on the subject.
I love the place, but I have not been to Lourdes for years. I hate the drunkenness, I hate the fornication, I hate the abuse of the liturgy, I hate the lack of real spiritual care for the young helpers. Last year all my antipathy was confirmed with a picture of one of our English bishops performing a drag routine, dressed as a nurse, even so I hadn't realised things had got to this state...The most important point here is probably the "lack of real spiritual care". We need to stop assuming that when taking young people away on a pilgrimage or youth event, anything will do, simply because we have "got them there". It will be no use appealing to this on judgement day if our lack of spiritual care has left them in a spiritually worse state than they were in before the "Pilgrimage".
One thing is for sure. If the CRS are getting involved, the Pilgrimage organisers need to let the youngsters know that those guys mean business. It will not be like chucking-out time at the local club on a Saturday night, telling the local Bill that "I know my rights". The French know that when the CRS appear on the scene, your best response is to run for it. I do hope the British pilgrimages clean up their act before they start cracking heads.
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But is it really ONLY the British who behave like this? I've been to Lourdes several times and have certainly seen and heard other nationalities behaving thus, though perhaps not as much as the British ....
Yes, that is a fair point. The British do have a reputation and can be singled out. However, my experience in Lourdes does rather confirm that the British are consistently the worst behaved late at night. Sadly, I think that sometimes youngsters from other countries try to emulate the British in this regard.
Tar all Diocese and Pilgrimages with the 1 brush - very very easy thing to do.
The liurgical abuses are there, but to conect that with young people boozing? What next, Asbo's arising from guitars at mass?
1 Diocese from my part of Britain has all it's youth back to digs for 11pm every night - probably earlier than at home, and i'd guess they're not alone.
But there's no story in that, is there?
Is "Brittish" another term for English? Or are the Welsh, the Scots and Ulstermen just as bad?
OK, Brancardier, fair enough, I happily accept that there are some well organised pilgrimages that do not reach the news. But I organise pilgrimages as well - and I have been angry in Lourdes to see English pilgrims behaving in this way and spoiling things for everyone else. These are not by any means isolated incidents and they have been going on for years. We all need to voice our dissatisfaction with this sort of behaviour.
I think that there is a connection with liturgical abuses - if it is a matter of trying to dumb everything down and make no real demands. But OK, guitars at Mass would not be so much of a problem on their own if the same crowd were not out on the razzle disturbing the other pilgrims.
And God bless you for your work with the youngsters and for setting such good standards on your pilgrimages.
Hi, anon - fair point. It is probably mainly the English.
I'm tempted to say Bah Humbug! to the DT: this is a typical end of silly season story which has more to do with making Catholics look hypocritical than with a genuine concern for peace and tranquillity at a holy and great pilgrimage site. Sadly, British tourists/pilgrims in Lourdes behave only marginally less badly than they would do anywhere else in the world and the fact that they also do so when on pilgrimage - much as though it's a huge headache for local authorities and pilgrimage organisers - isn't really newsworthy. Chaucer was satirising the bad behaviour of British pilgrims back in the 1300s - 'twas ever thus...
However: there's no question that excessive drinking and sex have sadly been a persistent subculture of British pilgrimages to Lourdes for some time (and having hung up my bretelles in 2001 it's entirely possible that things have got even worse since my time). It is exacerbated by the reluctance of some pilgrimage organisers, often desperate for manpower, to blacklist the - usually small number of - persistent offenders who return year after year, and the bad example set by some clergy who have zero excuse for not knowing better. Many of the first-time brancs have just turned 17 and are highly impressionable. They are often overcome by the spiritual intensity of Lourdes as well as with having to deal with seriously disabled pilgrims, for which they are neither practically nor emotionally prepared. There is, as Fr Tim says, a desperate need for all this to be followed through with proper spiritual care and not just the idea that you can cut people loose when they go off duty.
One of the pleasant things about Lourdes is - as with many FAITH events - the opportunity to socialise with other young Catholics over a pint or two after a long day consisting of both hard physical labour and intense prayer. The message therefore needs to be that (1) it is possible to consume alcohol to the extent of becoming pleasantly mellow without getting off your face and vomiting everywhere; (2) that one can enjoy a sing-song in the confines of a bar without removing items of clothing, degenerating into ribald obscenities or continuing ad nauseam (sometimes literally) into your hotel lobby in the small hours and (3) it is possible to have fascinating, scintillating and deep conversations with other young Catholics without hopping into bed with them afterwards.
Lourdes provides the opportunity to give young Catholics a huge spiritual boost and redefine their perception of the Church as something neat and tidy that happens on a Sunday morning. It's a shameful waste for people to treat it as a boozy holiday.
Thank you for that excellent comment, Edmund. I'm sure you are right about the agenda of the DT - but what a pity they have such a good story waiting for them.
It is absolutely true, of course, that a pleasant drink and social chat are a very valuable part of pilgrimages and youth events.
I think the Lourdes thing is a symptom of the malaise affecting English Catholic life generally. So many of those who organise official events are stuck in the 1970s and think that anything goes as long as you can get young people to be there. This was never a good approach to youth work. It is quite unacceptable now that binge drinking is such a major part of youth culture - if you make no demands and set no standards, the sad prospect is that the DT (and thank God it wasn't the Sun) will be able to have a field day.
Good comments Edmund.
I like the bit about Chaucer's observations on English Pilgrimage's in the 1300's. How true.
I assume that the youngsters are all Catholics from Catholic homes. Do their parents know how they misbehaved?? Shouldn't the organisers and staff 'name and shame' these offenders if they refused to behave themselves after a stern talking to??
While teenagers can become unruly especially after some alcohol, it is up to the organisers and older 'seasoned' helpers to maintain control of their young charges (not an unreasonable request) for the duration of the pilgrimage.
Our youngsters need direction and if they do not get it at home what a great opportunity exists here and in what better surroundings for some sound moral as well as spiritual formation.
Something really needs to be done before things go too far and then the 'press nasties' will have a field day.
Our Lady of Lourdes pray for our youth.
Sadly, the '70's infection is persistent and needs strong antibiotics!
Don't worry, Northerncleric... I believe the condition is terminal (and should therefore die out reasonably soon)
*chortle*
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