Pray for the Wanderers!

One of my parishioners (Dr Adrian Treloar) is a specialist in dementia care and recently travelled to Leeds to give his talk on the Spiritual Care of Dementia. Dr Treloar has always been amused and inspired by the Hymn "Hail Queen of Heaven", in which the first verse asks Our Blessed Lady to "Pray for the wanderer pray for me". You can see how he sees this applying to those with dementia by reading his talk. He also reminds us that the third verse gives a strong manifesto for what we ought to do for those who suffer dementia. Its a good talk and worth a look if you are worried about any aspect of dementia care.

But at the end of the talk one of the priests came up and told him about his friend who is the Chaplain to Bolton Wanderers FC. In good times few ask for the help of a Premiership team Chaplain. But whenever they are struggling in the table, supporters come up to him and ask for advice. His reply is to pray and sing the same hymn: Hail Queen of Heaven. "Pray for the wanderers, pray for me".

Long live Bolton Wanderers!

You can download it from www.faithandfamily.org.uk. (Look under the publications button.)

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