By Fr Andrew Gallagher
On Sunday 14th May the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Rickmansworth had its first Marian Procession for many years. This was combined with the blessing of the newly-restored Calvary Cross on the site.
The 12-foot oak Cross was originally raised on the site of the Church in 1914 through the use of ropes and pulleys. After one hundred years of battling the elements it had begun to rot and had become dangerous, and so was taken down in December 2021.
After some very generous donations from parishioners, and the hard work of some talented craftsmen over the past year, the Cross which has become such a focal point of the area, was erected by crane on Friday 12th May, just in time for the Parish Marian Procession.
The sun crept out half an hour before the morning Mass and during the procession around the grounds of the Church parishioners sang Marian hymns, before crowning Our Lady, praying a decade of the rosary and reconsecrating the parish to her protection and intercession. This was then followed by the blessing of the newly-restored Calvary Cross, before ending with a very powerful rendition of ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’.
After the procession the parish celebrated with a parish picnic in the sunshine. It is hoped the Cross will remain a permanent fixture in Rickmansworth for at least another hundred years, and once again people will use it as a focus of prayer and meditation.
