Reflections from the Teams Gathering in Lourdes September 2006.

Having left Liverpool in glorious sunshine, we arrived at Carcassonne airport (cheapest flights from Liverpool) intending to collect a pre-hired car and drive the 4-5 hour journey to Lourdes. The weather on arrival was abysmal. The day before we flew we misplaced our driving licenses (long story….) so had to work out a bus and train route. Thankfully, a coach was laid on at the Lourdes end to take us to our hotel. You couldn’t swing a Manx cat in our bedroom but we hadn’t brought one and we did have an en-suite and the food was plentiful so all was well.

Lourdes is ideal for a large gathering. Teams people were all staying in hotels within a 10 minute walk of the sanctuary. Every hotel had a couple responsible for organising us into temporary ‘mixed’ Teams. In our Team we had a French, American, Indian, Italian and British couple. We were given our ‘Kit’: a programme/guide book, a mini radio with two headphones (for tuning into the translated talks), a small rucksack with attached foldaway stool (vital for those loooong talks), a poncho (in case of rain) and a coloured scarf and badge. The scarf colour indicated the world ‘Zone’ that people belonged to. It highlighted to us the large number of Teams in different parts of the world: red for Eurasia, blue for the Americas, yellow for Central Europe, green for Spain and Portugal. Our colour was red; representing the smallest number of teams but the largest geographical area. The colour on the badge represented the main language that individuals spoke and this helped with communication. Some people had an extra colour band on their badge to show they spoke another language. Dympna also speaks Gaelic but for some reason wasn’t given an extra colour band.

The programme for each day followed a similar pattern. 7:30 Breakfast, 8:30 ‘Morning Prayer’ (usually in the underground Basilica) followed by ‘Introductory sessions’, followed by 9:30- 12.30 ‘Conference Talk’.  We returned to the hotel for lunch then had individual Teams meeting to reflect on the morning’s sessions. In the afternoon we had a range of activities e.g. doing the Stations of the Cross, Visiting the Grotto, having our ‘Sit Down’. We also had mass every day, usually in the afternoon in the underground basilica. We returned to our various hotels for dinner at 19:00. The evening activity varied from day to day: Team meeting, Eucharist, Entertainment, Candlelight Marion Procession. The final, evening session for those who were up to it involved building friendships and sampling the local beverages.

The daily conference or ‘talk’ was held in the underground basilica. When empty, the underground basilica could be described as an underground car park without support columns, an upturned hull of a ship or the inside of a whale’s skeleton. Once it is full of people, the lights are on and the banners are lit up the place is transformed and the acoustics are fantastic. Those of you who have been to Lourdes will know what we are talking about. The rest of you can just think that we’re a bit mad. We ‘tuned in’ to the talks whilst perched on our little camping stools. Unfortunately the length of the talks, the loss of emphasis during translation and the discomfort of sitting on campstools for more than two hours at a time meant that the finer points of the presentations were sometimes lost on us. (This might have something to do with the size of our derriers!) The conferences were the low point of the week.  The style of presentation left a lot to be desired which was a pity when so much more would have been possible. (Apparently the English speaking people have been giving feedback on this for every gathering for the past 24 years without success so we’re in good company). We did receive the printout of the talks and many would make excellent study topics so all is not lost. On one occasion we received the printed version ‘before’ the talk and gained far more from just reading and discussing it in our hotel.

The highpoint for both of us (and all other delegates we spoke to) was meeting with other couples. Every day we had a mixed team meeting in English with the designated couples from our hotel. Over the five days we had the privilege of getting to know these couples, to share with them and to gain an insight into how they lived their faith and married spirituality through different life circumstances, cultures and countries. As in the UK, when we meet there is a shared understanding and in meeting with other Teams couples communication quickly gets beyond the social chit-chat even when there isn’t a common language.

We had attended the last gathering in Santiago de Compostela and there we also met with couples from different countries. Some of them we had kept in touch with over the last 6 years (via Christmas cards, the odd email and in some cases visits). Working on one of the Satellite Teams we had also met with couples from other countries. It was wonderful to meet up with these couples again. Even in a gathering of 9,000 it was amazing how many people we knew that we managed to catch up with.

Meeting with other couples was a joy. Seeing God in others and their love for Him and each other was reaffirming. Sharing with couples living out their Marriage vocation through the joys, pain and messiness of life was inspiring. This for us is what a Teams gathering is all about.

On one afternoon we walked the way of the cross in our mixed Team and on one evening we took part in a candlelit procession. The programme was very full and we needed to be creative to find some time for silent prayer. A river runs through the centre of the sanctuary area and crossing over it there is a field with trees where some people took their sit down and where confession was available one afternoon. The sight of one hundred and fifty or so priests dotted around the field each with a large blue and white striped umbrella (closed if hearing confession, open if available) was moving. The scale of the gathering and the witness of so many couples taking part was a testament that whatever is happening in the world, God is still working through his people.

One day focused on the life of Fr Caffarel and his contribution not only to the movement but also to the church over a long period of time. A new international Teams logo was launched not dissimilar to the previous UK symbol- two interlinked rings with a fish symbol.

The new transatlantic super region was established consisting of the UK, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago and the English speaking African Countries.

There were many different pilgrimages and groups in Lourdes. The Teams gathering was by far, the largest group there. There are many tacky souvenir shops in the surrounding streets but once you get past these into the main area there is no doubt that there is something special about the place and people find spirituality and peace when they look for it.

Mark and Dympna Edwards

Formby Team