Pentecost!

Welcome!
article posted 10 October 2011
In the Guild of St Raphael we seek to promote Christ's ministry of healing, which is healing in its widest sense. To learn more, please click  here.

Lenten Devotion with healing ministry
16th February
article posted 31 Jan 13
The Society of Mary successfully incorporated the laying on of hands within its 2012 Lenten Devotion. Members of the Haydock Branch of the Guild assisted with this part of the service, which began with the Lent Prose. Photographs and a brief account of this event are available on the website at http://www.som-northwest.org.uk/130216-pics.htm
A helpful Address by Fr Rodney Middleton, Sub-Warden of the Guild of St Raphael, followed. Then members of the congregation came forward for the laying on of hands and anointing.
For a copy of the poster giving details of the programme please click  here  And if you'd like more information about the Society of Mary, please click   here.



Healing and Prayer
article posted 25th October 2012
On 27th March 2012 the Haydock Branch of the Guild welcomed Fr Ian Wynne as speaker at one of its regular monthly meetings. He took as his title "Healing and the Prayer of Faith" and explored with a local emphasis the healing ministry which Christ had bequeathed to his church. Fr Ian has spent many years working as a General Practitioner locally so was very well able to consider all aspects of healing. If you'd like to read the text of his address, please click here.

Roving Ambassador
article posted 25th October 2012
Canon Paul Nener, our Roving Ambassador, spoke at a successful event in October 2012, a Healing Day organised by the Guild of St Raphael branch at St Chad’s Sunderland on Saturday 20th October 2012
Further information is available on the church website at  http://www.stchad.co.uk/ 
or by emailing Revd Jeremy Chadd:
jeremy.chadd@stchad.co.uk


Chrism and Guild News
article posted 23 November 2011
On the [Publications] page there are details of the Guild's Journal Chrism and of its newsletter Guild News. You might like to know that some back numbers of these publications are now avaliable for download as .pdf documents. To access the Chrism back numbers please click [here] and for Guild News. click [here].
Please bear in mind that on slow internet connections each docment may take some little time to download.

Guild Festival 2013
article posted 24 Apr 2013
Saturday 26th October 2013
At 11.00am the Guild of St Raphael will hold its Annual Festival, which will include a Healing Eucharist. The venue will be the historic surroundings of Lichfield Cathedral, thanks to the generosity of the Dean and Chapter. Lichfield is readily accessible from all parts of the country by road, rail and even air, so we hope you will feel able to join with us in this important act of worship.

Ageing and Spirituality
article posted 26 Mar 2013
Luther King House in conjumction with MHA is organising a Research Seminar on this topic, on
Thursday 2nd May 2013.
A poster is available, giving more details; to download this poster please click  here. 

Chester Cathedral Branch Anniversary
article posted 4 Mar 2013
This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the lively Chester Cathedral Branch. On
Saturday 2nd March 2013
the Branch invited all Guild members, guests and interested friends to join in the celebrations. The Festival Eucharist was held in the Lady Chapel of Chester Cathedral beginning at 11.30am, and lunch followed.

For a brief account of the event, with some photographs, please click  here. 

Branch Returns
article posted 4 Feb 2013
The Guild membership subscription becomes due at the beginning of the calendar year and the same is true of the subscriptions to Chrism. We ask each branch secretary to send in an annual return along with the membership subscriptions, so that we have an up-to-date record of membership. The return form may be downloaded  here  or as a Word document  here. 

Guild Festival 2013
article posted 22 Jan 2013
Now that the busyness of the Festive Season has given place to the normal rhythm of our everyday lives, it is time to look forward to events which are to come. Please make a note in your diary of
Saturday 26th October 2013
This is the day when the Guild of St Raphael will hold its Annual Festival, including a Healing Eucharist. The venue will be the historic surroundings of Lichfield Cathedral, thanks to the generosity of the Dean and Chapter. Lichfield is readily accessible from all parts of the country by road, rail and even air, so we hope you will feel able to join with us in that important act of worship.

Guild Festival 2012
article posted 29 October 2012
Liverpool was the venue for the Guild Festival on
Saturday 27 October.

A hundred or so members and friends gathered in the Lady Chapel of Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, at 10.30am on a cold and very breezy autumn day.

Proceedings began with an entertaining but very thought-provoking talk by the Guild's Roving Ambassador, Revd. Canon Paul Nener. Under the title
Do You want to be Healed?
He focused on the concept of a sacramentally-based healing ministry and its implications for the individual and for the church itself. Delivered with his unquenchable cheerfulness and down-to-earth wisdom, this talk was an opportunity not to be missed! Whether or not you were able to be present, you may wish to know that we are now able to offer you the text of his excellent talk as a 1.5MB download - please click here. Our thanks to Canon Paul for his kindness in making this text available.

The brief and (fairly) painless AGM started promptly at 11.30am. Revd. Robin Pettitt presented the accounts for the year ending March 2012, which continued the sobering story of declining financial reserves, and Revd. Rodney Middleton in his Sub-Warden's Review spoke of how Council had put in place some important measures to contain costs and to make faithful use of the funds entrusted to the Guild by its members. Part of the picture was a plan to make increasing use of electronic communication means to distribute our publications and to give better support to the Branches. To this end, members and friends are asked to contribute their email addresses to our electronic mailing list so we can keep everyone informed about the Guild and its activities. Please email David.Martlew@gmail.com.

The Eucharist itself began at 12.05pm and as in previous years the service incorporated the Ministry of Healing and the laying on of hands. The Guild's Warden, The Rt Revd Nicholas Reade Bishop of Blackburn, presided at the Eucharist and gave a brief but very thought-provoking address. He has very kindly provided his notes, so if you'd like to read his homily, please click here.

Lunch as always provided a time and space for a chat with the members of the Guild Council and with members from other Branches. It was a good opportunity to share some of the joys and frustrations experienced in the Branches, and to comment on what the Guild could do to support the Branches better. Tea and coffee are good social lubricants!


Those who attended agreed that this had been a very worthwhile and rewarding Guild Festival. Our grateful thanks go to the Dean and Chapter of Liverpool Cathedral for making us welcome, and to Professor Ian Tracey for delighting us by playing the Organ for the Festival. If you'd like to see more photographs taken at the event, please click here - the download is 1.8MB.