Devotion to Mary growing among Protestants in England

London, Nov. 10, 2005 (CNA) - Devotion to Mary is growing among Anglicans, Fr. Noel Wynn told the New York Times. Fr. Wynn is the director of the Roman Catholic Marian shrine in Walsingham, known as “England’s Nazareth.”

Walsingham is home to two Marian shrines—one Catholic and the other Anglican—located at opposite sides of the town.

Tradition says the first shrine was founded in 1061, when Richeldis de Faverches, a Saxon noblewoman, had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who showed her the house in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus. Mary then instructed the lady to build a replica.

Since then, Walsingham has been an important pilgrimage site in England, whose emphasis is not healing but on one’s lifelong Christian journey.

In 1538, what is now the Protestant shrine was destroyed as part of the Reformation under King Henry VIII. It was rebuilt in 1931, with accommodations for 218 people.

The Catholic shrine is built around the Slipper Chapel, so named because historically it was there that people removed their shoes and walked the Holy Mile, the last mile of the pilgrimage. Some still walk it, reported the New York Times. This shrine has accommodations for 120.

According to the New York Times, the number of Protestant pilgrims visiting the Marian shrine and staying overnight has risen since 1999, from 10,000 to 12,000.

Protestant worshipers in Walsingham often belong to the Anglo-Catholic tradition, which accords greater reverence to the Virgin Mary than other Protestant sects, and uses the bells and incense like in the Roman Catholic liturgy.

The shrines also appeal to other Christians, and the Orthodox and Methodist churches in the town are indicative of this.

No need to yell in capital letters. And yes, it is true. The true meaning of Christianity is Christ, and the gospel message. All is else is secondary. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 You must define yourself as a servant of Christ first before an allegiance to a particular denomination.

No yelling because there were no capital letters there, though it might have seemed with the legion of "reformers" and "our-way-is-better" denominations. Even the reformed have reformed....dozens of times over. When does the reforming and new denomination-making end? It's farcical.

With the legion of different denominations there is often a cacaphony of different interpretations of holy scripture.
Jesus left us Peter and his leadership. That is part of the gospel message too....the Rock on which Jesus built His church. Jesus left us only one Peter. Peter's successor is in Rome today. One voice, one Shepherd right from Jesus. ....not Martin Luther, not Henry VIII, not Wellsey, Calvin, Fox or the legion of men and women who thought they could do it better than Jesus.

Protestants in England, SkyPilot wrote:
Actually Jesus left us the Holy Spirit.

Jesus didn't "leave us" the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has always been with us. He left us His Apostles; He left us His first Pope, Peter, as His Rock on which He built His Church, to tell us all, for generations, about the Holy Spirit, to guide us, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus TOLD us that Peter was His Rock -- on which He built His Church.
That part of Scripture is often simply ignored because it validates the present day papacy....the same papacy that was followed by the Roman Catholic English until their King Henry VIII decided that HE had to have a son, no matter what.
Henry dumped the papacy, Peter, His Savior's Rock, because HE had to have a son and Katherine and Ann were simply in his way.
Sad way to begin a "new" Church, his Church of England, with dumping politically inconventient Scripture and murdering tens of thousands of his own people because they refused to join him in his egregious sins.

Take care yourself and good luck to you too.

Oh I see. YOU are the interpreter of the Scripture now. No Peter. No Rock. THAT Scripture you choose to ignore and I am incorrect. ALL that's needed is belief, no actions, just belief. Easy Christianity. Nothing to do in life but believe; and you quote Scripture to validate that. This is your brand of "born again."
No wonder people like it -- easy.
It sure wasn't the way Jesus and his disciples lived. Most died martyr deaths....but not born-agains. What an easy ethos. I guess that born-agains can also interpret the Scripture the way they want to and can choose WHICH choices of Scripture they want. SURELY not the part about Peter as the Rock on which Jesus built His church. That would NOT go along with born-again philosophy because they wouldn't be able to pick and choose the Scripture they chose to follow...or HOW they would want to interpret said hand-selected Scripture.
Sorry. No disrespect intended but that seems to be relative moralist thinking, only selected Scripture is used to validate personal interpretation.
You practice one-upmanship with Scripture quoting your choices to gainsay what doesn't tally with your brand of Christianity. You could probably do this all week. I admire your memory. Obvioulsy no one on earth guides your thinking but you. If challenged you probably would say that the Holy Spirit guides you.
No contradicting that. Easy Christianity for the studious.

Well if that's your style and brand of Christianity, enjoy. There are 1 billion+ Catholics who probably say that you are wrong. And then there are the Protestants (whose rather negative name described their founding), fractured, splintered beyond repair
[ African Methodist Episcopal African Methodist Episcopal Zion African Orthodox Church American Baptist Churches USA Amish ( Anabaptist Armenian Evangelical Church Assemblies of God Associated Gospel Churches of Canada Association of Vineyard Churches Baptist Baptist Bible Fellowship Branch Davidian Brethren in Christ Bruderhof Communities Calvary Chapel Calvinist Cell Church Charismatic Episcopal Church Children of God Christadelphian Christian Churches of God Christian Identity Christian Reformed Church Christian Science Church of God (Anderson) Church of God (Cleveland) Church of God (Seventh Day) Church of God in Christ Church of God of Prophecy Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church of Scotland Church of South India Church of the Brethren Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America Church of the Nazarene Church of the New Jerusalem Church of the United Brethren in Christ Church Universal and Triumphant Churches of Christ Churches of God General Conference Congregational Christian Churches Cumberland Presbyterian Church Disciples of Christ Episcopal Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Evangelical Congregational Church Evangelical Covenant Church Evangelical Formosan Church Evangelical Free Church Evangelical Lutheran Church Evangelical Methodist Church Evangelical Presbyterian Fellowship of Christian Assemblies Fellowship of Grace Brethren Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches Free Church of Scotland Free Methodist Free Presbyterian Free Will Baptist Gnostic Hutterian Brethren International Church of the Foursquare Gospel International Churches of Christ Jehovah's Witnesses Living Church of God Local Church Lutheran Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod Mar Thoma Syrian Church Mennonite Messianic Judaism Methodist Moravian Church Nation of Yahweh New Frontiers International Orthodox Presbyterian Pentecostal Plymouth Brethren Presbyterian Presbyterian Church in America Primitive Baptist Protestant Reformed Church Reformed Reformed Baptist Reformed Episcopal Reformed Presbyterian Church Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Revival Centres International Rosicrucian Seventh Day Baptist Seventh-Day Adventist Shaker Society of Friends Southern Baptist Convention Spiritist True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days Unification Church Unitarian-Universalism United Church of Christ United Church of God United Free Church of Scotland@ United Methodist Church United Reformed Church Unity Church Unity Fellowship Church Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Waldensian Church Wesleyan Wesleyan Methodist Worldwide Church of God]
who have formed and continue to form and reform their own denominations. They quote the Scriptures to prove THEIR rightness...or, as what's happening now, they break from within because of each others' behaviors.
See how self-interpretation has served THEM. It's awful to see any Christian sect twist in the wind.
I'm sure that you'll come back with more words and yet another quote which again won't address any issue. You'll merely re-quote the same thing about only belief is necessary -- no actions, just words. Your depth of study is awesome.

St. Francis of Assisi once told priests: "Preach the Gospel. Use words if you have to."
Pax vobiscum.

Let me ask you a question. If Christ died on the cross as part of God's perfect plan of salvation, why does anything needed to be added to that?

Works? Peter wrote that they are nothing to boast about. Works are a manifestation of God's love, and our obedience to Him.

What else should we add to God's perfect plan?

Let me ask you another question, and I am very honest about this. If you were to die tonight, are you 100% sure and positive that you would go to heaven? If so, why?

Scripture is plain, and as I said, even a child can understand the gospel message.

Christ Himself used the words "born again", that you mocked. Reflect on that.

It isn't "easy" being a Christian, and grace is not cheap. Accepting Christ is hard, and walking the Christian walk is hard. Jesus also said that few find salvation. There are billions of Catholics, but there are also billions of Muslims. The two faiths obviously do not equate in what they believe, but why did you go down that road? Are you trying to impress me (or convince yourself) with sheer numbers?

The body of Christ will never be fractured "beyond repair." Nothing will snatch us out of His hand.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

John 10:27

God's word speaks to those who listen.

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