The blessing of the ‘mobile monastery’
The ‘mobile monastery’ was blessed by the bishop of Leicester, the Right Revd Tim Stevens on Monday 22ndJune in Bushy Park, opposite St Matthew’s house in Leicester. Sisters joined Beverley and Chris James, from Birmingham, London and Metheringham, friends from Leicester and further afield also attended.
The rain began to pour ten minutes before the service so about 15 of us squashed into the ‘van’ while others gathered around the entrance. After the service the sun came out and we stood outside the van and had tea and chocolate cake! Children from the local primary school and their mothers came into the park and some of the children came up to the ‘van’ thinking we were selling ice cream! The balloons were given to the Mothers later for the children to take home.
The vision for this project has now come to fruition through a Trust Fund giving funding for a 3 year 
period.
The idea for the project is for Anglican Religious to be more mobile and visible, to attend Summer festivals, visit schools, encourage people in their faith journey, to visit theological colleges, clergy conferences, and other events within dioceses.
As well as Franciscan sisters and brothers taking part in this project, other members of Religious Communities will be asked to help out too.
Beverley CSF
The Order of Service for the Blessing may be downloaded as a Word document here.
A short video of the Blessing may be found here.
