Friday 30 November 2007

Fishers of Men

Today the Church keeps the feast of St Andrew, one of those fisherman called by the Lord to become a 'fisher of men'. Andrew, with the other Apostles, followed the Lord during His life on earth and preached the Gospel after Pentecost. Today the Church continues to pray for new 'fishers of men', particularly for priests to minister to and guide God's people. Seven crosses, blessed by the Bishop in September, are being taken around the diocese to remind us of the need to pray for vocations to the priesthood. Today, appropriately, one of them came to the Cathedral.

The cross has been placed in the small chapel of St Charles Borromeo. A cardinal in Milan in the 16th century, St Charles was a leading figure in the Church during the troubles times of the Reformation. Working for authentic reform within the Church, he established seminaries for the training of priests and is now one of the patron saints of seminarians.