All of our Nurses have to be fully practising nurses with an up-to-date nurse’s registration, and they have to take time off work to come with us to go to Lourdes.
At the moment, many of nurses do not get paid leave from their place of work, so, as well as taking a week of their holidays, without pay, they also have to pay to go to Lourdes, the same fare as every other pilgrim has to pay.
Because of this situation it can sometimes be difficult for us to recruit the nurses we need, because financially there is a massive obstacle in their way. Some years ago, we set up the Nurses Fund which offers some funding to our nurses to help them fund their work on our pilgrimage. Unfortunately, we cannot pay for the full fare for all of our nurses every year, as we simply do not have the funds to do so, but this Nurses Funds enables us to give a donation to them.
To enable the Pilgrimage organisers to do this, the fund relies entirely on generous benefactors and on donations from parish groups, parishes in the diocese and generous individuals and priests who are aware of our need.
If you therefore feel you could help to raise funds for the Nurses Fund, or you could simply make a donation to the Fund, Please contact Fr Michael Humble, the Pilgrimage Director.
All cheques for this should be made payable to “DHN Pilgrimage to Lourdes”.
Any nurses registering to go on the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes are able to apply to the Pilgrimage Director for funding.
While it is sometimes thought to be difficult to ask for funding, any nurses on the pilgrimage should never feel ashamed or embarrassed in asking for funding for the pilgrimage, because the funding is there each year for those who find it difficult to cover their full pilgrimage costs.
Further information on any of the above is available from Fr Michael Humble