Urgent Appeal

Dear Friends

Saving lives comes at a cost. We have just paid more than £2,000.00 for adverts that will go up in the London underground stations shortly. We have a number of women, some pregnant, some mothers who rely on a little bit of weekly support from us so that they will have food to eat.

This support fulfils the promises we made to them when they were pregnant – many planning to abort – and we offered the very basic support needed to put food on their table when their children were born.

Putting aside a couple of large outstanding bills that we have, amounting to over £5,000.00, this week we are urgently in need of to £2,500.00 to pay the things that cannot wait. This letter will not even be posted to all of our supporters as we don’t have the cost of postage. I therefore hope that you can help at this time, but if not please say the prayer to St. Philomena that we will raise the funds needed to continue our Life Saving work.

As you will see on the attached form some supporters are doing a sponsored walk to help raise the money that we urgently need. This is a great way to raise funds because even if you cannot give, or cannot give very much, asking friends and family to support the sponsored walk can help us to raise a lot.

God Bless,

Stuart McCullough

Ps Please make cheques payable to; The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and send to; PO Box 46679, London, NW9 8ZT. Or online see; http://www.goodcounselnetwork.com/



Novena Prayer to St Philomena

O Faithful Virgin and Glorious Martyr, St Philomena, who works so many miracles on behalf of the poor and sorrowing, have pity on me. Thou knowest the multitude and diversity of my needs. Behold me at thy feet, full of misery, but full of hope. I entreat thy charity, O great Saint! Graciously hear me and obtain from God a favourable answer to the request which I now humbly lay before thee – that Good Counsel may raise the money it needs and that as many lives as possible will be saved through their work (add your own intentions). I am firmly convinced that through thy merits, through the scorn, the sufferings and the death thou didst endure, united to the merits of the passion and death of Jesus, thy spouse, I shall obtain what I ask of thee, and in the joy of my heart I will bless God, who is admirable in His Saints. Amen.

St Philomena and Her Cord, A Powerful Sacramental

A supporter very kindly knitted some beautiful woollen sweaters for babies. One cheerfully coloured jumper has a clever design feature. In this case, the Cord of St. Philomena has been stitched around the neckline, and gives the effect of a little ruffled collar. The Cord of St. Philomena has the most marvellous promises, including protection against accidents and evils of every kind. The Holy Curé of Ars blessed and distributed a great many of the Cords. The Cord has been approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. A very fortunate little babe will wear this jumper!

Now that St. Philomena’s feast day (or you may know her as the Wonder Worker) is being celebrated today (in the Old Rite), we invoke her intercession especially in the cause of helping women under pressure to be sexually active, or women who are victims of violence. St. Philomena was subjected to foul torture – scourged like Our Lord until like Him, she was unrecognisable. She was then thrown into the Tiber with an anchor tied around her neck and eventually murdered by decapitation. Why? St. Philomena was merely thirteen years old, and her ‘offence’ was that she refused the sexual advances of the Roman Emperor. We pray to St. Philomena for young for young girls who want to stay pure but whose peers goad them into ‘sleeping around’. We pray for the adults who throw ‘a blind eye’ to the sexual abuse of girls as young as ten or eleven. We pray that these guardians of young girls will realise that they need to take responsibility in protecting vulnerable children and young teenagers. These adults may be the GP who puts a young girl on the Pill so that her boyfriend (or as is can happen– the mother’s boyfriend) may take advantage of the girl. We pray for teachers who urge young girls to become sexually active, and give no advice or help if a girl is pressurised into exploitative sexual relationships. We also pray for the young girls who are treated as if they have committed a crime by not sleeping around.

Indulgences Attached to St Philomena's Cord
By wearing it (usually around the waist) we may merit a Plenary Indulgence on the following days when the cord is worn for the first time; on May 25th, anniversary of opening of Saint Philomena's tomb – in the catacombs of Saint Priscilla. Or today, August 11th, her proper feast day. A plenary indulgence may also be sought on December 15, which is the anniversary of the approbation of the cord by the Holy See. And if one is wearing the Cord at the moment of death. The usual conditions for obtaining a Plenary Indulgence must be met.

Mary O'Regan