Bishop Rachel will visit charities serving the most vulnerable in our communities, and spend time with women in prison in the week leading up to Easter
On Monday 26 March Bishop Rachel will start her week by visiting the Milestone Community Café in Longlevens. This special cafe is open every month and is run by the senior students of Milestone school, which provides education for children with special needs.
This will be followed by visiting The Rock Café in Cheltenham. This community café is run every Monday afternoon during term time. The café is served by young people who are gaining work experience and developing their confidence. The Rock, based at St Peter’s Church Cheltenham, is an organisation which works with young people in school years 6-11 years offering early intervention and re engagement.
In the evening she will visit the Salvation Army soup run in Gloucester, and will help serve food and spend time talking to people who are homeless.
On Tuesday 27 March Bishop Rachel will be in the House of Lords and is hosting a colloquium focussing on Women Centres . This roundtable event is an opportunity for MPs, Peers, experts and practitioners from the voluntary sector to have a debate around the importance of Women’s Centres and how they raise the profile of this work and access funding.
On her return to Gloucester in the evening she will visit Gloucester City Mission’s winter night shelter. She will have the opportunity to talk to those using the shelter and listen to their stories and hear more about this temporary service.
On Maundy Thursday 29 March Bishop Rachel will lead the Chrism Eucharist in Gloucester Cathedral. Traditionally Church of England clergy and lay ministers attend their cathedrals on this day for a special service in which they recommit themselves to their calling to follow Christ as they prepare for Good Friday and Easter.
In the afternoon, she will visit the Kingfisher Treasure Seekers Trust and their gift shop in Gloucester town centre. The Trust provides a service that equips and enables individuals to develop in their soft and social skills, receive specialist support and training, and grow positive social networks.
On Good Friday Bishop Rachel will spend the day in Eastwood Park Prison. She will lead worship and spend time with women who have just arrived in the prison and meet some of the young offenders.
On Easter Sunday she will lead and preach the Easter Eucharist service in Gloucester Cathedral, to which everyone is invited.
Bishop Rachel said. “In Holy Week, Christians recall Jesus Christ’s death, the brokenness of the world and our part in it; and yet we celebrate God’s immense love and new life revealed in Christ’s resurrection. It will therefore be very poignant to be with people amid their different stories in this special week in which the focus is one of hope and new possibility.”
News Hub
