The Friends of the Holy Father - Second decade
In 1990 the English Section of the Secretariat of State was looking to have computers installed and the Friends sent the Holy Father funds for this new equipment, and very soon the other language sections had followed suit.In that year the FHF made a pilgrimage to Rome to mark the Second Millennium. In the following year funds were sent to cover the cost of one of the office units being built in the Apostolic Palace. In 1994 Pope John Paul underwent an operation on his hip and the Friends sent a contribution towards the hospital bill.
By 1996 Vatican Radio's 150kWatt radio transmitter that broadcasted programmes to Europe, that had been given by Cardinal Spellman twenty years before, was giving trouble. It was replaced in 1998 with a large contribution by the Friends. In 1999 funds were sent to provide a digital television editing converter for programmes to be broadcast to the U.S.A.
1997 was the 14th centenary of the arrival in England of the mission sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great to re-evangelize England. Ten of the Friends, led by Mgr. Ralph Brown, embarked on travelling by minibus along the route from Rome to England. We travelling as the crow flies across Europe to Rome, but the return to England took the route indicated by Pope Gregory's letters to Frankish bishops and royals, who could facilitate their journey along the way. St Augustine had travelled by sea from Ostia to Marseilles in the south of France, but we drove up the west side of the Italian peninsula to Provence. The journey continued to Arles, then up the Rhone valley to Lyons and Autun.. After a visit to Poitiers, Tours and Senlis the party crossed the Channel before arriving in Canterbury with thanksgiving Masses at St. Martin's Church and St. Augustine's monastery in Canterbury. The Friends of the Holy Father also made exploratory plans for a repeat of the 13th centenary celebration, in 1897, at Ebbsfleet in Kent that had been such a success, but plans failed as the proposed coach park was sold for the storage of cars for export. In 1998 there was a pilgrimage to many of the Marian Shrines in England and Wales and in 1999 to the ancient shrines of Ireland, which went as far as the Derry peninsula in the south-west to visit the 6th century Galarus Oratory.
By 1996 Vatican Radio's 150kWatt radio transmitter that broadcasted programmes to Europe, that had been given by Cardinal Spellman twenty years before, was giving trouble. It was replaced in 1998 with a large contribution by the Friends. In 1999 funds were sent to provide a digital television editing converter for programmes to be broadcast to the U.S.A.
1997 was the 14th centenary of the arrival in England of the mission sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great to re-evangelize England. Ten of the Friends, led by Mgr. Ralph Brown, embarked on travelling by minibus along the route from Rome to England. We travelling as the crow flies across Europe to Rome, but the return to England took the route indicated by Pope Gregory's letters to Frankish bishops and royals, who could facilitate their journey along the way. St Augustine had travelled by sea from Ostia to Marseilles in the south of France, but we drove up the west side of the Italian peninsula to Provence. The journey continued to Arles, then up the Rhone valley to Lyons and Autun.. After a visit to Poitiers, Tours and Senlis the party crossed the Channel before arriving in Canterbury with thanksgiving Masses at St. Martin's Church and St. Augustine's monastery in Canterbury. The Friends of the Holy Father also made exploratory plans for a repeat of the 13th centenary celebration, in 1897, at Ebbsfleet in Kent that had been such a success, but plans failed as the proposed coach park was sold for the storage of cars for export. In 1998 there was a pilgrimage to many of the Marian Shrines in England and Wales and in 1999 to the ancient shrines of Ireland, which went as far as the Derry peninsula in the south-west to visit the 6th century Galarus Oratory.