The Bishop of Shrewsbury has dedicated the Diocese anew to the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Prayers of entrustment were offered at the end of Mass a Rosary Retreat Day and Jubilee Pilgrimage on Saturday at St Joseph’s Eucharistic Shrine Church in Stockport.

Standing before a statue of Our Lady and the child Jesus, Bishop Davies prayed: “To you, who were given at the Cross as Mother to all the disciples of your Son we once more entrust ourselves, as our Shrewsbury Diocese.”

“It is with great joy that we entrust, at this shrine church, the mission of renewal, of Eucharistic faith and love, the intercession for many new vocations and the sanctification of all our priests, seminarians and altar servers.”

During his homily, Bishop Davies warned the congregation of the danger of losing sight of the “immense riches” granted by the Church for the salvation of souls.

“Sixteen years ago when I was called to become your bishop, I asked Our Lady to help us see more clearly the urgency of our vocation and the riches of our Catholic faith, above all in what St John Henry Newman called the ‘treasure unutterable’, the Blessed Sacrament,” said Bishop Davies.

By seeing the Church through the eyes of Mary, and especially by praying the Holy Rosary, the faithful will never lose sight of the urgency of conversion, the Bishop said.

The pilgrimage day at St Joseph’s, one of the diocesan churches designated as a pilgrimage church during the Holy Year of Hope, included the recitation of the rosary, meditations and catechesis and concluded with a solemn Eucharistic procession and Benediction.

Photos by Simon Caldwell