'She was a great believer in the power of prayer' Frances Weaver, 2 July 1931 — 5 June 2026

By Kristina Cooper

Frances Weaver, who was born in Derry, and died on 5 June 2026 of colon cancer aged 94, was one of the pioneers of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the UK. She was part of a team organising one of the first days of renewal in the south of England, and also helped initiate the Southampton Catholic Charismatic Conference, which eventually birthed CELEBRATE.

A mother of six, Frances was a great believer in the power of prayer and remained a faithful intercessor for many of the projects of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal over the years, including Goodnews magazine, for which she was one of the original prayer partners from the late 1980s. She remained a great intercessor and evangelist to the very end.

When she could no longer live independently, she moved to a care home near one of her daughters. Here for the last two years she continued to minister to people, and had a huge effect on their lives through her encouragement and prayers. She was greatly loved by all the staff, who came to her with all their needs and prayer requests, many of which were answered through her intercession. In recognition of all that he had received from her, the young team leader in charge of her care, who is Indian and a cricket enthusiast, bought a cricket bat which he has had inscribed with her initials so he will never forget her.

Her funeral will take place at St Boniface's church, Shirley, Southampton on Thursday 25 June at 12 noon

Below is an article Frances wrote for Goodnews magazine on the power of intercession in 2011. This is a valuable reminder of the importance of prayer and intercession, which is really needed today.

Frances Weaver, who is almost 80, talks about how she was called to intercession and the huge part it has played in her life.

My family come from Northern Ireland. My mother was a great woman of prayer and I have always prayed. But it was after I was baptised in the Holy Spirit when I was 42 that I found myself becoming more and more drawn to intercession.  I was part of a small prayer group and three of us went to a conference in Manchester in 1973 led by Francis McNutt and Barbara Shlemon. We were all baptised in the Spirit at this conference and it had a huge effect on us. Everyone could see it on our face that we had been touched by the Holy Spirit.

We decided that we wanted to have a charismatic conference down south too, as we lived in Southampton, so we began to pray that this would happen.. Thus our first intercession group was born. Through this, the Lord taught me not to do anything without prayer. And we didn’t. In fact, with those early conferences at Southampton, we always prayed to check if the Lord wanted us to have a conference the following year, rather than arranging it automatically. Then it became clear that the needs were changing and God wanted us to lay down the Southampton conference for something different. This was how the Celebrate family conference in Ilfracombe was born.  Our little intercession group has been praying once a month for the last 17 years for Celebrate - for blessing and guidance for the organisers and for those who come.

Key is faithfulness

For me the key to intercession is faithfulness and to stick with it. You can’t change people’s hearts but God can. Prayer changes everything. I believe that nothing happens on earth that hasn’t first been prayed into being on earth which is a huge responsibility. We have to have that compassionate love in our hearts for people. We have to feel their suffering otherwise we would never pray for anyone. That’s what the heart of intercession is - feeling deeply for the other person and wanting souls for Christ.

I don’t find it hard to intercede. We don’t do it on our own. We are doing God’s work and through it we are made partners with Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father. We  get many blessings from intercession ourselves too as it is the Holy Spirit praying in us. I find the gift of tongues so helpful because when you don’t know how to pray, as it says in the bible,  “the Spirit groans within you.” I intercede a lot on my own but I prefer intercession with two or three other people. You have that promise of Jesus that when two or three are gathered in his name he will be with us and you get strength from this.

I raised seven children and was always a full time mother at home, which meant I could pray during the day and fit it into my schedule. When my children were small we had a weekly prayer group. This met in my house for 20 years. But circumstances change and it now meets in the local parish. I still go, but there are many other intercession groups I belong to as well as my whole life these days revolves round prayer one way or another.

Once a month I meet with a group associated with the NSC intercession network and we pray for the needs of the world. Every week too I meet up with a couple of women in my home and we pray for marriages in difficulty. I’ve lost count of the number of prayer groups the I have belonged to. Often it starts off with a response to someone in need, and as soon as you start praying about it, people’s lives are transformed and they become joyful even if the practical situation hasn’t changed.

'God is so good, and the power of his Spirit so strong, He will do such wonderful things if we just ask Him'

 'I give thanks for what God is going to do'

Lots of people know that I pray and they will telephone me at home and ask me to pray for their situation. I have always loved people so I don’t find it a nuisance and welcome it. I have always had a desire to share spiritually with others and I’ve been blessed that I have had a very supportive husband and good health all my life which has enabled me to give my time to God and others in this way. Yesterday, for example, a friend of mine who is a counsellor, asked me to pray for one of her clients who is trying to commit suicide.

I have learned to never give up praying for something. When we intercede the timing is up to God. When I pray, I just bring the person and their situation before God the Father through the name of Jesus. Once I’ve done this, I know that the Father is working in that situation, and I give thanks for what He is going to do. I thank God for the outcome, although I haven’t seen it yet, because I know it will happen in his time, in his way. 

I have had so many experiences in my life that I know that prayer works, even if takes a long time or He answers in a way we wouldn’t have thought. Some answers to prayer, however, are quite quick. Recently, a man came to our parish healing team with his wife and baby. He was in tears as the baby needed a serious operation the next day. They asked us to pray for the baby. He returned the following week all smiles. The baby hadn’t had to have the operation after all. He was delighted. He and the wife, who are both Hindus, have been coming to our church for some time and now they want to become Catholics.  

Underlining the importance of surrender

God has shown that things that I have forgotten that I prayed for have now come about. Ten years ago, for example,  I prayed for every week for six years with a member of the Community Church for a prayer group to start in the Catholic school she worked in. I found out only a couple of weeks ago that a prayer group among the teachers has started there recently. God is so good!

The biggest lesson I have learnt through intercession is the importance of surrender. I have had a prayer partner, Colette, for 38 years, and we have helped each other to grow in this over the years. Each time one of us would recount a problem to the other for prayer, we would ask the other: “Have you surrendered this problem to the Lord?” And, of course, so often we had not,  but over the years we have learnt to do so. Although we still have to remind each other about this — even now!  

God is so good, and the power of his Spirit so strong, He will do such wonderful things if we just ask Him.