'The Lord did astonishing things' Southwark Day of praise and worship in thanksgiving for jubilee year graces

By Kristina Cooper

Wanting to thank God for all the blessings received in the Jubilee Year, the Southwark CDSC organised a day of praise and worship, in which graces, healings and testimonies were seen and Archbishop John Wilson received prayer.

Over 300 people filled St George’s cathedral for a day of thanksgiving and praise organised by the Southwark Charismatic Diocesan Service of Communion (CDSC) on 4 October 2025. The number of priests serving at the day was symbolic of the growing relationship between the Southwark CDSC and the institutional Church over the last few years. Eight priests concelebrated with Archbishop John Wilson at the Mass, and 12 priests came to hear confessions during the lunch hour – twice the usual amount who usually come.

At the end of Mass, as he has done before at cathedral Renewal gatherings, Archbishop John asked for prayer. In a moving moment, he knelt in the nave inviting the congregation  to come and lay hands on him, while MC Liz Corcoran led a prayer. (See picture above) 

Having extra priests hearing confessions, meant there were no long queues or disappointed penitents and contributed to the sense of peace and order of the day. This beautifully expressed the diversity and richness of the Catholic faith, bringing together traditional practices like the rosary and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, as well as prayer ministry and confession.

There were also opportunities to buy books from the Goodnews Books stall and peruse other resources from ministries and groups, including Mothers Prayers, Come and See Bible Timeline, the Holy Souls Apostolate and the Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis.

 A Focus on Praise

It was felt it was important to thank God for all the blessings we had received as a diocese in the Jubilee Year. Thus the theme of the day was Romans 12.1 and the importance of offering our bodies as “ a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to the Lord, which is your spiritual worship.”  This led to a focus on praise in all aspects. Three different worship leaders contributed to the day – Fr Joseph Gulliford in the morning, Stella Maduekwe in the afternoon and Chris Stribbling at the end of the day.

Fr Joseph Gulliford leads worship

The day culminated in a talk by Catholic evangelist Ros Powell, who encouraged the congregation to surrender their lives in a new way to the Lord. She then prayed for an outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and asked those who had not received the gift of tongues to stand up. Then, assisted by the ministry team, she laid on hands and prayed for many people, who received this gift. One lady received an unexpected healing. She told Ros:“Last week I had a hearing test at Boots because I couldn’t get an NHS one. I was told I had a severe conductive hearing loss. Yesterday morning when you hugged me I got a strange feeling in my ears, like something moving. I can’t really describe it but this evening at Mass, I heard the priest clearly all the time. Usually I can't make out most of what he says. The Lord did do astonishing things yesterday.”

 There were other short moments of testimony during the day, when individuals shared graces they had received as a result of activities organised jointly by the Southwark CDSC and the Southwark Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis. These included the 5 day Jubilee walking pilgrimage from St George’s cathedral to Aylesford. Organiser Stuart Edwards shared that it had been the best experience of his life, as he felt bathed with the love of God the whole time, despite the hardships en route.

Ros Powell prayed for an outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit

Archbishop John Wilson prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all those present and on the diocese

Others spoke about the fruits of participating in the Rosary campaign, which began on 7 October 2024. This involved a huge Whatspp group, split into small groups, where people were encouraged to pray for the priests and parishes of their individual deaneries. Between 300 -400 people were involved in this and many have experienced the fruits of this.

Bridget Slattery shared how it led her to praying the rosary regularly -- something she hadn’t done before. Jane Oputa from Sutton shared that participating in this had led to her organising a coach to the Aylesford Celebration event on the Pentecost Saturday. This had stirred up a desire for future pilgrimages in her parish which had not been happening before.

Twelve hundred and fifty people had taken part in the Pilgrimage to Pentecost course, which was put together by the Southwark CDSC and the Southwark Agency of Evangelisation. This was based on the Life in the Spirit seminars and had recorded talks by priests of the diocese filmed at some of the jubilee shrines, together with testimonies of conversions and graces people had received. This culminated in the Jubilee Celebration Day on 7 June 2025, Pentecost Saturday, attended by over 3000 people at Aylesford. Here Archbishop John Wilson prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all those present and on the diocese as a whole.

Michelle Kennedy shared both how she had been touched by the course, and by the day itself, particularly the Carlos Acutis exhibition on Eucharistic miracles.  She explained she had been having doubts about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist but these were assuaged through reading about all the Eucharistic miracles which had happened through history. Her story underlined the prophetic word the Southwark SCSC team had received the week before, that although the Pentecost event was not their usual Baptism in the Spirit day, “no one would leave the day empty handed.”

The success and fruit of the day underlined for them the importance of seeing the Spirit moving outside the ways they were used to and that God was organising the right personal experience for each individual depending where they were on their spiritual journey.