A report in this weekend’s Sunday Telegraph, suggested that British pilgrims were getting so out of hand that French riot police needed to be drafted in to curb the late night excesses of young pilgrims, adding that drunkenness and lewd behaviour from Brits were becoming an increasing problem.
However, Westminster Diocesan Pilgrimage Youth Director Bernard Lavery reacted angrily to the article saying that the article didn’t paint the true picture of pilgrimages to Lourdes.
"There is a popular myth that a combination of young Brits, bars and rock music will automatically lead to drunken and loutish behaviour," he said.
"It is, after all, the picture which is reported in the media on a regular basis. To suggest that young people could gather in significant numbers with access to bars and rock music and especially in a foreign country and not create mayhem is, to many, unbelievable."
The Director of Tangney Tours John Tangney, who has overseen pilgrimages of over 10,000 British pilgrims to Lourdes this summer, also found the article wide of the mark.
"We take British Pilgrims to Lourdes from all parts of the UK and in the July/August Period carried some 10,000 people, a large number being young persons," said Mr Tangney.
"We have close links with the local authorities and are quickly advised if it’s needed that our clients are causing disturbance or offence. I can categorically state that we have not received any complaint or even comment regarding our young clients behaviour. This is not to say that on occasion a few drinks too many will be taken but never to an extent as is described in the article.
In other Lourdes news: this week, gypsies:
The 50th pilgrimage of gypsies to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes is taking place through Friday with the participation of some 7,000 people.
The "children of the wind" arrived in Mary’s city in some 1,300 caravans.
The first pilgrimage of this type took place Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 1957, as an initiative of the gypsies’ national chaplains in France, assisted by the Nazarene Sisters of Charles de Foucauld.
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