The sister of one of the victims of notorious serial killers, Fred and Rosemary West, is to be keynote speaker at the eight-day Little Way Novena being held in Derry next month.
The Novena will take place in St Eugene’s Cathedral from Saturday 7 to Sunday, 15 May, with weekday Masses at 6.30am and 10.00am.
Each evening there will be Evening Prayer with a guest speaker.
The Novena will open with Mass at 7.30pm with the Sacrament of the Sick on Saturday, 7 May, and close at 6.00pm on Sunday, 15 May, with what has been described as a “time of evening and devotions” at which the Bishop of Derry, Most Rev Dr Donal McKeown, will speak.
Guest speaker on Monday (9 May) will be Mickey Harte, the manager of the Tyrone GAA senior football team.
The father of Michaela McAreavey who was murdered while on honeymoon with her husband, John, in Mauritius in January 2011, he speaks regularly about his Catholic faith and the importance of faith in his daily life.
On Tuesday (10 May) Marian Partington, sister of Lucy, a victim of the Wests, who tortured and raped numerous young women and girls, murdering at least 12, including their own family members.
The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and August 1979, in their homes at 25 Midland Road and later 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, with many of the bodies buried at or near these homes.
The pair were apprehended and charged in 1994.
Fred West killed himself before going to trial, while Rose West was jailed for life, in November 1995, after having been found guilty on 10 counts of murder.
Their house at 25 Cromwell Street was demolished in 1996 and the space converted into a landscaped footpath.
Lucy Partington left her mother's house to visit a disabled friend on 27 December, 1973.
After her visit, she went to catch a bus home and wasn't seen again until her remains were disinterred from the basement of 25 Cromwell Street.
Her body was the sixth found during the search of the house in 1994 and was discovered with two pieces of woven cord-type material knotted together below the jaw.
It is believed the Wests kept her alive for up to a week, sexually assaulting and torturing her until finally murdering her.
Lucy's younger sister, Marian, has written movingly of her journey from rage to forgiveness and has written to Rose West in prison.
She has also spoken of how her journey towards forgiveness only began after feeling her own “murderous rage”.
Manoj Raithatha, who was raised a Hindu and became a Christian in 2008, will speak on Wednesday (11 May) while the guest speaker on Thursday (12 May) will be Margaret Mizen, who lost her son Jimmy, a day after he turned 16, when he was murdered in a bakery a short distance from his home.
Archdeacon Robert Miller, rector of Christ Church on Infirmary in Derry, will speak on Friday (13 May).
The Novena is seen an opportunity to go and pray for a special intention and to ask St Thérèse to with the saint’s relic available for veneration.
Confessions will be available Monday to Friday after the 6.30am Mass and after the 7.30pm Evening Service.
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