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The annual Oblate pilgrimage to Lourdes
is both the origin and mainstay of the Oblate Youth Service (OYS). Around 95 of
us travel to Lourdes
each year to become part of the Oblate team that helps to care for the over 120
invalids (our guests) each September. As a service, we join the team of
professional and non-professional doctors, nurses and helpers to provide care
and companionship to the guests during their week.
The origins of the OYS can be traced to the 1987 Oblate pilgrimage,
however the pilgrimage itself (and the involvement of young members of
the Oblate family) stretches back long to 1883. Unlike the short
two-hour flight from Dublin of today’s trip, the days of the ‘overland
trip’ involved an arduous three-day journey involving a ferry from
Dublin to Holyhead, train to London, another train to the port, a train
from the ferry to Paris and a final train journey to Lourdes – the
Paris-Lourdes train taking 20 hours alone.
 In the early days it was optional to help with the care of the sick in Lourdes, however that changed in 1987 when the OYS came into creation. The emphasis today, as it was in 1987, is on the experience of service, and between us we care for our guests from 6.30 am until late at night.
Whilst we travel, live, work and relax as a group in Lourdes, the experience is very much an individual journey faith and personal development. For example, one OYS volunteer returning to the trip for the fifth time remarked:
“The awareness that my meagre time and effort creates such a difference to others is one of the most unique feelings anyone could ever come across.”
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