Holier Than Thou

Susan Healy wrote:errm.. she started to ask God right away to give her Madeleine. Errm… because Kate and Gerry were not the most devout family.

Kate McCann wrote:'Please stay with us, stay with Madeleine and keep praying. Pray like mad.'

4th May 2008

I Say a Little Prayer


Aretha Franklin

The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little pray for you

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While combing my hair now
And wondering what dress to wear now
I say a little prayer for you

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Forever and ever, you'll stay in my heart
And I will love you
Forever and ever, we never will part
Oh, how I love you
Together, forever, that's how it must be
To live without you
Would only mean heartbreak for me


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RIP Madeleine McCann

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To be or not to be - that is the question ....

Didn't one of the PR team suggest a bikini pool photo?

There was talk of it but whether it was a serious suggestion or media hype I don't recall.

Perhaps they changed their minds after doing an undress rehearsal..

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Our daughter has been abducted.... honest.

madeleine by KATE MCCANN

Gerry, meanwhile, was running from pillar to post, urging me to remain in the apartment with the twins so that I’d be on hand if Madeleine was found and brought back there. He’d asked Fiona to stay with me. I was in our bedroom, on my knees beside the bed, just praying and praying and praying, begging God and Our Lady to protect Madeleine and help us find her. They had heard many a supplication from me in the past but none so intense, nor so important, as these.

At 11.52pm, Gerry spoke to my Uncle Brian and Auntie Janet in Rothley, at my request. Janet is a woman of strong faith and I wanted her to start praying for Madeleine as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, desperate for God’s intervention, for ourselves and for Madeleine, I asked the resort staff if they might be able to find a priest to come and pray with us and support us.  I think they tried, but either they couldn’t contact anyone or there was no priest available, so I carried on praying on my own. The pain, terror and the suffocating helplessness I felt are indescribable. There just aren’t the words to adequately convey such torment. Just after 2am, I spoke to my friend Father Paul Seddon, the priest who had married Gerry and me and baptized Madeleine. He offered me words of comfort and then prayed for our little girl.

Next I called my best mate, Michelle. I needed her to get her large Catholic family praying, too.

 Gerry and I travelled in one police car with the others following in a second vehicle. It was an awful journey. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes, but it felt much longer. On the way I rang a colleague – another lady of strong faith. She prayed over the phone for most of the trip, while I listened and wept at the other end. I will for ever be indebted to her for her help and support at that agonizing time.

 I cannot overstate how terrifying this was. Had Madeleine been found? Please God. Was she alive? Was she dead? Gerry and I clung on to each other for dear life. I was crying hysterically and praying for all I was worth.

They said some prayers with us and I remember the minister reading out the passage in St Mark’s gospel which begins: ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God,’ which took me back to my own childhood.

 Still in the dark as to what was being done to help find our daughter – if anything was being done to find her – Gerry and I prayed together and eventually drifted into a brief and fitful sleep.

 From the moment Madeleine had gone, I’d turned instinctively to God and to Mary, feeling a deep need to pray, and to get as many other people as possible to pray, too. I believed it would make a difference.

 Although in the early days I struggled to comprehend what had happened to Madeleine, and to us, I’ve never believed it was God’s fault, or that He ‘allowed’ it to happen. I was just confused that He had apparently not heeded the prayer I’d offered every night for my family: ‘Thank you God for bringing Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie into my life. Please keep them all safe, healthy and happy. Amen.’ Please keep them all safe. It must be said that when I’d prayed for their safety I’d been thinking: please don’t let them fall off something and bang their heads, or please don’t let them be involved in a car accident. I’d never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality. Now, in spite of not knowing where Madeleine was or who she was with, I tried to reassure myself that God was still keeping her safe.

I’d never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality. Now, in spite of not knowing where Madeleine was or who she was with, I tried to reassure myself that God was still keeping her safe.

 Everybody prayed for Madeleine. A young Portuguese girl presented me with some flowers, as did many of the mums in the congregation. At the end of the Mass, every mother and child came to the front of the church to hug and kiss us. ‘She will be back,’ they told us.

Gerry and I would just like to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to everybody but particularly the local community here who have offered so much support. We couldn’t have asked for more. I just want to say thank you.
Please continue to pray for Madeleine. She’s lovely.
 
 The words of solace and inspiration, the embraces, prayers, flowers and pictures from the children kept coming, week in, week out. Madeleine was never forgotten and neither were we.

 Mothers and their children hugged and held us, placed rosary beads in our hands and spontaneously offered prayers out loud for Madeleine and for us.

We had been given a key to the church so that we could go there and pray whenever we wished.

 So many people were supporting us in so many different ways, from the high-profile donations of the reward consortium to the quiet prayers and unsung practical acts of friends and strangers alike.

 There were a couple of ‘visionary’ experiences in particular I took very seriously. One of them had come through prayer which, at the time, gave it even greater credibility in my eyes. I begged the police to look into these.

During the couple of hours we spent at the shrine, we were able to attend one of the Masses being celebrated and were also allowed some time to pray privately in one of the small chapels. Before leaving, we lit five candles outside the Chapel of Apparitions, one for each member of our family. I kissed Madeleine’s candle and prayed with all my heart that Our Lady of Fátima would keep her arms safely around our daughter.

 In the meantime, hope and comfort were at hand from an unexpected source. It was on Sunday 27 May that Clarence first mentioned the possibility that we might be invited to the Vatican (or ‘accepted’ there) to meet Pope Benedict XVI. The ‘relevant people’ in Rome, he told us, had already been making the necessary preparations. I didn’t dwell on whether this was unprecedented, as it was later described, or even unusual. I just remember thinking how important and wonderful this would be for Madeleine. For a Catholic, meeting the Pope is about as close as you can get to meeting God, and we certainly needed His help. I truly believed that if I was able to speak to the Pope, my pleas for Madeleine’s safe return would be channelled more efficiently and effectively to Heaven. I also believed that this meeting might lead to many more Catholics offering prayers for Madeleine. Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

   I said what I had planned and needed to say. Nothing earth-shattering: I simply thanked him for allowing us to be there and asked him to pray for Madeleine’s safe return.

:bad:   A wave of nausea. Immediate tears. Was she dead? Had she been found? We had been here before and couldn’t believe this was happening all over again, but there we were, holding on to each other in the back of a car, crying, shaking and praying. Please God, let it be good news. Please God, let Madeleine be all right.

On our final morning, the lady who’d been interpreting for us arranged for us to meet the minister of Islamic affairs, who happened to be her father-in-law. I was keen to talk to an Islamic religious leader to seek the support and prayers of the Muslim community.

We explained that we lived in Leicester, a multicultural city where many people of different faiths had been praying for Madeleine, and told him how important this was to us. I asked if he would urge the Muslim people here to pray for her, too, and for all missing children. He promised us that he would, adding that he was certain we would be reunited with our daughter.

  I pulled out my mobile phone and began to text six devout family members and friends (quietly, in my head, I thought of them as my ‘prayer group’): ‘Please pray for Madeleine.’ I returned to the meeting room. Somebody texted back: ‘Of course. Everything OK?’ The lack of a response was probably enough of an answer.

 There would be endless tears, out-of-control hysteria and feverish sessions of prayer. And there would be several visits to ‘my rocks’ – a quiet part of the beach away from the promenade.

Outside the room, I was praying – begging prayers. I was beginning to come unstuck. But if I thought the police had finished with me, I was mistaken. Before long I was ordered back into the room to join Gerry for round three

We went to church, often several times a day, for Masses, vigils, private prayer and reflection.

 It was an awful day. Every hour, I’d see her standing there in her new uniform, smiling at me. I cried, I prayed and I held my husband and children tightly. We could make things right for her. If only we could get her back we would work through anything and everything she’d endured. We would make sure that her life was as full and as happy as it should always have been.

Then we walked down to Nossa Senhora da Luz for half an hour of private prayer, with the press pack still in pursuit.

We stayed on for the Anglican service at 9.30am, led as usual by Haynes. He and the rest of the worshippers present that morning wrapped us in kindness and support. We thanked them and urged them not to lose sight of what was important – Madeleine – and to keep her in their thoughts and prayers.

It was almost 5am when we finally got to bed. Extra prayers tonight.

Gerry’s foot kept pressing down harder on the accelerator as he instinctively tried to put a safe distance between us and the car that was practically touching our bumper. I urged him to slow down. The most important thing was to stay in control and to try to blank out the craziness all around us. It didn’t matter how quickly we got there. It didn’t matter if we were pursued all the way to the airport. It did matter that we stayed alive. I’d said so many prayers over the last four months but I’d never anticipated having to beg the Lord to protect us on the A22.

At 1am on Wednesday, 27 February 2008, Gerry and I were woken suddenly from our sleep. The room appeared to be shaking and a photograph of Madeleine toppled over on my chest of drawers. We were terrified. Our immediate thought was that somebody was trying to kill us. Maybe a bomb had gone off, or perhaps a gang was trying to break into our house. Gerry got out of bed and went to check on Sean and Amelie before having a good look around, inside and out. I prayed for our safety.

We asked all those who wished to remember Madeleine, and missing children everywhere, to light a candle and say a prayer at 9.15pm.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, wrote a special prayer for Madeleine and urged everyone to redouble their efforts to pray for her safe return.
 
:bad: Sean and Amelie have been a huge source of comfort to me. I have no idea how I could carry on if they weren’t here. How parents who have lost an only child continue, I do not know. Seany is a big soft ‘Mummy’s boy’ which is nice. He is very gentle and generally just lovely. Amelie is a real character but so sensitive and ‘in tune’ . . . She often says how much she likes you, Madeleine,‘my sister’, and what she’s going to give you of hers when you’re back. I heard her saying a prayer for you today, too.

:bad: From children we’ve had prayers they’ve composed themselves or pictures they’ve drawn for Madeleine.

And yet there have been so many people like this, supporters who print and distribute posters, organize cake sales to raise money for the fund, produce handmade books full of lovely messages and prayers and send the most thoughtful gifts for Madeleine.

 I do not blame God for Madeleine’s abduction. The abductor is responsible for that. What I do wrestle with, though, is the inexplicable fact that despite so many prayers, almost total global awareness and a vast amount of hard work, we still do not have an answer. My aunt quotes a saying: ‘Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you,’ and I truly believe this is what we’ve done.

I’ve never in my life prayed for anything or anyone so much, or in so many different ways. Thousands of other people, maybe millions, have prayed.

There is one thing of which I am confident: I believe wherever Madeleine is, God is with her. And during my calmer moments, I also believe that in God’s time, we’ll get there. A couple of years ago I was saying a prayer for Madeleine with the twins and remarked that it had been a long time since we’d seen her. ‘No, Mummy,’ said Amelie. ‘It’s just a teeny-weeny time.’ She was right, of course: a few years is a drop in the ocean compared to a lifetime.
Gerry has certainly struggled over the last year with his faith. While he still believes in God, he is no longer convinced of the power of prayer. In his words, ‘If prayer worked, we would’ve had Madeleine back a long time ago.’ He’s also mentioned to me, on more than one occasion, that nowhere in Christ’s teachings does it say you’ll reap your reward on this earth. Gerry has always believed that everyone possesses God-given talents which we should use to the best of our ability, he recognizes the benefits of the church community and he continues to insist that something good has to come out of this whole experience.

Writing this book has been emotional and exhausting. I hope and pray it helps us to find Madeleine and to uncover the truth.

Ha!There was an earthquake on that day 27 .Feb . 2008 ..
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. It was also the day Antony Blond died highly covered Rolling Stones .. et al .. his book The Publishing Game .. a famed author but this one was a sardonic guide to writing a book .. maybe someone's ghost writer was er having a giraffe ??

Verdi wrote:madeleine by KATE MCCANN

Gerry, meanwhile, was running from pillar to post, urging me to remain in the apartment with the twins so that I’d be on hand if Madeleine was found and brought back there. He’d asked Fiona to stay with me. I was in our bedroom, on my knees beside the bed, just praying and praying and praying, begging God and Our Lady to protect Madeleine and help us find her. They had heard many a supplication from me in the past but none so intense, nor so important, as these.

At 11.52pm, Gerry spoke to my Uncle Brian and Auntie Janet in Rothley, at my request. Janet is a woman of strong faith and I wanted her to start praying for Madeleine as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, desperate for God’s intervention, for ourselves and for Madeleine, I asked the resort staff if they might be able to find a priest to come and pray with us and support us.  I think they tried, but either they couldn’t contact anyone or there was no priest available, so I carried on praying on my own. The pain, terror and the suffocating helplessness I felt are indescribable. There just aren’t the words to adequately convey such torment. Just after 2am, I spoke to my friend Father Paul Seddon, the priest who had married Gerry and me and baptized Madeleine. He offered me words of comfort and then prayed for our little girl.

Next I called my best mate, Michelle. I needed her to get her large Catholic family praying, too.

 Gerry and I travelled in one police car with the others following in a second vehicle. It was an awful journey. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes, but it felt much longer. On the way I rang a colleague – another lady of strong faith. She prayed over the phone for most of the trip, while I listened and wept at the other end. I will for ever be indebted to her for her help and support at that agonizing time.

 I cannot overstate how terrifying this was. Had Madeleine been found? Please God. Was she alive? Was she dead? Gerry and I clung on to each other for dear life. I was crying hysterically and praying for all I was worth.

They said some prayers with us and I remember the minister reading out the passage in St Mark’s gospel which begins: ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God,’ which took me back to my own childhood.

 Still in the dark as to what was being done to help find our daughter – if anything was being done to find her – Gerry and I prayed together and eventually drifted into a brief and fitful sleep.

 From the moment Madeleine had gone, I’d turned instinctively to God and to Mary, feeling a deep need to pray, and to get as many other people as possible to pray, too. I believed it would make a difference.

 Although in the early days I struggled to comprehend what had happened to Madeleine, and to us, I’ve never believed it was God’s fault, or that He ‘allowed’ it to happen. I was just confused that He had apparently not heeded the prayer I’d offered every night for my family: ‘Thank you God for bringing Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie into my life. Please keep them all safe, healthy and happy. Amen.’ Please keep them all safe. It must be said that when I’d prayed for their safety I’d been thinking: please don’t let them fall off something and bang their heads, or please don’t let them be involved in a car accident. I’d never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality. Now, in spite of not knowing where Madeleine was or who she was with, I tried to reassure myself that God was still keeping her safe.

I’d never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality. Now, in spite of not knowing where Madeleine was or who she was with, I tried to reassure myself that God was still keeping her safe.

 Everybody prayed for Madeleine. A young Portuguese girl presented me with some flowers, as did many of the mums in the congregation. At the end of the Mass, every mother and child came to the front of the church to hug and kiss us. ‘She will be back,’ they told us.

Gerry and I would just like to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to everybody but particularly the local community here who have offered so much support. We couldn’t have asked for more. I just want to say thank you.
Please continue to pray for Madeleine. She’s lovely.
 
 The words of solace and inspiration, the embraces, prayers, flowers and pictures from the children kept coming, week in, week out. Madeleine was never forgotten and neither were we.

 Mothers and their children hugged and held us, placed rosary beads in our hands and spontaneously offered prayers out loud for Madeleine and for us.

We had been given a key to the church so that we could go there and pray whenever we wished.

 So many people were supporting us in so many different ways, from the high-profile donations of the reward consortium to the quiet prayers and unsung practical acts of friends and strangers alike.

 There were a couple of ‘visionary’ experiences in particular I took very seriously. One of them had come through prayer which, at the time, gave it even greater credibility in my eyes. I begged the police to look into these.

During the couple of hours we spent at the shrine, we were able to attend one of the Masses being celebrated and were also allowed some time to pray privately in one of the small chapels. Before leaving, we lit five candles outside the Chapel of Apparitions, one for each member of our family. I kissed Madeleine’s candle and prayed with all my heart that Our Lady of Fátima would keep her arms safely around our daughter.

 In the meantime, hope and comfort were at hand from an unexpected source. It was on Sunday 27 May that Clarence first mentioned the possibility that we might be invited to the Vatican (or ‘accepted’ there) to meet Pope Benedict XVI. The ‘relevant people’ in Rome, he told us, had already been making the necessary preparations. I didn’t dwell on whether this was unprecedented, as it was later described, or even unusual. I just remember thinking how important and wonderful this would be for Madeleine. For a Catholic, meeting the Pope is about as close as you can get to meeting God, and we certainly needed His help. I truly believed that if I was able to speak to the Pope, my pleas for Madeleine’s safe return would be channelled more efficiently and effectively to Heaven. I also believed that this meeting might lead to many more Catholics offering prayers for Madeleine. Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

   I said what I had planned and needed to say. Nothing earth-shattering: I simply thanked him for allowing us to be there and asked him to pray for Madeleine’s safe return.

:bad:   A wave of nausea. Immediate tears. Was she dead? Had she been found? We had been here before and couldn’t believe this was happening all over again, but there we were, holding on to each other in the back of a car, crying, shaking and praying. Please God, let it be good news. Please God, let Madeleine be all right.

On our final morning, the lady who’d been interpreting for us arranged for us to meet the minister of Islamic affairs, who happened to be her father-in-law. I was keen to talk to an Islamic religious leader to seek the support and prayers of the Muslim community.

We explained that we lived in Leicester, a multicultural city where many people of different faiths had been praying for Madeleine, and told him how important this was to us. I asked if he would urge the Muslim people here to pray for her, too, and for all missing children. He promised us that he would, adding that he was certain we would be reunited with our daughter.

  I pulled out my mobile phone and began to text six devout family members and friends (quietly, in my head, I thought of them as my ‘prayer group’): ‘Please pray for Madeleine.’ I returned to the meeting room. Somebody texted back: ‘Of course. Everything OK?’ The lack of a response was probably enough of an answer.

 There would be endless tears, out-of-control hysteria and feverish sessions of prayer. And there would be several visits to ‘my rocks’ – a quiet part of the beach away from the promenade.

Outside the room, I was praying – begging prayers. I was beginning to come unstuck. But if I thought the police had finished with me, I was mistaken. Before long I was ordered back into the room to join Gerry for round three

We went to church, often several times a day, for Masses, vigils, private prayer and reflection.

 It was an awful day. Every hour, I’d see her standing there in her new uniform, smiling at me. I cried, I prayed and I held my husband and children tightly. We could make things right for her. If only we could get her back we would work through anything and everything she’d endured. We would make sure that her life was as full and as happy as it should always have been.

Then we walked down to Nossa Senhora da Luz for half an hour of private prayer, with the press pack still in pursuit.

We stayed on for the Anglican service at 9.30am, led as usual by Haynes. He and the rest of the worshippers present that morning wrapped us in kindness and support. We thanked them and urged them not to lose sight of what was important – Madeleine – and to keep her in their thoughts and prayers.

It was almost 5am when we finally got to bed. Extra prayers tonight.

Gerry’s foot kept pressing down harder on the accelerator as he instinctively tried to put a safe distance between us and the car that was practically touching our bumper. I urged him to slow down. The most important thing was to stay in control and to try to blank out the craziness all around us. It didn’t matter how quickly we got there. It didn’t matter if we were pursued all the way to the airport. It did matter that we stayed alive. I’d said so many prayers over the last four months but I’d never anticipated having to beg the Lord to protect us on the A22.

At 1am on Wednesday, 27 February 2008, Gerry and I were woken suddenly from our sleep. The room appeared to be shaking and a photograph of Madeleine toppled over on my chest of drawers. We were terrified. Our immediate thought was that somebody was trying to kill us. Maybe a bomb had gone off, or perhaps a gang was trying to break into our house. Gerry got out of bed and went to check on Sean and Amelie before having a good look around, inside and out. I prayed for our safety.

We asked all those who wished to remember Madeleine, and missing children everywhere, to light a candle and say a prayer at 9.15pm.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, wrote a special prayer for Madeleine and urged everyone to redouble their efforts to pray for her safe return.
 
:bad: Sean and Amelie have been a huge source of comfort to me. I have no idea how I could carry on if they weren’t here. How parents who have lost an only child continue, I do not know. Seany is a big soft ‘Mummy’s boy’ which is nice. He is very gentle and generally just lovely. Amelie is a real character but so sensitive and ‘in tune’ . . . She often says how much she likes you, Madeleine,‘my sister’, and what she’s going to give you of hers when you’re back. I heard her saying a prayer for you today, too.

:bad: From children we’ve had prayers they’ve composed themselves or pictures they’ve drawn for Madeleine.

And yet there have been so many people like this, supporters who print and distribute posters, organize cake sales to raise money for the fund, produce handmade books full of lovely messages and prayers and send the most thoughtful gifts for Madeleine.

 I do not blame God for Madeleine’s abduction. The abductor is responsible for that. What I do wrestle with, though, is the inexplicable fact that despite so many prayers, almost total global awareness and a vast amount of hard work, we still do not have an answer. My aunt quotes a saying: ‘Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you,’ and I truly believe this is what we’ve done.

I’ve never in my life prayed for anything or anyone so much, or in so many different ways. Thousands of other people, maybe millions, have prayed.

There is one thing of which I am confident: I believe wherever Madeleine is, God is with her. And during my calmer moments, I also believe that in God’s time, we’ll get there. A couple of years ago I was saying a prayer for Madeleine with the twins and remarked that it had been a long time since we’d seen her. ‘No, Mummy,’ said Amelie. ‘It’s just a teeny-weeny time.’ She was right, of course: a few years is a drop in the ocean compared to a lifetime.
Gerry has certainly struggled over the last year with his faith. While he still believes in God, he is no longer convinced of the power of prayer. In his words, ‘If prayer worked, we would’ve had Madeleine back a long time ago.’ He’s also mentioned to me, on more than one occasion, that nowhere in Christ’s teachings does it say you’ll reap your reward on this earth. Gerry has always believed that everyone possesses God-given talents which we should use to the best of our ability, he recognizes the benefits of the church community and he continues to insist that something good has to come out of this whole experience.

Writing this book has been emotional and exhausting. I hope and pray it helps us to find Madeleine and to uncover the truth.

Plenty of praying , but no searching ! 

" No Mummy " said Amelie , " It's just a teeny weeny time " 

What a load of rubbish , children that age have no concept of time . 

Reading the bewk is emotional and exhausting , getting through all the drivel , and that's just from the snippets I've read never actually been able to face reading the full " pity me " tale ! 

There's a place near me called Pity Me , I wonder if Kate has ever visited ?

Kate doesn't understand the purpose of prayer.  It's not about magically making things happen.

Completely OTT.  I don't believe a word of it.

Very funny post [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great post Verdi! I don't think K M has read the third commandment in her bible: 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain'....again...and....again...and....again ad nauseam. When you read her drivel set out like that you realise just how profane her supplications are.

Verdi wrote:madeleine by KATE MCCANN

Gerry, meanwhile, was running from pillar to post, urging me to remain in the apartment with the twins so that I’d be on hand if Madeleine was found and brought back there. He’d asked Fiona to stay with me. I was in our bedroom, on my knees beside the bed, just praying and praying and praying, begging God and Our Lady to protect Madeleine and help us find her. They had heard many a supplication from me in the past but none so intense, nor so important, as these.

At 11.52pm, Gerry spoke to my Uncle Brian and Auntie Janet in Rothley, at my request. Janet is a woman of strong faith and I wanted her to start praying for Madeleine as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, desperate for God’s intervention, for ourselves and for Madeleine, I asked the resort staff if they might be able to find a priest to come and pray with us and support us.  I think they tried, but either they couldn’t contact anyone or there was no priest available, so I carried on praying on my own. The pain, terror and the suffocating helplessness I felt are indescribable. There just aren’t the words to adequately convey such torment. Just after 2am, I spoke to my friend Father Paul Seddon, the priest who had married Gerry and me and baptized Madeleine. He offered me words of comfort and then prayed for our little girl.

Next I called my best mate, Michelle. I needed her to get her large Catholic family praying, too.

 Gerry and I travelled in one police car with the others following in a second vehicle. It was an awful journey. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes, but it felt much longer. On the way I rang a colleague – another lady of strong faith. She prayed over the phone for most of the trip, while I listened and wept at the other end. I will for ever be indebted to her for her help and support at that agonizing time.

 I cannot overstate how terrifying this was. Had Madeleine been found? Please God. Was she alive? Was she dead? Gerry and I clung on to each other for dear life. I was crying hysterically and praying for all I was worth.

They said some prayers with us and I remember the minister reading out the passage in St Mark’s gospel which begins: ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God,’ which took me back to my own childhood.

 Still in the dark as to what was being done to help find our daughter – if anything was being done to find her – Gerry and I prayed together and eventually drifted into a brief and fitful sleep.

 From the moment Madeleine had gone, I’d turned instinctively to God and to Mary, feeling a deep need to pray, and to get as many other people as possible to pray, too. I believed it would make a difference.

 Although in the early days I struggled to comprehend what had happened to Madeleine, and to us, I’ve never believed it was God’s fault, or that He ‘allowed’ it to happen. I was just confused that He had apparently not heeded the prayer I’d offered every night for my family: ‘Thank you God for bringing Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie into my life. Please keep them all safe, healthy and happy. Amen.’ Please keep them all safe. It must be said that when I’d prayed for their safety I’d been thinking: please don’t let them fall off something and bang their heads, or please don’t let them be involved in a car accident. I’d never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality. Now, in spite of not knowing where Madeleine was or who she was with, I tried to reassure myself that God was still keeping her safe.

I’d never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality. Now, in spite of not knowing where Madeleine was or who she was with, I tried to reassure myself that God was still keeping her safe.

 Everybody prayed for Madeleine. A young Portuguese girl presented me with some flowers, as did many of the mums in the congregation. At the end of the Mass, every mother and child came to the front of the church to hug and kiss us. ‘She will be back,’ they told us.

Gerry and I would just like to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to everybody but particularly the local community here who have offered so much support. We couldn’t have asked for more. I just want to say thank you.
Please continue to pray for Madeleine. She’s lovely.
 
 The words of solace and inspiration, the embraces, prayers, flowers and pictures from the children kept coming, week in, week out. Madeleine was never forgotten and neither were we.

 Mothers and their children hugged and held us, placed rosary beads in our hands and spontaneously offered prayers out loud for Madeleine and for us.

We had been given a key to the church so that we could go there and pray whenever we wished.

 So many people were supporting us in so many different ways, from the high-profile donations of the reward consortium to the quiet prayers and unsung practical acts of friends and strangers alike.

 There were a couple of ‘visionary’ experiences in particular I took very seriously. One of them had come through prayer which, at the time, gave it even greater credibility in my eyes. I begged the police to look into these.

During the couple of hours we spent at the shrine, we were able to attend one of the Masses being celebrated and were also allowed some time to pray privately in one of the small chapels. Before leaving, we lit five candles outside the Chapel of Apparitions, one for each member of our family. I kissed Madeleine’s candle and prayed with all my heart that Our Lady of Fátima would keep her arms safely around our daughter.

 In the meantime, hope and comfort were at hand from an unexpected source. It was on Sunday 27 May that Clarence first mentioned the possibility that we might be invited to the Vatican (or ‘accepted’ there) to meet Pope Benedict XVI. The ‘relevant people’ in Rome, he told us, had already been making the necessary preparations. I didn’t dwell on whether this was unprecedented, as it was later described, or even unusual. I just remember thinking how important and wonderful this would be for Madeleine. For a Catholic, meeting the Pope is about as close as you can get to meeting God, and we certainly needed His help. I truly believed that if I was able to speak to the Pope, my pleas for Madeleine’s safe return would be channelled more efficiently and effectively to Heaven. I also believed that this meeting might lead to many more Catholics offering prayers for Madeleine. Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

   I said what I had planned and needed to say. Nothing earth-shattering: I simply thanked him for allowing us to be there and asked him to pray for Madeleine’s safe return.

:bad:   A wave of nausea. Immediate tears. Was she dead? Had she been found? We had been here before and couldn’t believe this was happening all over again, but there we were, holding on to each other in the back of a car, crying, shaking and praying. Please God, let it be good news. Please God, let Madeleine be all right.

On our final morning, the lady who’d been interpreting for us arranged for us to meet the minister of Islamic affairs, who happened to be her father-in-law. I was keen to talk to an Islamic religious leader to seek the support and prayers of the Muslim community.

We explained that we lived in Leicester, a multicultural city where many people of different faiths had been praying for Madeleine, and told him how important this was to us. I asked if he would urge the Muslim people here to pray for her, too, and for all missing children. He promised us that he would, adding that he was certain we would be reunited with our daughter.

  I pulled out my mobile phone and began to text six devout family members and friends (quietly, in my head, I thought of them as my ‘prayer group’): ‘Please pray for Madeleine.’ I returned to the meeting room. Somebody texted back: ‘Of course. Everything OK?’ The lack of a response was probably enough of an answer.

 There would be endless tears, out-of-control hysteria and feverish sessions of prayer. And there would be several visits to ‘my rocks’ – a quiet part of the beach away from the promenade.

Outside the room, I was praying – begging prayers. I was beginning to come unstuck. But if I thought the police had finished with me, I was mistaken. Before long I was ordered back into the room to join Gerry for round three

We went to church, often several times a day, for Masses, vigils, private prayer and reflection.

 It was an awful day. Every hour, I’d see her standing there in her new uniform, smiling at me. I cried, I prayed and I held my husband and children tightly. We could make things right for her. If only we could get her back we would work through anything and everything she’d endured. We would make sure that her life was as full and as happy as it should always have been.

Then we walked down to Nossa Senhora da Luz for half an hour of private prayer, with the press pack still in pursuit.

We stayed on for the Anglican service at 9.30am, led as usual by Haynes. He and the rest of the worshippers present that morning wrapped us in kindness and support. We thanked them and urged them not to lose sight of what was important – Madeleine – and to keep her in their thoughts and prayers.

It was almost 5am when we finally got to bed. Extra prayers tonight.

Gerry’s foot kept pressing down harder on the accelerator as he instinctively tried to put a safe distance between us and the car that was practically touching our bumper. I urged him to slow down. The most important thing was to stay in control and to try to blank out the craziness all around us. It didn’t matter how quickly we got there. It didn’t matter if we were pursued all the way to the airport. It did matter that we stayed alive. I’d said so many prayers over the last four months but I’d never anticipated having to beg the Lord to protect us on the A22.

At 1am on Wednesday, 27 February 2008, Gerry and I were woken suddenly from our sleep. The room appeared to be shaking and a photograph of Madeleine toppled over on my chest of drawers. We were terrified. Our immediate thought was that somebody was trying to kill us. Maybe a bomb had gone off, or perhaps a gang was trying to break into our house. Gerry got out of bed and went to check on Sean and Amelie before having a good look around, inside and out. I prayed for our safety.

We asked all those who wished to remember Madeleine, and missing children everywhere, to light a candle and say a prayer at 9.15pm.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, wrote a special prayer for Madeleine and urged everyone to redouble their efforts to pray for her safe return.
 
:bad: Sean and Amelie have been a huge source of comfort to me. I have no idea how I could carry on if they weren’t here. How parents who have lost an only child continue, I do not know. Seany is a big soft ‘Mummy’s boy’ which is nice. He is very gentle and generally just lovely. Amelie is a real character but so sensitive and ‘in tune’ . . . She often says how much she likes you, Madeleine,‘my sister’, and what she’s going to give you of hers when you’re back. I heard her saying a prayer for you today, too.

:bad: From children we’ve had prayers they’ve composed themselves or pictures they’ve drawn for Madeleine.

And yet there have been so many people like this, supporters who print and distribute posters, organize cake sales to raise money for the fund, produce handmade books full of lovely messages and prayers and send the most thoughtful gifts for Madeleine.

 I do not blame God for Madeleine’s abduction. The abductor is responsible for that. What I do wrestle with, though, is the inexplicable fact that despite so many prayers, almost total global awareness and a vast amount of hard work, we still do not have an answer. My aunt quotes a saying: ‘Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you,’ and I truly believe this is what we’ve done.

I’ve never in my life prayed for anything or anyone so much, or in so many different ways. Thousands of other people, maybe millions, have prayed.

There is one thing of which I am confident: I believe wherever Madeleine is, God is with her. And during my calmer moments, I also believe that in God’s time, we’ll get there. A couple of years ago I was saying a prayer for Madeleine with the twins and remarked that it had been a long time since we’d seen her. ‘No, Mummy,’ said Amelie. ‘It’s just a teeny-weeny time.’ She was right, of course: a few years is a drop in the ocean compared to a lifetime.
Gerry has certainly struggled over the last year with his faith. While he still believes in God, he is no longer convinced of the power of prayer. In his words, ‘If prayer worked, we would’ve had Madeleine back a long time ago.’ He’s also mentioned to me, on more than one occasion, that nowhere in Christ’s teachings does it say you’ll reap your reward on this earth. Gerry has always believed that everyone possesses God-given talents which we should use to the best of our ability, he recognizes the benefits of the church community and he continues to insist that something good has to come out of this whole experience.

Writing this book has been emotional and exhausting. I hope and pray it helps us to find Madeleine and to uncover the truth.

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An emoji for every occasion! But you missed this one

...and this one 

And this one... 

Kate and Gerry McCann pray for Madeleine as services are held in Britain.

All the talk about praying , ringing friends / family at home to ask them to pray . Ringing Father Paul Seddon , yet No mention of Father David Heal who allegedly turned up at the apartment in the early hours to comfort a sobbing Kate . 

If this was at the Paynes apartment , weren't they supposedly " non functioning " Gerry having a nap and Kate " keeping vigil " until they went out to " resume their search " ? 

So where's the thanks to Father Heal for turning up to offy his support and comfort ? 

He appears to have been " wooshed " from the story !

Well, as this 'story' was published by First Magazine, the same publication that sold the story of the Boyd family and their little son playing with Madeleine, I'd be inclined to take it with a Siberian salt mine..

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Ladyinred wrote:Kate doesn't understand the purpose of prayer.  It's not about magically making things happen.

As an ex-Christian, I can say I was told that is BLASPHEMOUS to think you can get God to change his mind.

And when you think about it, it is.

Gerald's Revelation Moment

One night early in the week – I think it was that Tuesday evening – while we were praying privately at Nossa Senhora da Luz, Gerry had an extraordinary spiritual experience. He suddenly became aware of a long tunnel with light at the far end of it. He felt himself enter the tunnel and, as he went deeper and deeper inside, it became wider and wider and brighter and brighter. He had never known anything like this before and he immediately interpreted it as a sign urging us to do absolutely everything within our power to find Madeleine ourselves. From that moment he was convinced that we did not have to sit back passively, issuing statements and waiting for others to bring her home. We needed to take the initiative. Straight away he shared this revelation with me and tried to explain what it meant to him. We had to start right now to mobilize all the resources available to us.

His ‘vision’ – I don’t know what else to call it – in that beautiful little church had a huge impact on Gerry. It was this experience that laid the foundations of our organized campaign to find our daughter.

The Vatican

Amid an almost carnival atmosphere sat Gerry and I, at the front, vulnerable and sombre. For an hour and a half following the Pope’s arrival there were addresses in different languages, prayers, singing and blessings.

Gerry’s intolerance of heat and his building apprehension edged him to the brink of fainting. Thankfully he just managed to hang on.

It was shortly after midday by the time Pope Benedict started to move along the Prima Fila to greet people. He was much smaller than I’d imagined, a quiet and gentle man. I could feel my heart pounding. This was the moment. Madeleine’s moment.

The festival going on around me suddenly receded, the sights and sounds fading away, and I was aware of nothing and nobody but myself, Gerry, Madeleine and the Pope. He seemed about to turn back when one of his aides directed him to us. His eyes widened and it was evident that he knew who we were and recognized our sorrow. It was a brief but intense encounter. I said what I had planned and needed to say. Nothing earth-shattering: I simply thanked him for allowing us to be there and asked him to pray for Madeleine’s safe return. He held our hands and assured us that he would keep Madeleine, our families and ourselves in his prayers. I gave him a photograph of her. I’d intended him to keep it but instead he placed his palm softly over it and blessed Madeleine before handing it back to us. In a minute, perhaps less, it was all over and yet we felt we’d accomplished something enormous for Madeleine.

Verdi wrote:Gerald's Revelation Moment

One night early in the week – I think it was that Tuesday evening – while we were praying privately at Nossa Senhora da Luz, Gerry had an extraordinary spiritual experience. He suddenly became aware of a long tunnel with light at the far end of it. He felt himself enter the tunnel and, as he went deeper and deeper inside, it became wider and wider and brighter and brighter. He had never known anything like this before and he immediately interpreted it as a sign urging us to do absolutely everything within our power to find Madeleine ourselves. From that moment he was convinced that we did not have to sit back passively, issuing statements and waiting for others to bring her home. We needed to take the initiative. Straight away he shared this revelation with me and tried to explain what it meant to him. We had to start right now to mobilize all the resources available to us.

His ‘vision’ – I don’t know what else to call it – in that beautiful little church had a huge impact on Gerry. It was this experience that laid the foundations of our organized campaign to find our daughter.

Hilarious   
Had they both been taking illegal substances?

"I think it was that Tuesday evening"?  But what about her extremely detailed and accurate diary?

Verdi wrote:Well, as this 'story' was published by First Magazine, the same publication that sold the story of the Boyd family and their little son playing with Madeleine, I'd be inclined to take it with a Siberian salt mine..

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So Kate throwing herself into the priests arms and Maddie whizzing down the invisible water slide , both originate from that bottomless Siberian salt mine , which also contains the jemmied shutters , slamming door and wooshing curtains ! 

Probably the 6 dead bodies that left cadaver odour on Kates pants as well .

If this was promoted as a fairy story it would be turned down by the publisher ! 

Oh no wait , they published Kate's version of the truth didn't they , the longest confession in history . Exhibit One m'lud !

Ladyinred wrote:

Verdi wrote:Gerald's Revelation Moment

One night early in the week – I think it was that Tuesday evening – while we were praying privately at Nossa Senhora da Luz, Gerry had an extraordinary spiritual experience. He suddenly became aware of a long tunnel with light at the far end of it. He felt himself enter the tunnel and, as he went deeper and deeper inside, it became wider and wider and brighter and brighter. He had never known anything like this before and he immediately interpreted it as a sign urging us to do absolutely everything within our power to find Madeleine ourselves. From that moment he was convinced that we did not have to sit back passively, issuing statements and waiting for others to bring her home. We needed to take the initiative. Straight away he shared this revelation with me and tried to explain what it meant to him. We had to start right now to mobilize all the resources available to us.

His ‘vision’ – I don’t know what else to call it – in that beautiful little church had a huge impact on Gerry. It was this experience that laid the foundations of our organized campaign to find our daughter.

Hilarious   
Had they both been taking illegal substances?

Many a true word spoken in jest !  Certainly wasn't a message from god or any of his appendages .

sandancer wrote:Probably the 6 dead bodies that left cadaver odour on Kates pants as well .

Wanna rock with a mock-up of Kate McCann's Tesco Home 'n Wear fashionable chic knee skimming harlequin pants?

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Exclusive availability from the Find Madeleine Campaign online shop for only £99,99 + VAT and p&p.  Beware of cheap cadaverous imitations, according to a source close to the family, the Daily Tablet, for some unknown reason,they attract dogs with an appetite for sea bass.

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Too much monkey business for my liking.

Amongst the many people the McCanns wanted interviewed/re-interviewed by rogatory, one was Father Paul Seddon who Kate McCann was anxious to talk to on the night of 3rd/4th May 2007.  This is it, for it is he..

Witness statement of Paul Seddon - 16th April 2008


I am the person referred to above and I am a Priest of the Roman Catholic Church, a position that I have held for more than 20 years. During the past 18 months I have exercised my functions as a priest in three parishes in the Manchester area and previously I spent sixteen years as a priest in Liverpool. I have known Kate and Gerry McCann for over 10 years. I met them as a couple at the wedding of my friends Mark and Linda, which I presided over at Easter 1997 in Liverpool. Kate had been invited to the ceremony as Lindas childhood friend and Gerry accompanied her. I remember that after the ceremony I got to know Kate and Gerry seriously for the first time, although I had perhaps already met Kate for short moments on previous occasions as Lindas friend. During the reception I particularly remember Gerry because of the fact that he was wearing a kilt, which gave him an extrovert air and meant that he did not go unnoticed. I also discovered that we shared an enthusiastic interest for golf and we spent a lot of time talking about this. Since then, Kate, Gerry and I became good friends and they continue to be part of the social circle today.

In 1998 I carried out Kate and Gerrys wedding ceremony, again in Liverpool. At that time I already knew Kate and Gerry quite well and had played many golf matches with Gerry. I remember that they gave me a set of golf clubs from St Andrews as a present for carrying out the ceremony. I also baptised their first child, Madeleine, but more than being a priest, I consider myself above all to be their friend.

During the last ten years our friendship has been constant and i have always kept in regular contact wherever they have been. I travelled to Amsterdam to visit them when Gerry was working there, and we see each other at least three or four times a year. I have spent other holiday periods with them including one occasion in Stratford upon Avon after the birth of the twins. During the time they were in Amsterdam I was very ill and was forced to spend six or seven weeks without working. Kate and Gerry gave me much support and phoned me regularly. I ended up becoming a very good friend of the whole family.

The first time I heard of Madeleines disappearance was in the early morning of Friday 4th May 2007.
I received a phone call from Linda who told me what had happened, and I immediately sent a text message to Kates mobile, telling her that my prayers were with them. I received a reply almost immediately and I remember Kate wrote that she felt as if the ?world was about to fall apart?.

At about 1.30 that morning Kate called me in a state of great agitation. I tried to calm her as well as I could saying that Madeleine could have had a bout of sleepwalking and that she would be all right. I remember that Kate was worried by the fact that Madeleine was wearing short sleeved pyjamas and that she could catch a cold. I felt that only a mother could think like that and say such a thing. I could perceive the trauma that Kate was experiencing from her voice. I led with prayers and other situations in my role as priest.

Gerry phoned me on the same night and he also seemed to me to be quite traumatised and at the same time very upset and angry. His Scottish accent, which was normally very slight, became so heavy that his sentences were almost incomprehensible. I spoke to them again the following morning and their state was practically the same. Gerry was worried by the fact that the Portuguese police were focussed upon him and Kate, but I tried to reassure him that that would be a normal procedure and that they were only trying to find out the maximum information possible about Madeleine. I think that Gerry already had a notion of this but felt frustrated. I asked them whether they had any kind of emotional support and they replied that Mark Warner had provided them with a professional counsellor. Later I travelled to Portugal with the aim of offering all my positive support. I arrived on the day of Madeleines birthday, the 12th May 2007 and travelled with a mutual friend, Linda. Once I arrived, it was easy to note that they only needed having their family and friends close. I knew that there was not much that i could do for them, but just the fact of contributing to an occasional smile already seemed to be a big help. I stayed for a week on that occasion, but returned to Portugal for another week in August 2007, again to lend all possible support.

During my stay I helped conduct religious services in the Catholic Church as well as in the Anglican church in Praia da Luz.

When I returned to the UK I tried to leave it to Kate and Gerry to phone in order not to appear too interfering, given that I knew both of them to be very busy. Every time we spoke, they always asked me to pray for Madeleine. I always did this and on one occasion I organised a vigil in Formby that was attended by hundreds of people. From the beginning when Kate and Gerry told me that ?Madeleine had been taken?, however I always had hope that the child could have left (the apartment) alone as she was a very adventurous girl.

On the occasions that I saw and talked to Kate and Gerry since this happened, they reacted with stress and trauma given that what happened to them does not make sense to them and they wish to have Madeleine back instead of all the publicity and press. I have had some difficulties in carrying out my daily tasks because it seems surreal to me that life continues normally while Kate and Gerry are going through this situation.

They are both very different. Kate is a reserved person and finds all this exposure and speaking in public very difficult. I think that she has been extraordinary, mainly in doing things like speaking to the European Parliament recently. Gerry is more extrovert and finds it easier to relate to people. My reading of all this is that both have worked very well as a team and that have been successful in the impact that the campaign to find Madeleine has had. I think that they have acted very well in order to maintain their dignity, in the face of more negative publicity and I know that their friends are very proud of them.

I would also like to emphasise that it worries me that Kate and Gerry continue to be considered as arguidos in the case. The fact that it was suggested that they might have something to do with Madeleines disappearance is implausible and in bad taste. This made some members of the press turn against them, resulting in negative publicity. They are just two normal people who want their daughter to return to be with them and are doing everything within their reach to find her. If they thought she was dead they would not continue to search for her. They continue to be focussed upon searching for and finding Madeleine and hope that she will be found.

On Wednesday, 16th April 2008 I was interviewed on DVD between 10.05 and 10.47 by DC 4064 Holliday. I am willing to confirm that my statement is truthful and in accordance with my understanding and belief and that it faithfully reflects what I witnessed. This statement was made by me and is truthful in accordance with my knowledge.


Amen!

Old Father and Muvver Hubbard


Father Haynes Hubbard and Susan Hubbard

Anglican priest at church of Nossa Senhora da Luz (Our Lady of the Light) in Praia da Luz and his wife, Susan, have become close friends and confidants of McCanns. Members of St. Vincent's Anglican Church welcomed the Rev. Haynes Hubbard on May 6th when he arrived at Faro Airport after a 20 hour journey from his native Canada with his family and pet cat. Rev Haynes Hubbard was born in Norfolk and his wife Susan speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

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The Hubbards Inc.


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Kate McCann and Susan Hubbard - December 2009


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Chez Hubbard.  Praia da Luz


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Father Hubbard laying on of hands - bless you my child.



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Songs of Praise. 

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] What a friend we have in Jesus ....