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28 August 2026
Next Devotional Prayers
St Aidan’s High School Wishaw at 7pm Date early November 2026
100 Waverley Drive Wishaw ML2 7EW All welcome. Tea afterwards!
6 August 2026
Next Devotional Prayers
26th of August in the Glass Chapel in Carfin Grotto at 7.00pm. All welcome.
25 April 2026
Next Devotional Prayers
19th May in The Glass Chapel Carfin Grotto at 7pm All welcome
1 March 2026
Thank you to Cardinal Newman High School , Bellshill, for hosting a lovely Devotional prayer service on the 4th of March.
The next local one is on the 29th of April. In the glass Chapel in Carfin Grotto, all welcome.
3 February 2026
Next Devotional Prayers
24th of February at 7.00pm. This will be held in Taylor High School, Carfin Street , New Stevenson ML1 4JP. This was the school Joe attended. Everyone is welcome and there is tea afterwards.
27th November 2025
HISTORIC NEWS FOR SCOTLAND:
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has formally supported opening the Cause for Canonisation of Joseph Wilson, a young man from Carfin, Scotland whose diary reveals a beautiful spirituality, deep humility, and a sincere desire for holiness.
Postulator Dr Valerie Fleming has confirmed that work is now underway to present Joseph’s life to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
Carfin Grotto was a place dear to Joe in his life and is now the spiritual home for all those who have been moved by Joseph’s witness and it is there regular devotional evenings take place.
Speaking today regarding the news, Joseph’s mum has expressed gratitude for the prayers and support surrounding her son, hoping that his life and writings will inspire people to trust God in the ordinary.
Joseph Wilson — pray for us.
19 September 2025
The petition for the Cause of Sainthood for Joe Wilson has now been submitted to Bishop Toal of Motherwell Diocese.
Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
More information is available on The Joe Wilson Association FACEBOOK page.
If anyone would like Joe’s dad to come and talk to their group about Joe please contact the association at info@joesfaith.com
Prayer to Joe for private use:
God our Father
In the life of Joe Wilson
You showed us that You call the young
To persevere in prayer and virtue
He desired to make himself a nobody
To put himself and his own desires last
In order that he could serve You by helping those around him
And through Your gift of faith
He radiated hope and joy in the midst of an imperfect world
Now that he has returned home to You
We ask that You will grant the prayers we make through his intercession
(mention your needs}
May he inspire us all, but especially the young
To be joyful and humble followers of Your Way
We ask this through Christ Our Lord Amen
02 August 2025
The next devotional prayer service will be held in the GLASS CHAPEL IN CARFIN GROTTO on 27 August AT 7PM all welcome.
20 May 2025
UPDATE RE : CAUSE FOR SAINTHOOD
Dr Valerie Fleming ( the appointed postulator) is continuing her work on the petition for the ‘Cause For Sainthood’ for Joe. She is preparing the documents for Motherwell Diocese and they should be ready quite soon. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
There will also be updates about this on ‘The Joe Wilson Association’ FACEBOOK PAGE
27 March 2025
NEXT DEVOTIONAL PRAYER SERVICE
30 April 7pm in the Glass Chapel Carfin Grotto with Live Stream on The Joe Wilson Association Facebook page
10 December 2024
PRAYERS AT JOE’S GRAVE
7pm Live on 11 December
Live stream on The Joe Wilson Facebook page.….All Welcome to join in The Rosary on the eve of the date of Joe’s birthday
20 November 2024
We have been advised to now appeal for people who knew Joe, or are devoted to praying to Joe { or both } to contact us and leave us their details so that in due course they can give their testimony which will all help towards Joe’s possible cause for canonisation.
Any information given is greatly appreciated and will be strictly confidential. This is a natural and necessary part of the process. You can reach us at info@joesfaith.com and also through the Facebook page THE JOE WILSON ASSOCIATION which has a link to the forms involved.
For those that knew Joe, please use this link https://forms.office.com/r/xhfZvZfJ3W
For those that have a devotion or are praying to Joe https://forms.office.com/r/rrCwrrqtcj
Thank you for your interest in Joe’s wonderful faith and may God Bless you.
Update on the current status of Joe’s Cause October 2024
The Joe Wilson association has now been given the status of ‘Juridic Person’ by Bishop Toal of Motherwell diocese. A local postulator has started her preliminary work. This is the first step in a process which may eventually lead to Joe being considered a worthy candidate for a canonisation.
The association volunteers hold devotional prayer services in the glass chapel in Carfin Grotto. They also have a facebook page ’The Joe Wilson Association’ where you can find out what is going on. This section will be updated in due course for those who do not use social media.
Thank you for your interest in Joe’s life.
The costs of the cause are met only by the generosity of you…if you wish to donate there is a section on this website and you can also donate in person at one of our prayer services. Additionally you can purchase the official biography of Joe and candles in the shop section on this website.
Facebook Posts
A LIFE THAT STILL SPEAKS — JOE WILSON OF CARFINThere is something wonderfully ordinary about this photograph. A teenage boy brushing his teeth, giving a thumbs up to the camera. A happy, familiar moment in family life.Yet behind that smile was a young man whose heart was becoming more deeply united with God.On 10 October 2011, Joe Wilson wrote about spreading God's love through patience, perseverance, gratitude, compassion and generosity. He was just 16 years old.Ten weeks later, Joe would be gone, having died suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition, just days after his 17th birthday.But there is something deeply moving about the words he left behind. Joe was not simply writing about how a Christian ought to live. He was trying, day by day, to live that way himself.Those who knew him remember his kindness, his laughter, his warmth and the way he made people feel important. He would pray the Rosary for people he encountered, remembering their worries and bringing them before Our Lady. At Carfin Grotto, he found a place of peace where his friendship with God could grow.Joe dreamed of becoming a doctor, of spending his life helping others. He never had the opportunity to fulfil that ambition. Yet, through the diary discovered by his father after his death, Joe has continued to touch lives in ways he could scarcely have imagined.Perhaps what makes his witness so powerful is its simplicity.Joe reminds us that holiness is not reserved for extraordinary people living extraordinary lives. It can grow quietly in the heart of a schoolboy, in a family home, in an ordinary Scottish village.It is found in the kindness we offer, the people we notice, the patience we show and the prayers we whisper for someone who is struggling.Fifteen years after Joe wrote these words, they remain a challenge to every one of us.What if we really did spread God's love through our example? What if the people we met today felt a little more loved because of us?That is the beautiful legacy of Joe Wilson. A young life that ended far too soon, yet continues to point others towards the love of Christ.Learn more at joesfaith.com
“As a Christian, it is good to make yourself a ‘nobody’.”These remarkable words, written by Joe Wilson on 6th February 2011, reveal something profound about his understanding of what it means to follow Christ.Joe recognised that holiness is not found in seeking recognition, popularity or the approval of others, but in a life quietly and generously given in love.His words challenge us to look beyond ourselves. To seek out those who are forgotten, to befriend those who are excluded, and to offer comfort to those who suffer in silence.What makes Joe's reflection particularly striking is his recognition that such love can come at a personal cost. To stand beside the unpopular, to risk our reputation, to choose kindness when it might be easier to walk away — these are not always easy things to do.Yet Joe understood that this is precisely where the Gospel must be lived.There is a beautiful maturity in these words. They reveal a young man who was not content simply to admire the teachings of Christ, but who recognised the need to put them into practice, even when doing so demanded sacrifice.In a world so concerned with image, status and being noticed, Joe points us towards a different kind of greatness: the greatness of humility, selflessness and love.His words remind us that the path to holiness is often found in the ordinary encounters of daily life, in the choices we make when nobody is watching, and in our willingness to put another person before ourselves.To make ourselves small so that Christ's love might become greater.Perhaps this is the greatest challenge Joe leaves us: not simply to speak about the Gospel, but to become a living witness to it.Discover more about Joe's life and faith at joesfaith.com
Our Lady of the Most Holy RosaryFor Joe Wilson, the Rosary was not simply something to be recited. It became a way of changing his life.Joe was only fourteen when, in July 2009, he wrote that he had been thinking about saying a Rosary and trying to be as kind as possible to everyone he met. The following day he returned to his diary with a wonderfully simple conclusion: “it worked.” He felt that prayer had helped him to treat people better. That little episode tells us something important about Joe. His prayer was never meant to remain separate from ordinary life. The Rosary was leading him towards patience, kindness, humility and a greater awareness of other people.A few weeks later, his diary reveals another moment of struggle. On 27 August he admitted that he had not been praying as fervently as he wanted and felt as though he had stopped doing God’s will. The very next day there is a striking change of tone. Joe wrote: “The strength of the holy rosary is ineffable.” He had asked God for guidance and believed that guidance had come.And this was not an isolated moment. Before Pope Benedict XVI came to Scotland in 2010, Joe again turned to the Rosary, praying that the visit would go well and that it would bring conversions. His prayer had widened beyond himself to the faith of others and to the Church in Scotland. There is something particularly beautiful about discovering this in the diary of a teenager. Joe was not writing as a theologian or trying to impress anyone. He was a young man trying to become holy in ordinary life, sometimes struggling, sometimes beginning again, and discovering that the Rosary could bring him back to what mattered.On the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, perhaps Joe offers us a very simple challenge: pray the Rosary, and then allow it to change the way you live.That was what began to happen in Joe. The Rosary did not take him away from the world. It sent him back into it determined to love people better.
In one diary entry, Joe wrote:"I read about St Thérèse and her 'little way'. I would like to try to live like her when I go to the cinema tonight."It might seem like a passing line, but in that simple sentence is the whole heart of Joe’s faith. He had read about St Thérèse of Lisieux — the young Carmelite nun who taught that holiness isn't about grand gestures, but about doing small things with great love, quietly and faithfully. Joe took that to heart.Joe had travelled to Lisieux and visited her childhood home. He was amazed to see a Saint's bedroom and to learn how extraordinary her love became through the smallest acts.Joe lived her “little way” not by quoting saints or showing off his piety, but by always looking out for those on the edges — the quiet ones, the overlooked, the poor, the awkward, the lonely. In every room, he gravitated not to the centre, but to the margins. Even something as ordinary as a trip to the cinema became, for Joe, an opportunity to live out that love: who he invited, where he sat, how he treated the staff, the way he noticed someone who’d otherwise go unseen. This quote from his diary showed he lived his faith purposely, intentionally.For young men today, Joe’s life is a powerful reminder: you don’t need a platform or a pulpit to live like a saint. You need eyes to see who’s hurting, the humility to step aside, and the courage to love quietly in the ordinary of every day life. Joe lived the “little way” — and in doing so, he lived the Gospel.
We have raised over £1800 in just a few days! Imagine if each of the page's 6k followers gave just £1 each! We'd reach our goal. Help Us Prepare for Joe’s Causegofund.me/0c3ffb9ebThe Joe Wilson Association is actively preparing for the upcoming day when Joe’s Cause will be formally opened in the Diocese of Motherwell.This is an important moment in Joe’s story and in the Church’s consideration of his life and reputation for holiness. To prepare properly, the Association is working on updating materials, producing resources, coordinating preparations and planning the events surrounding the opening of the Cause.All of this involves costs, and we are asking for your support.Every donation, large or small, will make a difference. Your generosity will help us ensure that everything is properly prepared and that Joe’s Cause can be presented with the care and dignity it deserves.If Joe’s life has touched you, please consider supporting this work.Help us prepare for the opening of Joe Wilson’s Cause.Every gift brings us one step closer.
The world is slowly learning about Joe and love his story!
£1,000 raised for Joe’s Cause.gofund.me/e68ddb7d4We are deeply grateful to everyone who has donated online, shared the appeal and kept this intention in their prayers.This first £1,000 is more than a financial milestone. It is a real sign of public support for the effort to open the Cause of Joe Wilson of Carfin and to make his remarkable life and faith more widely known.There is still much work ahead, but this is a tremendously encouraging beginning.Thank you for believing in Joe’s story. Please continue to share it.
Cause Progress
27th November 2025
HISTORIC NEWS FOR SCOTLAND:
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has formally supported opening the Cause for Canonisation of Joseph Wilson, a young man from Carfin, Scotland whose diary reveals a beautiful spirituality, deep humility, and a sincere desire for holiness.
Postulator Dr Valerie Fleming has confirmed that work is now underway to present Joseph’s life to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
Carfin Grotto was a place dear to Joe in his life and is now the spiritual home for all those who have been moved by Joseph’s witness and it is there regular devotional evenings take place.
Speaking today regarding the news, Joseph’s mum has expressed gratitude for the prayers and support surrounding her son, hoping that his life and writings will inspire people to trust God in the ordinary.
Joseph Wilson — pray for us.