St Stephen's Day

Altar Servers' Mass

During our Mass on the feast of St Stephen, patron Saint of Altar Servers and Deacons, two of our altar servers received their guild medals having served faithfully for six months in the guild.



CHRISTMAS NATIVITY

 

Last Sunday afternoon the Children's Liturgy Group performed their Christmas Nativity, retelling the story of the birth of Jesus before an audience of their parents and a group of other parishioners. Afterwards they were rewarded with an early Christmas present while refreshments were available in the parish room.

Year Six come to celebrate

Children of Year Six at St John Fisher School attended our Mass to celebrate the parish patron, The Immaculate Conception on Monday 9th December 2013.

Year Six with Mrs Mary Hirst (Headteacher) and their class teacher Mr Paul Gallagher

Soloists for 'Silent Night'

After Mass they gathered on the sanctuary steps to sing carols for the parishioners and join us afterwards in the parish room for refreshments before returning to school.

Parish Patronal Feast Day

Sunday 8th December

The Solemnity of the
Immaculate Conception

of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

(The Immaculate Conception by Bartolome Murillo)

 

This year our patronal feast day falls on a Sunday in Advent and so we cannot celebrate on the day itself but will celebrate on Monday 9th December with Mass at 10 am. Children from Year Six of St John Fisher Catholic Academy will be joining us to add their voices in song to our celebration.



Daleks invade the Christmas Fayre at Oadby

Taking as a theme the 50th anniversary of the first transmission of the Dr Who television programme, a small corner of our cake stall was invaded by Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarens and others, all in the shape of cup cakes and gingerbread cookies.

This is our first attempt to use our refurbished parish room for our parish Christmas Fayre and by 2.45 pm the space was thronged with people, with a good number coming and going throughout the afternoon until we closed just after 5 pm to prepare for our evening Mass.

A very enjoyable afternoon was had by all present and the organisers were well pleased with the lively social atmosphere. We look forward to future events; the next one will be the draw for our Grand Prize Draw on Sunday 8th December after our morning Mass at 10 am.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

This weekend is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, known familiarly as the Feast of Christ the King. It is also the Last Sunday of the Church's year as we prepare to start the new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent on 1st December 2013.

Here in Immaculate Conception, we have a busy weekend ahead with our Christmas Fayre on Saturday afternoon between 2.30pm and 5pm and the celebration of National Youth Sunday as well as our presentation for the Diocesan Appeal for the Sick and Retired Priests Fund.

Parish Christmas Fayre

By command of the Supreme Dalek you are ordered to attend the Christmas Fayre at Immaculate Conception Church on Saturday 23rd November 2013 between 2.30pm and 5 pm.

All Saints

(Adoration of the Lamb by van Eyck)

Friday is the Solemnity of All Saints and is a Holyday of Obligation. Holy Mass will be celebrated in Immaculate Conception Church, 54 New Street, Oadby at 10am and 7pm.

Farewell Father Bill

Father Bill Saunders, parish priest of Oadby from 1998 to 2007

 

After being taken ill, Father Bill was taken to Hospital in Nottingham, but the surgical team was unable to help him. He surprised the medical staff when he recovered consciousness and rallied on Thursday, being well enough to receive visitors and chat to them. On Friday, however his condition worsened and he died peacefully on Saturday morning 26th October.
 

Father Bill was seventy-four years old and had celebrated the golden jubilee of his priestly ordination on the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul, 29th June 2013.

HIs funeral arrangements are as follows: there will be a Vigil Reception with Mass at 7 pm on Tuesday 5th November in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Brooklyn Road, Bulwell and Requiem Mass at 11.15 am on Wednesday 6th November also in Bulwell. His mortal remains will be buried in  Highwood Cemetery.

 

May he rest in peace.

Birthday celebration

After our 10am Mass this Monday parishioners and friends gathered for tea, coffee and cakes to celebrate Paule Morris' birthday. We sheltered from the autumnal rains outside in our parish room and enjoyed our time together reminiscing and sharing stories. Later in the day, Paule's children and grandchildren gathered for their own family celebration.

 



Family Bingo Night

Last night about twenty parishioners gathered for our first Family Bingo Night to raise money towards our Building Fund and to socialise in our new parish rooms. The evening was organised by Darren Brooks who was our Caller for the night. The evening was enjoyed by all who attended with cries of 'Line' and 'House' punctuating the evening. Half the proceeds were used for prizes while the sum of £75 was raised for our Building Fund.

Oadby mourns her first parish priest

News came to us that on Wednesday morning 28th August our first parish priest and founder, Father John Francis Feeley died peacefully. He was ninety-five years old and had been a priest of the Diocese of Nottingham for fifty-eight years. He was still working as parish priest of Our Lady of Victories and St Alphonsus parish in Lutterworth until the day he died.

 

 

Many parishioners in Oadby remember Fr Feeley with great affection and gratitude and will be saddened by his death. May he rest in peace and receive the reward of his earthly labours in the heavenly kingdom.

 

His funeral arrangements are as follows: there will be a Vigil Mass in Our Lady of Victories and St Alphonsus, Lutterworth at 7pm on Thursday 12th September, and the Requiem Mass on Friday 13th September in the Church of our Lady of Victories, Market Harborough at 12 noon.

Freddie comes to visit

For the next few days I have visitors; my sister has come to stay with her puppy, an Irish red setter by the name of Freddie. Some parishioners have met him on his previous visits, but he is much bigger now. As the Romans used to say... CAVE CANEM  (beware of the dog) - but seriously he's really very friendly.

HOLYDAY OF OBLIGATION

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

THURSDAY AUGUST 15th

 

 

 

HOLY MASS TIMES

10am and 7pm

Lourdes Pilgrimage July 2013

The Oadby parish banner in Lourdes

On Monday 15th July Father Philip set off for Lourdes on the train at 6.39am, travelling via London St Pancras, to catch the 9.17am Eurostar train to Paris, Gare du Nord. Transferring by Metro to the Gare Montparnasse - Bienvenue for the 2.27pm TGV service to Lourdes. Unfortunately due to the recent flooding, the line between Pau and Lourdes is out of service so SNCF laid on coaches for the last 40km to leave us at the railway station in Lourdes at 9.20pm, just 40 minutes later than expected.

Joining the Diocesan Pilgrimage on Tuesday morning for the opening Mass at the Autel Esplanade, (still known to oldtimers like myself as the St Bernadette altar) beside the Rosary Basilica, we had our picture taken on the Basilica steps after the service.

The parish banner had been brought on one the coaches bringing young helpers from schools around the diocese, and was much admired as it was carried in procession. In the picture above with the Basilicas in the background we are just gathering to make our way to the Grotto of Massabille for our Mass on Wednesday morning, which we celebrated with the pilgrimages from Glasgow and Ampleforth.

The return journey on Saturday was accomplished in reverse order by a TGV from Pau at 11.08am, the 19.13 Eurostar from Paris and the 20.55 East Midlands Mainline service to Sheffield, stopping at Leicester at 21.02 - tired but relieved to be home safely, the parish priest got things ready for Sunday Mass.

Visiting Priest

This weekend Fr Michael Moore, parish priest of St Thomas More church in Knighton, and Fr Philip McBrien, parish priest of Immaculate Conception in Oadby, swapped churches and celebrated Masses for our neighbouring congregations. Why? you might ask. In the light of our deliberations during the 'You are Living Stones' consultation this 'pulpit swap' was proposed for the different parish communities to get to know the priests of the deanery a little better. In truth this has been discussed from time to time at deanery meetings among the clergy, but nothing really came of it until today. Under the bishop's proposals, Oadby and Knighton are to look forward to possible linkage in the future, so this might help us see what kind of issues might arise with clergy looking after more than one of our churches.

Watch this space...

Strawberry Teas

Although the weather may be less than high summer outside, we have held a strawberry tea fund-raising and social event.

This is the first major event of this kind since our parish room was refurbished. Already the effectiveness of the single large space and the new kitchen facilities are very clear. While regular parishioners have grown accustomed to the new entrance and spacious room, visitors who frequent our events only have remarked on the lovely surroundings.

In addition to the on-site sale of fresh strawberries and cream with home baked scones, we have a cake stall with a wide selection to tempt reluctant buyers. For those who wish, there is a well-stocked tombola/bottle stall and activities for the children include decorate-your-cake/biscuit, bead bracelet making, colouring-in table and Dalek racing.

First Holy Communion

Corpus et Sanguis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commonly shortened to Corpus Christi. It is the day in our calendar on which we celebrate our children's First Holy Communion. They been preparing since last September for this day by working with our Catechists and their parents month by month.

Ben, Raquel, Uzoma, Molly, Luke, Riya and Mathio with Fr John Berry, Fr Philip McBrien and Fr Justin Onouha who celebrated the First Communion Mass at 10 am today.

Forty Hours in Leicester East Deanery

On the traditional day that we used to celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we are beginning the devotion of Forty Hours. This is forty hours of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, chosen this year as a preparation for our celebration of Corpus Christi this weekend.





Here in the Leicester East Deanery were are sharing out the forty hours between our eight parishes, each taking five hours in turn on a rota. Beginning at 7am each day until 12 noon, one parish begins the rota of adoration handing over to the next parish at noon until 5pm and then a third parish takes over from 5pm until 10pm when the devotion ends for that day. Some churches are equipped with chapels that can accommodate this devotion 24 hours a day, but they are few and far between and so we have chosen to spread our adoration over three days in daylight hours. The forty hours will end at 5pm on Saturday just in time for the celebration of the Vigil Mass in most churches of the Deanery.

In Immaculate Conception our turn on the Deanery rota begins at 12 noon today as we take over from St Thomas More, Knighton Road.

Pentecost 2013

To bring the Easter season to a close the church is resplendent in red for the feast of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit. The other name of Whit Sunday refers to the white garment of the Neophytes or newly baptised who were clothed in it at the Easter Vigil when they were baptised and now put it aside after today.

Coffee Morning

After our 10 am Mass today, as it is the last Monday of the month, we had a Coffee Morning in our refurbished parish room

Planting out the runner beans

Now that the Easter Garden has been dismantled, the some children have taken home their runner bean plants that they grew. Some however have been planted out in the church garden.

LOW SUNDAY

As the Easter Octave draws to a close we celebrated on Low Sunday the Investiture of one of our altar servers into the Guild of St Stephen.

 

 

At the end of the Children's Liturgy, he received his medal after reciting the Guild Promise with the other servers present at Mass.



EASTER SUNDAY

Jesus Christ is risen, alleluia!

As we celebrated the Mass of Easter Day we were presented with the sign of the empty tomb

Our children's liturgy group added brightly coloured flowers to complete their Easter Garden during the Mass and spoke about their Liturgy to a packed congregation at the 10am Mass

 

 

HOLY SATURDAY

All preparations ready for the Easter Vigil

 

The Sacred Drama begins with a fire...

 

... the congregation waits in the darkness ...

 

... the mystery unfolds ...

 

The Paschal Candle is  now ready for us to proceed

into the church for the rest of the Vigil

Good Friday

Good Friday began with our Children's Liturgy Group

 

praying the Station of the Cross in the morning,

while in the afternoon more than a hundred people

attended the Solemn Passion service

at three o'clock, the time when the Gospels relate

'about the ninth hour' Jesus died on the Cross.

In the evening three young people of the parish

led a smaller congregation in
the Stations of the Cross

from the Lourdes Pilgrimage handbook

The Mass of the Lord's Supper

THE MANDATUM

Preparations were made for this evening's solemn liturgy.

Twelve chairs were put at the front of the sanctuary

for the twelve people taking part in the Mandatum

or the Washing of the Feet, part of the story
of the Last Supper that we read in St John's Gospel

Our newly refurbished parish room was transformed

into the Altar of Repose.

At the end of the liturgy the Blessed Sacrament

was carried in procession and placed in the

tabernacle on the altar above.

Parishioners remained in prayer until ten o'clock

remembering the Agony in the Garden,

the time Jesus spent in prayer in the Garden of

Gethsemene before his arrest.



The Mass of Chrism

Today priests, deacons, religious and lay people from around the DIocese of Nottingham gathered in the Cathedral Church of St Barnabas for the Mass of Chrism celebrated by Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP.

During the Mass the Oils were blessed and consecrated for Sacramental use in the coming year. The Oil of the Sick, also called Infirmorum, and the Oil of Catechumens were blessed and the Oil of Chrism was consecrated.

After the Mass the clergy filled their oil stocks from the large vessels used during the ceremony and brought them back to their parishes for safe keeping.

Palm Sunday

It may be snowing outside...

...but that doesn't stop our Palm Sunday procession

getting ready for their place in the procession,

palm branches at the ready.

Afterwards the children's liturgy group meet

in the Parish Room