Easter Garden 2012

Over the past few weeks, the members of our Children's Liturgy at 10am Mass have been preparing our Easter Garden. They began by growing bean seeds in jam jars and today they added white primulas at the Mass of Easter day.

The Easter Garden is an ancient tradition and people invested great amounts of time, effort and simple materials to build these gardens to make a visual representation of the empty tomb of Christ. Here we can see the three empty crosses and the open door of the tomb with the stone rolled away. Inside you can just see the white burial cloths lying on the floor of the tomb.

But Christ himself in not here; he is risen from the dead and goes before his disciples to Galilee just as he foretold.

Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or pancake day, a time when people cleared out the kitchen and prepared for the period of 'doing without' in Lent. The night before they used up milk, eggs and flour to make pancakes as a celebration meal before the self-denial of Lent.
The forty days of Lent are modeled on Jesus' own forty days of fasting in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry of preaching the Gospel. His followers to this day take this time to prepare for the events of Holy Week and Easter by spending the Season of Lent reflecting on the conduct of their lives and how, with the grace of God, they could better live out the call to holiness in the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The period of Lent is also when adults who are preparing for Baptism at Easter, make a final spiritual preparation before accepting new life through the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments they will receive at the Easter Vigil. By participating in the Lenten Season, the whole community makes this journey with the Candidates, supporting them with prayer and good example.
On Ash Wednesday, at Mass or at prayer services, we mark our foreheads with Blessed Ash in the shape of a cross to remind us at the beginning of this journey, how our Saviour calls upon us all to pick up our cross and follow him daily.

The 2012 Confirmation Group

The 2012 Confirmation group had their first gathering and have decided to utilise the use of our Blog. Here is where they will post questions (in the comments below) and hope that other parishioners and the wider church will offer guidance, opinions and advice. Please join & get involved.

St Stephen's Day

Monday 26th December 2011
St Stephen's Day

At 10am Mass today two altar servers received their Guild Medals upon enrolment into the Guild of St Stephen for Altar Servers. All servers present renewed their Guild Promise during the ceremony after the Gospel reading of the Mass. Now all eight of our servers are full members of the Guild.

Golden Jubilee Celebration

Thursday 8th December 2011
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP came to celebrate Holy Mass to mark the patronal feast day of our parish and coincidentally the anniversary of the dedication of the church. The event began with Mass at 7pm with Father Philip McBrien, parish priest, Canon Colin Taylor, former parish priest, Canon Owen O'Neill of Market Harborough and Father Stephan Foster, parish priest of St Mary's South Wigston and Dean of Leicester East concelebrating. Other former parish priests; Father John Feeley, Father Adrian Chatterton and Father Bill Saunders, were unable to attend.
A congregation of about eighty parishioners gathered to hear the bishop preach about the feast day and to witness the handing over of a papal blessing to the parish. At the end of the Mass an honour board listing the parish priests since the foundation of the parish in 1961 was unveiled by the bishop.
A generous spread of refreshments had been prepared in the parish room by a group of parishioners, which was enjoyed by all.

Christmas Mass

Details for the Christmas period:

Sunday 18th 3pm Children's Nativity.
Saturday 24th (Christmas Eve) 
    - Vigil Mass at 5.30pm.
    - Carols at 11.30pm leading up to...
Sunday 25th  Midnight Mass at 12 midnight.
Sunday 25th 10am Dawn Mass.

Silver Jubilee

On Tuesday 15th November I will celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of my priestly ordination. On Saturday 15th November 1986 I was ordained priest by Bishop James J McGuinness in the church of Saint Thomas More, Knighton, just a mile or so from Immaculate Conception.

On Tuesday I will be the main celebrant at a Mass at 7 pm, giving thanks to God for the work He has done through me over the past twenty-five years. Among about twenty concelebrating priests, Monsignor Tom McGovern, Vicar General of the Diocese, will be the preacher, and as many as four deacons will be present along with parishioners, family and guests.

Please pray for me that God may grant me many more years in his service and give thanks with me for all he has done.

"Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech. Juravit Dominus et non poenitebit eum."
(You are a priest forever, of the order of Melchisedeck. The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change. Hebrews 7:17)