TWO PARISH INITIATIVES COMING UP

TWO PARISH INITIATIVES COMING UP

Last Year Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor published a “White Paper” “Communion and Mission” setting out future pastoral priorities for our diocese. This was in response to the earlier consultation process “Graced in the Spirit” when we together reflected upon the new circumstances in the Catholic Church – including the reduced number of priests and of people going to Sunday Mass. In the White Paper The Cardinal said

“The first priority must surely be the universal call to holiness manifested in each one of us through a life of prayer and worship. …..Our parishes should be schools of prayer in which there are opportunities for people to learn how to pray and to be supported in doing so. …..

“…our prayer must be rooted in a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Holy Eucharist. Sunday Eucharist is the special day of faith, the Day of the Risen Lord, and a crucial experience of our Catholic faith. The Eucharist, declared the Second Vatican Council, is the “source and summit” of the life and mission of the Church. This is why, day by day, Sunday by Sunday, the Mystery of Christ is celebrated. We must always seek an appreciation of the Mystery that we celebrate. We need more thorough catechesis on the meaning of the Eucharist, in order to take special care in understanding and preparing for its proper celebration.”

We will be considering various ways of putting this into action this year. To start with we are proposing two things.

1. Last November the leaders our 40 or so parish groups met, prayed and talked together about the parish, in the light of John Paul II’s letter for the third Millennium. We discerned a need to have a monthly Holy Hour to pray for the parish. We plan to have this on the first Friday of each month, from 7-8 p.m. starting next Month, on the 2nd February, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, or ‘Candlemas’. (We will probably do it all by candlelight!) At each holy hour we will be inviting three specific groups to be present and to present some specific petitions concerning their work.

2. On the front of the newsletter, over the next few weeks, we plan to have some question and answer pieces on the meaning of the various parts of the Mass.