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Latest news of interest across the Diocese of East Anglia includes a Mass for the Sick in Cromer, special feast day activities at Our Lady of Lourdes in Sawston and historical insights for Bury St Edmunds.
Over 40 sick and house-bound parishioners from Cromer, Sheringham, North Walsham and beyond attended a Mass and tea party in December, helped by members of the North Norfolk SVP Conference, reports Lorraine Henriksen.
Michael McMahon, Chairman of the North Norfolk SVP Conference, admitted to being profoundly moved by the Mass with Anointing for the Sick and Housebound held on December 18 at Our Lady of Refuge in Cromer, and felt that we were all blessed to have been able to fulfil our Vincentian calling in this way.
Fr Trindade Monteiro’s beautiful and moving Mass was followed by tea and carols in the church hall. Attendees were helped by enthusiastic volunteers from the Parish as well as the SVP members who helped with transport arrangements, seating and organisation within the Church as well as providing savouries and cakes served at the Tea Party following the Mass.
Fr Trindade said he was very impressed with the organisation and success of the event and thanked everyone for their hard work and the joy they had brought to so many who would not otherwise have been able to make it to church over the festive period.
Picture above by Mary Mustoe.
The Church History Group at St Edmunds in Bury St Edmunds previously produced an online version of ‘Years of Faith’ providing insight to the history of the parish. This has now been superseded by a Chronicle which will be an ongoing document of matters relevant to the parish including Bury St Edmunds and Lawshall.
Chair of the Group, John Saunders explained: “We have a rich history in Bury stretching back to Abbey times and Magna Carta. What has happened since then is as important: the times of the Jesuits, the contributions of our clergy and laypeople, the structure and fabric of our buildings, education and much more.
“The challenge is in bringing this together in a cohesive document and we have been able to do so in the online Chronicle which can be easily updated and will remain an ongoing record of matters relevant to our parish. We are probably one of the few parishes that has a thriving History Group and have been able to create such a meaningful account.”
The Chronicle https://www.stedmundkm.com/st-edmunds-chronicle is broken down into sections to make it easy to read, with one of its sections being capable of use as a visitors’ guide.
Our Lady of Lourdes in Sawston celebrated the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11 with some extra special activities for the children, reports Amy Harrison.
Our Children’s Mass is held twice a term and we formed a special choir called The Angels to sing Gentle Woman which is a wonderful Hail Mary song for the occasion. Children did the readings and bidding prayers and handed out Holy Water from Lourdes after Mass.
We gathered in the church hall afterwards for a Rosary Cake and refreshments.
Dominic Bell launched our Youth Lenten appeal for Mary’s Meals. Our parish has adopted Mary’s Meals this year and we have been teamed up with a school in Zambia to support.
We started with a bake sale last December which raised over £1000. Dominic had the children gather in groups to come up with fundraising ideas for Lent. It takes £19.15 to feed a child for an entire school year. And he has challenged them all to raise that amount this Lent by doing swimming, baking, dancing, skipping rope or whatever they wish.
Our Catechism classes also got into the spirit of things by learning about Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette. Confirmation classes learned about some of the wonderful miracle healings that have taken place there as well as learning more about Mary, Marian dogmas and how special she is to us.
Both First Holy Communion Classes and Confirmation classes made single decade Rosaries and Rosary boxes (pictured below). This was such a wonderful day to bring the parish together and celebrate our Queen of Heaven.
