November 2006
Dear Parishioners of St Anne’s,
It is very important that the people of the Diocese should be informed twice yearly of the progress of our Diocesan appeal ‘Planning for the Future’ for it is the people of the Diocese who have ensured the success of the Appeal. (more…)
When we receive Communion, it is Christ himself that we receive, and it is important that we prepare ourselves for so holy a moment. What matters most, however, is our inward preparation, allowing our hearts, minds and lives to be purified, renewed and opened to the presence of Christ.
(Extract from: ‘Why go to Mass’ by Bishop Michael Evans.) (more…)
Coming to Mass is one of the most important ways in which we bear witness to Christ before the world. Simply by being there together at the Eucharist, professing and celebrating our faith, we stand up for what we believe. (Extract from: ‘Why go to Mass?‘ by Bishop Michael Evans) (more…)
Dear People of St Anne’s,
I want to thank you for the welcome you extended to me and my parents last weekend. It was a wonderful few days for me and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. It was different being back in St Anne’s and not having to work!
Thank you for the social evening on Friday night and for your very generous gift. It was great to meet so many of you and thank you for your kind words and thoughtfulness. I have very fond memories of my time with you and am all the better for having spent 5 years in Belfast.
It was good to visit St Anne’s School on Friday and meet some pupils and staff, I thank them for their welcome and presentations.
St Anne’s is a wonderful parish and I am missing being part of its energy and motivation. In the words of St Paul to the Philippians, “I thank my God whenever I think of you; and every time I pray for you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News” (1:3-4) You have helped me in so many ways, thank you.
I am settling into my new parish and trying to get to know new people. Since returning, I have been able to visit my family, without having to take a ‘5-6′ hour drive. That has been good.
Keep me in your prayers as I do you. While I have now returned to my home diocese, I do hope to visit you from time to time, and you will be most welcome in Youghal. Thank the young people who presented me with a ‘tent’ for visitors.
Wishing you health and happiness in the Lord.
Patrick Winkle, Parochial House, Upper Strand, Youghal,
Co Cork.
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked anything. (more…)
If Christianity, as so often and so rightly has been said, is not primarily a doctrine but a person, Jesus Christ, it follows that the proclamation of this person and of one’s relationship with him is the most important thing, the beginning of all true evangelization and the very condition for making such a thing possible. (more…)
The Church has a compelling vision of the family as both the basic human community and the basic Christian community. This means that the family is a kind of revelation or manifestation of what “church” is all about. Vatican II said that the Eucharist is the primary realisation of all that the church is. In parallel fashion the family encapsulates what faith community is all about.
In so many communities which today are secularized the first urgency for believers in Christ is, precisely, to renew the faith of adults so that they will be able to communicate it to new generations.
The family is a living organism, where a mutual exchange of gifts takes place. What is important is that the Word of God, which keeps the flame of faith alive, never be lacking. A particularly significant gesture, during the Rite of Baptism is when the celebrant says as he gives a lighted candle to parents and Godparents:
“To you, parents and godparents, is entrusted the task of guarding this light so that this child, illuminated by Christ, may always live as a child of the light.”
The whole meaning of the transmission of the faith in the family must be preceded and accompanied by the parents’ commitment to further their own knowledge of the faith, rekindling the flame with prayer and the assiduous practice of the Sacrament of Confession and the Eucharist.
Pope Benedict XVI
Faith is in your head, it is in your heart, it is in your hands. In your head, it is your understanding of existence, centered on Christ’s death and resurrection. In your heart it is your relationship to Jesus, how you trust in him and are captivated by him. In your hands it is what you do, helping to bring about God’s kingdom.
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