Nottingham Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2009

First Holy Communion

The Rain didn’t dampen celebrations at Holy Trinity on Trinity Sunday (7th June) as six children received their First Holy Communion, followed by a celebration in the Walsingham Hall. After Mass, Sr. Veronica received a bouquet on behalf of the families.

The following Sunday (‘Corpus Christi’) six children from St. Norbert’s celebrated their First Holy Communion, followed by a celebration in the Community Hall. Gifts were presented to the catechists: Ruth, Judy, Mike & Megan. Mrs. Jordan & Mrs. Morris represented St. Norbert’s School.

We will soon be inviting applications for the next programme. Parents should bear in mind that the Spalding children’s meetings take place on Tuesday evenings, 5.00 to 6.00pm in our Community Hall. There will be a number of meetings specifically for parents throughout the programme. It is possible to apply for this programme online via this website, we will tell you how to do this nearer the time.

If you are hoping to celebrate your child’s First Holy Communion in Holbeach, please contact Sr. Veronica.

‘Journey of Faith’

This was the new title given to what was known as ‘RCIA’ (‘The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults’) - which we felt might be off-putting to many parishioners who perhaps were seeking an opportunity to discuss their faith within a structured framework, and perhaps deepen their knowledge of what the Catholic Church teaches.

The programme was led by Anne Darragh and Myra Goodman; Fr. Jim also led some of the sessions which spanned a eight month period and attracted attendances of up 24 participants from both Spalding and Holbeach parishes. In the course of the year we were delighted to receive seven new members into full communion with us: Bob Patterson, Teresa Martins, Roger McKue, Roger Larner, Robert Walker, Mannii Pinnick & Matthew Jones.

Bob Patterson was received into the Church at a very simple ceremony at his home in the presence of his wife, Joan and a small number of close friends. Teresa Martins, originally from Portugal, was baptised and received into the Church during our Easter Vigil celebrations. Roger McKue was baptised and received into the Church in Peterborough District Hospital on the 14th May just three days before he died; may he rest in peace. Roger Larner and Robert Walker were both received into the Church during our Vigil Mass of Pentecost in Holbeach, whilst Mannii Pinnick and Matthew Jones were welcomed into the Church during a very prayerful and lively celebration of Mass on Pentecost Sunday in Spalding, during which Mannii, who was raised in a Sikh family, was baptised ‘Zita’, but is still known to us all as ‘Mannii’!

If there is any interest, we intend to begin a new Journey of Faith Programme in September. Anyone interested is invited to contact either Fr. Jim or Anne Darragh.

Many of last year’s group have indicated that they would like to continue to meet and continue supporting each other in their faith journey, so we are devising a follow up programme, which we have called ‘Stage 2’ which will be facilitated by Richard Uglow. We will be using some of the resources offered by ‘CaFE’ (‘Catholic Faith Exploration’) the first module being ‘Knowing God Better’ - a seven week programme. This programme is open to all - you do not have taken part in the Journey of Faith programme to participate in this group. If you are interested, please contact Fr. Jim or Anne.