News

DOWN AND CONNOR DIOCESAN PILGRIMAGE TO FATIMA 2024

Spiritual Directors Fr G McCloskey, Fr M Graham, Canon S Gilmore 20 Aug 2024.

7 Nights £799 per person sharing (£100 off per person if paid in full by 8th December 2023) direct return flights from Dublin to Lisbon, afternoon flights. 20KG bags included. Return airport transfers in Fatima. 7 Nights Hotel Avenida. Full board: breakfast, lunch & dinner each day. Guided tour of the Sanctuary & Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. Optional: Travel Insurance & Single Supplement. For further information please contact: Joe Catney 07776 425 631/02890714001.

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council’s Environmental Health, Risk & Emergency Planning team are hosting a FREE Healthy Eating on a Budget event – ‘Eat Well, Spend Less’, on the evening of 23rd January 2024 with top local celebrity chef Paula McIntyre.

TIME: 18:30- 21:00
DATE: TUESDAY 23RD JANUARY 2024
LOCATION: ISLAND HALL, LISBURN & CASTLEREAGH CITY COUNCIL, CIVIC HEADQUARTERS,
LAGAN VALLEY ISLAND, LISBURN, BT27 4RL

We hope shortly to reintroduce our ‘Preparing your child for Baptism’ programme and are seeking volunteers to help with the delivery of this programme to parents and godparents of children presenting for baptism in parish. Baptism preparation is important for new parents and godparents to gain an understanding of the sacrament, the rite of Baptism and their commitment on behalf of their child at the start of their relationship with God.

If you are interested in joining in this important parish ministry please contact Parish O?ce.

TRÓCAIRE SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS: Are you a retired teacher or someone who has experience presenting to groups of school children? Do you have a passion for making this world a better place, especially for the most vulnerable?

Trócaire is looking for volunteers to support our School Talks Programme for Lent 2024 in the Down & Connor Diocese Area. If you think you have the right skills and experience and will have a few free hours during Lent then we would love to hear from you! For more information call Casey Schell on 02890 808033 or email casey.schell@trocaire.org

Family Care Adoption Services is an Adoption Agency, and a core part of our work is to place children with new adoptive families. We provide adoption services throughout all Northern Ireland and work with Health and Social Care Trusts to place single children and sibling groups for adoption. These children are aged from babyhood to approximately 5 years old. There are currently more children waiting to be adopted in Northern Ireland than families approved to adopt and there is an urgent need for new families to come forward. All sorts of people from all walks of life can be considered for adoption. If you think you could offer a child/ren a new life in a family of their own and would like an informal chat to discuss this and to find out more about adoption, email@familycareadoption.org Phone: 02890 691133. Website: www.familycareadoption.com We are waiting to hear from you!

In excess of 1,000 people have registered or have already attended one of the Pathways to the Future conversations that are being held across the Diocese during November. The conversations have been animated, rich, and fruitful, with those present sharing their hopes and dreams for their parishes and Families of parishes, their cares and concerns, as well as ideas and suggestions on how we build the Kingdom of God in Down and Connor. The Holy Spirit is moving through our parishes and our people, and there is a very real sense of excitement and optimism, and a willingness among our faithful to answer’s Christ’s call to renew and rebuild His Church for now and for the future.

On this Feast of Christ the King, as this church year draws to a close and we move into a time of waiting, expectation and preparation for the birth of Christ, our Saviour and King, let us pray for the renewal of our Church in Down and Connor and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we plan for our future. Let us pray to be guided by the Spirit in the discernment of our own personal gifts and the role that God wants us to play in sharing the Good News of the Gospel and the love of God with all we meet and journey within our lives.

“I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view.” Ezekiel 34:11

Subscription of £22 is now due for 2024. Please place payment in envelope provided and return to Parish Office. Thank you.

Lord, you are close to the broken hearted. Be with me now in my grief and loneliness. Give me the courage to face my loss and not grieve in silence. Be with me as I struggle with many difficult and painful feelings. Ease the hurt in my heart. Encircle me in your love. Stay with me, Lord, support me. Help me to know that your power is at work within me as I deal with my grief. Amen.

On Sunday, 22nd October 2023 a group of 29 men and women became the first Lay Funeral Ministers to be appointed by the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland.

Traditionally, Catholic funerals are led by clergy rather than lay people – the ceremony includes a Mass which can only be led by an ordained priest. However, with so few young men joining the priesthood over the past three decades, the Church is struggling to find the manpower to provide the service. Earlier this year, Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown warned that very soon it might “no longer be the norm” for every individual to have a Mass as part of their funeral.

He also called on lay church-goers to help the declining number of priests manage their increasingly unsustainable workloads. Several volunteers have answered the call and, at a private ceremony in north Belfast on Sunday 22nd October 2023, the 29 lay funeral ministers were offcially commissioned into their roles. Lay ministers still cannot officiate at Masses in the absence of a priest but, in a change to tradition, they will be able to lead the liturgy when a coffin arrives at a church. After a memorial ceremony, they will also lead prayers at a graveside or crematorium.

Over the past few weeks, the volunteers have received liturgical instruction as well as church training on how to help bereaved people cope with grief. The Diocese of Down and Connor is the first Catholic authority in Northern Ireland to implement the programme and it could be rolled out on a wider basis.

The Community Wellbeing website www.communitywellbeing.info, is a website full of mental health-related information and resources. Topics covered include: anxiety and stress, grief and bereavement, alcohol, drugs & gambling, money & mental health. Tel: 028 9032 8474. Email: hello@inspirewellbeing.org Website: inspirewellbeing.org