Jubilee (Holy) Year 2025

 Jubilee (Holy) Year 2025 Pilgrims of Hope’.

As the bishop announced in his letter last weekend Pope Francis will open a Holy Year for the entire Catholic Church in 2025. These special years of grace take place every 25 years and are an opportunity for spiritual renewal for the entire Catholic people. 

The theme of this Holy Year will be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. The focus of a Holy Year is the pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles SS Peter and Paul in Rome. 

This pilgrimage has special indulgences attached and is a chance to return to the sources of our faith in the early Church. However, the Holy Father wishes this to be celebrated across the Church as well. As such, he has asked that this Holy Year be opened solemnly in every Catholic cathedral in the world on 29th December this year. The Bishop will celebrate the 10.30 Mass that day in our cathedral to inaugurate the Holy Year for our diocese. The Pope has asked that this Mass be preceded by a special procession, and contain particular ceremonies to explain its significance. 

More details will follow about how the Bishop has planned to celebrate this year in our diocese.

Advent 2: Peacemarkers

2nd week of Advent: Peace 

The Bishops of England and Wales have a series of prayers and reflections for Advent.  See below the reflection on Peace.

On Sunday our children reflected on how they could become peacemakers and help to prepare the way for the Lord.

Children's liturgy focal area:
Footsteps following Jesus as peacemakers.

Reflection

Peace is not merely the absence of conflict; it is the fullness of God’s presence. The readings this week call us to make straight the paths for the Lord in our own hearts and in the world around us. Baruch envisages God’s people being led home in joy and peace, and John the Baptist invites us to clear the obstacles that prevent us from fully welcoming Christ into our lives and into our hearts.

Prayer

God of Peace, prepare our hearts this Advent. Help us to remove the barriers that prevent us from experiencing Your peace. Teach us to share Your peace with those around us, becoming instruments of Your justice and reconciliation.
Amen.

Advent is here: Happy New Year

Advent is here: Happy New Year

Today we have begun the new liturgical year, the beginning of the cycle of celebrations that allow us to relive the mystery of Jesus Christ in our worship throughout the year. 

Advent Tree:

Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. In company with the prophets we await the coming of the Messiah. We will read in a particular way the Prophet Isaiah, sometimes called the 5th gospel, because of the unique way he prophesies the coming of Jesus. 

As Christians we await the coming of Jesus into our world in three ways: 

1. His coming in the flesh, as a baby boy, in the stable at Bethlehem 

2. His coming in grace into our hearts by the word of God, by prayer and through the sacraments. We live now in the time of His coming in grace. 

3. His coming in glory at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. 

How will we spiritually prepare for the coming of Jesus, at Christmas and into our lives by His grace? There are lots of material preparations under way—but let’s not forget the heart of the season!

Today in Children's Liturgy our children thought about the theme of Hope and created Baubles with their hopes which are hanging on our Advent Tree. Next week we will be focusing on Peace.

Starting celebrations for Diocesan Centenary

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King the last Sunday of Year B.  In the Diocese of Lancaster we are also celebrating the start of a special year of celebrations the centenary of when the Diocese was created. Bishop Paul Swarbrick the 7th Bishop of Lancaster celebrated Mass at the start of this important year.  He stands in front of the Cathedra which is a seat of authority. 

Bishop Paul Swarbrick 
Standing in front of Cathedra

At the back of the Cathedral in the INSPIRE display there is a copy of the Papal Bull that established the Cathedral back in 1924. 

Papal Bull creating the Diocese of Lancaster in 1924

Admission to hospital : an important reminder

Admission to hospital : an important reminder

On admission to hospital, you will be asked a number of questions, one of which should be about what faith denomination should be included on your official records. In the often hectic and stressful process of admission this particular piece of information can sometimes be overlooked.

It is vital that, on admission, you ensure that you nominate as Roman Catholic and request that this information be included on your hospital record and passed on to the hospital chaplaincy office. This will alert the team to your presence in the hospital.

Should a patient’s condition deteriorate and become life threatening, either the patient or their next of kin should ask the ward staff to page the on-call Catholic chaplain to request a visit from a priest.

Lancaster Royal Infirmary

We pray for all those in our local hospitals and for all those who work at the hospital to care for those who are sick. 

Forty Hours Devotion

Forty Hours Devotion

This is a special time of prayer each year, and an opportunity for many blessings for our families, homes and parish. We offer this time of prayer especially as a preparation for the centenary year of the Diocese and a thanksgiving for all His gifts. This year we will hold the Forty Hours Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at the Cathedral on the following days and times:

Thursday 21st November 4pm-12 Midnight

Friday 22nd November 5am-12 Midnight

Saturday 23rd November 5am-6pm

We need people to sign up to spend time in prayer with Jesus continually during these times. If you can heed the Lord’s invitation to ‘watch one hour with Me’ please sign up on the list at the back of the Cathedral.

Giving generously

Following the widow's example: giving generously. 

On Sunday during children's liturgy we listened to the story of the people giving their offertory gifts at the temple. The rich made a big show of giving their money, but a widow came somewhat embarrassed and gave two tiny coins.  Jesus explained that she had given more, because she chose to give all she had. 

Lots of generous gifts from our children

In children's liturgy the children prepared their own coins of what they would do to follow the widow's example and give generously. While the adults gave their offering during the collection the children gave their own offertory gifts. Some said they would give time and kindness, give hats and gloves to the homeless, or give food and drink to those in need, or clothes they no longer need. 

Generous gifts