Parish Groups

Parish Groups and Organisations

These pages are intended to give information on some of the many groups and organisations that make up and enrich parish life for Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick’s

If you are interested in any of the groups or (even better!!) wish to lend your help and support, please contact the persons indicated.

Baptisms

The Baptism preparation meetings are held in the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Hall for those parents wishing for their children to be baptised. They will probably consist of a presentation by Father Graham plus some video information. This will then be followed up by individual visits to the parents at home. We hope to make that the second Sunday of the month (where possible) the day for Baptisms.

To find out more about Baptism please visit our Baptism page.

Children’s Liturgy

Happily, we have a regular attendance of children every Sunday at the Children’s Liturgy of the Word; generally 30-36 in number in the Parish Hall at Our Lady of Lourdes. There is no “Children’s Liturgy” during the school holidays – only in term time.

Our concern is that the age range is younger than it was. Ours is probably 2 and a half to 6 years – a few keen 6 to 7 year olds. Therefore we need more helpers to volunteer – once a month or less. All people working with children will be CRB checked through the diocese in the coming year – this has become a diocesan law. As always has been, the group is problem free.

First Holy Communion

We follow the “I belong” programme and Father Graham visits the children regularly. There are 4 meetings that parents are required to attend.

The children take their First Confession during the 1st week of Lent and First Holy Communion during the month of June. The children are split into 3 groups for their First Holy Communion day as it was felt the smaller number is more manageable and the parish would have the opportunity to share the children’s “big day”.

Confirmation Classes

If you are interested in taking confirmation, please write to Father Graham directly asking to join the course, give details of your baptism, and stating your own reasons as to why you wish to be confirmed. .

To find out more about Confirmation please visit our Confirmation page.

Come and See

The “Come and See” has had another fruitful year. 7 people, 3 men and 4 women, were received into the Church at Easter 2006 and two who joined later will be reveived before the end of this year.

This year’s group have been outstanding in their commitment to the weekly sessions and to Sunday Mass. With great fervour they entered into the Lenten Liturgies which helped them realise the importance of the commitment they were soon to make. Most of them participated in the Chrism Mass at Arundel Cathedral when the oils of the Sacraments were consecrated. They had a very prayerful day of preparation at St. Martha’s Convent prior to the great event at Easter. With great faith and reverence they entered fully into the Easter Triduum – each day’s Liturgy having a profound effect on them. When they met together after Easter to share their experiences, one could see and hear how each one of them had been graced by God.

Una McLaughlin continues to co-ordinate the programme with the help of a very supportive team.

To find out more about becoming a Catholic please visit our Becoming a Catholic page.

Taste and See that the Lord is Good

This a new monthly prayer group meeting at the beginning of each month at St. Martha’s Convent – 7.45-9pm . Everyone is welcome especially those ‘new’ Catholics received into the Church wishing to continue their Christian formation.
Please visit our Parish Calendar page for specific dates.

Welcomers

Our Lady of Lourdes

The welcomers provide a good service by being present before all Sunday Masses, at the entrance to the church, to welcome the parishioners, presenting them with a newsletter and a hymn book. They operate in pairs at each Mass, but they hope to meet together as a group in the near future in order to consider how they might operate more efficiently, especially on other occasions e.g. baptisms and funerals.

Organising a special welcome evening for newcomers to the parish from time to time is another activity that the group hopes to be involved in. At present there are 4 people who have volunteered for this service. There is still room for additional volunteers to help in this work.

Alter Servers

We have a need for more girls and boys who have made their First Holy Communion to become alter servers at every Mass in both churches.

Extra-Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

Many thanks to all the Extra-Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion who have assisted in the distribution of Holy Communion at Mass and taken Holy Communion to the sick and housebound over the last year.

At Our Lady of Lourdes Church, there are currently 21 Extra-Ordinary Ministers who assist in the distribution of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Mass; 12 of these usually attend the 6.30 pm Mass (assisting every four weeks, or more often to cover for holidays etc), and 9 ministers usually attend the 10.30 am Mass (assisting every three weeks or more often).

At St Patrick’s the ministers have an effective “ad hoc” system (instead of a pre-planned rota), which works well.

Choir and Musicians

Our Lady of Lourdes Choir

The main aim of the Choir is to encourage the congregation to praise God in song as together we celebrate the Eucharist. The hymns chosen each week relate as far as possible to the Scripture readings of the day. The Masses are sung frequently so that all should be familiar with them.
Members of the Choir who are available sing at weddings and funerals. Let us know if you have special requests for anniversaries etc.

St. Patrick’s

Music is provided by Usa Rosier, Theresa Ford, Fiona Chambers, Maureen James, George Randall and Mike Heywood

Our Lady of Lourdes Music Group

Our Lady of Lourdes Music Group is open to everyone of all ages from the parish who can sing or play a musical instrument. It’s aim is to help all the people present to participate in the liturgy and to help the liturgy to be celebrated as intended. The hymns and mass settings (hopefully) reflect the theme of the readings of the Sunday mass.

OLOL Music Group leads the Music at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on the first Sunday of the month, in addition to some occasions when the music has been successfully shared with the Church choir during Holy Week services and First Communion Masses.

If you can sing or play a musical instrument (at any level) you are very welcome to get in contact.

Readers’ Rota

This is the first year that the new Reading Rota has been initiated. (Instructions were given to readers with the new rota). The change to two readers from one per Mass was not popular at first. This was due to the fact that readers would read more times per year and be committed to attending a particular Mass.
Gradually the readers became accustomed to the change and settled into the new system. The new system has caused problems at special times of the year, for example, Easter and Christmas. It was difficult encouraging readers to commit in advance to attend and read at a particular Mass.

It has been difficult to encourage new readers. Although Father Graham made a request for more readers a while ago, to date no one has approached Father or myself. The reasons given for not wanting to read were: “I would get too nervous”, “I’m no good at reading” or “I couldn’t possibly stand up in front of all those people and read aloud”. We need to inform parishioners that if they volunteer to read and were unsure of themselves, help would be available to them if required. Some people just need to be given the confidence to volunteer to read. It also needs to be pointed out that it is an honour to read God’s word.

Flower Arrangements

The Churches are supported by a very loyal group of parishioners, but more help is always welcome.

Mass Intentions

Please note that all your Intention Requests are recorded in a book in the parish office. Every effort is made to have the Mass offered on the day requested or as near as possible to that date, especially if it is the anniversary of a deceased person. Working on the basis of ‘first come, first served’, one must realise that it is not always possible to please everyone, but be assured, if an anniversary Mass is requested well in advance, the date can be reserved.

There are Mass request slips at the back of Our Lady of Lourdes church. Please give your completed slip together with a stipend either to Fr. Graham or Barbara Pierce. Whilst Fr. Graham does not personally gain from the Mass Offerings and we cannot purchase the spiritual fruits of the Mass, the stipend does unite the donor more intimately with the Holy Sacrifice. Please note that weekend mass requests cannot be guaranteed, i.e. 6.30 p.m. (Sat.) and 10.30 a.m. (Sun.), because one Mass Intention every weekend must be for ‘People of the Parish’.

The Repository