Holy Communions - Week 2 - And a special visitor . . .

We had another beautiful First Holy Communion celebration this Sunday. As you can see our children look wonderful and very happy which is exactly as it should be. Thanks once again to our parents, catechists and school.

We were also delighted to welcome a special visitor to our Mass. His Grace Johanna Peterus Mouchi, Archbishop of the Diocese of Mosul in Iraq, is a cousin of one of our First Holy Communion children. Doesn't he look splendid in his cope and mitre?

As last week, you will find a few more photos of the day on our parish Facebook page.

More celebrations . . .

Ingredients for a successful parish celebration:

Something to celebrate - The 75th Anniversary of our parish

The presence of a daughter of one of the founding families of the parish

A Bishop - Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Bishop Kieran Conry,

pictured here with Barbara Flaxman

A church full of smiling parishioners

A choir in splendid voice

A groaning table full of tasty food

A well-stocked bar

A delicious cake

Plenty of helping hands

Put them all together and you have the perfect fool-proof recipe for our parish celebration today.

And just for good measure, add in a parishioner who is also celebrating a 'special birthday' today. Happy Birthday Freda!

Here are a few photos taken this morning . . .

Congratulations Marie!

Congratulations Marie! We do love something to celebrate here at St Ann's and what could be better than a 'special' birthday combined with the presentation of a well-earned Benemerenti medal?

Marie and her family have been parishioners here at St Ann's for many, many years and for quite a few of those years, amongst her other 'jobs' Marie has helped in the sacristy looking after the vestments and altar linen.

As I said after Mass on Sunday, Marie truly is one of our 'unsung heroes'. In all parishes you will find people like her; quietly working away behind the scenes and most parishioners are unaware of the debt we owe them for their tireless effort and commitment to make sure all runs smoothly in their sphere of responsibility.

It was therefore my privilege to present Marie with the Benemerenti medal on Sunday on behalf of the parish.

Marie's family had kindly arranged for a delicious birthday cake to be made and shared with Marie's parish family in the hall after Mass.

Congratulations and our warmest wishes Marie. We hope you had a super birthday.

Going Forth Mass . . .

We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day for our First Holy Communion 'Going Forth' Mass on Sunday. It was lovely to see so many of our First Holy Communion group come together again for this special celebration.

Here are a few photos taken on the day:

It's always a good idea to take a photo of the cake before it goes over to the parish hall - for obvious reasons - see below!

The cake is still intact . . .

Only just . . .

The first wedding of the year ...

Congratulations to Tanya and Shaun who were married at St Ann's today. Theirs was the first wedding of the year and it was a great joy and privilege to celebrate their marriage with them this afternoon.



We wish them every happiness in their future married life together.

St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to one and all.

Our parish celebrations began in the best way possible with celebration of the Holy Mass in honour of St Patrick. A good number of parishioners were present for Mass at St Ann's and while not quite raising the roof, it was very fitting that we opened our celebration with that well-known hymn, 'Hail, glorious St Patrick.'

After Mass many parishioners stayed behind for coffee and a chat in St Ann's Room, our meeting room above the church. It was lovely to be able to spend some time with parishioners (not all of them Irish) and chat together about life 'back home' and previous celebrations of this great feast.

Later in the day I welcomed other local clergy and religious to a celebratory lunch in the presbytery and it was very enjoyable indeed.

I hope many of you also celebrated in some way or another. It is important to celebrate the Feast Days the Church has given us and remember the great number of Saints who have done so much in spreading the faith and who set us such a good example of how to live the Christian life.

Yet more celebrations in the parish ...

What a joyful time we're having in the parish at the moment. Congratulations to Elsa and David who renewed their Marriage Vows on their 20th Wedding Anniversary yesterday, the Feast of the Transfiguration.

I was delighted that their son, Joshua was able to serve Mass for me too on this special day for his family.

As you can see they were joined by many family members and friends which made it extra special for everyone, I'm sure. We wish Elsa and David continued health and happiness.