Phew - What a Week! . . .

What an exciting week I've had. I've been visiting 0ur parish school of St Anne's to hear Confessions and also a local secondary school.

This is always a very joyful experience and also quite humbling to hear the simple, honest Confessions of our children. What an inspiration they are to us.

I've been visiting the care homes in our parish and the sick and housebound who are still able to live in their homes.

I am always greatly encouraged by the time I spend with the housebound. Their faith and prayerfulness is marvellous to witness and, I know I've said it before but they really do represent a powerhouse of prayer in our parish community.

I would like to thank them for their prayers on behalf of our parish family.

Our Lady, Health of the Sick,

Pray for us.

Mass with Anointing of the Sick

This afternoon we had our annual Mass with Anointing of the Sick to which we invite our sick and housebound parishioners who are not able to get to Mass regularly.

It was lovely to see our housebound parishioners obviously enjoying being able to attend Mass in church and it was also very good to be able welcome carers and family members too.

Afterwards we all went into the parish hall to enjoy tea and cake and, very importantly, a good old natter. Here you can see what a good time we had.

Today at Mass we celebrated the Memorial of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, which was particularly appropriate for our honoured guests.

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, pray for us.

Mass with Anointing of the Sick

“If any one of you is ill, he should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up again, and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15)

This afternoon at St Ann's we celebrated a Mass with Anointing of the Sick. About 30 people attended including many from the nursing homes in the parish and other housebound parishioners who would not normally be able to attend Mass in church. The Anointing of the Sick is one of the seven Sacraments of the Church and brings strength, confidence and many times physical healing to the sick.

This is a valuable experience both for the sick and the rest of the parish. Our sick and housebound parishioners are a silent 'power house' of prayer. We all benefit from their faithful devotion even though many in the parish are unaware that these prayers are being offered on their behalf.

It is a great to joy to welcome our housebound parishioners and let them know that they are an important part of our parish community. For some this may be the only opportunity they have to come to church.


This is why we always provide tea and cakes in the hall afterwards so that we all have a chance to chat with one another and make new friends. I was pleased too to see one of our regular altar servers who came along to serve Mass.

I am very grateful to everyone who makes this possible. As in any parish, we are very blessed to have volunteers who give so much time to organising lifts and visiting people in their homes and in the local care homes.