FLAME . . .

Last Saturday our Confirmation candidates joined over 8,000 other young Catholics at the National Youth Congress, 'Flame', at Wembley Arena. I don't think many of them had much idea about what would happen once they got there but hopefully they benefited from the experience and enjoyed a good day out too.

Here they are all are just about ready for the off with their catechists and other adults who went along to help.

One of the group agreed to tell us about his experiences of the day. Over to you Kieran . . .

FLAME 2012

On Saturday 24 March 2012 the confirmation group and leaders by invitation of Fr Míċeál attended a catholic youth gathering (known as Flame) in Wembley Arena. Flame (in short) is an event aimed at the younger generation of Catholics to come together and give thanks for our lives. The whole day was “inspirational”, however it was a day in which if you went into it with a positive attitude then you got more out of it.

For some, travelling far and wide, it was an early start, but for us, we met at the church for 9:30 - which is early enough if you ask me! After the typical group photo of cheesy smiles and we all boarded our luxury coach that Fr Míċeál had commandeered for us. I will leave out the specifics of the journey but I think that it is safe to say that with all of us teenagers at the back of the bus we were quite a rowdy bunch!

On arrival we took the obligatory commemorative photo of the group, again a few cheesy grins and off we went to the Arena. For those of who don’t know, Wembley Arena is right next to Wembley Stadium where England football games are played.

We were then allocated our tickets and went to find out seats. Inside was...........simply VAST! We had time for a quick look around and took our seats for the start. .....

We were introduced to our Hosts for the day and were given a rough outline of what to expect. We were told that the day was to be split into sections: Respect, Friendship and Excellence.

In the first part of the day we prayed, watched some live drama, interpretative dance and watched a multimedia presentation. To finish this section we had a speech by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP on the theme of Respect.

We left the Arena then for lunch break and some taking advantage of the good weather decided to ‘cool off’ in the nearby water feature!!

After lunch we gathered back in the Arena where we were given a talk by the Mizen Family (whose son had been killed in a random attack while out shopping).

We then had an International speaker talking about the value of sports in bringing peace and transforming those communities living in poverty.

Following on from this there were a variety of different speakers and acts emphasising the importance of friendship. There was then another break and on our return we had some more speakers talking about excellence.

We then had a time of prayer and adoration, with a homily from Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

Finally we had a closing celebratory concert played by a group known as “Indecisive”. This is when many people started to leave and being the friendly bunch that we are, we waved, said goodbye and wished them a safe journey home.

Heading home we talked about the day as a group, with no adult influence, and we came to the conclusion that it was a thoroughly enjoyable event, that future confirmation candidates would be very lucky to go on.

Thank-you very much Fr Míċeál

Kieran Hiscock

And here's Kieran sporting a very fetching tee-shirt, with Leo another of our group.

The Sanctuary Lamp . . .

I'm always very happy to try and answer questions raised by parishioners. One of our young parishioner posted a question about the sanctuary lamp on my last post and here is a brief explanation. I hope he or she finds it helpful, and that it might also be of interest to other readers.

In the Old Testament we read in Exodus (27: 20-21) that God commanded that a lamp filled with the purest oil of olives should always burn in the Tabernacle.

“You are to order the sons of Israel to bring you pure olive oil for the light, and to keep a flame burning there perpetually. Aaron and his sons are to set this flame in the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is before the Testimony. It must burn there before the Lord from evening to morning perpetually. This is an irrevocable ordinance for their descendants, to be kept by the sons of Israel.”

In Judaism, the sanctuary lamp is known by its Hebrew name, ner tamid (נר תמיד), which means "eternal flame or light".

It is to be found in front of the ark in every Jewish synagogue. It represents the menorah (branched candlestick) of the Temple in Jerusalem as well as the continuously burning fire on the altar of burnt offerings in front of the Temple. It also symbolizes God's eternal presence, and is therefore never extinguished.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal in the Catholic Church, states (in 316): "In accordance with traditional custom, near the tabernacle a special lamp, fuelled by oil or wax, should be kept alight to indicate and honour the presence of Christ." The sanctuary lamp is placed near the tabernacle as a sign that the Blessed Sacrament is reserved or stored there.

It is a mark of honour to remind the faithful of the presence of Christ, and is a profession of their love and affection. It signifies Christ, as this material light represents He who is the "true light that enlightens all men" (John 1:9).

It is also used by some churches of other denominations to represent the presence of God and may also be found in Eastern Orthodox Churches. Other Christian denominations burn the lamp to show that the light of Christ always burns in a sin-darkened world.

Sanctuary lamps are usually red and may be in the form of a lamp hanging near the tabernacle or, as at St Ann’s, fixed to a bracket on the wall. The red glass container holds a candle that will burn for approximately one week and is never extinguished, the new candle being lit from the used candle it replaces.

Most of this information and more detail can be found on Catholic Encyclopedia and Wikipedia.

Youth in our Parish . . .

It's a bit late to start blogging but we had such a good meeting with Ray Mooney this evening, I just thought I'd put down a few of my thoughts whilst they're still fresh in my mind.

Just a small group of young people, mainly those who have just been confirmed but also some of our new Confirmation group, came along to hear what Ray had to say about youth activities in our diocese.

It was quite cosy as we decided to move into our small meeting room rather than in the large parish hall.

We were very fortunate that Ray brought with him the special National Symbol for Youth Ministry that was blessed by Pope Benedict outside Westminster Cathedral during his recent visit.

Once that was set up and the candle lit, display boards arranged around the room, Ray showed us a very well put-together video presentation produced by last year's Lourdes Redshirts.

I don't think any of us present could fail to catch the enthusiasm of the young people in the video. It was quite inspiring and I hope that it inspired some of our young people to seriously consider applying to be a Redshirt next year.

As well as talking about the A&B pilgrimage to Lourdes in some detail, Ray also gave an overview of other youth activities such as Youth Gather, World Youth Day and the Flame Youth Congress to be held at Wembley Arena in March 2012.

You can find out all about youth activities in our diocese by checking out the special Diocesan Youth web site.

Are you going to be there? Looking forward to seeing you. Don't forget to sign the list in the porch or there might not be enough pizza!

Our newly confirmed . . . !

Congratulations to all our young people who were confirmed by Bishop Kieran at St Joseph's, Epsom a few weeks ago along with many others from our deanery.

Many thanks to Sam Carr for organising the photo which was taken outside St Ann's on Sunday.

* 'Double-click' on the photos to see an enlarged version.

A & B Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes . . .

On Thursday pilgrims from across our diocese will be making their way to Lourdes for our annual Diocesan Pilgrimage led by Bishop Kieran and accompanied by many of our clergy. Among the group will be able-bodied and sick pilgrims, doctors, nurses, blue-shirted helpers and their slightly younger counterparts the 'Red Shirts' and including a number from our own parish.

Please keep them all in your prayers at this time that they will experience God's healing love in a special way during their time of pilgrimage together.

Our Lady, Health of the Sick, pray for us.

Evangelium Conference 2010 . . .

Have you heard about the Evangelium Conference 2010?

It's a weekend for young Catholic adults (18 to 35) to be held at the Oratory School in Reading from 6th to 8th August.

It sounds like it will be a memorable weekend. Among the excellent speakers will be Fr Nicholas Schofield, Fr Thomas Crean OP, Fr Tim Finigan, Joanna Bogle and many more including the co-authors of Evangelium Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Andrew Pinsent.

In addition to the talks there will be prayer, daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. The weekend will give you the opportunity to mix with other young Catholic adults who share your faith with leisure opportunities for evening entertainment and sport.

To find out more and download a booking form follow the link here