A Loving Catholic Community
This weekend we are moving from May to June. As parish priest, and with Father Michael, I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks for what we, as a parish community, have celebrated and experienced in the past month.
At the Easter Vigil we welcomed the greatest number of Catechumens and Candidates into the Catholic Church (nineteen people in all). The last stage of this process was the period between Easter and Pentecost when they continued to meet and reflect on the implications of their baptism, reception into the Church, first Communion and Confirmation. We had a final meeting just before Pentecost, when we celebrated Mass together and had a party.
Last Saturday, Pentecost Eve, Bishop Paul Hendricks conferred the sacrament of Confirmation on 16 young people. It was a very moving celebration. Next day at the 9.30 Mass, the 38 children who had received Communion for the first time the previous week celebrated a ‘Going Forth Mass’, after which they had a party in the hall and received their certificates.
A catechist is one who re-echoes faith. I want to give a special thanks to all those parishioners who gave of their time to help prepare the young people and the children for these sacraments. They are our catechists. For children and young people, their parents are the first educators in the ways of faith for their children. The catechists support the work of the parents. The adults who were in the Journey of Faith (which we refer to as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)) were accompanied by catechists who helped them on their journey to the Sacraments of Initiation. All these events show how we are enabling people to come to know and follow Jesus within a loving Catholic community.
The other big event this past month was the world première of The Canterbury Trails. This wonderful event marked our final celebration of 150 years of the building of our Church of St Thomas of Canterbury. It was an outstanding and very joyous, moving event that displayed the power of Gospel parables and stories.
My prayer this weekend is a prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer of gratitude for these celebrations and all those who made them possible. May God continue to bless and strengthen all those who, through the gift of themselves, their time and their talents, enable us to experience the joy of being a Catholic Christian and part of the parish family of St Thomas of Canterbury.
