Parish Family Events
Today was the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord and the children spent time finding out about the Sacrament of Baptism, which most of them received when they were too young to remember !! Robyn the baby doll proved the perfect baptismal candidate.
Sacrament of Reconciliation 2019
Eleven younger members of the Parish Family made their First Confession on Saturday 23rd March. Canon Michael thought them the best group ever! The children told their Catechist James, helped by Gabby and other parents, they had had a lot of fun in their preparation sessions. After receiving the Sacrament the celebrations continued in the Parish Hall with a party for children and families – as the photos show Father got lots of help when cutting the scrumptious cakes!
Christmas vigil mass for children
The mass was directed at our children, our young parishioners did the readings and the bidding prayers.
Children read the Gospel story whilst others gathered on the altar steps when their part was mentioned. We had Mary and Joseph, lots of lovely angels, shepherds and lambs—plus the kings.
Fr Michael blessed the crib and then sat on the steps to read the children a Christmas story—called ‘Room for a Little One’. We sang lots of lovely Christmas carols, it was the perfect start to Christmas.
Special mass for altar servers
On 21st September Bishop Marcus celebrated a special mass for the altar servers of the diocese. About 80 attended with their families. 3 of our servers represented our parish family. Bishop Marcus thanked the servers for their loyal service to God. It was a wonderful way to show the servers how important they are to us all.
Parish family walk 2019
First Holy Communion
Congratulations to all of our children celebrating their first holy communion on 15&16 June. Fr Michael said, ‘It has been a wonderful occasion for our whole parish family. I am hoping that many of the children will now wish to train as altar servers and many take part in the Children’s Liturgy of the Word group during the 11:00 Mass each weekend.’
Ilkley half marathon
Sunday 14 July was a great event, the weather was fine, not too hot, and our runners were cheered on throughout the route. We would like to thank all the Burley churches, families and friends for your generous support, both on the day and your donations to support Zakari and his colleagues as they strive to initiate a palliative care programme for cancer in Mali.
We raised an amazing £7,900, which will make a real difference and is what helped to inspire us during the run.
Chris, Keith, Tom, Colin, Neil, India, Richard, Mary, Lynne, David, & Laura
Celebrating Mothering Sunday
Children of the Parish Family presented all the ladies with daffodils galore. Thank you to this year’s Flower Fairy Godmother Pat for preparing all the lovely daffodils!
DAY OF REFLECTION: Caring for the Earth – Our Common Home:
The Justice & Peace Commission held its Day of Reflection on 30 March at our church. It was a day of prayer and personal reflection about our place in God’s creation and our responsibilities towards looking after our common home. We discussed some main themes in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si. We heard about
- what the parish of Our Lady of Kirkstall has achieved in their Live Simply actions
- a person from an indigenous community talking about opposition to mining
- Greta Thunberg’s address to COP24 in Katowice about political action
We finished with discussions about personal and parish actions that we can do, committing these to paper in the shape of a leaf for our future use.
Sacrament of Confirmation 2019
On 28th February 2019 26 year 6 & year 7 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Canon Michael. Our Catechists Rachel and Liz thoroughly enjoyed the preparation sessions. It was wonderful to hear Saint John Paul being chosen as her Confirmation name by one of the students. Laughter was the keynote of each session as it was at the gathering in the parish hall after the celebration of the sacrament. Both church and hall were filled to overflowing as the parish family gathered with Father Michael to share a party supper!