Peace be with you!  We have entered the season of Advent, and we now light the 2nd candle, which signifies peace. In the 2nd week for the preparation for Christmas, we are invited to reflect on peace and recognise the real and urgent need for peace within our...

Prayers on the theme of peace written by people from across our Diocese   Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with peaceful thoughts Come Holy Spirit prompt us to say sorry Come Holy Spirit open our hearts to welcome Jesus. Come Holy Spirit. Come! Come Holy Spirit...

Sunday 10th December Second Sunday of Advent Is 40:1-5, 9-11 Ps 84 2 Pt 3:8-14 Mk 1:1-8 John the Baptist has been designated as patron saint of motorways on the strength of today’s readings. For Isaiah and for John it is important that there is nothing to stand in the...

A Reflection and Prayer on the theme of HOPE by Fiona Hutchings, chaplain at St Boniface School.   I have always found November a challenging month as the days get shorter and darker and we focus on praying for those who have died and remembering especially those...

Sunday 3rd December First Sunday of Advent Is 63:16-17; 64:1, 3-8 Ps79 1Cor 1:3-9 Mk 13:33-37 The origin of the word human comes through Latin from the word for earth or soil. So when Isaiah says: “You are the potter, we are the clay” he is being accurate as well as...

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Our Church across the world is excitedly making preparations for the 2025 year of Jubilee. It will be year of great celebrations! Pope Francis, in order to help us to get ready and be spiritually prepared has decreed that we should begin with “A Year of Prayer”...

Advent: Looking forward in hope by Monsignor Robert Draper Advent this year arrives at the beginning of December. For most of us that is the gloomy time of the year, but the anticipation of celebrating Christmas invites us to look forward to a time of celebration –...

A silence worthy of the Name The poppy, small and stark, shines out from every place. As if a shard of broken dreams and promises. A crimson tear of blood which marks this moment's chance. 'Let this time be the healing of the damaged world.' Is human violence echoed...

In light of the ongoing conflict in The Holy Land, and encouraged by our Diocesan Administrator Canon Paul Cummins and Catholic Aid agencies such as CAFOD, parishes across our Diocese have been praying for peace, donating to humanitarian aid appeals, and writing to...

I expect there will be many gathered at your local war memorial on Remembrance Sunday, as I have gathered there many times, and I will wear my poppy as so many of us will, to remember those who have died in war. It is a tradition cherished in this country, and one for...

In recent weeks and in light of the war and conflict unfolding in the Middle East, many parishes across our vast Diocese have organised prayer services, including participating in fasting and prayer for peace on the designated day by Pope Francis. Below is an...