Thought from Fr. Colm - 27th August

Sadly, Bernard Reid passed away last Monday morning after a long and brave struggle against illness. Bernard was a teacher by profession, but he was also a very committed parishioner. He was also an organist and was always more than happy to assist at Saturday evening Mass in particular if Mary Hammill or Paul Crilley, the regular organists, were unable to play. However, it was his overall obliging and friendly personality that we will all miss. He is now at peace with his brother, Fr. John, who died not so long ago. Our prayers are with Bernard’s wife Yvonne and family. We continue to emerge from the trauma of Covid and the devastating effects it has had on so many. Our confidence is still 60% that we’re back to the way we were. Much needs to be done by way of rebuilding. Yes, variants of the virus may still be with us, and may always be, but life goes on and we need to continue rebuilding. New roles, new responsibilities are now part of that rebuilding. Altar servers, readers, Eucharistic Ministers are all needed again. Children’s Liturgy in both churches need more volunteers too. We need more involvement from our growing international community. This last group is one of the very positive dimensions to our parish and contributes greatly to our growing congregations at weekends. When we gather in October to review and plan, lets hope and pray that we will then do some real soul searching on how we as a vibrant parish can become even more so.