Fr Loughran.JPGThis is the second edition of St Clare’s News. We have broken into a new year, 2009 and I hope and pray that it blest for you and for your families.  I was very impressed with my first Christmas and New Year here at St. Clare’s; impressed with the way people worked together to make a success of the carols by Candlelight (and the church didn’t go up in flames!). It was so lovely to have our boys and girls from St Clare’s School with us and to sing for us. And just how well behaved they were. There was a good atmosphere in the Hall afterwards for seasonal refreshments.

It was good to see the church full at the Christmas Masses and the trouble that had been gone to, to decorate the building. I was pleased by the response to the invitation to start the year right by attending Mass in New Year’s Day – all 150 of you!

The danger in this post-festive period is that we lose the momentum; there is much cold weather about and sickness and the awful credit crunch. So much to pull our spirits down; but as Christians we are called to stay close to God, to walk in his ways – not always the easiest thing to do, but certainly the best.

Coming up very shortly is the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. It always stretches from the 18th to the 25th of January, that latter date being the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. During that Octave there will be a Prayer Service in many of the Churches participating in the Fulwood & Broughton Churches Together. These Services will be signalled in the Parish Bulletin.

Later in the year (May 1st) our new Bishop, Michael Campbell will be installed as 6th Bishop of Lancaster and Bishop O’Donoghue will sail off into retirement. He will go with many plaudits from the Vatican for his series of documents Fit For Mission? Which only this month have received approbation from the Congregation for the Family.  Before the end of this month I will have been with Bishop O’Donoghue to a meeting of the Cenacolo organisation in northern Italy and Fr Smith will manfully hold the fort!