On Wednesday the 3rd July the new confessional room was completed with the installation of the new confessional screen. The confessional screen was the final part of the confessional make over project that the helping hands team had undertaken.
On Friday the 28th June 2013 the new confessional screen was unveiled in front of all the children at St Clare’s primary School during their assembly. Back in March the children from years 4, 5 and 6 were asked to draw pictures for the design of the new confessional screen, all of these designs where put up on the walls in the committee room in the Parish Hall. There where so many great designs that it was very difficult to choose one that would be the final design, it was therefore decided that all of the common features from the designs would be used to create the confessional screen. The work that our young people put into their designs was outstanding, their designs showed very much the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession. Their bright artwork brought out the joy of receiving God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; it showed that through forgiveness the darkness is replaced by the light, joy and peace of God. This was the inspiration to the piece of scripture that has been used on the confessional design:
Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you. A peace the world cannot give; this is my gift to you. (John 14:27)
Before the unveiling Rob Leigh talked to the children about the work that had gone into the confessional screen and how their designs played an important part of the final design. Rob did this by asking the children to put their hands up when he mentioned anything that was part of the design that they had included in their design. By the end all the children had identified their design with the final design. Fr. Darren did not want to look at the finished design until it was unveiled. The children began the count down from ten; there was one child from each year that unveiled the screen with Fr. Darren. Once the screen was unveiled Fr. Darren engaged the children in talking about what they could see in the design and what it meant to them. Fr. Darren asked the children what the tiles reminded them of. One child said the bathroom, quick thinking Fr. Darren replied “that’s a very good answer though, because when we use the bathroom we wash ourselves clean and that is what Confession is like, it is God washing away our sin’s and making us clean”.
Rob Leigh the co-ordinator of the helping hands team, said “we wanted to involve St Clare’s School children in the project to add to their on-going relationship with God and the Church. Many of the children that took part in the project have already made their First Confession and others where preparing to make their First Confession” Fr. Darren said “It was fantastic to see in the children’s designs that they viewed Confession as a happy and joyful experience, a lesson that we adults can learn from.” Rob Leigh went on to say “it is hoped that in the years ahead each time that they go to Confession they will have that personnel connection to the confessional room and screen”.
A big thank you goes to the Helping Hands Team that put in so much work to completing the ‘Confessional Make-Over’; Rob Leigh, Gerry Carberry, Pete Read, Mike Holleran, Dom Keane, Mark Bradley, Mary Leigh, Hilary Deane, Debbie Burns and George Gornall (plastering)
The Confessional will be open for viewing, after each Mass, on the weekend of the 13-14 July.
Background
This is a presentation describing the origins of the Helping Hands initiative
The Confessional Project
Click here to see how the the project progressed.
Ethos of the Helping Hands Team
Using a collaborative model, we work in partnership with the parish during the mission process, enabling parishioners to discover and use their God-given gifts and abilities in the service of others.
We develop and foster the community dimension of parish life and urge parishes to be outward looking, particularly through welcome, openness and service.
We seek to be open and sensitive to the particular needs of individual parish communities.
Image Gallery
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