Dear friends in Christ

We have begun Lent in the traditional manner: with a day of penance on Ash Wednesday and we are now on the annual pilgrimage towards Easter. This Lent has a special poignancy for all of us, because it is a Jubilee Year, the Year of Hope. It is also the centenary of our church building in Leigh and next week we shall begin the Parish Mission which highlights both of these celebrations within the Church. We have been praying for many months that there will be abundant spiritual fruits as a result of our Mission. Next weekend Fathers Dominic O'Toole and Royston Price of the Redemptorists will arrive and begin to lead us in our spiritual exercises. During each day of the Mission there will be a focus on a particular aspect and mystery of our Faith. My hope, and indeed my expectation is, that each of us will try to attend church twice each day: once for Holy Mass in the morning at either 7 or 9am (which will include a short instruction) and then in the evening at 7pm. We should see the Mission as a mini-retreat within Lent this year. Please make leaflets advertising the Mission (found at the back of church) available to as many of your family, friends and neighbours as possible; by doing this you will be acting like true Apostles bringing souls to Christ.

Please remember to pray for those who will be Received into the Church this Easter. On Sunday afternoon all of those from around the Diocese who are preparing for the Sacraments will go to Brentwood Cathedral to be presented to the Bishop; there are six from our own Parish. Please also pray for those young adults who will begin preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be given by the Bishop when he visits us on Sunday, 1st June.

Let us all strive to live this Lent with the spiritual intensity and engagement that manifests our belief that we are pilgrims on this earth, moving towards our homeland of Heaven, confident in the hope of the Resurrection.

May God bless us all!

Msgr Kevin Hale