Work finished

Back in 2006 I contacted Sr Petra Clare to ask her to create some icons for my two parishes. Now at last they are complete. Just before Easter Sister sent two roundels for St Mary`s one of a dove and one of a crown to accompany the icons of the Annunciation and Coronation of Our Lady. So here are pictures of the finished items. Many thanks to Sr Petra Clare.

This was where we started in 2005 and I dare say some preferred this but I hope some parishioners have grown to like the present arrangement.

 

Offerings for the Infant King

Mention of the Institute of Christ the King reminds me I have been asked to mention to devotion to the Infant King promoted by the Institute. Offerings to the Infant King take place from the 17th - 25th of each month. Everyone submits their intentions by the 14th of each month and they are then included/remembered in that month's Infant King Novena and a few special Masses by the priests. Flowers and/or candles can be offered with one's prayers. More information can be found on the website.

New vocations` crisis

There appears to be a new vocations crisis plaguing the Catholic Church in the UK: a shortage of vocations to the episcopate! I can`t remember there being anything like this before but the situation is getting very serious. Sees needing a new bishop at the minute include East Anglia, Brentwood, Leeds, Liverpool, Hallam, St Andrews and Edinburgh, Paisley and Dunkeld. The Catholic Hierarchy site provides a quick guide but its list of vacant sees does not include Hallam and Brentwood where the bishops have passed the retirement age so I include those too.

I think most readers of this blog would have been excited by the appointments to Shrewsbury and Portsmouth not least because bishop Davies introduced the Institute of Christ the King to his diocese. Conversations with groups of priests often touches on the lack of recent appointments: East Anglia has been vacant since July 2011.

So something else to pray about as the English bishops attend a retreat at Villa Palazzola this week.