See 'Supporting our Parish' for the story of one of our parishioners climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa
THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
Parish Sacramental Programmes
For Reconciliation and First Holy Communion
This is a prayerful study offered as an introduction to the Sacraments and is intended for both the children and their parents. Led by a group of parishioners with the priest, it is offered for the parents on Tuesday evenings and for the children after the Sunday Mass. The whole family gathers for the Mass.
The Programme begins in the late Autumn and those families who want their children to make their First Holy Communion should make a request to the priest for both Sacraments as soon as possible after the September term begins.
The Catholic Church is firm in its view that the three Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation, are essential for any true growth in the Faith.
Just as essential to the life of Faith for all couples living together or bringing up a family is the Sacrament of Marriage which is celebrated in Church.
The very importance of the Sacrament of Marriage is shown by the fact that the Eucharist, source and summit of our Faith, can only be approached by those who have indeed celebrated their marriage so witnessed by the Church.
1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"135
I. THE EUCHARIST - SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF ECCLESIAL LIFE
1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."136 "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."137
1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."138
Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.139
1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking."140
Parish Sacramental Programmes
For Reconciliation and First Holy Communion
This is a prayerful study offered as an introduction to the Sacraments and is intended for both the children and their parents. Led by a group of parishioners with the priest, it is offered for the parents on Tuesday evenings and for the children after the Sunday Mass. The whole family gathers for the Mass.
The Programme begins in the late Autumn and those families who want their children to to make their First Holy Communion should make a request for both Sacraments as soon as possible after the September term begins.
The Ctholic Church is firm in its view that the three Sacraments of Initiation, Baptism, The Eucharist and Confirmation, are essential for any true growth in the Faith.
Just as essential for a life of Faith sealed in the reception of Holy Communion is the Sacrament of Marriage celebrated in Church for all couples living together or bringing up a family.
