Blessing and Dedication of a Bench at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas in recognition of the work carried out by members of the Catholic Women’s League during both World Wars

On a lovely day,  80 plus  members of the Catholic Women’s League and friends gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum for the celebration of Holy Mass by Bishop David McGough, Auxiliary Bishop in Birmingham, and concelebrated by Father Jim Ward from Kingswinford (the first ever Sacrifice of Holy Mass celebrated in the Millennium Chapel) followed by a procession to the Bench on Millennium Avenue for prayers and dedication. The National President, Doreen Pooley, was joined by National Secretary, Jean Clarke; National Treasurer, Margaret Valentine together with Margaret Richards and June Collins, Chairman and Secretary of the Services Committee, Elizabeth McDonald President, with Branch Officers and members of Birmingham Branch Sections and Direct Members plus members from Nottingham and Shrewsbury Branches on this unique occasion.

One of the architectural jewels of the diocese will this month be celebrating the centenary of the founding of the parish.

In 1909 a French priest, Father Joseph Dospital, left Betharram in the south of France, very near Lourdes, to come to England. He was part of the Order of the Sacred Heart Fathers & Brothers of Betharram and his destiny was to found a parish in Droitwich. In those early days the first Masses were celebrated in various large houses in the Witton area of Droitwich before a small hall was built on the Worcester Road and used as a church. In 1919 the foundation stone was laid for the present church of the Sacred Heart with the building finally completed and opened in 1921.

St Anne's School, Solihull

Firstly, one of our Teaching Assistants, Mrs Joy Senanayake, won through to the National Finals of the Teaching Awards after winning her Regional West Midlands Final staged at the Heritage Motor Centre based at Gaydon in Warwickshire.  Joy is a very special character in that she is past retirement age and is still working full time with a class of Year 3 children.  She joins in all activities that go on in school.  This includes dancing around the classroom in the morning wake and shake session, taking part in extreme activities such as a class water fight we had recently and going on outward bound residential trips in North Staffordshire where she takes part in all outdoor activities.  She is an extremely creative person and our school is festooned with examples of her displays and artwork by children that she has inspired.  She was described at the Awards Ceremony as inspirational. Everyone in our school would agree that she is irreplaceable, unique, one of a kinz. She is extremely modest and although has been thrilled to receive the acolade she still carries on in her own calm and unruffled way.

2009 was another wonderful year for Father Hudson’s Society’s Good Shepherd Masses. 133 schools were part of this years celebrations as they attended one of the seven Masses, which took place throughout the Diocese. Over 3,000 people were part of these joyous and uplifting occasions. It was wonderful to see so many children joined together in worship.

Abigail McMillan, CAFOD’s Diocesan Manager for the Birmingham Archdiocese recently visited the Rusitu Mission Hospital on the eastern border of Zimbabwe and reports for Catholic Today on her visit. Her moving feature brings us in direct contact with the challenges, sufferings and trials of the Zimbabean people but also their amazing faith, hope and gratitude.

Catholic Today is proud and honored that 25 runners have put themselves forward to run the Great North Run, the world’s largest half marathon (13.1 miles) in aid of our brothers and sisters suffering in Zimbabwe.

One of these runners is Yvonne McGregor MBE. Yvonne is an Olympic Cycle Champion taking a bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics aged 39 and establishing herself as Britain’s first ever women’s cycling medalist.

On 2nd August our parish went on pilgrimage to Harvington Hall. A tour of the Hall was followed by Latin Sung Low Mass at the neighbouring parish church of St. Mary’s. A wonderful day was had by all, the guides bringing the history of the Hall to life and many thanks for the wonderful hospitality of Monsignor Moran, Columb & Merryn Howell and June Hall from the Latin Mass Society, Worcestershire Branch. Latin Mass is celebrated every first Sunday of the month at St. Mary’s at 3:00pm  which combined with the history of the Hall makes the whole experience very poignant.

Words of Cardinal Hume that express how ‘holiness involves friendship with God’. They challenge those who attend the annual Celebrate Easter Conference to take what is for many a ‘mountain top’ experience, back to parishes to help this exploration of ‘closer friendship with God’, and seek Jesus as their ‘weekday friend’. Overworked clergy may often struggle to find the time for energy-consuming evangelisation initiatives, despite the Church’s oft-expressed mission to move these forward. This was recently illustrated when it was found how few dipped into the free CASE/CaFE collaborative ‘Alive in Christ’ DVD series, sent freely to all parishes. How can Celebrate help parishes?

One of the architectural jewels of the diocese will this month be celebrating the centenary of the founding of the parish.

In 1909 a French priest, Father Joseph Dospital, left Betharram in the south of France, very near Lourdes, to come to England. He was part of the Order of the Sacred Heart Fathers & Brothers of Betharram and his destiny was to found a parish in Droitwich. In those early days the first Masses were celebrated in various large houses in the Witton area of Droitwich before a small hall was built on the Worcester Road and used as a church. In 1919 the foundation stone was laid for the present church of the Sacred Heart with the building finally completed and opened in 1921.