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Last week I was asked to preach at the induction of a friend of mine as parish priest in Manchester and it made me reflect on what it means to be a Parish. In 'The Universe' Catholic newspaper there used to be a Parish of the Week section with a photograph and information about a particular parish. Often the picture would be of the church building and the write up based on the history of the parish.
On one occasion when I was at St. Augustine's we were asked to contribute and so I suggested that the picture should be of people. The picture we used was of when the bishop celebrated mass with the students. This photograph taken on the sanctuary had over one hundred and fifty people on it, the bishop in the centre, and behind the huge sculpture of Christ in ascended glory which is at the back of the altar. The write up let people know what was going on with a view to being part of the parish community.
Imagine if we, here at Holy Saviour Parish, were asked to submit a photograph and a write up of our parish for 'Parish of the Week'. Indeed it may well be a possible section on our website in the future to allow people to show the many different aspects of our wonderful parish including its rich heritage and present vitality.
If I were to choose one image from recent events it would be the prayer vigil for the Karim family that took place in our parish centre. This was attended by people from all different backgrounds in our parish and other members of the local community and was lit by the light of Christ himself.
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Holy Saviour RC Church - Nelson