St Bernadette’s Catholic Church Website...Welcome!
26 All Hallows Rd, Bispham , Blackpool FY2 0AS .Tel .no. 01253 352587 E mail: subirous@fsmail.net frstevepearson@hotmail.com
Parish Priest:Fr Stephen Pearson Assistant Priest: Fr Andrew Allman
Leave everything NOW...and follow me! What would drive a married man to leave behind his responsibilities to his wife and children...his livelihood...his extended family (certainly his mother-in-law!) and follow an itinerant preacher around the villages and the wilderness of Judea? To move from a settled life to a nomadic life? Was it convenient to them and their family...hardly! Was it simply pressure from within the same family...you know the sort of thing: “My cousin reckons he’s found the Messiah...the Christ...I better go and find one too”!! Well No!! Then how do we understand the story of faith that we read and hear in the gospel given us today...and especially today the Sunday in the Octave of Prayer for Christian unity?
St Mark tells us something of the cost of Faith, especially for those first Apostles who responded to the person and preaching of Jesus Christ. In following Him they were prepared to move...to abandon the familiar and secure...and move out into the deep waters of faith. They did this because they were secure in what Jesus Christ was saying, and in who He is. Maybe we too, as we pray hard that the Christian people may one day be united in faith content and in church order, will leave behind our prejudices and our security and move with The Lord to that new place...that new church...where He will show us how to be One...how to be united...how to be Christian.
Seasonal Preparations Next Christmas I would like to set up a team of volunteers who will work in church for a couple of hours to prepare the crib displays, the one under the altar on the Sanctuary, and one in the “stable” housed in the porch. I’d like to call it the “Bethlehem Construction Company” I know its a long way off... but fancy signing up???
The Parish Youth Group began meeting again last Friday. So by way of a reminder the group meets every other Friday in the Hall. It’s members come from year 6 of school life up to the end of year 9. Each session lasts from 7.15 to 8.45pm. Parental consent forms available and must be completed prior to attendance. Games, quizzes, trips out, good friends....members can sign a friend in for the evening if they come from outside the parish with view to them becoming members. The dates for meetings this term are: January 27th, February 10th & 24th, March 9th & 23rd before the Easter break.
