Message from Mary T

Just a little message from Mary T...
‘Little deeds of kindness,
little acts of love
make this earth and Eden
like in heaven above’

I was reminded of those old words when one of the wonderful young people at the Ampleforth Retreat, who knew me only as an old woman, said my name doftly the 3 times she passed me by. I will keep this love with me always.

Ampleforth 2011 - Day 3

Our final day at Ampleforth is always one of celebrating all that we have done as a group during our weekend on retreat. This was the day that our preparation, our thoughts, our questions and all our reflections came together as we presented them to one another at our Sunday morning mass. A highlight of this trip which made it so different from our previous retreats was the affirmation cards which were written during our reconciliation service on Saturday night and presented to each member of the group at the end of our mass. Thank you to everyone who participated in the weekend and for all of the enthusiasm which you put into each of the tasks. Now sit back and enjoy the video!

Ampleforth 2011 - Day 2

This was such a fun packed day for all of us to enjoy together with activities from getting up at 7am right through to lights out at midnight! We started the day with a few praise and worship songs before heading off to do some group work on the gospel. Later on in the day we did a new version of the Stations of the cross looking at the five sorrowful mysteries of the rosary before a bit of free time. We also went to see Compline in the monastry and held our own reconcilation service before enjoying a quiz together and finishing the day with night prayer. So here it is, our second day at Ampleforth:

Ampleforth 2011 - Day 1

What a weekend we all shared together at Ampleforth and what a fantastic group of young and old people we took with us. We arrived after tea on Friday and were straight into the first of our activities in what proved to be a jam packed weekend but we did manage to take a break for our tea in the upper refectory of course! We will have so much more to follow this week but here are just a few highlights of our first day at Ampleforth:

Prayers for Japan

Here at English Martyrs, we have pulled together as a community to unite ourselves in prayer for the people of Japan. Students and staff came down to spend some time in silent prayer, lighting candles and writing their prayers. We remember especially at this time, those who have been part of our English Martyrs community who live in Japan. They are Chiaki, Yuki, Yuka, Nobue, Satora and their families. May our Lord show his love and mercy towards Japan, that people will turn to him at this desperate hour.

Ampleforth Retreat 2011

This weekend sees our third Lenten retreat for English Martyrs School and people of the parishes of Hartlepool. Some people are returning as seasoned pro's while for others this will be their very first experience so please keep the group in your prayers as we share our Lenten journey.

St Cuthbert's Care 5p Bus

On Monday 7th march, the House Captains went to the launch of the Good Shepherd Appeal for the 5p Bus at St Joseph’s. They got a real sense of the poverty in our local community and how much 5p can actually be worth.

This Lent in school, we are doing what’s called the 5p challenge, where each form class are to collect 5p coins over the 6 weeks of Lent which will help to run, and maintain the 5p Bus so that those in need can get what they need. Each item on the Bus costs 5p, which means that a person can buy 20 items for their family for just £1!

It is a good thing for our young people to see the direct effect that their fundraising has as often it goes to larger charities and gets sucked into projects they don’t really hear about. Here though, they see where every penny that they have raised goes.

For more info, check out the St Cuthbert's Care website.

Twitter

We've only gone and joined Twitter! Come on you lot, we're always looking at new ways to connect with some of the wonderful young people we do our work with in Hartlepool and now we've got our Twitter account too so you've got no excuses for not following what we do. Follow us by clicking the image or tweeting @hpool_ministry now!