On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

"Old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." - 2 Corinthians 5:17 New Years Eve has arrived, in this mad dash from Christmas and all of the celebrations we've made it quickly to New Year and today gives us a chance to look back at what has gone before in 2012. Take a moment today...

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

Today is the feast of The Holy Family and you might be asking, 'Who is that?' Well, we can confirm that it definitely is not the Beckhams, or the Kardashians and it is not even the Royal family! The Holy Family are he most humble, poor, amazingly special and beautiful families of all time and the...

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

Time for a bit of fun! Everyone likes board games at Christmas right? By boxing day when you are full from the previous days Christmas dinner and had your fill of Christmas films you can guarantee someone will have delved into the cupboards and pulled out a board game or two. This one from Busted Halo...

On the Third Day of Christmas...

Today, the third day of Christmas as also the Feast of the Holy Innocents. This is the day we remember those little children, boys under the age of 2, that King Herod chose to kill. He did this because he was threatened by them, knowing that a new King had just been born. Although that happened such a long...

On the Second Day of Christmas...

Another adaptation today as we continue what we started yesterday with our new 12 Days of Christmas feature. Today we bring to you a more spiritual version of the famous Christmas Story 'The Night Before Christmas' which you will have all heard many times before. This as written by Sister St. Thomas,...

On the First Day of Christmas...

So here we are at the start of our new feature this Christmas where we will be bringing you something a little bit different for each of the '12 Days of Christmas' as we head towards January 6th when we celebrate the Epiphany. Today we start our reflections by looking at the religious symbolism of this very...

O Come O Come Emmanuel

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem...

4th Sunday of Advent

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed...

St Cuthbert's Nativity Service

On Wednesday, the children and young people of St. Cuthbert's held a special Nativity Service focused on a giant-sized model of Bethlehem they'd built up piece-by-piece since Youth Sunday. The culmination and the highlight was when we placed candles along the road to the stable to light up the path that Jesus...

Christmas at St Josephs

Every year St. Joseph's invite their young people to make the window decorations for Christmas and this year was no different. Armed with greenery gathered from Ward Jackson Park and well supplied with food by Katie, our dedicated group got well and truly stuck into the Oasis! You can see their impressive results...

3rd Sunday of Advent

And the multitudes asked him, "What then shall we do?" And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than...

Take Time to Reflect

It is helpful to our spiritual life to spend more than a glancing moment when reading the Christmas Cards we get, with their notes of good wishes both printed and handwritten. It is good for our souls also to spend time with the pictures or drawings on those cards and notes. Look quickly at the signature first,...

Christingle at St Begas

Monday night at St. Bega’s was lit up by our annual Christingle Service. Organised by our two youth groups in the north (that’s 3PsYAGs and Youthi3, if you’re not sure!) and with the generous help of the school, we heard and sang about God’s great love for us and his plan to save us from evil. Whilst we don’t...

2nd Sunday of Advent

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to...

More Christ Caching

On a cold but beautiful autumn afternoon, a small party of hardened explorers headed off into the wilds of Hebburn and Pelaw to hide two more ChristCaches, both in sight of the Tyne river. If you haven't come across ChristCaching yet, it's a cross between a treasure hunt and a prayer walk with a box full of...

Youth Friday Wacky Races!

Dastardly and Muttley didn’t show up but we still managed to have a great time last Friday evening! In celebration of Youth Sunday, young people from across the town descended on St. Joseph’s to compete in Wacky Races. The Friday Night Fun crowd from St. Patrick’s and St. Teresa’s looked magnificent in their...

1st Sunday of Advent

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming...

Perseverance... Faith... Perfection...

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Wacky Races!

Who is coming along to St Josephs church tomorrow night to take part in our Wacky Races event as we prepare for the Feast of Christ the King? Come along and join in the fun which begins at 5pm on Friday 23rd November in St Josephs Church Hall, Hartlepool. We have fun and games for young kids and teenagers...

Parish Meal

A group of Year 9 students spent the day preparing and serving a meal for the parishioners of St. Cuthbert's plus special guests. On the menu was shepherd's pie followed by apple crumble or cheese cake (or both if you were lucky!) followed by some light entertainment provided by our students, Fr. Michael and...

Year of Faith

We are well into the Year of Faith now and here in Hartlepool we have lots planned. On Friday though, we will be united with the whole diocese of Hexham and Newcastle as children and students from all primary and secondary schools take part in the Youth Friday Liturgy. We will have a video address from Bishop...

Testify to Love!

St. Joseph's Primary School are trying out different ways of praying. So far we've prayed by listening, we've prayed by touching, we've prayed by singing and we've prayed by imagining. Here we are praying by dancing to the song 'Testify to Love'. Some of us didn't know we had it in ...

For the Fallen

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember the...

Lest We Forget

Here at English Martyrs this week, we have been focussing on Remembrance in our morning prayers. Today, we looked at the individual stories of young men who came from Hartlepool and prayed for them and all who have died in war. We learned how those from the Hartlepool are remembered in a special place in...

Midnight Prayer Feast

How about this for a chance to share what faith means to you in a fun and friendly way? Get yourself along to St Cuthbert's Parish Centre this Friday (9th November) at 10:30pm for our very first midnight feast lasting until 12:30am. Come through the big metal gate to the left of the house and go down the...

Calling all Facebook Fans!

Did you know that we have our very own page on Facebook full of stories and photographs from some of the events that we get involved in? Take a look now by following this link or search for Hartlepool Youth Ministry in the Facebook search bar to find ...

Christ Caching

We hid our very first ChristCache in Billingham on Sunday for the start of our treasure hunt / prayer walk journey this year. Despite some pretty icy weather conditions we enjoyed the day and will soon start hiding more in other parts of the Diocese so watch this space! ...

St Cuthbert's Baking for Coffee Club

St. Cuthbert's Primary School are baking brownies again, to share with the parish coffee club after Mass on Tuesdays. It's a friendly way to give some of our children a chance to talk about their Catholic faith with adults who've been living it for years. Probably best not to say just how many years, though!...

St Cuthbert's Family Fun Club

The Family Fun Club down at St. Cuthbert's has got some new members who fancied their photo being on the blog! We'd hate to disappoint them... Do you go to the Family Fun Club? Let us know what you enjoy about it the most!...