Mgr Aldo meets the Pope!
Our very own Mgr Aldo shares a joke with Pope Francis….. Read more about his meeting in Rome where he represented Scotland’s parish priests for the final session of the Synod of Synodality.
Author: mmacphail
Didn’t our Walkers do well??
Wow! Our parishioners who took up the challenge of the Big Lenten Walk for SCIAF certainly put their best feet forward. The combined group from St Ninian’s and St Clement’s walked the roads and the miles round Dundee and have hiked home with an astonishing total of £5000!
Our super strollers send a huge THANK YOU to all who gave so generously.
This marathon effort has put the Parishes Together group at the top of the Cafod/SCIAF Justgiving page leader board, not just in Scotland, but for the whole of the UK!
So take a bow, St Ninian’s and St Clement’s, you may just have strolled into the SCIAF record books.
SCIAF ‘Thank you!’
Happy Easter to everyone! It’s great to see how well everyone has done with the special parishes’ Lenten efforts they started 6 weeks ago:
- Every week, parishioners from St Ninian’s and St Clement’s have come together to pray the Stations of the Cross.
- Fr Johney and many parishioners joined the Muirhead Church for an ecumenical service
- People have been very generous in bringing food to donate to the Foodbank, and the Foodbank’s calendar was a big help;
- A group effort made the Parishes Together Big Lent Walk a success. 20 parishioners signed up for this and have raised over £4,000! Very well done!
- And of course, the Wee Box appeal- these will be returned to the churches, monies counted then sent to SCIAF.
Fr Johney and several parishioners enjoyed a well-deserved hot drink after their bracing walk along Riverside to complete their Big Lent Walk.
- On Good Friday evening, a Passion Play was acted out beautifully in St Ninian’s. A special mention and a huge thanks to Maureen Ruddy who was the director and the main driving force behind this moving enactment of the passion of Our Lord. Also many thanks to those behind the scenes getting costumes and make up ready, practising lines, musicians and singers and of course a big shout out to the young folk- the actors who were amazing.
All our fundraising will be a massive help to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. View the video from SCIAF’s partners and project participants in Rwanda
Confirmation
This week, children from our 2 Primary schools, St Ninian’s and St Clement’s were confirmed by Bishop Stephen. Both were beautiful happy services led by the children but also a touch of sadness for parishioners as these were Bishop Stephen’s last duties as our Bishop in our Diocese. We wish him health and happiness to enjoy his retirement.
C.C. Juniors
We had a fun afternoon at CC Juniors last Thursday. We checked up on our winter planting and are looking forward to spring.
The Big Lent Walk
Could you challenge yourself this Lent and at the same time raise money for our global family as they try to overcome poverty? SCIAF are asking for our help! The challenge is to walk or run 200km (124 miles) in 40 days. Please don’t stop reading yet! Of course it’s a huge challenge but not if we do it together!
Perhaps you CAN do it alone, or with a partner or friend, or as a family who add up the total miles together – so a family of five could do 40km each (that’s just a km each per day!) We would also love to have a group from St Ninian’s and St Clement’s who take on the challenge together and build more friendships along the way. We can add up the miles as a team! It doesn’t matter how many miles you can manage, it is about building our community spirit and helping SCIAF in the process. Sign up sheets are at the back of the church or contact us
Preparing for Christmas…
The past week, was truly ‘beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ at St Ninian’s…….First, during 9.30 Sunday Mass, the children’s liturgy group brought smiles to many parishioners faces through their enactment of their ‘unrehearsed’ Nativity play.
Nativity Play
This version of the Nativity acted and sung by the children was very appropriate and made us all think about the true meaning of Christmas- Christmas should not be overtaken by the commercialism of the season. Their final song was very moving. If you’d like to see them and hear them, click the video
Carol Service
On Tuesday evening, a joint Carol Service with St Clements was held in St Ninian’s – a very joyful and meaningful service written by Maureen Ruddy. The singing was considerably enhanced by the children’s voices of St Ninian’s school choir and their rendition of ‘Alleluia’ was beautiful.
School’s End of Term Mass
On Thursday afternoon, the church was filled with excited children from St Ninian’s for their end of term Mass and Carol Concert. It was a beautiful and happy service and a very meaningful one for Mrs Dundas, (Katie) who was retiring after 37 years of teaching, 17 of which have been at St Ninian’s. She will certainly be missed but hopefully won’t be a stranger to the school or the parish. I’m sure, like all the congregation she enjoyed the children’s choir and their singing of her favourite carol, In the Bleak Midwinter and of course, Alleluia
Busy Week for Helpers
The Garden Gang were kept busy building the crib for the church while in CC’s, a special Christmas Afternoon Tea was served up to our customers……and of course, our little robin from the Mary Garden, pops up occasionally to let us know he’s not been forgotten amidst all this activity.
