St Ninian's & St Clement's, Catholic Churches Together
Last week we had a bumper crop of strawberries, thanks to the dedication of our fabulous Garden Gang and of course, Mother Nature who provided the sun and rain (a lot). Brian was our official taster and with the help of his trusty ‘sidekick’ Jim, picked 3kg of strawberries which have now been made into jam. This will be served very soon as an accompaniment to scones as part of the Afternoon Tea menu.
14 Pilgrims from St Ninians and St Clements recently spent 5 days in Fatima and Lisbon. Unfortunately Fr Johney could not join them since he could not obtain his visa .
Bernadette Dailly was the organiser of this pilgrimage ( what a great organiser she is too!) and has written this account of their trip
In the sanctuary we visited the Holy Trinity Church, the Basilica, celebrated Masses in the Chapel of Apparitions, visited the museum where we saw the crown of Our Lady of Fatima which contained the bullet that hit Pope John Paul ii in 1981, walked the Way of the Cross, the Candle lit procession with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima and the next evening, in the Blessed Sacrament procession.
We also visited Aljustrel where the three children lived.
Also Nazare with its lovely beaches and ended the pilgrimage with an overnight stay in Lisbon visiting St Anthony’s Church and Lisbon cathedral .
We arrived home feeling very privileged to have had the opportunity to be part of such a special pilgrimage.
The Mary Garden is blooming after all the heat and rain the last couple of weeks. It looks so lovely! We are happy to find our first Cherries appearing, strawberries, cucumbers, salad leaves and tomatoes are all nearly ready for the first pickings. The bees are happy in the wildflower garden and hopefully some of the cutting flowers will be seen on the Altar very soon 🙂
A case study has been compiled by Local Energy Scotland which gives details of the recent upgrades to St Ninian’s church.
It discusses the background of the project, technologies used and the funding granted, amongst other things. It is an interesting read and highlights the huge strides the church is making to become greener.
We are very grateful to Jim Hampton for the amount of work he has put into this.
Today the children celebrated our Mother Mary with a lovely contribution during Mass. They distributed flowers to the ladies in the congregation and laid a ring of flowers at the foot of the statue in the Mary Garden. The children did a wonderful job and we are very proud of them. We would like to say thank you to Sister Christy Paul and community for providing the beautiful outfits, to Father Andrew for his part in making it run so smoothly and to Colette because, without her wonderful singing voice, these things would never be quite so special.
Laying flowers in the Mary Garden
These are some of the lovely flowers in bloom at the moment!
Winter is over, we hope, so ‘stovies, no more!’ Thursday past, saw the return of our very popular monthly afternoon tea which is always fully subscribed. We are very fortunate that we have a wonderful group of volunteers, willing to give up their time, to prepare and serve our lovely customers.
UK nature is beautiful and precious – but it’s in crisis. That’s why from 28th April – 1st May it’s important that people come together to sow, grow, and create thriving habitats for the nature on our doorstep.
Whether it’s a garden, a balcony, or an unloved community space, any outdoor area can become a flourishing wildlife haven.
The truth is, every one of us, no matter who we are, or where we live, can and must play a part in restoring nature” Sir David Attenborough
So, Louise, from our Parish Garden Gang has put together packs of compost with a few nasturtium seeds which are so easy to grow even on a windowsill if you’ve no garden. These are being offered to parishioners this weekend at the Vigil and Sunday morning Mass.
Judi has once again made up Sunflower Growing Kits for the children. We look forward to hearing about all the lovely flowers that are so good for wildlife!
For more information about Earth Day go here