past News
STATION MASS 2010
The Lent Station Mass for City-East Deanery (our local parishes together) was
celebrated by Archbishop Conti on Monday 22nd February at 7.00pm in
St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Abercromby Street.
The first of his 'Lenten pligrimage' Masses across the Archdiocese, the event
coincided with the 8th anniversary of his Installation as Archbishop of Glasgow
back in 2002.
The Mass was held on the feast of the Chair of Peter, an ancient feast which
celebrates our unity with the See of Rome, and with the successor of St Peter,
Pope Benedict XVI. Reflecting on his recent 'Ad Limina' visit to Rome with the
other Scottish bishops, the Archbishop both looked back over his time in Glasgow and looked forward to the Pope's visit to us later this year: “We told him of the state of our dioceses, the faith of our people and the fidelity of our clergy. We recognised the difficulties we faced and sensed the support of the Pope ..."
And he concluded, looking to the future: “Whatever the future holds for me, I will look back not only on this experience, but as each year left to me elapses and I celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, I will recall with joy and thanksgiving to God the grace of my ordination which was “fanned into a flame” by my appointment to this great Archdiocese, and my assuming the Chair of Saint Mungo eight years ago today.”
Sacrament of Confirmation
Five of the children of our parish received the Sacrament of Confirmation
during the 10.00am Mass on Sunday 15th November.
With Fr. Tom taken ill unexpectedly, Mgr Peter Smith, Parish Priest of
neighbouring St Mary's parish, and Dean of the City-East parishes,
generously came to say Mass and confer the Sacrament.
It was a beautiful Mass, in which the children took an active role,
both by leading the Intercessions and participating in the
Offertory procession.
Our congratulations to them, and our thanks to their parents
and Sponsors.
Thanks also to their teachers at school, and to our parish catechists who worked so hard in preparing them for the Sacrament, and to Mgr Smith for celebrating the Mass so generously.
The children will shortly begin preparations for the last
of their Sacraments of Initiation, Holy Communion.
The weekend of 24th and 25th October witnessed a slightly unusual kind of charity collection here at OLGC. Not the usual 'plate' or 'basket' round the congregation, but an appeal for old clothes or textiles in support of Mary's Meals. This organisation provide a meal at school each day for over 300,000 children worldwide. Last year their 'Rags to Riches' clothing collection netted £112,000 in funds to support their efforts. Parishioners here managed to collect over 200 bin-bags of clothes, a real, practical help to a worthy cause!
SCIAF Appeal for the People of Haiti
In response to an urgent appeal by SCIAF, a second collection was held on Sunday 17th January, which brought in over £4000 a wonderful sum considering the appeal was not planned or expected when people came to Mass. Any further donations can be sent directly to SCIAF (see the link on the 'Useful Links' page) or handed in to the parish to be passed on.
Caitlyn Alexander
Siobhan Courtney
Lewis O'Neill
Ethan Walker
Talia Webb
Parish Catechist Commissioning Mass
Archbishop Conti came to Our Lady of Good Counsel on Thursday 15th October, the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, to formally commission a group of Parish Catechists for parishes in the Archdiocese.
This group, who have completed a two-year course in catechetics and theology, come from about 12 parishes and are the first to complete the training course and be so commissioned by the Archdiocese for this ministry.
Two of our parishioners here are among the group. Once again, OLGC is at the forefront of new developments in the Archdiocese.
Over time, we hope other parishioners might feel drawn to this ministry, to offer faith development and learning opportunities for adults and families in our parish.
