Involving young people at Mass – an invitation

Enniskeane and Desertserges    ||||||   Family & Youth Group of the Parish Assembly
20th September, 2013

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The Prayers of the Faithful rota for young people in each of the three churches, which began last year, has been a great success. For the coming term, it is planned to organise both a rota for Prayers of the Faithful and for the Second Scripture Readings for weekend Masses in each of the three churches in the parish.
We invite parents and guardians to encourage young people to have an active part in our celebration of Sunday Mass. In turn, this will also help develop young people’s confidence and their appreciation of the Mass.

To encourage involvement of young people, our outline plan is to assign tasks to specific age-groups:

  • 2nd class: gift bearers (bringing up the bread and wine to the altar during Mass)
  • 3rd class: gift bearers
  • 4th: gift bearers / altar servers
  • 5th: altar servers / Prayer of the Faithful reader
  • 6th: altar servers / Prayer of F
  • 1st Year: Prayer of Faithful reader
  • 2nd Year: Prayer of F / Second Scripture Reading
  • 3rd Year: Second Scripture Reading
  • 4th Year & older: Second / First Scripture Reading / Collectors / Ministers of the Eucharist

Naturally, there will need to be a bit of flexibility with this. (Information about recruiting new altar servers will be distributed shortly through the schools.)

In relation to the Prayers of the Faithful, the plan is to have two young people for each Mass (Sat and Sun), each one reading two short intercessions. Texts will be forwarded in advance by email. The texts of the Second Scripture Reading for each week can be previewed at the parish website homepage .

A short training session will be held in Enniskeane Church on Thurs. Oct 3rd at 7pm.
An initial rota will be developed at these sessions. If your son or daughter would like to sign up for either rota, please complete the enclosed form and return it to either the school, to one of the churches or to a member of the Parish Assembly Family and Youth group.

Thanking you in advance,

Family & Youth Group

Thursday August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption and a Holyday

Thursday August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady in Heaven. It is a holy day of obligation – meaning it is one of the special weekdays during the year when Catholics participate in the Eucharist at Mass.

August 15th is known in many parts of Ireland as “Lady Day” and is a day when many people attend centuries old devotions and prayer services at shrines to Our Lady and at holy wells.

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes which adorns the avenue into Enniskeane Church. To mark the Silver Jubilee of the Grotto, rosary will be prayed at the Grotto at 7pm on Thurs 15th. (Rosary has been prayed faithfully every Sunday eve for the past 25 years at the Grotto.) Mass for the holy day will be offered in the church at 7.30pm and will be followed by Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. All welcome.