Journey in Faith/RCIA/Programme 2023 - 2024

Our Journey in Faith for 2023 - 2024 began on Wednesday 27 September at Our Lady Queen of Peace church, Penshaw.

Week 1 - 27 September 2023

We began with a meal together, introduced ourselves and watched a video which we recently made for the group. It began with Fr Martin Wheaton explaining what the Catholic Church is and it went on to show the different parts of our four churches in the parish and the various things we do such as genuflecting & making the sign of the cross when we go into church and during our services. 

You can watch that video Inside a Catholic Church  HERE

The second part of the video will be shown next week.

Our thanks go to our clergy and to the parishioners who helped make the video. 

Week 2 - 4 October 2023   The Search for Happiness - Sycamore Video 1

The second part of the video we produced about our churches was shown and you can watch that video Inside a Catholic Church HERE.

Following this, we watched the first video of the Sycamore course & we used the questions in the video to discuss the issues raised. 

Week 3 - 11 October 2023   The Existence of God - Sycamore Video 2 

Week 4 - 18 October 2023   The Mass



Fr Martin Morris spoke about how important the Mass is to Catholics and of his own experience of his First Holy Communion. He guided us through the Order of the Mass explaining what we do & say in the various sections of the Mass.  The Mass - Video         
                             
Unfortunately there was insufficient time to watch the planned video but it can be viewed here A God Who Speaks - Sycamore Video 3 .

Week 5 - 1 November - Who is Jesus? - Sycamore Video 4 
At the start of the evening we spoke about All Saints' Day. The meaning behind All Saints' Day, and why is is celebrated. Then we discussed our favourite saints and why we chose them. Following that we had some prayer time and as All Souls Day was the following day  (2 November) the candidates were asked to write down the name of a family member they wished to pray for. These would be taken to Our Blessed Lady Immaculate church on Sunday 5 November for The Blessing of the Graves service. 

The group then watched Sycamore Video 4 Who is Jesus? and discussed the questions in the video. 

Week 6 - 8 November - The Holy Spirit & The Church - Sycamore Video 5 

Week 7 - 15 November - The Bible - Sycamore Video 6

Week 8 - 22 November - The New Testament 

We  began the evening with a prayer followed by a video which was a five minute summary of the Old Testament. 
 
Click the image below to view The Old Testament Told in Only 5 Minutes!



Following this Maria described the books of the New Testament in chronological order listed in the file attached. Click to open it  The New Testament 

We then read the story of The Prodigal Son and discussed our feelings about the issues in the parable. We viewed Rembrandt's painting of  The Return of The Prodigal Son and watched a video about it. Click the image below to view it.



There followed an interesting discussion about this Gospel story and a range of issues were discussed including how the father forgives his prodigal son despite everything he has done and how he responds to his other son who is angry at how his father has forgiven his wayward brother and is welcoming him back.  We reflected on how Jesus uses this story to show how God's love for us and forgives us everything no matter what we do.

We finished the evening with another video When God Ran 
Click the image below to view it. 




Week 9 - 29 November - The Power of Prayer - Sycamore Video 8 

There were some interesting discussions about what prayer is, what difference it can make to our lives and some practical tips on how to pray. 
A useful booklet on Daily Reflections for Advent & Christmas was distributed. 
There are also useful Advent Reflections & prayers available from the Diocesan Scripture Writing Team which can be read & downloaded HERE.  

Week 10 - 6 December - The Gift of Faith - Sycamore Video 7

The Importance of the Mass and its History - Fr Martin Morris 



Click on each part to watch the relevant video.
    Part 1            Part 2

After Christmas we began our sessions by attending Mass at St John Boste Church.

Week 11 - 10 January 2024 - Mass at St John Boste followed by recap of our previous sessions

Week 12 - 17 January 2024 - Mass at St John Boste followed by Faith.

Week 13 - 24 January 2024 - Mass at St John Boste followed by Marriage & Family Life with Rev Peter                                                                 Lavery & his wife Margaret

Week 14 - 31 January 2024 - Mass at St John Boste followed by Catholic Social Teaching with Chris O'Neill who gave an outline                    of the Catholic Church's priciples of Social Teaching and how her life has been influenced by it. 
 
Week 15 - 7 February 2024 - Mass at St John Boste followed by Sacraments of Baptism & Confirmation                                                             with Fr Martin Morris.

 14 February 2024 - Half Term
 

18 February 2024 - 1st Sunday in Lent church welcome at 10am Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace and later attending the Rite of Election at St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle at 3pm.

             
Fr Morris' Video Message to Our RCIA Candidates 18 February 2024

Please click the image above to watch the video

Week 16 - 21 February 2024 - Mass at St John Boste followed by some excellent videos on The Season of Lent - Fr Luke Wilkinson answered a range of questions about Lent. You can watch the videos HERE or click the photo below.


          Gilly Bowman asks Fr Luke some questions about Lent
 
Week 17 - 28 February 2024 - Dr Darren Kelsey sharing his faith journey

Week 18 - 6 March 2024 - Catholic Education with Brendan Robson                 
Brendan used a Powerpoint presentation to pose questions & aid our discussions about Catholic education in our schools. It was an opportunity to ask questions and challenge our perceptions about what is taught in Catholic schools.  Some of the group also gave their experiences of the positive differences between the various schools their children have attended.
The presentation is available to download HERE 

Saturday  9 March 2024 - Away Day at St Michael's, Houghton-le-Spring 10.30 am - 2.30 pm.
Confession - The why and the how of confession with Fr Luke.
Two videos cover the session and can be watched by using the relevant session link.



Session 1 - Fr Luke covers the why of confession in the following video and refers to Scott Hahn's book The Lord Have Mercy. 

Session 2 - Fr Luke covers the how of confession and refers to the St Joseph New Baltimore Catechism a children's book by Fr J Kelley

The session concluded with a Holy Hour including the Rosary.


Week 19 - 13 March 2024 - Our Lady & the Saints - St John Boste

Week 20 - 20 March 2024 - Preparation & Review Night - Our Lady Queen of Peace
 

Saturday 30 March 2024 - Evening Vigil Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace & Reception of Candidates  into the Catholic Church

Follow up Sessions with Fr Luke

Thursday 18 April 2024 - Prayer



Click on the image above to watch the video.


Thursday 2 May 2024 - The Old Testament


 

Click on the image above to watch the video.


Thursday 16 May 2024 - The Saints



Click on the image above to watch the video.

God bless everyone who made this such a wonderful programme. It has been an amazing experience we will never forget.