10th Anniversary of Our Parish of St John XXIII
Saturday 27 April marks the 10th Anniversary of our parish.
This is the announcement of the event in our Newsletter for that week:
New Saint, New Parish
This Sunday, Pope Francis will declare what has long been obvious: Pope John XXIII is a saint. Angelo Roncalli became Pope in 1958 and had the courage and vision to call the 2nd Vatican Council. He longed to ‘open the windows of the Church’ so that the Holy Spirit could renew her, so that the world could receive her love, and so that the Church could look out and see that there is no reason to fear the world; God is in the world and at work in all its peoples.
As the Pope canonises his predecessor, our new parish will come into being, taking John XXIII as our patron saint. Our Blessed Lady Immaculate, St Bede, St John Boste and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Penshaw will become St John XXIII parish.
The decree that brings the parish into being states that there are three reasons for the amalgamation: better pastoral care for the people, better use of the reducing number of priests, better use of time and resources.
Once we are up and running, we will have that togetherness that a parish family needs, under the guidance of our ‘Priest-in-Charge’, Father Mark Millward.
In his lifetime, John XXIII was loved not only by Catholics but by people of all faiths and none. He is a saint for our times and a saint for the Church of our times as it moves forward under the leadership of Pope Francis.