All posts by 3 churches

The week of Holiness

Next week Palm Sunday (24 March 2024) sees the beginning of Holy Week, the very heart of the Church’s year. We come together to remember, celebrate and share the very central events of our faith as we follow Jesus through the last week of his life on Earth.  Please make a very special effort to be present and help us all celebrate this Week of Holiness. This is how you can take part:

Palm Sunday – 24 March 2024
Parish Mass, 9.30am at Christ the King.
Parish Mass, 10.30am at St Brigid’s starting with a procession from the hall.
Both with palms blessed and distributed.
Stations of the Cross, 4pm at Christ the King.

Monday 25 March 2024
Parish Mass, 9.30am at St Brigid’s with morning prayer at 9.10am.
Passover Meal, 7pm at St Brigid’s Hall.
Come and experience the ancient roots of the Mass.

Tuesday 26 March 2024
Parish Mass, 9.30am at Christ the King with morning prayer at 9.10am.
Chrism Mass, 11.30am at the Cathedral. Join people and priests from all over the diocese as the sacramental oils for the year are blessed and priests’ promises renewed.

Wednesday 27 March 2024
Parish Mass, 9.30am at St Paul’s.

Thursday 28 March 2024
3 Churches Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, 8pm at Christ the King.
Watching at the Altar of Repose in the parish centre until midnight.

Good Friday – 29 March 2024
Morning Prayer, 10am at Christ the King.
Commemoration of the Passion and Death of Our Lord, 3pm at Christ the King (with children’s liturgy) and St Paul’s.

Holy Saturday – 30 March 2024
Holy Saturday, 10am Morning Prayer at Christ the King.
3 Churches Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter, 8.30pm St Brigid’s.
No Saturday evening mass at Christ the King.

Easter Sunday – 31 March 2024
Easter Sunday Masses at usual times.

Note clocks go forward one hour for summer time on 31 March.

Confirmation 2024

We are planning our Confirmation programme for those who would like to be confirmed this year – that is current year 8 and up.

This is an important sacrament in the life of our young people. This year we are working with St Philip Evans Parish for the preparation.

If this is you, please download, save and complete this Microsoft Word form and then email your completed form to Ansti Corellis at anstic2018@yahoo.com so we can contact you.

If you are unable to download and edit the above Word form, you can send an email to Ansti with the details as shown in this pdf version of the form (non-editable). 

The sacrament will take place on Friday 5 July at St Brigid’s. Further information can be obtained from Canon Matthew at matthew@3churches.org .

We are always looking for people to help run the course. If you think you could help in this important stage of our young people’s formation then please let Canon Matthew know.

Moving On – In Wales and throughout the World

There are two significant gatherings happening in our area over the next few weeks, one regarding the Church in South Wales and the other concerning the ongoing Synod.

Cardiff and Menevia

First, as announced in his Pastoral Letter on 17 December, Archbishop Mark has invited two representatives from each parish to attend a Consultation Meeting with him in Miskin on Saturday 10 February, to look at the shape of the Catholic Church in South Wales in the future. One of these representatives will be the Chair of each Parish Advisory Council but it is important that all views are heard in this process. Please let Fr Matthew know as soon as possible if you would be willing and able to attend this meeting.

The Synod from the Inside

Second, Austen Ivereigh will lead an afternoon on Wednesday 24 January at the Cornerstone in Charles Street. This will be a workshop on “A Synodal Church in Mission”. Dr Austen Ivereigh is a UK-based Roman Catholic journalist, author, commentator and biographer of Pope Francis, now living in Herefordshire. He was one of the expert facilitators at the recent Synod in Rome which began on 4 October 2023, and will certainly be able to give an inside view on what happened in Rome in October and where we go from here. This will be an open meeting. The report from Rome in October can be found here – www.cbcew.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/11/vatican-synthesis-report-eng-oct23.pdf.

Fr Matthew

An Advent for all!

Advent this year has some real highlights, starting with this Sunday evening!

There will be beautiful music for Advent and Christmas in St Brigid’s at 7.30pm when “In The Stillness” is a concert given by the Elizabeth Singers with our own Max Davies. There is nothing like music to set the scene for events, and when it is as good as this will be, I’m sure we will all be smiling our way towards Christmas. There will be refreshments to follow. Free entry with retiring collection. Don’t miss it…

Meanwhile, on Saturday of this week a wonderful Catholic Youth Retreat will take place with young people from all corners of the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Diocese of Menevia! Are you a teenager or young adult? Join us on Saturday 16 December in Swansea for a day filled with joy, inspiration, and spiritual growth. This is a follow-up to World Youth Day in Lisbon in July, but also it is the launch of a Youth Service for the Catholic church here in South Wales, something we have looked towards for a long time… What to expect? Mass with Archbishop Mark… Uplifting music from 99. One… Inspiring talks and insightful conversations… Delicious food to fuel your spirit… Two streams available: ages 13 to 18 and ages 18 and above. To register, please email Deacon Christian Mahoney at: christian.mahoney@rcadc.org or call him on: 07764 515864.

Then next Sunday, so-called Gaudete Sunday is also Bambinelli Sunday in our 3 Churches. At all weekend Masses in all 3 churches, you are invited to bring the figure of the baby Jesus from your crib at home. During the Mass the images will be blessed, ready for you to place in your crib at Christmas. This lovely tradition from Italy (bambinelli means little children) has taken off here in Britain too in recent years. Children love it, but anyone can bring their little figures to the altar when the priest invites us – young and not-so-young!

Lastly, we have our 3 Churches Carol Service on Tuesday 19 December 6pm at St Brigid’s, led by our younger children from Christ the King, our parish school.

So there’s a lot going on this Advent in our 3 Churches. Make sure you are part of it…

Fr Matthew

Feast of Christ the King celebration

On Sunday 26 November, at 9.30 Mass in Christ the King Church, a beautiful celebration of the Feast of Christ the King took place, led by the staff and children of Christ the King Primary School.  The music was delightful; the children carrying out the liturgies did so with confidence and dignity and Fr Andy provided a homily to inspire the children – how we are accompanied by angels whenever we are in the presence of Jesus.  A big thank you to Sue Miles, Headteacher and all the staff who helped make our special feast day such a memorable one. 

 

Photo of altar at Christ the King church for celebration of the Feast of Christ the King, 2023.

New Vicar General, New Dean

Today, the First Sunday of Advent, sees a new year in the life of the Church, and in the life of our own local Church in Cardiff we see some significant new appointments. Our new Vicar General in the diocese is Fr Brian Gray, formerly Dean of Cardiff, who now replaces Mgr Can Joe Boardman of Penarth, while our new Dean is Canon John Griffiths. Fr Gray is parish priest of St Cadoc’s, St John Lloyd’s and Blessed Sacrament on the east side of the city, but parishioners of St Brigid’s and St Paul’s may remember him as assistant to Canon Dunne and acting parish priest for a few years up to 2004. Canon Griffiths is parish priest in our neighbouring parish of St Teilo’s with Our Lady of Lourdes.

Our diocese is divided into four deaneries, and each Dean has a coordinating role, among the clergy and parishes in his area, and between his area and the Archbishop. In each diocese the diocesan bishop must appoint a vicar general who is to assist the bishop or archbishop in the governance of the whole diocese. It is a personal appointment by the bishop. Church law states that he is “to be a priest not less than thirty years old, a doctor or licensed in canon law or theology or at least truly expert in these disciplines, and recommended by sound doctrine, integrity, prudence, and experience in handling matters.” A bishop can delegate a lot of actions to him, but communication between them is very important.

I remember being told in my church law studies back in the 80s in Canada that although the job of “V.G” might be seen as high profile, it is also potentially very difficult, because of one little phrase in the small section in the law devoted to the role. This states that a Vicar General is “never to act contrary to the intention and mind of the diocesan bishop. In other words, if he has his own ideas any different to those of the bishop, he is to be “of one mind”. Hmm, tough call, especially in the modern church where we are more encouraged to share our thoughts and opinions! Good luck lads!

Fr Matthew