It's that time of year again! No sooner is Christmas over then lent begins, it has come especially fast this year being the earliest lent since the 1920s! Enough of the boring stuff as the last youth group before lent we did a combined ages Mardi Gras. It was fab, if I do say so myself, we could not get the kids to leave! Michelle was doing pancakes, Dawn was making juggling balls with the youth and James and I played, well that is we bought all our toys... juggling balls, unicycles etc and showed the kids what to do. It was like a juggling club. The time flew by and we had a few games like stredgging which **** and ******* we particularly good at, before closing. Then everyone just stayed to play - imagine having to make the youth leave!! I have never seen the likes. It was a wonderful party and celebration before we begin the fasting of lent. Oh and Michelle: "What is shrove?"... "The English term "shrovetide" (from "to shrive", or hear confessions)... "In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do [in the way of penance]". In this name shrovetide the religious idea is uppermost, and the same is true of the German Fastnacht (the eve of the fast)." Thanks New Advent!

YOUTH CLUB - COME AS YOUR FAVOURITE SAINT PARTY

On the 2nd November we had a come as your favourite saint party , but being aware that the Feast of All Saint's was on the 1st we began the evening by remembering All Souls (the Feast of the day).  We did a litany of saints procession by candle light and remembered our loved ones who have gone on.  Then the party began, the costumes had no expenses spared. 

My experience of Faith Summertime at Ampleforth 2007

by Luke

When I first got to Ampleforth I thought that it looked quite different from all the photographs that I've seen. The most different thing I noticed was that there were buildings on either side of the abbey.  In spite of the rain, my first impressions of the Abbey and the grounds were "WOW".

To start with the coach took us to the wrong house, when we arrived at the correct house everyone rushed from the coach to collect their bags and find which room we where staying in,
unfortunately no-one knew the combination to get us in!

Whilst we were at Ampleforth we had talks about God and us, went to night prayers with the monks, went to Flamingo Land (I think Father William really enjoyed himself!),
went swimming, and played cricket and football.

I enjoyed it when we went to Mass with the Franciscan friars, because of the peacefulness
and the thrill of being in the Abbey.  I also enjoyed Flamingo Land.
 

My time at Ampleforth made me think about
becoming a priest when I grow up.

I enjoyed everything so much I can't
wait to go back next year.

 
I felt good that I could make my own mind up about getting confirmed and I wasn’t nervous at all until I actually got into the church and realised that everyone in the whole church would be watching us. Especially during communion I was scared because I had agreed to play a duet on my violin with Allison on her flute. The violin was tuned and so was the flute, but we didn’t tune the flute to the violin, so some notes felt a bit strange – but nobody noticed, so it went ok!
 
I was most scared about going up to the Bishop but my best friend Louise, who was my sponsor just laughed at me and said there was nothing to worry about, but I was still relieved when it was over, but happy at the same time.
 

 An interview with Ian Moore:     
 
Ian was born in Hull and was the winner of ‘Stars in their Eyes’ He was performing in the social club that my parents run as a member of the charity M.I.C.E. (Men in Charity Endeavour).
 
When I asked him how he feels about Hull he said, "it is unfulfilled and needs improvement but it is undergoing transformations with things like The Deep and the Kingston Communications Stadium, so it is gradually getting better". He also said that despite what people think of Hull, he is pleased to be here. When I asked for his thoughts about bad comments, he said "Everybody has their own opinion", so he ignores negative comments.
 
I then asked if he likes being recognised or if he preferred life before fame. He told me that he definitely prefers the way things are now, but things have calmed down a lot now and he doesn’t get recognised so much. Ian finds the attention ‘flattering’ and says, "I have never refused an autograph".
 
Ian Moore has released one album called ‘naturally’ and has had a successful tour to places including York and Leeds.
 
All this will be followed up with a new, more upbeat album soon to be released. Ian is pleased to be working for the M.I.C.E and they have two websites for more information:
 
www.vocal2000.co.uk
 
www.get-filmed.co.uk
 
There will also be a show on at Hull New Theatre on July 8^th 2003, which will no doubt feature the M.I.C.E traditional song. The words are:

 
On the day of my first communion it was very hot and sunny.
 
I wore a white shirt, grey shorts and a red tie. This was a bit uncomfortable……but it looked smart.
 
My mum took me to church at 10 o’clock to prepare with all the other communion children and Mrs Hanson and Mrs Pennock.
 
Then at 11 o’clock the church was full and we were almost ready to start. Everyone was nervous when Mrs Hanson led us from the hall into the church.
 
As soon as we entered the church it all went silent. We walked down the aisle towards the alter. Everyone was terrified. Then Fr. Pete started the service.
 
All the first communion children contributed towards the mass. Some said bidding prayers did bible readings or showed their first communion books.
 
As soon as the mass was over, everyone ran to the hall to start the feast. We ate chocolate fingers, buns, crisps, sandwiches and all sorts of things.
 
Then we were dragged along by our parents to have photos taken for hours!

After this I went home and celebrated my first holy communion with my family.

 
Last year, well November to be exact, I and about 10 others made their confirmation at St Wilfrids church in Hull.
 
Before I could make my confirmation there were several things I had to do first. I had to attend meetings about 1 per month were we completed worksheets and discussed different aspects of confirmation. We discussed what confirmation was and what it involved, but we also discussed what it meant to us as individuals. We also talked about how our new commitment to God would affect our church life and the role we played in our church community.
 
The meetings lasted for about a 1 to 1½ hours and were fun and relaxed. In addition to these meetings we also went on a retreat to Hornsea, which included an overnight stay.
 
During the retreat we chose which name we wanted to be given and researched it to learn a bit about the Saint that we had chosen. We also planned what our actual confirmation mass was going to include which songs and which prayers we wanted. Also on the last night of the retreat we had a mini mass which again we planned our selves.
 
On the actual night of the confirmation every member of the confirmation group had a special job to do and some part in the service. Bishop John came to confirm. Which means that we were confirming to God that we wanted to become adult members of the church. After the confirmation mass there was light refreshments and a chance for people to come together as the West Hull Parish's community.
 
Making my confirmation was a lot different than I imagined. It was fun but at the same time was serious. We had a lot of help during the preparation of making our confirmation without that help I don't think that our confirmation would have been as big a success as it was. So I would like to say a big thank you to all those who helped in anyway towards me making my confirmation.
 

  Interview with David Hemingway:      
 
David was born in Hull and is a member of the band, Beautiful South. He can play drums, base guitar and keyboard. He went to Sir Henry Cooper School and tells me he is proud to be from Hull.
 
David now lives in Leeds but says "I drive home and when I see the Humber Bridge I feel really good because I know I’m driving home".
 
David is a fairly private person and he says that people tend to recognise the lead singer but never him and he is very pleased about that.
 
Despite not liking fame David said "I have been very fortunate. Anybody who has a job that they enjoy is lucky".
 
He went on to say that he doesn’t like to hear bad things about Hull especially the school league tables as he is concerned about education due to his own two children, a son of seven and a daughter of nine. He says of Hull’s education "it shouldn’t be like that".
 
The Beautiful South were originally called the Housemartins and they have had a very successful career with albums including ‘Quench’ and ‘Painting it red’.

Name: Danny  Subject: Children’s Liturgy  Favourite things: Making a sheep - Covering with cotton wool!  Danny thinks the liturgy is a good way to make new friends – now because he’s made his first Holy Communion; he doesn’t go as often to the sessions.

 
He likes it because the Mass is made easier to understand & he gets to do readings at the front of the church to tell people what they have been doing – and usually bidding prayers.
 
If Danny had to organise the liturgy he would read a story and then do something related to it – much like they do now. He thinks that all Churches should have a Children’s Liturgy!

In church we have normal services. On special occasions we normally have two services, one for adults and one for young children. However we do not have a mass for 10 to 16 years. I think it would be a good idea because the adult masses for special occasions are hard to understand and the children's one is to easy to understand. So I think it would be good to have 3 masses on special occasions. To even it out a bit. Also I think it would be a good idea to also have more family parties. On special occasions e.g. Christmas and Easter. I also think that once a year we should have like a summer fair where people can enjoy themselves.
 

Oldest members:   Katie , Amy.
Youngest members: Kieron.
Who are we?   At first this seemed a strange question and difficult to answer. It could have meant who are we as a church. I haven't been going to St. Joseph's for a long time and I don't know much of its history, so I decided to ask people their opinion of 'who are we?'
I asked eight different people and from this I found that quite a few people before coming to St. Joseph's were originally part of St. Wilfrid's. Different people gave me different answers.
David  - We are a family of Christians.
Jane - A group of friends. People who you can rely on who will not judge you.
Mary  - People who try to follow the Catholic faith as best they can.
Mary  - A place where you can be yourself. True to the church and true to yourself.
Pauline - A group of friends. All part of a community.
Terri - A good family. A friendly place with welcoming and faithful people.
Brenda  - Catholics trying to be good people and help each other.
Ronnie - people to help each other. All friends together.
Looking at all the people I asked. I could see how close we really are. First on the list was David Mason and he went to school with Ronnie. Ronnie and Brenda Sedgewick are sisters whose mother belongs to St. Wilfrid's and is now 89 years old. Ronnie is Jane's mum and Kieron is the youngest member of the church is Jane's son. Pauline does the didlum after church every week and Terri is a regular helper with tea and coffee after mass.
Mary Pearson is my nana and she also was originally part of St. Wilfrid's. Mary Peterson has been a friend of my nana's for years. Mary's daughter Julie was best friends with my auntie for a long time. My mum, my auntie and Julie all got married and each one had the other two for bridesmaids. Just these eight people are all closely linked and that is what the whole church is like. We are all individuals with our own opinions. My opinion of 'who are we' is: We are a group of closely linked friends, all Catholic individuals helping each other and it is our individuality that make up one Church and one community called St. Joseph's.

Who + What are we? We are a group of Catholics who come to the same church to worship the same God. We help each other as best we can, and we socialise after mass with tea, coffee and biscuits.
We are all Catholic individuals who are all part of one Parish - Corpus Christi.