St Charles Catholic Primary School

The advertisement for the post of Headteacher to replace Mrs Fran Smith who is retiring at the end of the summer term can be found here. Please make this as widely known as you can to ensure that we attract excellent candidates. Please pray for the governors as they seek to appoint the right person.

Prepare for Sunday with Blessed John Henry Newman

If you want a reflection on the readings for the First Sunday of Lent why not take a look at Cardinal Newman's wonderful hymn, Praise to the Holiest? Read the readings, read the hymn - slowly. Let your heart and mind go from one to the other. Can you see the connections especially in the second and third verses of the hymn? Can you see how both tell the same wonderful story of how God makes a triumph from the disaster of our disobedience?

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways.

O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.

O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail.

And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God’s Presence and His very Self,
And Essence all divine.

O generous love! that He, who smote,
In Man for man the foe,
The double agony in Man
For man should undergo.

And in the garden secretly,
And on the Cross on high,
Should teach His brethren, and inspire
To suffer and to die.

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways.

You might even like to finish by singing along....

Catenian Public Speaking Contest

Our newsletter advertised last Sunday's Catholic Secondary Schools Public Speaking Contest sponsored by the Catenians. You may be interested to read this account of the highly successful event.

Newsletter for 8/9 March - Lent 1(A)

Click here to read this week's newsletter.

You can download a printable version of the Lent programme here.


The Why? Course starts Wednesday 12th March
Our Lady of Lourdes (crypt): After 9.30am Mass 
St Charles Borromeo: 7.00pm 

Another Lent Resource

You may like to follow this blog during Lent. It is been organised by people connected with the Catholic Chaplaincy at Nottingham University. Bishop Malcolm has written the first post which appears today.

You can get daily alerts by using the email box, as in our own parish site, or by following the facebook or twitter links.

Quick guide to Fasting and Abstinence

Please note that this is from a US site. It applies in this country in what it says about Lent. However, since September  2011 in England and Wales, every Friday through the year (except for Solemnities) is to be observed by abstinence from meat.

More Lent Resources

Lent is almost here. Have you checked out these Lent Resources yet?

You can find a lot more at this Guide to a Catholic Lent. The guide gives some useful background and includes many links to other resources.

None of us can follow up all the suggestions. Not everyone will be able to get to all the special events on our parish Lent programme. However, we can all do something to make Lent special. Now is the time to think and pray about what I will do to make Lent 2014 a time of spiritual growth for myself and for our parish community.

Let's all be at Mass on Ash Wednesday. That would be a good time to offer our Lent resolutions to the Lord.