ADULT FORMATION FOR MISSION A JOYOUS LENTjoyous

It can be very easy to think of Lent as a joy-free zone, with our focus on repentance, fasting, and almsgiving we can be quite long faced! The Gospel of Ash Wednesday reminds us to be in fact joy-filled, that people will not know we are fasting When we stop and think about it Lent is all about helping us grow in holiness, to grow closer to Jesus and be more Christ like that is something to be very happy about!

This year we had a very joyful, busy Lent, it was a delight to have four big events to offer the diocese The first was the Rite of Election, our second since lockdown though this year without the Papal Nuncio in attendance It was wonderful to see people gather from all across the diocese to meet the bishop and be presented as someone who wants to be a disciple of Christ in His Church Each new member on the journey is a wonderful celebration, so it was fantastic to have nearly 70 candidates and catechumens join us, bringing their families, friends, catechists and clergy with them Each person had a story of how they were drawn to our Church, they each bring their own personalities, skills, charisms to enrichen the Church just as much as being part of the Church enrichens them This year the theme of our focus was Look to Christ encourage all those present, and those who joined us online, to make Christ the focus of our lives, of our hearts, to trust Him Bishop Patrick spoke about this in his homily encouraging simple ways to help them grow closer to Christ and to grow in confidence in answering His call to share Him with others We also did something different in that we invited representatives from Leicester Deanery to help plan and lead the liturgy It was wonderful to have this new support and creativity, we had three groups provide music: St Mary’s and St John Bosco Choir, Sacred Heart CVA Choir and the Leicester Jesus Youth Music Ministry

We also hosted three day retreats! The first was our first young adult Lent retreat day Our diocesan young adult ministry Christus Vivit has been going from strength to strength since its launch 18 months ago It was our most recently formed group in Derby that hosted the retreat at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Mickleover We were delighted to have Jack Valero, one of the founders of Catholic Voices and an international speaker and retreat leader, guiding us through the day Jack spoke about how we are called to live out our faith through our work –whatever that may be The day was split into three parts – sanctifying your work, your work sanctifying you and sanctifying others through your work These talks helped all present to see that God calls us to live out our faith in every moment of our week not just on Sundays, and in every place, not just in church activities That our work is an act of sharing in God’s creative and redemptive work We are very grateful to the Diocesan Vocations Team and the University of Derby Catholic Chaplaincy who funded the day so that it was free for all to attend, and to the Derby Catenians Circle for providing the lunch

Our next retreat was our second ever men ’ s retreat This year it was held at the Rosmini Centre and was given by Fr Julian Green, a priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham 20 men from all over the diocese gathered together to reflect on how what it means to be me a man of scripture The greatest example of manhood is that of Christ and Fr Julian’s talks focused on this; looking at how Jesus approached the Passion, the emptying of Himself, the devotion to His disciples and the steadfastness of His commitment to His Father The day was constructed to bring us closer to Christ by prolonged times of silent prayer to draw deeper into Jesus present in the scriptures and Blessed Sacrament The day concluded with a very damp Stations Of The Cross that was very personal, at each station we were invited to speak to Jesus personally about what was on our heart This was a profound and humbling experience to share together We are always looking to expand our men ’ s ministry so please do get in touch if you have ideas

Finally at the end of March, on the solemnity of the Annunciation, we gathered together for our biggest day retreat, this time for the women of the diocese This had nearly 70 attendees and was also held at the Rosmini Centre We were privileged to have Sr Anne Swailes OP, a member of the Stone Congregation Dominican Sisters, based in Cambridge Sr Anne is one of the Catholic Chaplains at the University of Cambridge and has much experience leading retreats for women She spoke on what the feasts we celebrate in honour of Our Lady reveal to us about her faith and how we can imitate it She explored how we too can find great joy when we are able to discern and welcome Jesus will for us The afternoon gave time to explore different prayer stations, receive the sacrament of Reconciliation, explore Lectio Divina or pray the rosary together It was great to see women from different places, backgrounds and generations come together to support one another and grow in faith

With these four amazing events you can see how we had such a joyful Lent Our Eastertide is a little quieter as we come to the end of our Catechist Formation courses but look forward to a great celebration for families on the 24th June at Sacred Heart Parish in Leicester!

Joe Hopkins