St. Felix Parish Ntenefor, Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon.

03/11/2024

Phase II of the Ntenefor Presbytery Kicks off: raising of pillars, decking, raising of pillars for first floor and roofing! All our Harvest Thanksgiving are geared towards this... A Harvest Thanksgiving of Love ❤️ 😍 🙏🏿🙏🏿💞💞

28/09/2024

23/09/2024

ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. The new St. Blaise Hospital was inaugurated last Wednesday. However, the grand opening is scheduled at another date. Anyone admitted in the hospital in the next 6 months will be granted a 25% discount on Bed Fee and Nursing Care. From 25th – 28th September, 2024, there will be a 50% discount on all surgeries.
2. Our schools reopen this week. Could you make sure you bring in your children from the first day because classes will begin immediately. As Manager of Schools, Fr. Bern appeals to all potential parents to pay in, at least their registration fees on day one. And make sure that by the end of September, almost half the fees should have been paid. Children are not only psychologically disturbed when they are sent out for fees but are also disturbed in their learning when they miss classes. Lastly, paying fees will help pay the teachers;’ salaries on time and this will keep them happy in their job. We count on your cooperation! As a reminder, Registration Fees are 2,500Frs in all our primary schools and tuition fees 25,000frs for Ntenefor and 20,000frs for Bujong and Menka.
‘The right purpose of education is training in the right use of freedom… True education goes beyond knowledge – it shapes our ability to use freedom wisely, making choices that lead to the good. Let’s seek learning that forms both our minds and heart.’: Bishop Fulton Sheen
3. We continuous thank you all for supporting our parish projects quietly and generously. At moment, we have already started moulding the decking blocks for the Presbytery and have completed ¾ of the canopy at the main entrance of our parish Church. Could we all come out in our numbers next Monday, 30th September, 2024, to backfill and level the foundation of both the Presbytery and frontage of the Church. Thanks for your usual co-operation.
4. The 2024/25 Maryvale Distance Learning Programme will begin this year as follows: Year One – Tuesday October 15 to Friday, October 18th 2024; Year Two Tuesday 22nd October to Friday, 25th October, 2024. While the parish will be sending in 3 candidates, anyone interested in knowing and growing in the faith can register. The fee per session, which are three in a year, is 25,000frs.
5. All individuals and groups, except teachers, keeping keys to any of the classrooms should submit the keys to the Manager’s/Parish Office. It is not just that some groups have access to the school buildings for their practices and meetings while others haven’t. Neither is it responsible for groups to open classrooms at will and sometimes upset the classroom order. Any group intending to use any of the classrooms should indicate in the office, pick up the key and return it to the office immediately after use. Let us start preparing our minds that as we reconstruct our primary and nursery school, it will be out of bounds for any individual or church group to use any of its facilities. Thanks for understanding.
6. As we carry out our SCC elections, let us remind ourselves that leadership is not about controlling people, but caring for/nurturing people and empowering them to learn to do things for themselves. Above all, leadership in the Church is all about love that springs from a compassionate heart since there is a lot of suffering around and we want to cooperate with God to make things better. We thank those of you who want to join in this ministry of service so that our SCCs and neighbourhood should become places of love, peace and unity (1 Peter 5:1-7).
7. We thank the Mission Station Samba group for coming our twice this last week to clear the bushes in the Church premises. May the Good Lord bless your goodwill.

12/09/2024

Happy Feast Day, St Mary's SCC. Ntenefor. It is our prayer that you remain the Star of the Sea' in our parish.

12/09/2024

Our volunteering children contributing in their own little way to upgrade the vicinity of our parish church. Yes, we are the church!

05/03/2024

17/02/2024

THE YEAR OF HOLY SPIRIT – FEBRUARY THE MONTH OF JOY
Christian joy is tied to truth, the truth about the Lord Jesus, and so also tied to faith. Christian joy is tied to hope in God's promises in Christ. Christian joy is tied to love, the love of God in Christ. There is no Christian joy without the theological virtues. There can be no joy without it being grounded in love of God, in the truth of God and belief in him, and in our hopeful confidence in his promises. Joy is, in the final analysis, a gift of God himself, the God who is Love (1 John 4:8) and Truth (John 14:6), the God of Hope (Rom. 15:13), the God who has revealed himself in fullness in the God-Man Jesus. Joy is intrinsically tied to truth, in particular the truths of our faith. As Joseph Ratzinger observed, "only when love and truth are in harmony can man know joy." In his apostolic exhortation on joy, Pope Paul VI was equally insistent that joy and truth are travel companions: "God disposes the mind and heart of His creature to meet joy, at the same time as truth."

BENEFITS OF PRAYING THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS – POPE FRANCIS
1. They allow us to Place our Trust in Him: “The Cross of Christ contains all the love of God; there we find his immeasurable mercy. This is a love in which we can place all our trust, in which we can believe…. let us entrust ourselves to Jesus, let us give ourselves over to him, because he never disappoints anyone! Only in Christ crucified and risen can we find salvation and redemption.” —Address, World Youth Day, Way of the Cross, July 26, 2013
2. They put us into the Story: “And you, who do you want to be? Like Pilate? Like Simon? Like Mary? Jesus is looking at you now and is asking you: do you want to help me carry the Cross? Brothers and sisters, with all the strength of your youth, how will you respond to him?” —Address, World Youth Day, Way of the Cross, July 26, 2013
3. They Remind us that Jesus Suffers for us: “The Cross of Christ bears the suffering and the sin of mankind, including our own. Jesus accepts all this with open arms, bearing on his shoulders our crosses and saying to us: ‘Have courage! You do not carry your cross alone! I carry it with you. I have overcome death and I have come to give you hope, to give you life’ (cf. Jn 3:16).” —Address, World Youth Day, Way of the Cross, July 26, 2013
4. They Compel us to Action: “But the Cross of Christ invites us also to allow ourselves to be smitten by his love, teaching us always to look upon others with mercy and tenderness, especially those who suffer, who are in need of help, who need a word or a concrete action.” —Address, World Youth Day, Way of the Cross, July 26, 2013
5. They Help us Make a Decision For Or Against Jesus: “[The Cross] reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. Let us remember this: God judges us by loving us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.” —Address, Good Friday, March 29, 2013
6. They Reveal God’s Response to Evil in the World: “The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness.” – Address, Good Friday, March 29, 2013
7. They Give us the Certainty of God’s Love for Us: “What has the Cross given to those who have gazed upon it and to those who have touched it? What has the Cross left in each one of us? You see, it gives us a treasure that no one else can give: the certainty of the faithful love which God has for us.” – Address, World Youth Day, Way of the Cross, July 26, 2013
8. They Guide us From the Cross to the Resurrection: “O, Our Jesus, guide us from the Cross to the resurrection and teach us that evil shall not have the last word, but love, mercy and forgiveness. O Christ, help us to exclaim again: ‘Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with Him. Yesterday I died with Him, today I live with Him. Yesterday I was buried with Him, today I am raised with Him’”. – Address, Good Friday, April 18, 2014.

Let us all make an attempt to attend the Stations of the Cross and Mass, at least thrice a week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Fr William Shakespeare extends his gratitude to all in the parish for supporting him spiritually, morally and financially since his father was called into eternity, especially during his funeral. You are all in his prayers!
2. Christian Doctrine continues tomorrow immediately after Mass. Last week we reflected on the five the foundational pillars of our Christian faith: the Blessed Trinity, the Person of Jesus Christ, the Paschal Mystery, the Human Person and finally, the Church. Tomorrow we shall examine the Trinity and its implication on understanding ourselves and others.
3. Marriage doctrine for those marrying in the months of May and June will begin tomorrow Monday, 19th February, 2024 8:15am after the general Christian doctrine.
4. The World Day of the Sick will be celebrated in the Archdiocesan Metropolitan Cathedral this Wednesday 21st February, 2024 at 10am. After Mass, there will be a reception at the St Joseph’s Parish Hall for all the sick. Anyone who wants to assist in the occasion or a sick person should solicit his/her assistance through the Matron of St. Blaise’s Hospital. All parishes around the Bamenda Urban Area are strongly admonished to fully take part in this celebration. We invite those who have sick people at home to bring them to this Mass. We do hope that when the Health Commission in the parish becomes functional, it would take over the preparation of this World Day of the Sick so that we also celebrate it within our own parish also.
5. During this Season of Lent, there shall be no baptisms. All those who planned baptism for their children should postpone it to Easter Vigil, 30th March, 2024.
6. Doctrinal focus for children preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation: The baptism of Jesus was an inauguration of Jesus’ Mission here on earth and that is why God revealed him as his only begotten Son; hence, we should listen to him. The first thing that Jesus tells us is calling us by name and a sign that we have heard his call is that we receive the sacrament of Baptism which joins us to his mission in saving the world. Therefore, every person who has received or wants to receive baptism is accepting to be Jesus’ disciple and apostle: a disciple is like a student learning from Jesus; after learning, he then sends us (meaning of apostle). To understand this better, this week we will read Mt 4:18-22; Mt 19:16-17.19-22 and Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 520 and 2002.
7. The Cathedraticum will be launched today, Sunday 18th February. Proceeds for the Cathedraticum this year will still go for the completion of the Cathedral Project which will cost 500 million Frs. As of now, the whole Archdiocese of Bamenda has raised the sum of 300 million through the 80% from the last Harvest Thanksgiving. It is hoped that through the Cathedraticum, the 200 million balance will be raised. From the Archdiocesan Cathedraticum coordinator, Ntenefor has been asked to contribute 6million. We know we have lots of projects to realise in our parish. However, let us do our utmost best to see that raise this money to help in the refurbishment of our Mother Church, the Cathedral whose Golden Jubilee we shall celebrate next year.
8. There will be a general PTA meeting on Thursday 22nd February, 2024, at C.S Bujong beginning at 10am Prompt.
9. All the Altar serves are reminded of their meeting today Sunday 18th February, 2024 in Menka at 12 noon.
10. There shall be a parochial choir practice for all choristers in the Parish on Wednesday 20th February, 2024 in St John Mary Vianney Mission Station, Bujong.

14/02/2024

THE YEAR OF HOLY SPIRIT – FEBRUARY THE MONTH OF JOY
The first condition necessary for Christian joy is to focus less on one’s self and to put Jesus at the centre of everything. One of the reasons that Jesus came here on earth and took time to teach us was to make our joy complete (John 15:11). Jesus does not come into our lives to alienate us from true life; rather, he “is the light that gives full meaning to the life of every man and woman who comes into this world” (Pope Francis). In the words of St. John Paul II: ‘Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power… Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ… Do not be afraid. Christ knows "what is in man". He alone knows it. So often today man does not know what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life {(22 October 1978, Mass at the beginning of the Pontificate | John Paul II (vatican.va)}. Welcoming Jesus Christ into our lives is not something that ends up only in ideas. No! Jesus wants to develop a brotherly and friendly relationship with us. Hence, ‘being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ (Deus caritas est (December 25, 2005) | BENEDICT XVI (vatican.va). I believe we have all had an experience of the joy that developing a good relationship with others brings into our lives. The problem with human relationships is that the joy is never permanent due to our human frailty. But, with Jesus, it is constant because he loves us to end, despite our imperfections and unfaithfulness. In Jesus, we come to discover that joy does not mean living from laugh to laugh… Joy is not entertainment… It is something else. Christian joy is peace, peace that is deeply rooted, peace in the heart, the peace that only God can give. This is Christian joy. It is not easy to foster this joy. Because, as we earlier said, it is not void of suffering, but is found at the heart of suffering. Despite the challenges, the suffering and difficulties, the Christian remains joyful because he is convinced that ‘love conquers in the end’.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. The Season of Lent starts on Wednesday 14th February, 2024. While waiting for the Lenten Message from Pope Francis, we would want that we all prepare ourselves for this season of grace by reviewing our attitudes towards the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While your priests will avail themselves more to the celebration of this Sacrament. We also appeal to all to bring the palms we blessed last year so that we can burn and prepare the ashes to be distributed on Ash Wednesday. Masses shall be as follows: Bangshie, 6.30am; Bujong 4.30pm for those in Bujong, Menkah and Nta’asia; Ntenefor, 7.15am for primary school and those who can attend, 5pm for the rest of the community and those from Bangshie who can’t attend the 6.30am Mass.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. As it is with regrets that we announce the death of the father of Fr. William Shakespeare, Pa Emmanuel Logar, whom the Good Lord called to himself last Wednesday night. On behalf of the Parish, we do extend our condolences to Fr William and pray for the repose of Pa’s soul. Everything being equal, his funeral Mass will take place at St. Paul’s next Saturday, 20th February, 2024.
2. We are having a second collection today for Consecrated Life; aimed at supporting the promotion of Religious Life in the Church!
3. The Season of Lent starts on Wednesday 14th February, 2024. While waiting for the Lenten Message from Pope Francis, we would want that we all prepare ourselves for this season of grace by reviewing our attitudes towards the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While your priests will avail themselves more to the celebration of this Sacrament. We also appeal to all to bring the palms we blessed last year so that we can burn and prepare the ashes to be distributed on Ash Wednesday. Masses shall be as follows: Bangshie, 6.30am; Bujong 4.30pm for those in Bujong, Menkah and Nta’asia; Ntenefor, 7.15am for primary school and those who can attend, 5pm for the rest of the community and those from Bangshie who can’t attend the 6.30am Mass. Let us also remember that Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence. Following our Bishops’ recommendation, we are also called to abstain from alcohol.
4. During Lent, Mission Stations and our Catholic Primary Schools should try to organise the Stations of the Cross. This spiritual exercise helps us to understand that true peace, happiness and joy can be attained only through the cross. Hence, like Christ, we should all embrace our respective crosses; the only means through which we can truly, peacefully and happily become successful and fruitful.
5. With sacramental registrations through, doctrine classes will begin this week. As we earlier said, parents and godparents will be involved in this sacramental programme. All our candidates should own a bible, crucifix, a rosary not only to read but to pray with them. We also need to prepare a quiet place of prayer in their rooms. In the first week, we shall all attempt to help them understand the sacrament of Baptism flowing from the Baptism of Jesus. Next Sunday, we shall give the Biblical passages that we all need to read and pray with them and some of the resources to teach this sacrament effectively. Our catechetical programme will focus more on transformation of life than just cramming formulae. The focus this week will be on the Baptism of Jesus, which will help candidates to better appreciate what baptism is all about. They should read Mt. 3:1-2,5-6,13-17; Mt 28:19 and Mark 16:16.
6. As we begin our new financial year, could we try and keep on contributing generously for the growth of our parish. Our main source of income are alms, Christian Contribution, Mass Offerings and Stole fees.
7. The Cathedraticum will be launched on Sunday 18th February. Proceeds for the Cathedraticum this year will still go for the completion of the Cathedral Project which will cost 500 million Frs. As of now, the whole Archdiocese of Bamenda has raised the sum of 300 million through the 80% from the last Harvest Thanksgiving. It is hoped that through the Cathedraticum, the 200 million balance will be raised. From the Archdiocesan Cathedraticum coordinator, Ntenefor has been asked to contribute 6million. We know we have lots of projects to realise in our parish. However, let us do our utmost best to see that raise this money to help in the refurbishment of our Mother Church, the Cathedral whose Golden Jubilee we shall celebrate next year. We shall launch the Cathedraticum next Sunday, 18th February, 2024.

10/02/2024

Surveying and positioning the Presbytery, Nursery and Primary School and Parish Hall, Ntenefor. Work to start soon. Please be careful not to tamper with the marked pegs around the church and Primary School. We rely on the Lord as we face this difficult tasks ahead🙏🏿🙏🏿❤️❤️

07/02/2024

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
###II WORLD DAY OF THE SICK
11 February 2024
“It is not good that man should be alone”.
Healing the Sick by Healing Relationships

“It is not good that man should be alone” (cf. Gen 2:18). From the beginning, God, who is love, created us for communion and endowed us with an innate capacity to enter into relationship with others. Our lives, reflecting in the image of the Trinity, are meant to attain fulfilment through a network of relationships, friendships and love, both given and received. We were created to be together, not alone. Precisely because this project of communion is so deeply rooted in the human heart, we see the experience of abandonment and solitude as something frightening, painful and even inhuman. This is all the more the case at times of vulnerability, uncertainty and insecurity, caused often by the onset of a serious illness.
In this regard, I think of all those who found themselves terribly alone during the Covid-19 pandemic: the patients who could not receive visitors, but also the many nurses, physicians and support personnel overwhelmed by work and enclosed in isolation wards. Naturally, we cannot fail to recall all those persons who had to face the hour of their death alone, assisted by healthcare personnel, but far from their own families.
I share too in the pain, suffering and isolation felt by those who, because of war and its tragic consequences, are left without support and assistance. War is the most terrible of social diseases, and it takes its greatest toll on those who are most vulnerable.
At the same time, it needs to be said that even in countries that enjoy peace and greater resources, old age and sickness are frequently experienced in solitude and, at times, even in abandonment. This grim reality is mainly a consequence of the culture of individualism that exalts productivity at all costs, cultivates the myth of efficiency, and proves indifferent, even callous, when individuals no longer have the strength needed to keep pace. It then becomes a throwaway culture, in which “persons are no longer seen as a paramount value to be cared for and respected, especially when they are poor or disabled, ‘not yet useful’ – like the unborn, or ‘no longer needed’ – like the elderly” (Fratelli Tutti, 18). Sadly, this way of thinking also guides certain political decisions that are not focused on the dignity of the human person and his or her needs, and do not always promote the strategies and resources needed to ensure that every human being enjoys the fundamental right to health and access to healthcare. The abandonment of the vulnerable and their isolation is favoured also by the reduction of healthcare merely to a provision of services, without these being accompanied by a “therapeutic covenant” between physicians, patients and family members.
We do well to listen once more to the words of the Bible: “It is not good for man to be alone!” God spoke those words at the beginning of creation and thus revealed to us the profound meaning of his project for humanity, but at the same time, the mortal wound of sin, which creeps in by generating suspicions, fractures, divisions and consequently isolation. Sin attacks persons and all their relationships: with God, with themselves, with others, with creation. Such isolation causes us to miss the meaning of our lives; it takes away the joy of love and makes us experience an oppressive sense of being alone at all the crucial passages of life.
Brothers and sisters, the first form of care needed in any illness is compassionate and loving closeness. To care for the sick thus means above all to care for their relationships, all of them: with God, with others – family members, friends, healthcare workers –, with creation and with themselves. Can this be done? Yes, it can be done and all of us are called to ensure that it happens. Let us look to the icon of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-37), to his ability to slow down and draw near to another person, to the tender love with which he cares for the wounds of a suffering brother.
Let us remember this central truth in life: we came into the world because someone welcomed us; we were made for love; and we are called to communion and fraternity. This aspect of our lives is what sustains us, above all at times of illness and vulnerability. It is also the first therapy that we must all adopt in order to heal the diseases of the society in which we live.
To those of you who experience illness, whether temporary or chronic, I would say this: Do not be ashamed of your longing for closeness and tenderness! Do not conceal it, and never think that you are a burden on others. The condition of the sick urges all of us to step back from the hectic pace of our lives in order to rediscover ourselves.
At this time of epochal change, we Christians in particular are called to adopt the compassion-filled gaze of Jesus. Let us care for those who suffer and are alone, perhaps marginalized and cast aside. With the love for one another that Christ the Lord bestows on us in prayer, especially in the Eucharist, let us tend the wounds of solitude and isolation. In this way, we will cooperate in combating the culture of individualism, indifference and waste, and enable the growth of a culture of tenderness and compassion.
The sick, the vulnerable and the poor are at the heart of the Church; they must also be at the heart of our human concern and pastoral attention. May we never forget this! And let us commend ourselves to Mary Most Holy, Health of the Sick, that she may intercede for us and help us to be artisans of closeness and fraternal relationships.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 10 January 2024

FRANCIS

04/02/2024

THE YEAR OF HOLY SPIRIT – FEBRUARY THE MONTH OF JOY
Pleasure is in the body. Happiness is in the mind and feelings. Joy is deep in the heart, the spirit, the centre of the self. The way to pleasure is power and prudence. The way to happiness is moral goodness. The way to joy is sanctity, loving God with your whole heart and your neighbour as yourself. Everyone wants pleasure. More deeply, everyone wants happiness. Most deeply, everyone wants joy. As taught by Pope Francis Christian joy cannot be bought because it is a gift from God. The Pope likened this joy given by God to the joy of a mother embracing her baby after childbirth, because it is a joy “purified” by the suffering of labour. The joy of the Christians, he said is a “joy in hope”. This is because joy is found at the heart of suffering, pain, fears and sacrifice as taught by Christ: ‘a woman in her birth pangs cries but rejoices at the same time that a child has been born (John 16:21). Following this trend of thought. Pope Francis goes on to teach that: “We must tell the truth: Christian life not just one big party. Not at all! We cry, we cry so many times. When we are sick; when we have a problem with our son, in the family, with our daughter, or wife, or husband; When we see that our salary does not reach the end of the month and we have a sick child; when we see that we cannot pay the mortgage on the house and we must somehow survive … So many problems, we have so many. But Jesus tells us: ‘Do not be afraid!’. ‘Yes, you will be sad, cry and people will even rejoice, the people who are against you'”. Faced with such situations, we can either take any of these two roads: to try to buy happiness, the joy of the world, of sin by following the pleasures of the world or to turn to the Lord and, with joyful hope, who will help us to see what a normal human being will not see: that joy is purified by everyday trials! How it happens, no one can tell. But with faith in the Lord, we know that this sorrow will turn to joy. This is an act of faith in the Lord! The Pope acknowledged that this joy is “hidden in some moments of life, we do not feel it in bad times, but it comes later: a joy in hope”. This, then, “is the message of the Church today: Do not be afraid of challenges, of difficulties, or sorrow and pain! “Be courageous in suffering and remember that the Lord will come after, joy will come after and after the dark comes the sun. May the Lord give us all this joy in hope. And the sign that we have this joy in hope is peace. How many sick, who are at the end of life, in pain, have that peace of soul … This is the seed of joy; this is the joy of hope and peace. Do you have peace of soul in times of darkness, in times of trouble, in times of persecution, when everyone else rejoices at your suffering? Do you have peace? If you have peace, you have the seed of joy that will come later. May the Lord help us understand these things”.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. On behalf of the Parish Council and Financial Committee of the Parish, we your priests express our gratitude to all the parishioners for their generosity during our Harvest Thanksgiving season. We realised a total of 7,520,100frs and the 80% given to the Archdiocese amounts to 6,016,080frs.
3. The Season of Lent starts on Wednesday 14th February, 2024. While waiting for the Lenten Message from Pope Francis, we would want that we all prepare ourselves for this season of grace by reviewing our attitudes towards the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While your priests will avail themselves more to the celebration of this Sacrament. We also appeal to all to bring the palms we blessed last year so that we can burn and prepare the ashes to be distributed on Ash Wednesday. Masses shall be as follows: Bangshie, 6.30am; Bujong 4.30pm for those in Bujong, Menkah and Nta’asia; Ntenefor, 7.15am for primary school and those who can attend, 5pm for the rest of the community and those from Bangshie who can’t attend the 6.30am Mass. Let us also remember that Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence. Following our Bishops’ recommendation, we are also called to abstain from alcohol.
4. During Lent, Mission Stations and our Catholic Primary Schools should try to organise the Stations of the Cross. This spiritual exercise helps us to understand that true peace, happiness and joy can be attained only through the cross. Hence, like Christ, we should all embrace our respective crosses; the only means through which we can truly, peacefully and happily become successful and fruitful.
5. With sacramental registrations through, doctrine classes will begin this week. As we earlier said, parents and godparents will be involved in this sacramental programme. All our candidates should own a bible, crucifix, a rosary not only to read but to pray with them. We also need to prepare a quiet place of prayer in their rooms. In the first week, we shall all attempt to help them understand the sacrament of Baptism flowing from the Baptism of Jesus. Next Sunday, we shall give the Biblical passages that we all need to read and pray with them and some of the resources to teach this sacrament effectively. Our catechetical programme will focus more on transformation of life than just cramming formulae. The focus this week will be on the Baptism of Jesus, which will help candidates to better appreciate what baptism is all about. They should read Mt. 3:1-2,5-6,13-17; Mt 28:19 and Mark 16:16.
6. As we begin our new financial year, could we try and keep on contributing generously for the growth of our parish. Our main source of income are alms, Christian Contribution, Mass Offerings and Stole fees.
7. The Cathedraticum will be launched on Sunday 18th February. Proceeds for the Cathedraticum this year will still go for the completion of the Cathedral Project. Details about the project will be sent out soon from the Archbishop’s House. Let us see how we shall all support him for the renovation of our Cathedral as we prepare to celebrate its Golden Jubilee!
8. Next Sunday we shall have a second collection for Consecrated Life; aimed at supporting the promotion of Religious Life in the Church!