Webmaster • January 11, 2026
ANNUAL LOURDES DINNER DANCE: Friday 13th February 2026 at the Met hotel in Leeds. Tickets are available from Phil Marshall at £45 or £400 for a table of 10. The ticket price includes reception drink, a 3 course Meal, Tea & coffee, DJ and entertainment throughout the evening. To secure your tickets for this popular event, contact Phil on 07766 148375 or email philmarshall49@outlook.com. All profits at the event go to the Diocesan Lourdes fund.
For Prayer With The Word Of God. Let us pray that praying with the Word of God be nourishment for our lives and a source of hope in our communities, helping us build a more fraternal and missionary Church.
LOURDES NURSES VOLUNTEER APPEAL: Are you a qualified nurse? Would you like to join the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes (3-9 July 2026)? Please contact: lourdes.enquiries@dioceseofleeds.org.uk for further information. We desperately need registered nurses to join the team to enable our assisted pilgrims to travel to Lourdes. This is a wonderful experience, and many nurses return year after year. Please consider joining our friendly, happy team of volunteers and enjoy a truly blessed week with our assisted pilgrims.
RELICS OF ST GERARD MAJELLA: The Diocese will have the privilege of hosting the relics of St Gerard Majella at various venues across the Diocese in the week of 26th January. He is popularly invoked as a patron of mothers, particularly expectant mothers, couples trying to conceive, and those looking for work. Come along to pray in front of his relics, participate in Mass and receive a blessing with his relics. For times, dates and venues please see poster on the noticeboard.
The Parish of SS Peter and Paul, Wakefield is seeking to recruit a Parish Administrator to support the life and mission of the parish. The role involves providing administrative support to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the parish. A job description and application form can be found below: Job Description Application Form
JOIN BISHOP MARCUS IN PRAYING FOR VOCATIONS: Our Lady of Unfailing Help! Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send labourers into His harvest and that He will grant an abundance of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life within the Diocese of Leeds, and throughout the world. Amen.
Are you a qualified nurse? Would you like to join the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes (3-9 July 2026)? Please contact: lourdes.enquiries@dioceseofleeds.org.uk for further information. We desperately need registered nurses to join the team to enable our assisted pilgrims to travel to Lourdes. This is a wonderful experience, and many nurses return year after year. Please consider joining our friendly, happy team of volunteers and enjoy a truly blessed week with our assisted pilgrims.
HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION: Tuesday 6th January 2026 Please note that The Epiphany of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation.
Please see Deacon Dominic for any enquiries regarding Baptisms. Children in Year 6 and above whose parents would like them to be Confirmed should email/speak to Dominic ASAP as the preparation begins in January.
To everyone who helped prepare the Church for Christmas and Advent - our church and brass cleaners, the flower arrangers, and Crib assembling; And To our Musicians, Choirs, Readers, Ministers, Welcomers, Sacristan and Altar Servers for their contributions especially during the Christmas Week. All of your hard work and effort is very much appreciated.
John’s Gospel doesn’t begin in Bethlehem. It begins in eternity. Before the manger, before creation, before time itself—the Word was. In these first 18 verses, often called the Prologue, John draws back the veil to reveal the divine mystery behind everything: the Word (Greek: Logos) is both with God and is God. This is an invitation into awe. This is not just a new chapter in salvation history; it’s the hinge of all history. And it culminates in the stunning truth: the Word became flesh. The first thing we see on opening our Gospel. But it was the last part which he wrote. It is the final summary, placed at the very beginning of the Gospel. He starts with the words, “In the beginning was the Word”, therefore tying the start of the Gospel to the very start of our Bible in Genesis which says: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth” (Gen 1:1). So John pushes his account of Jesus, the Word, back to the beginning of time itself…before anything else had been created, Christ already was. ‘In the beginning was the Word’ tells us in simple words that Christ was before all else came to be. Today is the day where we can try to stretch our minds into the mystery of God, before the world was made.