Pray hard, serve hard and play hard!
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Mastering the art of swinging incense and firing laser guns were just a couple of the skills acquired by young people during a training day held on Saturday 2 February for altar servers belonging to the Parish of Blessed John Henry Newman. A total of 25 children from the Parish's three churches, St. Gregory's (Swarcliffe), St. Theresa's (Crossgates) and Corpus Christi (Halton) came together to pray, learn and have fun.
The first part of the day consisted of a number of workshops looking at various aspects of altar serving. Names and symbols of liturgical vessels and vestments were examined, Latin chants were sung, incense was lit, and Guild of St. Stephen prayers were recited.
After a beautiful celebration of Exposition and Benediction led by Fr. Matthew Habron, the group travelled to Laser Zone at the Cardigan Fields Leisure Park in Leeds. Here, white albs were replaced by multi-coloured body armour, and the altar servers were let loose into a labyrinth of rooms filled with swirling smoke, strange sounds and flashing lights. The day concluded with the young warriors joining the adult helpers for a scrumptious pizza lunch.
Parish Priest Fr. Pat Wall commented "The trip to LaserZone was a token of our appreciation for the dedication and hard work of our young servers. A good day was had by all!"
HL

Larisa Dorojan, an altar server at St. Gregory's, wrote about the day in these words:
The Parish of Blessed John Henry Newman altar servers all gathered together and went on an exciting trip. It was a reward for our hard work and dedication. We all met up at St. Theresa's Church to do some holy activities. We went all around the Church and had to name what things were, Thurible, Chalices etc. Then we did a mini mass of Exposition and Benediction. During the mass we sang in Latin. Then we left to go to Laser Zone! We had 2 games and had food after them. I am already excited for next year!
Published Thu 16th May 2019 14:51:22
Last Modified on Thu 16th May 2019 14:55:45