St Bernadette’ssacredheartcarlton.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Final... · 2017-03-17 · 2 Welcome to this commemorative booklet marking the closure of St Bernadette’s Chapel

Final Mass at

St Bernadette’s

Chapel of Ease

Sneinton Dale

Sunday 26th February 2017

Principal Celebrant;

The Right Reverend Patrick McKinney

Bishop of Nottingham

Parish Priest;

Fr. Joe Wheat

Sacred Heart of Jesus - - We place our trust in you

St Bernadette - - Pray for us

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Welcome to this commemorative booklet marking the closure of St

Bernadette’s Chapel of Ease.

Here you will find the order of Mass, many photographs of our time

here at the school and Chapel and some of the history of the site.

The prayers chosen for the final Mass speak of us giving thanks to God.

Although this will be for many people a sad occasion, we have much to

give God thanks for; all the pupils and staff who passed through the

doors of St Bernadette’s School; everyone who has worshipped here

each weekend both in the main school building and for the past 30 years

in our dedicated Chapel; all those who have been baptised here,

received the Eucharist for the first time in this Chapel, been buried from

here, gathered to pray ....... and quite apart from the prayer life that this

place has seen, some of the pictures in the booklet will remind you of the

social life of the parish that for a long time was centred on St

Bernadette’s; the youth club that met here, the Christmas parties, Italian

celebrations, sharing a cuppa after Mass (and playing Table Tennis to

varying degrees of success!). There is much to thank God for.

Our readings for Mass are simply those given for this weekend, but they

encourage us to reflect on God’s faithful love for us; that with Christ at

the centre of our lives, we need not fear. Trust in God’s providence will

help us to face the future.

Our second reading, from 1 Corinthians, maybe gives us a challenge; be

stewards of our faith and the mysteries of God. The Church’s mission in

Sneinton is our task – to know God and to make God known through

the building of His kingdom. We have a unique opportunity to do

something special; build a partnership with St Christopher’s and unite

in ensuring that the Gospel is preached and lived in our area.

Trusting in God, with Christ as our strength and salvation, we enter into

a new chapter of the life of the Catholic Church in Sneinton with

confidence.

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Entrance Hymn

883; Christ be our Light

Welcome and Greeting

Bishop Patrick; In the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit

All; Amen

Bishop Patrick; Peace be with you.

All; And with your spirit.

Sprinkling Rite

Bishop Patrick; Dear friends, this water will be used to remind us of

our baptism. Let us ask God to bless it and keep us

faithful to the Spirit he has given us.

God our Father, your gift of water brings life and

freshness to the earth; it washes away our sins and

brings us eternal life. We ask you

now to bless + this water, and to

give us your protection on this

day which you have made your

own. Renew the living spring of

your life within us and protect us

in spirit and body, that we may

be free from sin and come into

your presence to receive your gift of salvation.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

All; Amen

Bishop Patrick will move through the Chapel sprinkling everyone.

Concluding prayer

Bishop Patrick; May almighty God cleanse us of our sins and, through

the Eucharist we celebrate, make us worthy to sit at his

table in his heavenly kingdom. We ask this through

Christ our Lord

All; Amen

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Gloria

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to people of good will.

We praise you, we bless you,

we adore you, we glorify you,

we give you thanks for your great glory,

Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,

Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us;

you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer;

you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,

you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,

in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Opening prayer

To which we respond

All; Amen

First reading

Isaiah 49; 14 – 15; I will never forget you

Reader; The Word of the Lord

All; Thanks be to God

Psalm

Psalm 61

Response; In God alone is my soul at rest

Second reading

1 Corinthians 4; 1 – 15; be a steward of God’s mysteries.

Reader; The Word of the Lord

All; Thanks be to God

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Gospel acclamation

Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia

Gospel

Matthew 6; 24 – 34; do not worry about tomorrow

Fr Joe; The Lord be with you

All; And with your spirit

Fr Joe; A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

All; Glory to you Lord.

At the end of the Gospel

Fr Joe; The Gospel of the Lord

All; Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Please remain standing until Fr Joe has taken the

Book of the Gospel to Bishop Patrick to kiss.

Homily

Bishop Patrick

Creed

I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Only Begotten Son of God,

born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation

he came down from heaven, (bow during the next two lines)

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and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried,

and rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead

and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins

and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the world to come. Amen

Intercessions

The response to each prayer;

Reader; Lord, in your mercy

All; Hear our prayer

Offertory Hymn

608; Take my hands

Eucharistic Prayer

The prayer will be one for special occasions;

‘God guides His Church along the way of Salvation’

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Holy Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Memorial Acclamation

When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup,

we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.

Communion Hymns

720; Be still for the presence of the Lord

627; This is my body

If, for any reason, you do not wish to, or are unable to receive Holy

Communion, do feel free to come forward for a blessing. As you approach the

altar, just place an arm across your chest to indicate you want to receive a

blessing rather than Holy Communion.

Prayer after communion

To which we respond

All; Amen

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As part of our final prayers, Bishop Patrick will move to different places around

the Chapel and lead a prayer of thanksgiving at each point;

The font; for all who have been baptised in St Bernadette’s

The Lectern; for all who have heard the Word of God proclaimed here

Statue of St Bernadette; for the protection of our patron Saint

The door; for the welcome we have all received here

The Altar; for all who have been nourished by the Bread of Life in St

Bernadette’s.

To each short prayer we respond

Bishop Patrick; Blessed be God forever!

All; Blessed be God forever!

Bishop Patrick will remain on the Sanctuary and invite three people to come

forward to receive items that will come with us to St Christopher’s;

A Chalice; received by a Eucharistic Minister to symbolise the Eucharist we

will continue to celebrate

The Lectionary; received by a reader to symbolise the Word of God that we will

continue to hear and proclaim in Sneinton

A Hymn Book; received by a welcomer to symbolise the welcome we have

received from St Christopher’s and the welcome we will continue to extend to

the people of the area.

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Bishop Patrick will then give us his blessing.

Bishop Patrick; The Lord be with you

All; And with your spirit.

Bishop Patrick; Blessed be the name of the Lord

All; now and forever

Bishop Patrick; Our help is in the name of the Lord

All; Who made heaven and earth

Bishop Patrick; And may the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and

the Son, + and the Holy Spirit, come down on you and

remain with you forever.

All; Amen

Fr Joe; The Mass is ended, go in peace,

glorifying the Lord by your life

All; Thanks be to God

Final hymn

864; God’s Spirit is in my heart

When the final hymn has ended, you are invited to come forward and

venerate the altar with a kiss.

The altar represents Christ, the altar and the sacrifice. At the start and end of

each Mass, the Bishop or Priest kisses the altar as an act of veneration of He

who is at the centre of our life and worship.

If you wish to make the same act of devotion – which will be our final sign of

faith in this building – then please simply come forward with reverence and kiss

the altar before leaving the Chapel.

After Mass, everyone is welcome to make their way downstairs. There

are mugs of tea, bacon or sausage cobs and plenty of cake to help us celebrate the

life of the parish.

There will also be a film playing of the final Mass at St Bernadette’s School –

you might spot some familiar faces.

The table tennis tables will also be up and running!

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The history

Details of the history of this site are sketchy, but this will give you some

sense of what these buildings have seen.

1883 St Patrick’s Church opened on London Road

School opened 1874, Presbytery 1879

1933 9th December

Foundation Stone of St Bernadette’s School laid by Bishop McNulty

(St Bernadette had been canonised the previous day)

This was a replacement for the Boys School at St Patrick’s site on London

Road which had to be closed due to the poor state of the buildings. It

was originally built to primarily serve Colwick – where there was a lot

of house building going on and forecast.

1934 27th August

St Bernadette’s School opens for business as an all-age school

6th September – official opening.

225 pupils on roll

The first Headteacher was Dan Casey – but only for a short time as he

fell ill and die. He was succeeded by his brother, John (Jack) Casey.

1935 Mass began to be celebrated in St Bernadette’s school as a Mass centre,

served from St Patrick’s on London Road.

1961 St Bernadette’s re-modelled as a Bilateral school.

New science block, craft rooms, gym, boiler house and kitchen provided.

Infant and Junior pupils transferred to St Edward’s.

Secondary intake of 151 pupils admitted.

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1975 St Bernadette’s designated as a 11 – 18 Comprehensive.

465 pupils on roll.

1979 St Patrick’s earmarked for demolition

The care of St Bernadette’s Mass centre passed to

Sacred Heart Parish, Carlton.

The official date of the handover was 31st December 1978

Pentecost Sunday 3rd June; final Mass in the old St Patrick’s.

Bishop McGuinness presided and during Mass presented Papal

Blessings from Pope John Paul to Colin Campbell, Florence Goodall, Mr

& Mrs Donald King, Andrew Long, Joan Maddock, Ethel Needham,

Mary Teresa O’Donnell, Noreen Osborne, Mr & Mrs Vincent Pykett and

Mr & Mrs Edward Swaby. He also presented Bene Merenti Medals to

Alf Jackson, Audrey Muir, Winifred Murrin and Laurence Taylor.

1981 New St Patrick’s Church built in the Meadows

Consecrated by Bishop McGuinness on 22nd October

1985 St Bernadette’s school closed due to diminishing numbers.

11th July – Mass of Thanksgiving held.

Bishop James McGuinness presided, assisted by Fr Brendan O’Sullivan,

Mgr. Atkinson and Canon Soar.

From the booklet for Mass the Mass of Thanksgiving;

‘Our joy must, however, at this time be alloyed with sadness when we consider

the occasion of our coming together ... but we are not gathered here to mourn

our loss, but to give thanks to God for all the gifts and blessings he has showered

upon us ....... When the French Revolution was at its most violent, the

Archbishop of Paris was apparently unmoved by the reports of arrests,

humiliations and executions. When asked why he seemed untouched by all the

horrors around him he replied: “Le bon Dieu prepare quelque chose”

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1987 Thursday 2nd July

Dedication and Blessing of the Chapel of St Bernadette.

Celebrated by Bishop James McGuinness

2017 Sunday 26th February.

Final Mass in St Bernadette’s and closure of the building.

Principal Celebrant, Right Reverend Patrick McKinney,

Bishop of Nottingham,

assisted by Fr Joe Wheat,

Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Parish, Carlton.

Mass in Sneinton continued to be celebrated from the 5th March 2017 in

St Christopher’s Anglican Church, Trent Lane through a formal

agreement between the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham

and the Anglican Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham.

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Memories of St Bernadette’s

Mary Clare

The first headmaster was Dan Casey, who sadly died at an early age. The

position was then taken by his brother John (Jack) Casey who was there for

many years.

My father, Harold Andrews, was the first caretaker at the school. He left,

temporarily, during the Second World War, but resumed again after the war

and remained until his retirement in the 1960s.

I started school at St Bernadette’s in late 1940 but was there for only six

months. At that time, other teachers in the school were Leslie Clark, Miss

Hogan, Miss Hurley, Miss O’Neill and Miss Whelpton – who was in

charge of the first year pupils.

I remember my father going to the school every Saturday afternoon to set

out the hall with chairs and kneelers for Sunday Mass. I would go with him on

Sunday afternoons to move everything out again.

After the war, there was a prisoner of war camp on Colwick Woods. Most

of the ‘prisoners’ were Ukrainian, and they had an excellent choir who attended

Mass at St Bernadette’s on Sunday’s to sing and join in the services.

Happy memories.

May Queen

Procession

1950s?

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St Bernadette’s primary school. 1954??

Little angels!

First Holy

Communion

group from

1958??

With Fr

Cummings

and Mr Casey

(Headmaster)

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More angels! This time from June 3rd 1956

See anyone you recognise? Teresa Brett on her First Holy

Communion Day

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A class in 1957?? Can you put a name to any of the faces?

An early music

lesson in St

Bernadette’s.

Are you in this

photo?

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Mass in the school hall before the move across the drive

After the move into the current building, before the Chapel was created

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Notice anything missing?

Even before the trees had grown

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Life in the Chapel – Baptisms

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Making music

Fr Trevor Clarke and servers .... poised to process

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All ready for Christmas

The late Bishop McGuinness flanked by the late Fr Brendan O’Sullivan

and Fr Sean Hanratty??

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The late Fr Dave

Everitt looking

delightful!

‘Big’ Brendan beaming

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Big Brendan with

.........?

This young boy was

actually very tall for

his age – 6ft 3 in fact.

However, not a

match .......

No idea.

Not even sure I

want to know.

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Christmas party?

See anyone you recognise?

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Alf Jackson The large framed photo of St Bernadette was from the original school. The

smaller picture (in the sacristy) was from Canon Needham at Tollerton

Seminary. The Tollerton priests said Mass most Sundays for us.

The large benches in church (around the sides) came from St Hugh’s,

Tollerton. The smaller ones, the central altar and tabernacle came from the

convent at Ollerton when it was closed. The Sacred Heart statue came from

Leicester and St Bernadette’s statue was ‘smuggled’ in from Lourdes, in the

coach spare tyre.

The tables in the community hall were rescued from Sacred Heart School,

wooden chairs (downstairs) came from Nottingham City Schools department

(sweet talk and a pint of beer), the long kitchen worktop and sink came from St

Bernadette’s kitchen. The gas stove from City Council School Department and

the freezer and fridges etc just rescued.

50% of the crockery came from the Italian club when it closed. The rest of

the pots etc came from the Royal Hotel when they had a clear out to make way

for some better Pots. The petrol lawnmower was paid for second-hand, other

mowers donated (it saved parishioners having to use their own mowers!). The

bags of salt kept in the boiler room were donated by a film company.

Various other items were begged, borrowed or acquired. The vestments

were all new and other items for church came from St Patrick’s – we got half the

items and the rest went into the new St Patrick’s in the Meadows. The

processional cross was made by a parishioner with a rescued figure of Christ

and the wood used was to match the church furnishings. It was made to a small

scale to cope with the low ceiling in the Chapel.

£100 was given to purchase the Stations of the Cross. This was probably

only enough to purchase the hooks to hang them on! The donor was taken to

Liverpool, shown round the church furnishings company and taken for lunch.

During the course of which he said ‘I know why you have brought me here!’ He

took out his cheque book and donated £1000 to cover the Stations of the Cross.

The crib figures came from Mount St Bernard’s Abbey for £200.20p, the

proceeds from a ‘sale’ event for Christmas. The price was what was in the bag

with all the money from the event. The Brothers at the Monastery couldn’t

believe they were being paid in ‘cash’. We did negotiate the price, saying that

was all we had!!

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A word of thanks

To Bishop Patrick for being with us today

To all those who have worked hard to prepare our liturgy and lead

it so beautifully ...... musicians, servers, sacristans, readers,

Eucharistic Ministers, welcomers ........ to those who contributed

photos and memories for this booklet .......

To everyone who came on Friday to clean and prepare the Chapel

and downstairs rooms

To the band of parishioners who have sorted out the refreshments

after Mass

And finally, to every member of the parish who has over the years given

their time and efforts here at St Bernadette’s ..... it is only through their

dedication that we have such a good legacy to build on and take us into

a new chapter of our life in Sneinton.

The final word belongs to our Patron Saint;

‘If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces... never be afraid to

pick one of those pieces up and begin again. That's the beauty of being alive...

We can always start all over again. Enjoy God's amazing opportunities

bestowed on us. Have faith in Him always...’ St Bernadette Soubirous

St Bernadette; pray for us

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; we place our trust in you

Que soy presto – I am ready