WHAT’S IT FOR?

This is a teaching week whose aim, as the Bishop says in his commendation is to "rekindle our vision of the Christian pilgrimage lying at the heart of the faith ‘once for all delivered to the saints’."

WHO IS IT FOR?

It is for anyone who is interested; but it is hoped that all church members will want to attend, and that they will use the glossy leaflets to invite others on the fringe of their community or who they feel might catch something of the vision of the Christian faith through such a week.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Each evening is in two parts:

From the moment the doors open - on Sunday at 5.45pm, on Monday to Thursday at 7.15pm - there will be a Period of Preparation using prayer, praise, recollection, testimony to lead us into a prepared understanding of the themes to be unfolded that night.

b) TELLING THE STORY

At 6.30pm on Sunday and at 8pm Monday to Wednesday, the guest speaker will proclaim the Gospel truth for that evening in a way that is exciting, challenging and hopeful for our communities. There will undoubtedly be some worship involved in this, and then afterwards over tea and coffee there will be a chance to discuss what they have said with the speakers themselves and with other clergy and laity who are co-ordinating this event. The church will remain open until the last visitor has departed, though if you do have to keep to a timetable, we expect the second part to be over no later than 9pm.

CORPUS CHRISTI

The teaching week ends with our joint celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi. Once again there will be Period of Preparation. The Mass will begin at 8 pm and include a street procession and a party afterwards. This joyful celebration will sum up all that we’ve been taught during this week, with a thought provoking sermon and a visual expression of our Christian life and pilgrimage. This dramatic Mass, will express to the public around us our willingness to follow Jesus and make him known to others.

CORPUS CHRISTI PARKING

Bearing in mind that parking is so difficult and given that not everybody will use the bus, the Head Teacher at St Martin’s School has agreed to open up the playground for car parking on Thursday night.
This is off Melbourne Street which is the first turning on the left as you come to the end of the gyratory system coming from Moulsecoomb and has a large orange flooring shop on its corner next to the entrance to Woodvale. On the opposite corner of it there is what was originally Covers but is now a boarded up shop front.
If you turn left between those two shops and go to the end the road turns sharp right because it is a horseshoe shape and the school gate is on the left. Be careful there is a bit of a lip as you go in.
If you want to approach it from any other part of town you have to go all the way round the gyratory system. You cannot turn right straight into Melbourne Street because the other end is no entry.
There will be somebody on duty to assist parking. Please obey their instructions. The space is limited but nonetheless will be useful.

HOW DO I GET THERE?

Each participating church has a co-ordinator who will help people understand about transport. Parking is quite difficult in parts of Brighton, but there will be a bus which will travel round to each of the venues every night picking up people from fixed points, and dropping them off there afterwards. To travel on the bus you need to book. Please see your booking co-ordinator.

There is no charge for the bus, though, of course, contributions placed in the collections will help!

SO MANY DIFFERENT PLACES

This is a demanding week, and it is vital that we see it as a whole. The temptation will be just to go to the event in “my own church”. But being a Christian pilgrim is part of the teaching of this week, and this pilgrimage means travelling to other places to be taught by a nationally renowned group of teachers.

I CAN’T DO THE EVENINGS

Every weekday at 12 noon there will be a Low Mass with an address by Father Alan Rabjohns who will distil the teaching of the week in a simple form and will be the preacher summing up all that the main speakers have said during the week on Corpus Christi. The Masses are at:

St Nicolas, Portslade - Monday St Barnabas, Hove - Tuesday St Richard, Hangleton - Wednesday The Annunciation, Washington Street, Brighton - Thursday

Local co-ordinators will help you be a part of these.

The Mass will be followed by a Soup Lunch

PRAYERFUL PREPARATION

We need your prayers to support this great adventure. Please use the Goodness, Gracious, Me prayer daily, and make sure you take part in the Novena of Prayer. From Ascension Day through to Pentecost there will be a daily prayer for this teaching week. This will be in the form of a booklet which you can use at home or with other groups of pilgrims in your parish church. See your local notice sheets for further details.