Darren Carden was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lancaster on October 22nd in the Cathedral by Bishop Michael Campbell OSA. It is always a great joy to hear of the ordination of a man to the priesthood but especially so when he has acted as deacon in your parish for several months and has now been appointed Assistant Priest in that same parish.
As you can see from elsewhere on this website, a good nunber of parishioners attended the ordination.
On Sunday evening, October 30th the parish hosted its own celebration with Fr Darren's 'first' Mass at St. Clare's. The church was nicely full for this Mass, some people having forsaken their usual Mass and replaced it with the new priest's Mass. There were Altar Servers in abundance and a general air of festivity. Fr Darren spoke at the Mass of his journey to priesthood and the many twists and turns that it had taken. Unsually, it was greeted by a spontaneous round of applause.
And so to the 'do' in the Parish Hall which was again well supported. This was a 'Jacobs Join' which is code for a shared table and there was food in plenty, not to mention the wine! Janet Metcalf, Vice-Chair of the Parish Council, gave a short speech of welcome after which Fr Darren was present with an Alb and a handsome cheque courtesy of a parish whip round. He gave a vote of thanks and the pleasant eveninggradually came to and end.
To Fr Darren: Ad Multos Annos
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