st john vianney - Diocese of Leeds J&P Commission

Season of Creation Celebrations

Posted on 28 September, 20266 October, 2026 by admin

The Parish of St. John Vianney has enjoyed a full season of creation this year, with several events across the Parish celebrating God's Creation.

We enjoyed great weather for our outdoor Mass, and for the blessing of the gardens.

Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you for the world You created for us to share. We ask you to give us the grace to work together, to live more simply, more sustainably, and in solidarity with the poor. Through Christ our Lord.

Parishioners brought a ‘Gift of Creation’ to mass, which demonstrate the wonder of God’s Creation. They were taken to the altar with the Offertory procession.

LiveSimply: Parish of St John Vianney

Posted on 25 August, 20266 October, 2026 by Gina Cavanagh

by St John Vianney parish

Our parish has celebrated the Season of Creation during the month of September for several years as part of our action plan to become a LiveSimply parish. This year marks our achievement of this award, with CAFOD’s commemorative plaques being awarded to both of our parish churches this month.

Our LiveSimply Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you for the world You created for us to share. We ask you to give us the grace to work together, to live more simply, more sustainably, and in solidarity with the poor. Through Christ our Lord.

Season of Creation 2025

Reflection:

Ezekiel's vision of 'Living Water' where “every living creature that swarms will live” (Ezekiel 47:9) invites us to see God's life-giving grace and sacramental presence flowing into places of desolation, renewing both creation and human community.

In a world facing a severe ecological crisis, this river becomes a call to repent from systems that exploit land, water, and vulnerable people. Creation is not a commodity, but a communion of interdependent life entrusted to our care. (From the Living Water Celebration Guide, available at https://seasonofcreation.org/resources/).

This month we join the world’s ecumenical community to celebrate creation through our weekly liturgy.

Season of Creation Events in the Parish

Sunday 6th September - BLESSING OF OUR GARDENS

Our fruit trees and parish gardens will be blessed after the 9.30 Mass at Immaculate Heart Of Mary to mark our thankfulness for our church environment. All parishioners are invited to attend the blessing and come into the hall for tea/coffee afterwards.

Wednesday 16th September - OUTDOOR 12.00 MASS

The parish Mass will be held outdoors in front of the “Calvary” at Immaculate Heart church at 12.00 noon. This gives us an opportunity to pray and renew our commitment to care for the environment in which we live. (Pray for good weather!)

Weekend 19th - 20th September - GIFTS OF CREATION AT ALL MASSES

Please bring a ‘Gift of Creation’ to mass, e.g. flowers or cuttings, plants, packets of seeds, pictures or photographs etc which demonstrate the wonder of God’s Creation, and drawings, especially children’s, will be most welcome. Please place these gifts in the boxes at the entrance to either church before each Mass. They will be taken to the altar with
the Offertory procession.

Thursday 25th September - CELEBRATING LATER LIFE (CLL)

The donated Gifts of Creation will be distributed at September’s CLL Mass and lunch. What a wonderful way to celebrate God’s Creation!

Sunday 11th October - CELEBRATION OF HOSPITALITY AND BELONGING

After 10am Mass at St Paul’s Church

13 Oct – Season of Creation: St. John Vianney

Posted on 13 October, 20256 October, 2026 by admin

by Tony O'Brien and St John Vianney Parish

Season of Creation at the Parish of St. John Vianney in North Leeds.

Our parish is currently gathering evidence for CAFOD’s LiveSimply Award. One of our nine actions is ‘to embed within our weekly and cyclic liturgies opportunities for collective prayer and reflection on living simply and our ecological conversion’.

Screenshot 2025-10-13 090530

Last year the parish LiveSimply team agreed a programme of liturgy with Canon Dennis, our parish priest, to celebrate the Season of Creation. After our LiveSimply team review with Canon Dennis, we agreed to repeat the same programme in our cycle of collective worship for this year’s Season of Creation (1st September – 4th October).

This included:

Blessing our (embryonic) Laudato Si Garden and the grounds of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHOM), which took place on 7th September after the 9.30 mass. Fr. Peter Rosser, a visiting priest, was pleased to do this for us and encouraged parishioners to participate.
An outdoor mass was planned for Wednesday 17 September (12 noon) at the IHOM, but unfortunately the inclement weather meant that Fr. Yemane had to celebrate the mass inside the church. (The weather last year was fine)
The altars at both churches (IHOM and St Paul’s) were adorned with flowers and plants for the weekend of 20-21st Sept. These were prepared by church’s flower arrangers, members of the LiveSimply team and school children.

Parishioners were invited to bring Gifts of Creation to all six weekend masses over weekend of 20-21 September. Flowers, plants, seeds and fruit were brought and tokens were presented at the Offertory.
Prayers of the Faithful for all masses were prepared by members of the LiveSimply team highlighting care for creation, the environment and global injustice.
The monthly Celebration of Later Life mass and SVP lunch was held on 25th September at which the gifts of creation were distributed among the attendees. We shared the purpose of the Season of Creation with everyone and the gifts were really appreciated.

Parish prayer groups were invited to publicise their focus on the Season of Creation in their prayer and reflection meetings during the month.
All these actions were publicised in the parish LiveSimply September leaflet with references to the ecumenical Season of Creation and Church teaching in Laudato Si’.

We really appreciate all the efforts made by clergy and administrative staff, the mass welcomers and parish teams responsible for our parish participation in this year’s Season of Creation. We are happy to share our experiences with other parishes on their LiveSimply journey.

Screenshot 2025-10-13 090541

In addition, on Sunday 5th October we held our annual Celebration of Hospitality and Belonging at St Paul’s after the 10am mass. This again proved to be a very happy and joyous occasion, sharing food and conviviality, whilst celebrating the qualities of warmth, community and inclusion.

SoC- IHOM 1