Fr Jim Cogley
As I got older the innocence of childhood gave way to New Year parties, dances and girlfriends but even when everyone was going wild at the magic hour and girls were doing their best to avoid being kissed by men who had been deprived all year, yet when the clock struck 12 there remained a part of my soul that felt empty and hankered after that sacred space. So just after ordination I wondered if others felt the same way about creating and sharing a ritual to say farewell to the old year and welcoming in the new. Several suggested that they would be interested and so the tradition began over forty years ago of having mass at 11.30pm that would incorporate a ritual of endings and new beginnings. That tradition still continues and now happens in Our Lady’s Island. Numbers are never important. Whoever comes represent the larger community as we place ourselves, those who live here and the thousands who visit the area in the Lords hands for the coming year.