SNL October 2016 web

Rainbow Community Choir
A Letter to the Almost Member
So we’ve started our new term and we all thought you
would be there. It’s always difficult starting something
new and singing can seem quite daunting. But it’s
incredibly rewarding. Our choir is not necessarily
made up of people who have sung all their lives but
we do make a good sound singing world folk music
which has amazing rhythms and harmonies.
A word of warning here. Don’t be put off because we
sometimes sing in different languages. We learn the sounds
in small sections just like a child learning a nursery rhyme.
Many of us have only been singing a short time and
we know the first few weeks can challenge your
confidence. Your confidence will grow and nobody is
singled out to sing alone. We sing unaccompanied in
four parts: soprano, alto, tenor and bass and you will
soon find your pitch. You might think it is impossible
to know which part to sing but this will all fall into
place quite naturally. We practise together by just
singing. No auditions, no music and great guidance
from our musical director, Linda Roast.
Have a listen to our music on our website www.
rainbowcommunitychoir.org.uk to see what we and
you can achieve. We’re very proud of our small but
beautifully formed choir which is now in its fourth
year but we do need you. Please come and join us.
We meet weekly (term time) at Swaffham Community
Centre and more information is on our website. Visit
our Facebook page, you can contact: Alan on 01760
724308 or Anthea on 01760 336313 or speak to one
of us at our Christmas concert on Wednesday, 14
December in the Swaffham Parish Church at 7.30pm.
Convent Welcomes 5 New Members
The Swaffham Sisters at the Sacred Heart Convent
have received a huge boost with the addition of five
new or prospective young Sisters, almost doubling
its previous total of seven, and the first from England
in almost 40 years.
In an extremely rare public ceremony, the Daughters
of Divine Charity welcomed two Novices and two
Sisters. The two Novices – Sr Mary Gonçalves and
Sr Anna Yeo – were admitted to the order and the
two Sisters – Sr Renata Pivarnikova and Sr Michaela
Switaj – took their first vows at a Mass presided over
by the Bishop of East Anglia, Rt Rev Alan Hopes, at
Our Lady of Pity church in Swaffham.
Such ceremonies usually take place in private inside
a Convent but a special exception was made this
time because the two different stages of formation
taking place on the same day is very rare.
Other members of the Congregation, whose Mother
House is in Austria and has over 1,000 Sisters worldwide,
were present at the Mass.
In the English Vice-Province of the Sacred Heart, the
Sisters run the Sacred Heart School in Swaffham, St
Joseph’s Little Scholars nursery in Chesterfield and St
Theresa’s care home in Hunstanton.
Sr Anna said: “In the parishes where our Convents
are situated, many of the Sisters are Extraordinary
Ministers of Holy Communion, visiting the sick, the
elderly and housebound, working in youth ministry
such as Confirmation groups, University chaplaincies
and events for young adults, among other needs. All
our work is to make God’s love visible in the world.”
After two years in the Novitiate, Sisters profess the
vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for the first
time, as Sr Renata and Sr Michaela did during the Mass.
The ceremony was seen by a full church which included
members of the Sisters’ families and friends from
Poland, Slovakia, East Timor, Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
The fifth new member, Postulant Judith Charmak,
was welcomed into the Congregation in a simple and
private ceremony inside Sacred Heart Convent on
the previous day.
The Congregation had not seen so many new Sisters
in England for decades.
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