Nuns and priests mark 50 years of service

ARCHBISHOP Vincent Nichols of Birmingham was the principal celebrant and preacher at a Mass of thanksgiving for 12 religious sisters and two Fiests, marking the Golden Jubilee of their religious profession, on February 3, writes Peter Jennings.
At the Mass, held at St Chad's Cathedral, Birming ham, the sisters and priests, who made their religious profession in 1957, each carried a lighted candle as they processed into the cathedral during the entrance hymn.
In his homily Archbishop Nichols said: "Today I thank God for the diversity and durability of religious life in the archdiocese, as made clear in the lives of our Golden Jubilarians. They include priests and monastic nuns, teachers, nurses and administrators, all following the distinctive pathway of their founders.
"Yet beneath that diversity their lives show common characteristics. They are lives rooted in prayer, open to relationships in community and in ministry, and giving a constant, public witness to Christ in word and deed.
"Above all else I ask you today to remain faithful to the Lord in the ways you have learned over these last 50 years or more."