Fr. John H. Mccormack, Ksj

All of us, at some time or other, have something to celebrate in our lives. A special anniversary, perhaps - or a recognition that two hearts have found love in each other and wish to share that love with the world, with family and friends.

For centuries, folk have turned, quite rightly, to their Church as a provider of such celebrations, a lighthouse that marks out the safe haven or helps guide our journey of life. Coming from Whitby, I have always loved the image of a lighthouse – an image of safety and home, reaching up and linking the human and temporal aspect with that which is eternal – acknowledging that there is an aspect in our celebration which speaks of intangible things, things that are rooted in the essence of what it means to be human, to be spiritual. The lighthouse leads us up on our life journey, step by step, with different glimpses of life as we ascend, until we reach the light itself...

For a thousand different reasons, many people now-a-days have no formal link with the Church, but neither do they feel that the humanist path is necessarily the right one for them. Often, those who describe themselves as being non-religious tend to mean that they are not 'churchy' – but they do have a belief or a faith which they feel they want to acknowledge, or that their loved one might want to acknowledge.

Celebrate Life lies in the middle ground between humanist and formal church services.