Unless Christmas itself is a Sunday, the Sunday in the octave of Christmas is the Feast of the Holy Family. Even when Christmas is a Sunday, the Holy Family is considered of sufficient importance to be transferred to the preceding Friday.

In 2006, I gave a talk on Catholicism in a 'what is...?' series organised by our local ecumenical partnership. In this talk, I specifically mentioned the Feast of the Holy Family as a disctinctively Catholic celebration which particularly appeals to me; I'm very attached to my family and Catholicism seems to be more explicit in its celebration of the family than other Christian denominations.

It has become my habit in recent years to keep this feast at Our Lady Help of Christians, commonly known as Portico church. My father's side of the family came to town in the late 1950s and my Grandad has lived in the same house ever since, which means, amongst other things, that my family has clocked up nearly half a century of worship at Portico. This year, my Dad came with us as well, as if to underscore the occasion.

Mass was said by a visiting priest, specifically a German missionary who had spent many years preaching the Good News around the world, including amongst the Maasai people of East Africa. In the sermon, it was remarked that some have questioned the wisdom of missionaries in today's world, especially when there seems to be so much to do 'at home'. However, the sermon included the expression 'the whole world is mission territory' and, on reflection, this has always been so and will remain so until the whole world is fully informed about the Lord Jesus Christ, who, we were reminded, died to save us all.

One aspect of Mass at Portico which always slightly disappoints me is that one of the readings is omitted. What disappointed me even more is that we, the congregation, were denied the beautiful extract from Ecclesiasticus where a son is enjoindered to look after his ageing father. Of course, responsibility in a family works across all generations, as stressed in the Gospel which recounted the flight into Egypt.

I'm not generally one to pass up an excuse for a good time, but New Year is an occasion I've never been able to get worked up about. Perhaps this is because of its secular character, although this is itself largely superficial as it was a Pope who decided that the year should start on 1 January and New Year's Eve is in many countries known as St Sylvester.

The church on my list for today presented a number of points of logistical interest. The original plan had been to go to Our Lady Immaculate & St Joseph for Midnight Mass, this church being no further from my Grandad's than St Luke's. However, the parking's dreadful. Such being the case, I swapped its place with St Luke's in my rota, which involved a train-and-bus combo to get there from home.

I left in plenty of time to achieve this public transport double-header, but the first train was horribly delayed. After an initial moment of panic, I decided to wait and thus shared my journey with some church friends. In the event, I was in my pew in plenty of time for 9:00am Mass.

Certain aspects of the service struck me as a little unusual, especially as the priest at OLI&StJ has a reputation for doing things by the book. First was his inclusion of the Gloria, although it might have been the other priests who were mistaken to omit it. Second was having the Sign of Peace immediately before the offertory procession. This is a perfectly sensible place to have it, but last time I checked, the bishops of England and Wales had yet to approve this practice.

Perhaps fittingly for 31 December, the reading (1 John again) talked about The End. Given the cyclical nature of the calendar, it was perhaps also fitting that the Gospel spoke about The Beginning. In his sermon, the priest mentioned that there was a time when the Prologue to John's Gospel was read at every Sunday Mass and that it underlines that we are all children of God. 31 December is a particularly appropriate time to reflect on the gifts our Father has given us.

The Church has a long history of honouring Mary and there are two days particularly associated with this. One is 15 August, the other is 1 January.Today, Catholics keep 1 January as the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God; in the early centuries, the validity of this title was much disputed and ther have always been some Christians who reject it - but I'm not one of them.

The original plan had been to round off my Mass odyssey by attending at Liverpool Catholic Cathedral, the the extent of e-mailing them for confirmation that the usual week-day Mass time of 12 noon would apply. I received no reply and only discovered on getting to the 'wigwam' at 11:30am that Mass on 1 January was at 10:00.

I wasn't going to let my plans be thwarted without a fight. When I had worked in Liverpool a few years ago, I had occasionally attended Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine, a few minutes on foot from Lime Street station. I just hoped it would have a noon Mass on New Year's Day.

My hopes were not in vain. The existence of the Blessed Sacrament Shrine as a facility is one I'm very much in favour of and I really should visit it more often, especially as Mass there usually has a good 'feel' to it, this one being no exception. On a solemnity, Mass follows the same pattern as it does on a Sunday, with two readings, the Gloria and the Creed. The Gospel recounted the naming of Jesus (which would have taken place on the octave day of his birth, in accordance with Jewish custom) and there were juicy bits in both readings, including the bit of the Bible for which the oldest written evidence has been found (a blessing formula from Numbers) and a passage from Galatians including 'born of a woman...sons and heirs...freedom from sin'. There was no sermon, but plenty of lusty singing of Marian hymns to compensate.

I left Mass in not unjustifiable high spirits. I indulged myself with my first fancy cappuccino of 2008 and then, as I believe is customary in Ethiopia on New Year's Day, had chicken for dinner before making my way home.

Was it worth it? In every conceivable way, unquestionably.

Current mood: contemplative. Currently listening to: 'Broadcasting House', on Radio 4