This weekend is First Holy Communion Sunday at Park Place, Wickham for nine children, and I have been tasked with finding suitable small presents and cards for the children. It has not been easy. Whether you are in the local church repository, a secular newsagent or a large cathedral shop, the fare is the same: mawkish, coyly sentimental and old-fashioned pictures, verses and designs that don’t appear to have changed much since my own First Holy Communion in the 1950s. I asked myself how these sugary images of innocence could have any relevance or interest for our group of sparky eight year olds. Does it matter? Aren’t presents and cards simply the trivial end of First Holy Communion? And if they look old-fashioned, at least they provide a nostalgic reminder for the rest of th