TIMES OF HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SUNDAY

MAY 2024 4/5: 6pm David; 9am Phil; 11am Angela; Carolyn; Gabriella(H) 11/12: 6pm Patrick; 9am Lizzie; 11am Paul; Lisa; Lorenza(H) 18/19: 6pm John; 9am Simone; 11am Tony; Regina; Dinah(H) 25/26: 6pm Marian; 9am David; 11am Margaret; Coral, Patricia(H) JUNE 2024 1/2: 6pm Phil; 9am Lisa; 11am Dinah, Gabriella, Mary(H) 8/9: 6pm Angela; 9am Lorenza; 11am Ross; Lizzie; Paul(H) 15/16: 6pm Regina; 9am Coral; 11am Marian; Carolyn; John(H) 22/23: 6pm Simone; 9am Dinah; 11am Tony; Lisa; Maggie(H) 29/30: 6pm Margaret; 9am Jim; 11am Patrick; David; Ross(H) Let us pray for our Ministers of the Eucharist that they may be increasingly aware of God’s gift to them as they strive to grow in holiness, living in faith and conduct.

Thank you to everybody who came to share their views on our present Sunday holy Mass schedule. It was a most helpful meeting. The clear consensus was that a change or changes in the number/times of Sunday holy Masses in our parish, needs to be made. Before any change does or doesn’t take place, may I ask anybody who didn’t come to last Saturday’s meeting, to please let me have your views, in the next two weeks. No decision will be made before then. Many thanks.  Following our meeting and in the light of other comments I have received, my suggestion is that, although I personally think we only need two Sunday holy Masses, I’ll take your advice and so we will still retain our two holy Masses on Sundays, of 9.00am and 11.00am and also that we will continue with a Sunday Vigil holy Mass on Saturdays. However, because two neighbouring parishes which are geographically very close to us have Vigil holy Masses at 6.00pm, I see no point in having a third Sunday Vigil holy Mass in Sanderstead, in the same geographic area, at the same time! I propose then that we move our Sunday Vigil holy Mass forward by an hour, to 5.00pm. Please let me have your comments on this proposal in the next couple of weeks. Many thanks.

Last Thursday was a remarkable day in our Evangelisation Cafe. There was a constant stream of visitors throughout the 2 hour period. Thanks to our faithful Host we were able to open the Cafe and welcome our guests, many of whom remarked on how lovely they think the Cafe is and that they will be telling others about it! Thank you so much to our Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors, Hosts and Bakers for example, who understand and live their sense of ‘Vocation from the Lord’. Missionary Disciples of Jesus put their work for him first and then, of course, they can fulfil all their many other commitments. Putting the Lord’s Way first actually means that everything else we do is done in the right spirit and the Lord blesses our efforts, bringing them to successful conclusions. This is the heart of our Faith, of our loving relationship with Jesus. “Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven”, he said, “and everything else will be given to you.” This is what he asks of us, whether it be as a Host in the Olde Forge Cafe or anything else. The words of Our Lady, Mary, at a Marriage Feast in Cana, were, “Do what he asks of you”. If we do this, first and foremost by putting our trust in him, then all will be well.

OLDE FORGE CAFE BAKERS/PROVIDERS ROTA  6th May: Lizzie Mould 13th May: Roselinda Kryulule 20th May: Bridget Sanders 27th May: Ann David 3rd June: Marian Lee 10th June: Kim Zenao 17th June: Kinga Vajlz 24th June: Vanessa Zanule 1st July: Giannina Rowell 8th July: Mary Lawlor 15th July: Rodger McIntyre 22nd July: Geraldine Truss 29th July: Chinw 5th August: Linda O’Callaghan 12th August: Dee and Veronica 19th August: Millie Lewis 26th August: Gerry Murphy 2nd September: Lauren Andrews 9th September: Margaret Fuller 16th September: Odette 23rd September: Sierra Koyama 30th September: Helen Mallows Thank you to everybody who is helping to provide cakes. When it is your turn, please could you bring your non-perishable cakes to the Cafe on the previous day which is a Sunday. The cakes can be stored and kept fresh in the Cafe for use during that week. The more people who kindly offer to provide cakes, the more and the better the work of the Lord is shared. If you are not very successful at baking, like me, then buying a cake to share, at a local supermarket, is the answer! Thank you very much to Coral for coordinating the Baker’s Rota OLDE FORGE CAFE - HOSTS ROTA APRIL 2024: Thur 4: John Ducker; Gerry Murphy Sat 6: Elaine and Tony Charlton Sun 7: Rosamunde Wood; Dinah Sackey-Addo Thur 11: Maggie Bowes; Carolyn Hopson Sat 13: Jannine Stebbings; Bridget Saunders Sun 14: Marian Lee; Giannina Powell Thur 18: David Johnson; Patrick Fernandez Sat 20: Lorenza Bellavia; Lizzie Mould Sun 21: Geraldine Truss; Antonia Ugbaja-Omezie Thur 25: Coral Shirto; Regina Fernandez Sat 27: Jim Keating; Vanessa Zanuto Sun 28: Paul Mould; Kinga Vajsz Thank you to everybody who acts as a Host. If an unexpected emergency occurs on the date you are scheduled to be a Host, please don’t worry about the Cafe. No need to try to find someone to ‘stand in’ for you. There is no need whatsoever to ‘swop’ with someone! We are not a Business, having to stay open to make money! - we open when and if we can. We take this role of ‘Host’ as a Vocation from the Lord to be his Missionary and his Prophet. Actually, the Cafe has, at times, functioned well with just one Host. The success of our Evangelisation Cafe depends on us. The more we speak to others of our Cafe, inviting them to visit us, the more successful it will be. Please invite members of your families, your friends, your neighbours and colleagues. Dear Hosts, please remember to put the Cafe Notice Board outside, near the pavement. How great it was to see the initiative of some Hosts who put outside, a table with a plant and chairs with cushions and a near-by water bowl, to attract local dog-walkers.

You may remember that during Lent , we had a brief introduction to a course called ‘Fully Human, Fully Alive’. The course helps us to understand ourselves, why I am sometimes happy and sometimes sad and all the other feelings I have and then how to integrate my feelings and my thoughts into living a full, meaningful, really alive way of being. The second part of this course takes place at the London Jesuit Centre in the month of June. Knowing something of how my mind and feelings have been formed, Part 2 of the course is very practical - specific ways in which I can ensure I will find joy and peace in the face of my personal troubles and in a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus. If you found our Lenten introduction interesting and helpful, please sign up on the LJC website for Part 2. Places are going quickly!

The Rosary is a beautiful, traditional Catholic prayer that everyone can use, in all situations. In our parish we promote the Rosary prayer every year during the month of May. We pray a decade of the Rosary (1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be) at the end of each holy Mass during this month. Please bring your Rosary with you, when you come to holy Mass. If you don’t have a Rosary, please take and keep a Rosary from the box in the porch of the church - a donation if you can, too!

As we grow older in body, we also grow in wisdom and understanding of ourselves and others and our world. Part of this development is to grow in the way we live our Faith, in the modern world. Please come along to this meeting next Saturday and subsequent Saturdays too and let’s talk about how to live our Faith in a fast-changing world. The meeting is just for an hour and is very relaxed and comfortable. We can talk about anything and everything. I think these meetings can equip us well to be mature, wise, holy women and men in today’s world.

There will be a Retiring Collection next week for the Catholic Communications Network, the media office of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales which promotes the Gospel message on current and national issues.

PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF KNOCK, CROAG PATRICK, WESTPORT, BALLINTUBBER ABBEY - 9th JULY OR 15 OCTOBER, FOR 4 DAYS - £550 On the evening of the 21st August 1879, a heavenly apparition occurred at the gable end of a parish church in the West of Ireland. Our Lady appeared with St Joseph and St John the Evangelist. This place has become an international pilgrimage centre, like Lourdes and Fatima, with many, many thousands of people, each year, visiting the spot where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a group of very poor people. Flying from Stanstead to Knock, for a pilgrimage of four days, we would visit the Payton Centre and hear about the life of the ‘Rosary Priest’ who devoted his life to praying the rosary, holy Mass on the very spot where Our Lady appeared in the parish church, holy Mass in the great basilica, visit to the holy mountain of Croag Patrick where St Patrick fasted and prayed before beginning his missionary work in Ireland, visit to the lively town of Westport for shopping and a little ‘craig’( fun!), visit to Ballintubber Abbey, where St Patrick baptised his converts to Christianity. Holy Mass and rosary each day  We will stay in a very comfortable hotel on a part-board basis (breakfast and evening meal ) Please put your name on the ‘Knock Pilgrimage’ sheet you will find in the porch of the church, if you would like a little more information about this possible pilgrimage. If you are interested in this pilgrimage, please come to a short meeting next Sunday 5th May , immediately after 11.00am holy Mass, in the Parish Room. More details of the pilgrimage will be provided and Booking Forms will be available.