THE HOLY FAMILY

Holy Family Catholic Church, Sanderstead Please Renew Your Gift Aid and Planned Giving We kindly ask all parishioners to renew their Gift Aid declaration & Planned Giving details. Gift Aid is an important source of income for our parish. If you are a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid allows us to claim an extra 25p for every £1 you donate, at no additional cost to you. Supporting the parish through a Standing Order also provides a reliable source of income that helps us plan and sustain our ministry and mission. 1. Renew or Sign Up Today Whether you already donate or would like to sign up for the first time, please complete our online form using the QR code (above) or the link: https://forms.rcaos.org.uk/giftaid/ 2. Do You Already Give by Standing Order? Thank you to everyone who supports the parish through a Standing Order. In recent years, we have been blessed to receive many new regular donations. However, not all Standing Order donations are currently linked to a Gift Aid declaration. If you are a UK taxpayer and give by Standing Order, please complete the form above so we can ensure your donations are Gift Aided where possible 3. Do You Use the Contactless Giving Machine? If you donate using our contactless machine, you can also Gift Aid these donations. This requires a separate registration linked to your bank card. To register: • Scan the QR code (below) or donate using the contactless machine. • After donating, wait for the Gift Aid registration screen to appear. • Enter your details and select both past and future donations. • Repeat this process for any additional bank cards you use. Registering your card allows us to claim Gift Aid on eligible contactless donations and increases the value of your gift to the parish. Thank you for your continued generosity and support of our parish community.

On Sunday 7th February 2027, Bishop Gerard will be joining us for our 10.30am holy Mass. During that holy Mass, Bishop Gerard will celebrate the great Sacrament of Confirmation for us. Please would anyone who has not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation in her or his life, speak with me. This is a great opportunity to receive the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit in this Sacrament. The Holy Spirit comes upon us to give us gifts, like Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Perseverance, Wisdom, Generosity, Humility and Courage and many more. These are the gifts that we all need to live real, adult, mature lives of Faith in this world. We will shortly begin a series of meetings to help those who will be preparing to receive this Sacrament. Please let know in the next few weeks if you would like to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday 7th February next year, when Bishop Gerard visits us.

Please may I remind you of the change in our Sunday holy Mass schedule, by direction of Archbishop John. Every parish in the Archdiocese of Southwark is asked to consider a change in the number of parish Sunday holy Masses. For some parishes there may be no changes at all. For other parishes there may be a reduction in the number of Sunday holy Masses. For more parishes, there may be no change in the number of Sunday holy Masses but there may be a change in the times of their Sunday holy Masses. For some parishes changes may only be for the Summer months each year because Summertime sees smaller congregations while people are on holiday away from their parishes. For other parishes, the changes may be permanent. This new Sunday holy Mass schedule throughout the Archdiocese will begin on 18th and 19th of July, the third weekend of the month. Here, in our own parish, we have had two very well-attended general meetings to discuss what we should do. I have also asked you to let me have your views, via emails, telephone calls and in person. I have received many messages and had many conversations. Discussions have also taken place at Area (Deanery) level between parishes. In our parish, your almost unanimous comments and suggestions to me, have been: 1. That we do not need three Sunday holy Masses, given the smaller population of our parish in comparison with other much larger parishes. 2. That two Sunday holy Masses would be enough for our needs and in fact that just two Sunday holy Masses would actually help us to celebrate Sunday holy Masses much more together as a parish community and with more participation. 3. That the 9.00am Sunday holy Mass is the least well attended of our present three Sunday holy Masses. 4. That we could lose the 9.00am Sunday holy Mass, without too much difficulty for people, given that we would still have a choice of two Sunday holy Masses in our parish, every weekend. 5. That to help those who presently celebrate 9.00am Sunday holy Mass and because it wouldn’t cause too much of a change for the present large 11.00am Sunday holy Mass congregation, that we have our second Sunday holy Mass at 10.30am on Sunday itself. 6. That would mean that every weekend we have our first Sunday holy Mass as a Vigil Sunday holy Mass at 5.00pm on Saturdays. That we would have our second of two Sunday holy Masses at 10.30am every Sunday.  Please let me know if you have any further comments or suggestions. In particular, please let me know if you think the changes mentioned above, would have an impact on the size of our Sunday holy Mass congregations.