Parish News

Please note in your diaries: Advent Service of ‘Light in Darkness’, followed by Tea in the Olde Forge Cafe: Sunday 14th December at 3.00pm. Advent Penance Service and Individual Reconciliation: Wednesday 17th December at 6.00PM Christmas holy Masses and Carols: Wednesday 24th December - Carols at 5.30pm, holy Mass at 6.00pm; Wednesday 24th December - Carols at 11.30pm and holy Mass at 12.00Midnight;  Thursday 25th December - Carols at 10.30am and holy Mass at 11.00am

I’m very pleased to tell you that Lissy will be taking over the development of our website and our use of Social Media. Lissy has great expertise in this area. Thank you so much to Lorenza for all the work she did to keep our parish moving forward in this vitally important field of new technologies.

This is just an early note for all our Eucharistic Ministers and all our Lectors, to please join me for a short time of prayer and reflection, before Christmas. We will begin at 10.30am for a period of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament followed by a meeting in our Cafe at 11.00, finishing at 12.00midday in time for our Meeting for Adults who allow the Lord to deepen their understanding of their Faith.

We began the month of November with the great Feast of All Saints, inviting everyone who is now with the Lord in Heaven, living in eternal joy, to pray for us. Tomorrow, the Feast of All Souls, we begin to think of those who have died and, while not yet in Heaven, are on their way home! We believe that the holy Mass and our prayers help these Holy Souls on that journey. Do come to holy Mass tomorrow, All Souls Day, and join me and through the holy Mass we can help our loved ones to speedily reach our homeland of Heaven.  If you would like me to offer holy Mass during the month of November, for specific members of your family or friends who have died, please fill in one of the Holy Mass envelopes which you will find in the church porch, enclose your stipend and please give it to me or pop it through the presbytery letterbox. In the holy Mass, we are connected to the Lord Jesus in his death and resurrection. The holy Mass is the most powerful means possible to allow the Lord to bring us and our loved ones safely home to Heaven.

Tue 11 Nov: Giannina Wed 12 Nov: Patricia Thu 13 Nov: John Fri 14 Nov: Mary

Please add the names of any loved ones who have died in the last year, to our Book of Remembrance, on the page of the date they left our world. The Book of Remembrance will be placed on the altar during every holy Mass in this month of November and so we will remember to pray for them at each and every holy Mass.

We will shortly begin again our meetings for everyone who is ready to grow in Faith and who wishes to have a grown-up Faith. For many people, opportunities to move from a childish Faith to a mature Faith have been very limited or even not available at all! These meetings are moments to talk about any aspect whatsoever of human life and to receive a little help to see how our loving Lord is so close to us in everything and to see how he is trying to draw us all into a genuine adult Faith relationship with him and his Church.  We will meet on Saturday mornings, at 12.00midday for one hour, in our Parish Room. Owing to other commitments, we can only have 4 meetings before Christmas, on the 22nd and 29th November and the 13th and 20th December.

Please be careful on the pavement in front of the church and on the pathways leading to the main door of the church and around the church and Cafe and presbytery. As Autumn takes hold and the daylight hours decrease, fallen leaves make for slippery surfaces. If you see fallen leaves around our church and buildings and on the pavement in front of the church, please clear the leaves. There is a brush in the church porch. Thank you.

On Saturday 6th December , from 10.00am until 2.00pm, I’ll be delivering this course. The course will bring hope to anyone who is struggling in any way with the complexities and disappointments of life and deeper meaning to anyone who wishes to live and die with peace and joy. The Lord who loves us, is with us in everything. He can show us how to live and even how to die, in the ways that will bring peace and joy to our hearts and minds, whatever be our circumstances. Please book early for this course, on the London Jesuit Centre website, to avoid disappointment.