Parish News

The CES supports Catholic Education in the 2000 Catholic schools, academies and colleges of England and Wales, providing education over 800,000 students. The CES is the chief negotiating and advisory body on matters affecting all aspects of Catholic education.

On Saturday 4th October , Archbishop John will lead a day of prayer and praise, from 10.15am to 5.00pm, which includes, holy Mass, Adoration, Reconciliation.

On Sunday, 21st September , after the 11.00am holy Mass, we will be holding a Coffee Morning in the Olde Forge Cafe, for MacMillan Cancer Care. This excellent charity seeks to help and support people diagnosed with Cancer. It will be Coffee and Cakes to raise funds for this worthy cause. Please pop that date and time in your diary.

Tue 9 Sept: Mary Lawlor Wed 10 Sept: Lizzie Thu 11 Sept: Paul Fri 12 Sept: John

It is wise to write a Will so that the resources you have when the time comes for you to leave this world, goes to the people and organisations you wish. May I suggest that you might consider leaving a Bequest in your will to our parish or to our diocese or to our priest as well as to other causes. A gift in your will can enable us to continue to help people to know the Lord Jesus and his saving love. What a wonderful legacy you would be leaving behind.

Forgive me for raising the issue of parish finances, but I need to alert you to how we must finance our parish and manage our financial resources, if we are to continue as a viable parish. We pay a monthly levy to the diocese of £1,110.59. We also pay a monthly Health and Safety levy of £118.43. Monthly charges for electricity are around £200.00 These are just a few basic monthly costs. Our general monthly expenditure is well in excess of these amounts. Our weekly Collection is presently around £450.00. As you will appreciate then, our present weekly income is not covering our normal weekly expenses. Please may I suggest that every adult member of our parish give a minimum of £15, each week, in our Collection. If you are in personal financial hardship, please just disregard this suggestion. If you are in a reasonable or good financial position, please give more than this suggestion. We live in a relatively affluent area, so our finances should be secure. In addition to a Current Account, we also have a Savings/Loan account. I am reluctant to take anything from that account to pay our normal bills. The Savings/Loan account is there in case we face any unforeseen, sudden, emergency call on our finances or for any special projects we might have. That said, we are about to incur a debt of almost £8,000 to replace our very poor church Sound System with a much-needed new system. We will have to take that cost from our Savings/Loan account.

6/7 : 5pm Jim; 9am Carolyn; 11am Lorenza, Patricia, Lisa(H) 13/14 : 5pm John; 9am Gabrielle; 11am Maggie, Ross, Giannina(H) 20/21 : 5pm Lesley; 9am Regina; 11am David, Marian, Linda(H) 27/28 : 5pm Patrick; 9am Lizzie; 11am Angela, Phil, Paul(H) 

The role of proclaiming the Word of God, in the celebration of holy Mass, is a sacred function. In words taken from the Bible, Almighty God is made present among us. Therefore proclaiming God’s Word to people gathered for holy Mass, must be done with the utmost care, meaning, skill and love. It is not simply reading a text. To proclaim God’s Word in the best way possible, our Lectors prepare the text they will proclaim some time in advance. This preparation consists of taking time to meditate on the text, finding out its meaning and how that meaning applies to our lives. Jim Keating and I will be only too pleased to help our Lectors with their preparation. Please arrange with Jim or myself an opportunity to reflect upon the Reading, a few days before you are due to proclaim it.  If anyone would consider becoming a Lector in our parish, please let me know. We can offer you some on-going understanding of the meaning of the Scriptures and some training in how to deliver the text with skill and love. You can then become a very valued member of our group of Lectors. Thank you.

I’ll be leading this course, once again, at the London Jesuit Centre on five consecutive Saturday mornings, from 11.00 until 1.00pm, beginning on Saturday 18th October. Each time I offer this course, it is always different! It’s designed to help people to become more human, more alive, more their true selves, while discovering ever more deeply the true loving God at the heart of their lives. The course is now available to book, on the LJC website. I’m told that the number of participants, this time, will be strictly controlled to no more 18 people! Please book early to avoid disappointment.