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'Christ has no body now but yours' St Theresa of Avila
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Parish News
Our very latest news updates and information about Parish activities.
To Clare and everyone who brought the beautiful plants and flowers that adorn our church giving praise to God. To everyone for your generosity in the Easter Sunday collection and for all your gifts and cards. To Jim for cutting the grass.
Dear Parents, please note that the Children’s own reflection of the Liturgy of God’s Word, takes place during School Term times. Please, of course, continue to bring the children to holy Mass, come early and sit near the front of the church so that children can see and better understand the holy Mass. The children’s own Liturgy of the Word begins again on Sunday 26th April. Dear Parents, please bring the children to the Holy Week Services especially on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil/First holy Mass of Easter on Saturday evening. During this week, the Lord speaks powerfully of his saving love, through the Liturgy, to all our hearts.
Please could you bring flowers and plants to our church that we could then place them on the sanctuary for Easter, as signs of the joy we feel at the Lord’s Resurrection from the Dead. Please bring them any time next Saturday before about 5.00pm and leave them in the porch of the church. Thank you.
To everyone who bakes or provides cakes for our Olde Forge Cafe. Please let me know if you could join our rota of very kind people who occasionally bake or provide cakes for the Cafe. Thank you to Margaret Fuller who provides the cakes this week. Also, thank you to Bridget Saunders who will let us have some delicious Irish Soda Bread on Tuesday, to celebrate the Feast of St.Patrick.
Thank you to Patricia for all her very good work as a Catechist in our parish. Thank you to Lorenza for leading Stations of the Cross, last Friday. Thank you to Angela for helping parents with the Faith development of their children
PARISH CELEBRATION - THANK YOU, WITH ALL MY HEART What an amazing, quite wonderful Celebration we all enjoyed, last Sunday. It was an occasion full of joy and happiness, as we thanked the good Lord for all his loving kindness. It reminded me of the description, in the Acts of the Apostles, of how the first Christians lived - sharing and caring, as they rejoiced in their awareness of the risen Lord alive in their midst, by the power of the Holy Spirit. There isn’t enough space on this Newsletter to thank so many people by name, who in so many ways, made the Parish Celebration a huge success. Thank you, with all my heart, to everyone for everything you did. The memory of my Golden Anniversary of Priesthood will remain with me for ever. Please send me, digitally, your photographs. Unless you instruct me otherwise, I would like to publish some of them on our parish website, as a permanent reminder of a quite wonderful moment in the life our parish. Thank you for all your gifts and cards and best wishes. I am deeply honoured to be your priest. Thank you for your generous Collection for me which raised £1,596.00.
Parish Priest Notices
Important notices and items. These will contain news elements & important requests and parish notices
March 7/8: 5pm Mary; 9am Lisa; 11am Carolyn 14/15: 5pm Jim; 9am Gabrielle; 11am Giannina 21/22: 5pm Lesley; 9am Linda; 11am Regina 28/29: 5pm Patrick; 9am Paul; 11am Lizzie April 2 (Maundy Thursday): 8.30pm Lorenza, Patricia, Maggie 3 (Good Friday): 3.00pm Ross 4 (Easter Sunday Vigil): 8.00pm David, Marian, Angela 5 (Easter Sunday): 9.00am Phil, Margaret, Simone 11.00am Mary, Carolyn, Lisa(H) 11/12 : 5pm Jim; 9am Gabrielle; 11am Lesley, Paul Donovan, Linda(H) 18/19 : 5pm Regina; 9am Patrick; 11am Paul Mould, Lizzie, Patricia(H) 25/26 : 5pm Maggie; 9am Lorenza; 11am Ross, David, Marian(H) Thank you to our wonderful Ministers of the Eucharist who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to this awesome, sacred ministry, by their willingness to give up their own plans and convenience in order to do God’s will rather than their own. Let us pray for them because they too fight the same personal weaknesses we all have to fight against and they too have to fight the same temptations we all have to fight. God be with them.
An Intention for holy Mass is a specific prayer, often for a particular person or purpose, that a priest offers during the celebration of a holy Mass. It is the best way that we have to unite our lives, our hopes, our fears, our joys and our sorrows with the Lord Jesus. It is the best way possible, because every time holy Mass takes place, the Lord’s Death and Resurrection also takes place. A holy Mass Intention is a prayer asking that the Lord’s victory over sin and death be applied to the Intention. The Intention can be for those who are still living in this world or for those who have left this world. Anyone, of course, may request a holy Mass - In Thanksgiving, for a Birthday, for someone who has died, on the occasion of a special Anniversary, for someone who is unwell or for any other intention that we believe the good Lord wishes to hear and possibly to give us. Every holy Mass is the making present of the Lord offering his saving love to everyone, so every holy Mass is for everyone! However, sometimes we have specific Intentions that we may wish to mention to the Lord. A ‘Stipend’ or Offering for the holy Mass is not a fee! It is not ‘the cost of a holy Mass’! The holy Mass is so sacred, so full of the Lord’s presence and saving power that it is priceless! In fact, the Stipend is only a gesture of gratitude and care for the priest who celebrates the holy Mass for you. It is a way for supporting our priests who, although they do not receive salaries, still need personal funds to meet their own ‘costs of living.’ The Stipend suggested by the Archdiocese of Southwark Finance Committee is a minimum of £10 for each holy Mass. Of course, anyone who can’t afford a Stipend should still request a holy Mass Intention and I’m sure every priest would always be more than happy to celebrate holy Mass for someone in that situation. Here in our parish, please use the holy Mass Intention envelopes which you will find in the porch of the church. Please write the details of the Intention, a preferred date if required, enclose the Stipend, and let me have it directly or post it through the presbytery letterbox.
2 (Maundy Thursday): 8.30pm Paul 3 (Good Friday): 3.00pm Jim; Passion Reading: Gerry(N), Mutsa(C) 4 (Easter Sunday Vigil): 8.00pm Lizzie(1), David (3)), Patricia (5), Lorenza (7/Epistle) 5 (Easter Sunday): 9am Phil 11am Mutsa 11/12: 5pm Maggie; 9am Mike; 11am Lisa 18/19: 5pm Collette; 9am Gerry; 11am Jim 25/26: 5pm Patricia; 9am Richard; 11am Paul
Please do your best to bring members of your family, your friends, neighbours and colleagues who normally have little, if any contact with our Catholic parish, to the Olde Forge Cafe. Please remember that those you bring with you DO NOT give a donation for their coffee and cake. Only us, who are regular members of our parish, are asked to give a donation, each time, to cover the cost of the Coffee machine, coffee beans, heat, light etc. Dear Bakers and those who provide milk, please remember to take your expenses from the donations received.
Please note that the Cafe is only licensed to provide hot drinks and cakes. We are not insured for the cooking or provision of hot food. There are regulations around hygiene and food safety which we would have to meet, before we would be able to offer cooked or heated food to Visitors to the Cafe. Also, only someone with the required Health and Safety certification is permitted by Law, to prepare food for public consumption. We can, of course, apply for permission to provide cooked or heated food in our Cafe and as long as we can satisfy all the requirements, we would receive permission to do so. This is what we have done in the past for special occasions. If we were to use the cooking facilities and equipment in our Cafe and provide food, without the required permissions, we could be in difficulty. If an accident occurred in the kitchen or someone became unwell after consuming food, we could well face a very large fine or even the compulsory closure of the Cafe. Please speak with me, well in advance, if you would like to suggest an occasion when we could provide cooked or heated food. We would need to satisfy all requirements and seek the approvals needed, which we could do. Many thanks.
Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who act as Hosts in our Olde Forge Cafe. If you are not yet a Host, please speak with me. It would be great to increase the team of Hosts. All training to operate the Coffee Machine, will be given.
Parish /
Diocesan Events
Deep in the human heart is a longing to be connected to others, to love and to be loved. I am leading this Workshop from 10.00am until 2.00pm on Saturday 11th July . The Workshop will help us to understand the reasons why we sometimes feel lonely and what a devastating effect Loneliness can have on us. I’ll suggest effective ways to ensure that your experience of Loneliness can actually become the means of finding deep, satisfying ways of being close to the Lord and to other people. The workshop will take place at the London Jesuit Centre. If you would like to attend this Workshop, please book now on the London Jesuit Centre website.
Anxiety and Worry often make life difficult for many people. I am leading this Workshop, from the evening of Friday 22nd May ( 6.30pm to 8.30pm) then continuing on Saturday 23rd May (11.00am TO 1.00pm). This Workshop will explain how Anxiety begins, how it can take hold of us and then spoil so much of our lives. I’ll also offer some very good, tried and tested ways in which people can escape from Worry or at the very least reduce it and begin to live much happier lives, feeling and monk . The Workshop will take place at the London Jesuit Centre. If you would like to attend this Workshop, please book now on the London Jesuit Centre website.
May I invite you to join me for a short ‘Walk of Witness’ along our High Street on the morning of Good Friday. We will walk from our church, at 11.00am, to the ‘Gruffy’, stopping occasionally to meditate and pray. One of our parishioners, dressed in similar clothes to Jesus, will carry a large cross. We will be finished by 11.45am. Please bring the children too. I’m hoping that some of our friends from other Christian Churches will join us.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE ABOVE ICON FOR A GUIDED MEDITATION
PRAY FOR OUR ARCHBISHOP - JOHN WILSON
As a parish we encourage our community to pray for our shepherd