CARITAS’, SOCIAL ACTION NETWORK - SUPPORT FOR ALL REFUGEES

A lovely tradition in Catholic and Orthodox Churches is to light a small votive candle as a symbol of prayer. We provide facilities for this in our church. People can ‘light a candle’ and give a little donation, when holy Mass or Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is not taking place in the church. However, we must take matters of Health and Safety and the matter of Fire Prevention, very seriously. We cannot allow votive candles to be alight in the church when nobody is actually in the church. We must insist on this for very good reasons as I’m sure you understand. A recent serious incident involving fire, in a local Catholic church, highlighted the importance of this. When holy Mass is not taking place or hasn’t yet begun or when Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is not taking place and if someone is present in the church, please feel free to ‘light a candle’. However, please be sure to extinguish all candles before you leave the church.

Our Olde Forge Cafe has been up and running for some time now. There have been very wonderful signs, during these past months, that the Lord has been working through our efforts in the Cafe, to bring his love and truth to others who don’t yet know him well. Thank you so much especially to everyone who ministers as a Host or Baker. Thank you to everyone who has invited friends, family members, neighbours, colleagues to join them for refreshments in the Cafe. Of course we are delighted to offer our guests free drinks and cakes, while we ourselves offer a donation to cover costs. If you haven’t yet come into the Cafe or if you haven’t yet brought a guest with you, please may I urge you in the name of the Lord and at the request of our Archbishop, to please do so. Every one of us is called by the Lord to bring others to know him. If you do or even if you don’t think our Cafe is the best way to do this as a parish Faith community, nonetheless please take a full and active part in this initiative. In that way we really are trying to fulfil what our dear Lord Jesus is asking of us.

Our church grounds boast a rather striking crucifix. It was hidden away at the back of the garden. As you will see, I have moved it forward, closer to the front of the garden, where it is much more visible and prominent. St Paul says, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power and the wisdom of God, to save us.” Our Archbishop John asks every parish in the archdiocese of Southwark and every parishioner in every parish, to do everything possible to help the Lord Jesus to be better known and loved especially anyone who doesn’t yet know the Lord. This is called ‘Evangelisation’. Moving the crucifix to the front of our garden means it is very visible to hundreds if not thousands of people every day, passing along Limpsfield Road in cars, vans, trucks, on buses or as pedestrians. When they see the crucifix, many will wonder what it means and that moment of wondering gives the Lord a chance to speak to their hearts! The crucifix isn’t in good condition, at the moment. It has been damaged by the trees and the ground which it has occupied, over the years. I’m hoping that we can properly and fully repair both the image and the cross. Incidentally, the symbol of Jesus actually hanging on a cross, which is the normal symbol used by Catholic and most Orthodox Christian Churches, is called a ‘crucifix.’ The symbol of a cross, without the image of the Lord hanging on the cross, is usually simply called a ‘cross’ by members of Protestant Christian Churches. May the symbol of Our Lord being put to death on a cross, showing the depth of his love for everyone, help people who gaze upon it, to know that the Lord Jesus offers them his saving love.  Jesus says, “Come to me all you who labour and are burdened and I will give you peace, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls.”

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY HOLYDAY OF OBLIGATION This week we celebrate the beautiful feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus played and still plays an important role in how her son is able to save us from sin and death. This week we honour Mary who was assumed body and soul to Heaven without dying, because of her unique relationship with her son. This great Feast-day is an occasion when the Church, acting in God’s name, obliges us all to celebrate holy Mass. We will have two holy Masses in our parish for this Feast day. Please see below for details.

August Tue 12th: Lizzie Wed 13th: Richard Thu 14th: Collette Fri 15th: Patricia

Please come to help clean and tidy God’s house, our church, next Friday, immediately after holy Mass. Thank you.

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.

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.  In this weekend’s first Scripture Reading at holy Mass, we were given an inspiring example of generosity prompted by trust in the providential care of God. In this very practical matter of how we manage our parish financial resources, please be generous.