FIRST HOLY MASS OF 2026

JANUARY 2026 4/5 : 5pm Margaret; 9am Simone; 11am Mary 11/12 : 5pm Lisa; 9am Carolyn; 11am John 18/19: 5pm Jim; 9am Angela; 11am Marian 25/26 : 5pm Gabrielle; 9am Giannina; 11am Lesley 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.

31 December: Lizzie 1 January: Paul  2 January: Giannina

The Crib Offerings this year will be for ‘The Manna Society’, an organisation working in Central London which provides food, clothes, medical care and much more to homeless people living on the streets of our capital city.

4/5: 5pm Lisa; 9am David; 11am Paul 11/12: 5pm Phil; 9am Mike Guckian; 11am Chinwe 18/19: 5pm Patricia; 9am Gerry; 11am Mutsa  25/26: 5pm Claire; 9am Chris Mallows; 11am Lorenza

Our First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion preparation programme for children and their parents, begins on Friday 16th January , at 5.00pm in the Parish Room. Our programme to help parents to prepare their children for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist will begin early in the New Year. Meetings for Parents and meetings for their children will be on Friday evenings at 5.00pm. The parents will meet with Fr Malachy in the Parish Room and the children will meet with our Catechists in the Sacristy of the church, at the same time. Each meeting will last just 30 minutes.  The dates of the meetings are flexible but we are planning to have the first six meetings on: 16th, 23rd, and 30th January 2026, then the 6th, 13th and 20th of February 2026. First Reconciliation for Children and their parents will be during the Season of Lent 2026 and First Holy Communion during the month of June 2026. If you have a child who you think is ready to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion in 2026, please let me have details as soon as possible so that we can begin our planning.

Thank you for all the lovely cards and gifts that you very kindly gave me for Christmas. Thank you also for your generosity in the Offertory Collections of Christmas Days. I feel honoured to be your Parish Priest.  Thank you to the children, parents and grandparents who came and built an inspiring crib and decorated our tree so beautifully. Congratulations and very well done to the children who designed the crib to represent the type of structure in which the people of Gaza are forced to live.

We have our final meeting, next Friday at 5.00pm, for those preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday 4th January.

OLDE FORGE CAFE BAKERS/PROVIDERS ROTA JANUARY 2026 3: Lizzie 10: Claire 17: Bridget 24: Sophie 31: Giannina Please, if possible, could you provide enough cakes for the whole of each week. Thank you to everybody who is helping to provide cakes. To avoid having too many cakes, Coral mentioned to me that non-perishable cakes can be safely stored in the Cafe for a short while. When it is your turn to provide a non-perishable cake, please bring your cake to the Cafe a few days before the date of your turn. OLDE FORGE CAFE - HOSTS ROTA JANUARY 2026 4: Jenny, Kelly-Ann 5: Marian, Collette 7: Gardening group 11: Maggie, Lesley 12: Patricia, Jim 14: Gardening group 18: David, Ross 19: Mary, Phil 21: Gardening group 25: Simone, Regina 26: Lorenza, Paul Please note that for each of the above dates when the Cafe is open, one of the two Hosts has been trained in the use of the new coffee machine. Please would that trained person be the only person operating the machine and also please train the other person in its use. Many thanks. Thank you to everybody who acts as a Host. If an unexpected emergency occurs on the date you are scheduled to be a Host, please don’t worry about the Cafe. No need to try to find someone to ‘stand in’ for you. There is no need whatsoever to ‘swop’ with someone! We are not a Business, having to stay open to make money! - we open when and if we can. We take this role of ‘Host’ as a Vocation from the Lord to be his Missionary and his Prophet. Actually, the Cafe has, at times, functioned well with just one Host. The success of our Evangelisation Cafe depends on us. The more we speak to others of our Cafe, inviting them to visit us, the more successful it will be. Please invite members of your families, your friends, your neighbours and colleagues. Please check when it is your turn to be a Host (or a Baker!). Please see this role as a Calling, a Vocation from the Lord which you are generously telling the Lord you will do”. Thank you so much for your trust in the good Lord

We can be truly proud of the fact that we have been fully following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council by making it possible for everyone to receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion exactly as he gave himself to us, under the forms of bread and wine. To receive Our Blessed Lord under just one kind is to receive him fully, but to receive him under both kinds is much more faithful to the way he gave himself to his friends at the Last Supper. There are warning signs that a very serious strain of ‘flu is around. With this in mind, I think it would be wise if we suspend receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion under the form of wine, during these winter months. If you feel you can receive Our Lord in the sacred host, in your hand, please do so. That way is more hygienic than receiving the sacred host on your tongue. However, if you feel it is best for you to receive on the tongue, please do continue to do so. It would also be sensible to simply bow to each other at the Sign of Peace in holy Mass rather than shake hands. So too, it’s probably best not to hold hands during the Our Father in the holy Mass.  I feel sad that we have to suspend these aspects of our celebration of holy Mass for a little while. We will reinstate them as soon as possible in the Spring when the threat of this very serious strain of the ‘flu has diminished.