FOOD BANK

JULY 2025 5/6: 5pm Jim; 9am John; 11am Gabrielle, Paul, Lizzie(H) 12/13: 5pm Giannina; 9am Lesley; 11am Linda, Lorenza, Patricia(H) 19/20: 5pm Regina; 9am Patrick; 11am Maggie, Ross, David(H) 26/27: 5pm Marian; 9am Angela; 11am Phil, Margaret, Simone(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.

"WHO HAVE YOU BROUGHT WITH YOU?" These are the words of the Lord Jesus to each one of us, every time we come to holy Mass. Please don't be content to come alone or just to come with someone who already comes every week, to holy Mass. Invite and encourage others in your family, those living next door to you, those living down your street, your friends. Do that and the Lord will work through you, probably slowly and bit by bit. Do that, and one day you will hear him say to you, "Well done, good and faithful child of mine. Enter into the joys prepared for you, for all eternity. Thank you to the wonderful people who have the privilege of being Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors and thank you to the wonderful people who act as Hosts and Bakers for our Evangelisation project, 'The Olde Forge Cafe.  We live in a time/space world in which none of us can be in two places at once! We provide rotas to make our commitments as feasible as possible. Often, there are conflicting calls on our time and energy. All we can do in deciding which call to follow, is to listen to the Lord speaking to us and then follow the voice of God in our consciences. Trying to arrange the rotas according to what is convenient for everyone is extremely difficult and results in some people doing a great deal and others doing very little! Instead, we will just publish general rotas and simply ask everyone to please just try to do what the Lord asks of you. So, please, if you don't mind, do not send me or Jim or Kim and Manuel who manage the Cafe, dates and times you are unavailable. If we are unable to bring the Lord in Holy Communion to the Sick and Housebound members of our parish every week, but as often as we can, then that is all we can do. If sometimes we are unable to open our Evangelisation Cafe, but we open it as often as we can, then that is all we can do. We trust in the Lord to send his Holy Spirit into the hearts of us all and we pray that the hearts of us all are open to his call. We go forward doing all we can to build his Kingdom in this world and to bringing his love and truth to others as the Lord's missionary disciples. Thank you to all the very dear friends of the Lord Jesus who so often put his plans before their own - your reward will be great in Heaven.

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.

Thank you to all our wonderful Hosts and Bakers for their faithful commitment to this great enterprise. At the recent Diocesan Jubilee, Archbishop John spoke of the Holy Spirit of God prompting us all to develop new ways of being missionary. Our Cafe is a way of reaching out to those in Sanderstead and beyond who do not yet have a connection with our Catholic Faith community and through us to the Lord Jesus. Thank you so much to everyone who uses their gifts and time to be Hosts, Bakers or just invites their family members, friends, neighbours, colleagues to join them and visit our Evangelisation Cafe. Thanks be to God, we are beginning to see people visiting the Cafe - Strangers who can become Friends, through your warm words of invitation. Please may I just remind you of how the Cafe operates: Guests are asked not to pay for their drinks and cakes but to please accept our hospitality. If our Visitors insist on making a contribution, then we graciously accept their kindness but please make it clear that no contribution is needed or requested. Members of our parish however, each time they visit the Cafe, are asked to give a donation towards the cost of drinks and cakes, so that we can meet the expenses of running the Cafe and our parish. Please, dear Bakers, continue to deliver your cakes each Saturday morning. Hopefully, we will then have enough cakes for the Saturday and the following Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the days when the Cafe is open each week. We do not offer a ‘take-away’ service so please, dear Hosts, do not give cakes to take away, to our own parishioners or visitors. Any cakes left over, after a session on Saturday, Sunday or Tuesday, please leave for Wednesday. Dear Parishioners of Holy Family parish, Sanderstead, please double your efforts to bring new people to your Evangelisation Cafe. Let the Holy Spirit fill your hearts and support this practical way of helping others to get to know the Lord Jesus better and better. Your Evangelisation Cafe is normally open each week, on; Saturdays 11.00am - 1.00pm Sundays 12.00midday - 1.30pm Tuesdays 10.00am - 12.00midday Wednesdays 12.00midday - 1.15pm  Please let me know if you are not yet an active member of your parish. Becoming a Host or Baker would be an excellent way of fulfilling what the Lord asks of us all.

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.

Our Faith needs to keep pace with our years! As we grow older, so too our loving relationship with the Lord Jesus and with his Church, needs to deepen. The Lord calls each of us to know him better and better, as the years pass by. Our next meetings designed to help us to understand and deepen our Catholic life of Faith will be FRIDAY, 4th and 11th July at 5.30pm, in our Parish Room. NB Normally we hold these meetings on Saturdays but for the next few Saturdays I will be mostly out of our parish! Please do come on Fridays. Meetings will last for no more than one hour. We talk about anything and everything you wish. I think you will enjoy and find these meetings helpful. We will be joined by Sarah, Shanna and Sian who were recently baptised, as they prepare to receive, for the first time, all the Sacraments of the Lord's saving love.

OLDE FORGE CAFE BAKERS/PROVIDERS ROTA JULY 2025 5: Kim 12: Kinga 19: Vanessa 26: 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 JULY 2025 1: Gardening group 2: Admin’ group 5: Kim, Manuel 6: Marian, Kinga 8: Gardening group 9: Admin’ group 12: David, Colette 13: Grainne, Lorenza 15: Gardening group 16: Admin’ group 19: Maggie, Simone 20: Lesley, Paul M 22: Gardening group 23: Admin’ group 26: Patrick, Gabrielle 27: Phil, Lizzie 29: Gardening group 30: Admin’ group 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

It’s good to remind ourselves, from time to time, that the Cafe is not about making money nor is it about attracting lots of people because our coffee is good! The Cafe exists because if even only one person gets to know us and our Faith a little better, then that is great success. We leave the rest to the Lord! Let’s not view the Cafe with pagan, secular eyes but with eyes of Faith and hearts filled with a desire to make the Lord known and loved.

To keep our church clean and tidy on the inside is a prayer in itself, a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God. Please feel free to offer your time and skills to pray in this way. Cleaning and tidying of the church can be done at almost any time, on almost any day, just let me know if you need access to the sacristy. The same applies to the grounds surrounding our church and buildings. The Lord can work through our gardening efforts, to create a place of beauty, peace and calmness. We need more people to help with the gardening. You need know nothing about gardening. A willingness to help is all that is needed. Please let me know if you can help or simply come along on Tuesday mornings when our Gardening Group will be there and will be delighted to welcome you.