MEETING ON THE OUTCOME OF THE FIRST PART OF THE SYNOD

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

Everyone who kindly gave time and energy to clean and tidy our church, last Saturday in preparation for Christmas, our celebration of the Lord’s coming into our world. This was nothing short of a beautiful prayer to the Lord.  To everyone who provided Christmas Gift Bags, on Christmas Day, for people held in HMP Wandsworth. We provided over 170 bags.

Christmas is always a time when hearts are more open to God than at any other time in the year. Please invite members of your families, your friends, your neighbours and your colleagues to join you for one of our three Christmas Day holy Masses. God can work powerfully through your words and your invitation, helping people we love and know, to discover the life-giving presence of the Lord Jesus in holy Mass. Just to remind you: Wednesday 24th December: 5.30pm Christmas Carols 6.00pm First holy Mass of Christmas Day 11.30pm Christmas Carols 12.00 Midnight Second holy Mass of Christmas Day Thursday 25th December: 10.00amChristmas Carols 10.30am Third holy Mass of Christmas Day Friday 26th December: 9.00am Morning Prayer and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 9.30am Holy Mass of the Feast of St.Stephen

DECEMBER 2025 6/7: 5pm Maggie; 9am Ross; 11am David, Simone, Margaret(H) 13/14: 5pm Marian; 9am Angela; 11am Phil, Lisa, Mary(H) 20/21: 5pm Carolyn; 9am Jim; 11am John, Giannina, Gabrielle(H) 24: 6pm Linda, Regina, Paul; 12Midnight: Lizzie, Lorenza, Patricia 25: 11am: Marian, Ross, Maggie(H) 27/28: 5pm David, 9am Angela, 11am Margaret, Simone, Phil(H) 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.

24: 6.00pm Paul; 12Midnight Lisa 25: 10.30am Patricia 26: Richard  27/28: 5pm Collette; 9am Maggie; 11am Jim

OLDE FORGE CAFE BAKERS/PROVIDERS ROTA DECEMBER 2025 27 Mary Lawlor 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 DECEMBER 2025 23: Gardening group 27: John, Mary 28: Marian, Emmanuela 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.

Thank you to the thousands of people who took part in the Called to Bear Fruit consultation. We are grateful to you all for sharing so openly your hopes for the life of the Church in our Archdiocese. The consultation response, which includes 15 actions points for renewal, is available at https://rcaos.org.uk/calledtobearfruit and hardcopies will be sent to every parish. The consultation revealed a burning desire within our parishes to be missionary and evangelising disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, who work together to help people encounter His love. So, as we move forward on the next steps together, let’s build up the Body of Christ in Southwark with faith and confidence, becoming ever more a community of missionary disciples filled with joy and hope for the future. As an Archdiocese, we will continue to discern the process of renewal, and further updates will be provided in due course. There are hard copies of the ‘Report on the Consultation’, in the porch of the church. I’m afraid they are rain-damaged but hopefully still readable.