Statement from the Archbishop of Southwark Following the Vote on Assisted Dying in the House of Commons

The CES supports Catholic Education in the 2000 Catholic schools, academies and colleges of England and Wales, providing education over 800,000 students. The CES is the chief negotiating and advisory body on matters affecting all aspects of Catholic education.

On Saturday 4th October , Archbishop John will lead a day of prayer and praise, from 10.15am to 5.00pm, which includes, holy Mass, Adoration, Reconciliation.

On Sunday, 21st September , after the 11.00am holy Mass, we will be holding a Coffee Morning in the Olde Forge Cafe, for MacMillan Cancer Care. This excellent charity seeks to help and support people diagnosed with Cancer. It will be Coffee and Cakes to raise funds for this worthy cause. Please pop that date and time in your diary.

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.

Tue 9 Sept: Mary Lawlor Wed 10 Sept: Lizzie Thu 11 Sept: Paul Fri 12 Sept: John

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.

OLDE FORGE CAFE BAKERS/PROVIDERS ROTA SEPTEMBER 2025 6: Ros 13: Millie 20: Mary Lawlor 27: Paul Mold 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  SEPTEMBER 2025 2 : Gardening group 6: Giannina, Gabrielle 7: Ros, Dinah 9: Gardening group 13: Carolyn, Kelly-Anne 14: Jim, Jenny 16: Gardening group 20: David, Collette 21: Emmanuela, Phil 23: Gardening group 27: Simone, Collette 28 : Patricia, Marian 30: Gardening 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

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.