Thank you to everybody who came to our consultation meetings for your advice on the times and frequency of Sunday holy Mass in our parish and to everybody who has mentioned to me their personal views.
My own personal view is that it would be better to reduce the number of Sunday holy Masses from 3 to 2. I don’t think such a small parish as Holy Family, Sanderstead needs more than 2 Sunday holy Masses. Indeed, having only 2 Sunday holy Masses might better enable us to celebrate the sacred liturgy of the holy Mass with greater worthiness, dignity and with fuller, conscious and active participation of everyone. However, a good number of parishioners told me they would like us to continue with 3 Sunday holy Masses. So, listening to you, I will try to continue, while the Lord gives me strength, to celebrate 3 Sunday holy Masses with you, each weekend.
Thinking of the times of our 3 Sunday holy Masses, we certainly need to change the time of our Sunday Vigil holy Mass on Saturdays. Our two neighbouring parishes of Selsdon and Purley, within less than 2 miles of us, both have a Sunday Vigil holy Mass on Saturdays at 6.00pm! A third Vigil holy Mass on Saturdays at 6.00pm, in Sanderstead, makes no sense!
So we will change our Saturday Vigil holy Mass time to give people in our parish and area even greater choice. We will celebrate a Sunday Vigil holy Mass, in Sanderstead, every Saturday at 5.00pm. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available between 4.00pm and 4.30pm. It’s important that everyone has time to know this change of time and to adjust their schedule if necessary. So we will continue with the present time (6.00pm for holy Mass and 5.00pm for Reconciliation) for another month or so. We will then begin the change of time for our Sunday Vigil holy Mass( 5.00pm)and the Sacrament of Reconciliation(4.00pm), on Saturday 3rd August.
PLEASE NOTE THAT FOLLOWING OUR CONSULATIONS AND YOUR ADVICE, OUR NEW SUNDAY HOLY MASS SCHEDULE BEGINS NEXT SATURDAY 3RD AUGUST.
By your request we will continue with 3 Sunday holy Masses. We will continue with holy Mass at 9.00am and 11.00am on Sunday itself and the Sunday Vigil holy Mass will now be at 5.00pm rather than 6.00pm. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be from 4.00pm to 4.30pm before the Sunday Vigil holy Mass. Please remind your family, friends and neighbours of these changes, when you invite them to join you for Sunday holy Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
