Thank you for your offering last week of £1,245.18 and of £526.87 for Zambuko House (and of £1147.46 and £911.64 for the Maintenance Fund on 26th October.)
Sunday 9/11/14	The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (Remembrance Sunday) 9.15am Selma Cotta & Family (Sofia Cotta) 11am For the Dead of Two World Wars
Monday 10/11/14	Saint Leo The Great – Please note change of time. 11.30am Deanery Requiem Mass
Tuesday 11/11/14	Saint Martin of Tours 9.30am Frank Dawson (Eileen Dawson)
Wednesday 12/11/14	Saint Josaphat Please note change of time. 9.05am Michael Kenny RIP
Thursday 13/11/14	Feria/Saint  Frances Xavier Cabrini 9.30am Private Intentions (Mrs C Price)
Friday 14/11/14	Feria 9.30am Deceased Relatives & Friends of the Howell Family (M Howell)
Saturday 15/11/14	6pm (Vigil Mass) Sheila Simon RIP (J & M Clark)
Sunday 16/11/14	Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 9.15am  People of the parish 11am  Stephen Gossage RIP (Vicky Terry)
Confessions heard Saturday 5.00pm-5.45pm or by appointment.

Looking Through the Lens of the Gospel

John 2:13-22

In the Old Testament the privileged place of God’s presence was the Temple in Jerusalem. In the New Covenant, this was replaced by the person of Jesus. It was only after the resurrection that the disciples realised the significance of what Jesus had said and done. Have there been times for you when hindsight enabled you to see in what happened (to you or others) a meaning that had previously eluded you?

But we are the Body of Christ. When have you been particularly aware of the sacredness of people (yourself or others).There are many ways in which people, the temples of God, are being profaned today. What are the temples that people turn into market places today? Who are the people seeking to cleanse the temples and how are they doing it? Where do you find good news in this?

We may also think of institutions as in some way temples of God’s presence. In this time when aspects of our institutions are crumbling we can perhaps identify with the Jews who were horrified at the suggestion that the Temple would be destroyed. What is it like for you living in a time when some of the things you have taken for granted are collapsing? Where do you look for hope in such circumstances?

The cleansing of the Temple can also be a symbol of the need we have to examine our own motives so that we can bring to light our own vested interests that can confuse or spoil our motives for doing things. Sometimes it is a comment from another that brings such hidden motivation to our attention. Recall an occasion when you have been helped by a cleansing of your own reasons for doing something.

... Today’s feast commemorates the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome (which, incidentally, is St John Lateran, not St Peter’s). The popes lived at the Lateran for almost a millennium before they moved to the Vatican. However, there was an earlier feast celebrated on 9 November – that of the ‘Passion of the Image of Christ’ – which grew out of the legend of a violent attack of iconoclasm against a painting of Christ in Beirut. It’s fitting, then, that we continue to remember the plight of Christians in the Middle East whose very existence in the region is under continued threat.

The Second Collections scheduled during this month are:

Today: the Archbishop’s Admin Fund

16^th November: the Maintenance Fund.

Food for Bromley Borough Foodbank (boxes in porch).

23^rd November Christmas Traidcraft stalls after Masses.

The Annual Requiem Mass for the Clergy will be held here tomorrow November 10^th at 11.30am

We owe it to all those priests who have served us to make every effort to be present at this annual Mass and to pray for their souls as well as to remember them. Before mass begins a member of each parish in the Deanery will read out the names of priests who have served in their parish and candles will be places before the altar in their memory.  TC

Bene Merenti Papal Awards

I am delighted to announce that Geoff and Breda Ford and Frank Simon have each been awarded the Bene Merenti Medal in recognition of their many years loyal and devoted service to the Church and to St James the Great Parish in particular. 

Fr. Bryan Wells will celebrate the 11.00am Mass next Sunday 16^th November and present the Medals.  After the Mass there will be a little celebration in the hall to which everyone is invited.  TC

Day of Recollection for Ministers of Holy Communion and Readers - November 15th

The annual day of recollection is scheduled to take place at Bishop Thomas Grant School on Saturday November 15^th. Booking forms are available in the church porch. Please take a copy and send it directly to the address given on the form to book your place. 

Parish Curry Night Saturday - November 15th

The tickets are now all sold out. Please ensure full payment is made to Peter Benson in advance of event.

More Volunteers Are Needed to make coffee after Masses on Sundays and Wednesdays; and as Welcomers on Sundays. If you can help, please e-mail Rosa Del Guercio at: rotas@stjamespettswood.org

The Parish Volunteer/Duty Rotas

The rotas are all available on our parish website: stjamespettswood.org.  Please check the lists every week so that you can take your turn.  Thank you.

The Brownies Senior Citizens’ Christmas Lunch

Sunday 7^th December after the 11am Mass. Please sign list on porch table.

Confirmation 2015

If you have not already done so, please return your application forms by today or tomorrow to the Presbytery by the latest.

Request from Justice and Peace Group

The Bromley Foodbank is having a collection for food items at local branches of Tesco from 27 to 29 November and is asking for volunteers to hand out leaflets at the local Tesco branches to customers informing them of the collection. Shoppers at Tesco are asked to purchase an extra item with their shopping and donate it to the Foodbank on their way out. Members of the parish have assisted in the past. If you can help please could you contact Guy Beckingham at the Foodbank . His email address is g.beckingham@ntlworld.com

Briefly

If you would like an entry to be made on Briefly please email parish.office@stjamespettswood.org.  Deadline for Briefly is Wednesday evening of each week.

Family & Folk Choir

The Family and Folk choirs invite you to join our rehearsal to learn some new Advent Mass Parts. We will go through the same music in three rehearsals to enable as many people as possible to attend - Thursday 13 November at 4pm and 6.45pm, and Saturday 15 November at 10am.

Also, if you would like to join our special choir for our Carol service (21 Dec) & Midnight Mass (24 Dec), you are welcome to attend rehearsals between 8-9.30am on the following dates: 13th, 20th, 27th Nov & 4th, 11th, 18th Dec.

Mass Next Wednesday 12^th November.

Please note that the Mass on Wednesday will be in St James’ school at 9.05am.  All parishioners are welcome and coffee will be available afterwards.