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Thank you for your offering last week of £1,429.76 and £764.03 for Poor Parishes. Mass attendances were 681.
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Sunday 14/2/16 |
1st Sunday of Lent
6.00pm Jean Rawling RIP (Foundation)
9.15am People of the Parish
11.00am Louise Furnell
4.00pm Stations of the Cross
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Monday 15/2/16
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Feria 9.30am Enda & Keith Blacker
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Tuesday 16/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Amanda Mulroy (G Mulroy)
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Wednesday 17/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Bridget Kilcoyne (M Pettifer)
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Thursday 18/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Maria Ane Pontes (D Suzzara)
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Friday 19/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Patrick, Eileen & William Keane RIP (P Farrant)
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Saturday 20/2/16 |
Vigil Mass 6.00pm People of the Parish
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Sunday 21/2/16 |
2nd Sunday of Lent
9.30am Jean Sankar (I Hutchins)
11.00am Freda Malone RIP (Family)
4.00pm Stations of the Cross
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Monday 22/2/16 |
The Chair of St Peter the Apostle 9.30am Hilda Bartkoff
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Tuesday 23/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Patrick Kirwan (R & E Wright)
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Wednesday 24/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Ivy Nelligan RIP (Howell Family)
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Thursday 25/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Requiem Mass for Jim Macey
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Friday 26/2/16 |
Feria 9.30am Fr Oliver, Fr Shaien & Mgr John (K Kellegher)
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Saturday 27/2/16 |
Vigil Mass 6.00pm Patrick Brennan RIP (Wharton Family)
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Sunday 28/2/16 |
3rd Sunday of Lent
9.15am People of the Parish
11.00am Vic Clark RIP (M Clark)
4.00pm Stations of the Cross
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Confessions heard Saturday 5.00pm-5.45pm or by appointment.
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Morning Prayers take place Monday – Friday at 9.10am. All are welcome to attend.
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Pondering the Word (Lectio Divina) A quiet reflective look at the following Sunday’s Gospel. Mondays 11-12 noon here in the Church. All welcome. |
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Fr David Writes…..
This time last year I had the privilege to experience the wilderness – the desert in the Holy Land. It’s a place of barrenness – it is dry and a place of extensive desolation. The wilderness is symbolic of our moments of spiritual or emotional dryness and desolation. We too are thrown sometimes in periods of disorientation, of desperately asking for answers. Sometimes these moments are triggered by a tragic exterior experience like the collapse of a relationship for example or the death of a loved one. Our world is turned upside down in some cases. From a very controlled existence we find ourselves completely in a chaotic space. Nothing which before made sense, somehow has the ability to provide for us the answers that we need. Nothing seems to make us happy and we live our lives in silent desperation. We are thrown into the wilderness. In other times there is no trigger at all. At some point we start realising that something in our psyche had changed. We feel unsettled, irritated by everything and everyone. This is a time of intense questioning of oneself, of one’s choices and one’s life in general. At this time we have nothing to hold on to for support or to alienate ourselves. We come face to face with our own demons without any of the defence mechanisms we normally use to help us function and escape them. Some of us can also experience this time as depression – a malaise of the soul. This place is arid and when we feel this low and fragile, we are tempted usually in our “Achilles heel”. The “Achilles heel” is that primeval wound we are very easy to succumb to. We are tempted because we feel so desperate to move on from the psychological, emotional and spiritual suffering that we would be experiencing. This is what St John of the Cross tries to describe as “The Dark Night of the Soul”.
At the beginning of Lent, we are invited to enter into the narrative of Jesus’ experience in the wilderness. We are told that he is led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days and nights. Just as in the Old Testament, the Jews were liberated from Egypt and thrown into the desert for forty years. Liberation comes with a cost. Liberation is hard work. It is accomplished through a period of self-reflection and purification of anything that is NOT from God. Our “Ego” needs to be harnessed first. The devil tempts Jesus in his “Achilles Heel”. Satan is asking him to use his divinity for personal gain. Knowing that he was starving after fasting 40 days, he tempts him to turn stones into bread. Then he attempted to get Jesus to turn away from God in order to achieve personal power. Satan asks Jesus to worship him. Finally he asks Jesus to prove his divinity by jumping off a building and allowing angels to catch and protect him, thus showing everyone he was a god himself. But Jesus will have none of it. He quotes Scripture back at Satan showing the devil how each of these things was wrong. This humility on Jesus’ part, this taking on the form of humanity and living it fully is what we need to remember in our own times of temptation. Jesus understands us at our lowest moments because he had been there and done that himself. Jesus identified himself with us in everything but sin.
This is the first Sunday of Lent, a time when we start to examine our past year in terms of how we have remembered our God and how we have professed what we believe. Lent is a time of reflection as we start with the awareness of our limits, the fact that we will die and have to make a reckoning, and a chance to again get our spiritual houses in order. It is a time of grace, as it is a time when we do break our routine living and spend more time in personal reflection and prayer in order to de-clutter our lives from all that is not from God and unnecessary and sometimes harmful for us and those we love. It is a time when we are invited by the Church to look out of our self-centred ways and think more of others who might need our time and energy, our smile and our hands. This is a time of transformation for us on a personal level and also as a community of faith. So I wish to invite you all, including myself, to take seriously this special time and also to make use of what the Parish is offering us to help us in a deeper way in order to live out this time of year. Let us make use of this time. Have a blessed Lent all of you.
Second Collections
This weekend the second collection will be for the Maintenance Fund. Next weekend the second collection will be for CAFOD – Fast Day for Lent.
Stations of the Cross
We are all invited to come to pray this beautiful prayer together as a community in church during Lent. This year we will meet on Sunday evenings at 4.00pm. Please try to join us at least once as we prayerfully follow the journey of Jesus to his death on Calvary using different meditations and reflections.
Holy Baptism
This weekend we welcome Enza Shah. Her parents Lisa and Viraj and godparents Paolo, Angela, Shivali and Zia.
CAFOD Lent Fast Day – Friday 19 February
This Lent Fast Day, we have an opportunity to come together as a Catholic community to ensure girls living in the world’s poorest countries are free to change their lives by getting an education. CAFOD is working with local expert organisations around the world to bring water to family homes, so girls who used to spend hours collecting it every day, now have time for school, study and to play with their friends. Fast Days are our opportunity to support that vital work. Collect your Fast Day envelope after Mass today, and remember to fast on Lent Fast Day. And there is very good news: the UK government has promised to match every pound and penny you give this Lent! Please give as much as you can in next week’s collection, so that more girls around the world are able to live lives free from the burden of the long walk for water.
Dad & Me Group – now back at St James’
The next session will take place on Saturday 20th February 10.00–11.30am in the St James’ Community Centre,
Children’s Liturgy
Will commence on 21st February but unfortunately will not be running on 13th March and 10th April due to Parade Mass and not having enough leaders.
2016 Confirmation Programme
The next session will take place on Monday 22nd February, 7.00-8.30pm in the Community Centre.
“Drop-In” – Evening Surgery
The next Surgery will take place on Tuesday 23rd February, 5.30-8.00pm. Please call at 281a Crescent Drive – no appointments necessary.
2016 First Holy Communion Programme
The next session will take place on Saturday 27th February, 4.30-5.45pm in the Community Centre.
Week of Accompanied Prayer (WAP) – Saturday 28th February to Saturday 5th March
Applications are still being accepted
If you are still considering joining the Week of Accompanied Prayer, please note that applications have to be in this weekend (by 14th Feb). You can register online at www.tinyurl.com/PettsWoodWAP . Or you can complete the form at the bottom of the Invitations (which can be found in the lobby), and place the completed form in the box in the porch.
For all PARTICIPANTS - You are reminded of the all-important Opening Session on Sunday, 28th February, 2.30 to 3.30 pm at Petts Wood Methodist church (opposite Morrisons). There we will all pray together, you will meet your Prayer Guide, have your meeting time confirmed and receive some suggestions for your first prayer time.
For all parishioners who are NOT themselves Participants - you can still support the Week. Here are three suggestions:-
1. Since the church will be open every day Monday to Friday of the Week from 7.30 in the morning to 9.00 at night, could you pop in at least once, for a time of quiet personal prayer? And please remember Participants and Guides in your private prayer at home, uniting with this special Week.
2. Could you sign up as a Welcomer for the WAP. It would be very helpful and much appreciated if you could please offer some of your time - the schedule is in the lobby at the back of the church. The Welcomer's role is simply to be in the area at the back of the church to greet Participants and offer a light refreshment, which will be on-hand. Our aim is to have two people per slot.
3. Or maybe bake a few small cakes or cookies to leave in the Welcoming area?
Memorial Book
This is now in its case in the Lady Chapel. Once again I would like to thank the CWL for purchasing this on behalf of the Parish. Also a big thank you to our “Parish Calligrapher” who has spent many hours writing all the names in the book. I will be blessing the book at the 6pm Mass on 20th February. The book will be updated throughout the year so please continue to complete the forms at the back of the church. Fr David
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)
RCIA is the process given to us by the Church to initiate adults and older children into Christianity as it is lived in the Roman Catholic tradition. If you are interested in exploring more about the Catholic faith, please complete the form (in carousel at the back of the church) and return it to either Fr David or the Parish Office – 281a Crescent Drive.
Eucharistic Ministers
We need more Eucharistic Ministers to go onto the rota for the 9.15am Sunday Mass. If you are able to help, please contact the Parish Office. Also, if you are interested in becoming a Eucharistic Minister, please speak to Fr David – full training will be given.
St James’ Guide Pack
Our Guides are looking for two new leaders to take over the running of the pack. If you feel you would like to help please contact the Parish office for more information.
Wow!
A big thank you for the new goods which you donated to the Bromley Women's Refuge. The CWL took the collection of over 400 items to the Bromley HQ and the staff expressed their thanks to everyone.
Military Whist Drive
On 27th February the CWL will be holding a Military Whist Drive in the St James’ Community Centre, 7.30 for 8pm start. This is an event suitable for 10 - 100 year olds. If you cannot play whist just come along between 7.00 and 7.30 and we will teach you - by the end of the evening you will be an expert! Tickets cost £6 and include a ploughman's supper. The bar will be open and there will be a raffle. Please contact cwl@stjamespettswood.org to help them with catering numbers.
Quiz Night on 5th March
The Justice and Peace Group invites everyone to a charity Quiz Night to raise funds for St Helen’s, the parish of Fr Alex Busuttil in Arequipa, Peru. This is a family event including a high quality fish and chip supper from Village Fish & Chips in Petts Wood. Tickets will be £12 for adults, £6 children under 14, and £30 for a family ticket of four. Ticket orders email roger.wright@stjamespettswood.org and they will be on sale after Mass on 20-21 February.
Friends of St James’
An exciting and innovative group is taking root in our parish: The Friends of St James’.
This group is to offer parishioners an opportunity to participate in the parish's community. We recognise the many existing and well supported parish groups but we would like to focus on easy socialising as well as offering a range of spiritual and educational events each year.
Members can be as involved as much as they want, dipping in and out, depending on their particular needs or interests, as well as how much time they may be able to offer.
If you feel that you don't really know many people when you come to Mass; if you've had ideas about building our community and strengthening our trust and faith in each other but also in God; if you'd like to socialise more in our beautiful newly refurbished Centre, but also enjoy outings, then this group is for you!
Committee meetings will be held once a term and be open to everyone who may be interested to join and to discuss ideas for an event.
Everyone on the parish register over the age of 18 is eligible to be a Friend. If you are interested in becoming a member, you are invited to contribute an annual subscription fee of £10 per year per adult and contact the parish office at parish.office@stjamespettswood.org
For general enquiries regarding our group and to submit ideas for discussion, please contact us at friends@stjamespettswood.org. You are also invited to talk to us at our formal launch on March 6 after 9.15am Mass.
Date for your diary: St James’ Egg Hunt Extravaganza on March 27 after 11 am Mass.
Lent & Easter 2016 at St James’
These two great seasons of the Liturgical year are an opportunity for every person to experience a closer journey alongside Jesus. There are many activities and services available to nourish and enrich your journey.
Stations of the Cross (4.00pm, every Sunday)
This is a procession telling the story of Jesus' Passion. We will have different readings and reflections each week to remember the story through different perspectives.
Petts Wood Churches Together Talks (Tuesdays 16 & 23 February, 1, 8 & 15 March)
1.30pm – 3.00pm at Christ Church URC
8.00pm-9.30pm at Methodist Church, Queensway.
Please see poster at back of church.
Week of Accompanied Prayer (28 Feb - 5 March)
(Information available in the Porch)
Discussion Group (Tuesday 8 March)
8 - 9.30pm, a group of catechists will lead a discussion to reflect on Pope Francis' sermons around the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Everyone is most welcome to come along. Tea and Coffee will also be provided!
Lenten Reconciliation for children and young people (Wednesday 16 March from 3.30pm)
Fr David will be available to hear Confessions from 3.30pm, particularly for any children or young people who would like Reconciliation before Easter.
Lenten Service (Wednesday 16 March, 8pm)
This service is an opportunity to reflect on the mercy and love of God. Individual Confessions will be available after the service for anyone who wishes.
Palm Sunday (Sunday 20 March)
4.00 Experience the Stations of the Cross in a different way, as the stations are re-enacted with readings, reflections and music
Maundy Thursday (Thursday 24 March)
8pm Mass of the Last Supper.
After Mass, we are invited to spend some time 'watching and praying' with Jesus. Music will be available throughout this time, and the watching will end with Night Prayer at 11.50pm. To make sure that there is always someone in the Church with Jesus, please sign your name against the time slots in the porch if you know what time you are planning to be present.
Good Friday (Friday 25 March)
9.30am Morning Prayer
10.30am Childrens' Stations of the Cross
10.30am Petts Wood Churches Together Service
3pm Good Friday Service
8pm Taize Prayer around the Cross
Easter Vigil (Saturday 26 March)
9.30am – Morning Prayer
Vigil Mass will begin at 8.00pm.
Readers, Welcomers and Eucharistic Ministers
These vital ministries are especially important during these seasons. If you are able to minister during the Holy Week Masses and special services, please sign your names on the sheets in the porch.
Easter Music
Every parishioner is invited to join our music ministry for the Holy Week and Easter masses. We welcome
all people whatever you play or sing! You don't need to commit to every Mass - just whatever you are able to make. If you would like to join us, you are welcome to come to our rehearsals:
Saturday 27 February 9.30 - 11.30
Saturday 5 March 9.30 - 11.30
Saturday 12 March 9.30 - 11.30
Saturday 19 March 9.30 - 11.30
Notice to all Readers
It feels like Christmas has only just ended, but believe it or not Lent begins next week! We need your help to minister for this special season.
Stations of the Cross
We will be alternating between different readings and reflections to keep the Stations fresh and relevant. These will take place at 4.00pm every Sunday, and we need two people to commit to leading the Stations for one Sunday during Lent.
Palm Sunday
Stations on Palm Sunday will be a special liturgy for the beginning of Holy Week, so we will need more readers for this. If you are available, please email music@stjamespettswood.org and let Susan know – we will co-ordinate the different readings and reflections and get the words to you in advance of the day.
Holy Week Readings
We need lots of readers for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. We ask that you put your name down on the sheets that will be available in the church porch, to be sure that we have all readings covered. Again, the readings will be made available to you in advance.
Thank you for your ministry, and thank you for your help to make Lent and Easter a prayerful and nourishing season for St James’.