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Thank you for your offerings last week of £1,286. Mass attendance 669. |
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Sunday 17th December (Saturday Vigil) |
Third Sunday Of Advent 6pm Margaret Walsh RIP (L Benson) |
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9.15am Francesca Sio RIP (Sio Family) 11am Reg Griffin RIP (K Griffin) |
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Monday 18th December |
Feria 9.30am Margaret Thompson RIP |
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Tuesday 19th December |
Feria 9.30am Ellen Nelligan RIP (Ardron Family) |
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Wednesday 20th December |
Feria 9.30am Sharon Fernandes RIP (F Simon) |
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10.45am Eucharistic Adoration |
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Thursday 21st December |
Feria |
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9.30am Sandra Newham RIP (B Bridle, T Troy, B Shea) |
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Friday 22nd December |
Feria 9.30am David Forde RIP (H&T Forde) |
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Sunday 24th December (Saturday Vigil) |
Fourth Sunday Of Advent 6pm Monsignor John
Elliott RIP (F Simon) |
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9.15am Francesca Sio RIP (Sio Family) 11am People of the Parish |
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6pm People of the
Parish 11.30pm Midnight Mass |
Confessions heard Saturday
5.00-5.45pm or by appointment.
Morning Prayer: Takes place Monday –
Friday at 9.10am. All are welcome to
attend.
Pondering the Word (Lectio Divina)
A quiet reflective look
at the following Sunday’s Gospel. Mondays
11am - 12 noon, except for Bank Holidays, here in the church. All welcome.
Sunday Mornings in the Community Centre
Every Sunday coffee and tea
is served after the 9.15am and 11am Masses. Please join us for a while and get to know
each other over a cuppa!
Christmas offerings
As usual the collections
from the Christmas Masses go directly to Fr David. Thank you in advance.
Christmas items in the Repository
Religious advent calendars, Christmas cards and the
like are now on sale in the repository and from the stall in the church porch
after all Sunday Masses.
Fr David writes…
Happiness is one of the
greatest needs we have in life. The
quest for happiness is probably the most powerful drive we have within us. Many of the choices and decisions we take in
life are fundamentally fuelled by our pursuit of happiness. Sometimes at the expense of jeopardising good
relationships or jobs. A need which is
closely connected with our pursuit of happiness is the feeding of our hungry
“ego”. Our internal programme tells us
that once we receive respect and esteem from others, no matter how high or
lowly our position may be on the ladder of social importance, we shall be happy. However, our need for respect and esteem can,
as we all know so well, come unbalanced.
Self-appreciation and self-affirmation can slip over into egocentricism,
self-centredness, arrogance and an aggressive in your face approach to others. Bill Wilson, one of the founders of the 12-step
programme of Alcoholics Anonymous said that recovery was not complete until
addicts achieved “emotional sobriety”. Full
sobriety according to him is not just to stop drinking but to become a
spiritually awakened person who has found some degree of detachment from our
own narcissistic emotional responses. Emotions
in and of themselves have no moral value; they are neither good nor bad. They are just sirens alerting us of something
we should pay attention to. If we learn
to listen to them instead of obeying them, they can be very good teachers. We do build our lives around our programs for
survival, which we falsely assume will give us happiness. The problem is these programs will not work
in the long run. They are almost
entirely dependent on outside events and other people conforming to our needs. They are unstable because our happiness
moment by moment is based outside of yourself.
All the great religions
of the world at the highest levels would say God alone – something stable,
inside us and reliable is the source of all sustained happiness. Once we encounter a Loving God and have a
deep sense of self-acceptance and healthy self-love, we would have found our
Ground and God. The mystics John of the
Cross, Teresa of Avila, and many other mystics, believed the experience of
absolute union between God and the soul is essential to transformation. Then happiness is an “inside” job and not
dependent on external circumstances, or other people’s
response to us. Of course, we will still
have our ups and downs and emotions of all kinds, but they don’t have you. We do not identify ourselves with them. We let them come and let them go. You could define your ego self as all the
things you are attached to, including your own ways of thinking, feeling and
seeing, your programme for happiness, your addictions, and your childhood
conditioning. Even though we feel that these
are not working for you, like an addict, you keep doing them over
and over again. Thinking the
result will change. The pattern becomes
repetitive, compulsive and obsessive. If
you don’t live from within your own centre of connection and communion, you’ll
go spinning around things.
The true goal of all religion is to lead us back to
the place where everything is one, to the experience of radical unity with all
of humanity and therefore to the experience of unity with God. John the Baptist gives us a clue to the
secret of human happiness and greatness.
To be genuinely loved by others, to receive the affection and
appreciation that we crave, we simply must forget ourselves and dedicate our
lives to something or someone that transcends our selfish interests. We need to give ourselves over to something
beyond us. All this is to say that
happiness finds you. You don’t find
happiness. John the Baptist was a great
man. Jesus Christ said of him “of all of
the men born of women, none was greater than John the Baptist”. And John the Baptist said of Jesus “I must decrease,
and He must increase”. In other words,
John the Baptist’s awareness was centred on the presence of God in our midst. It was never about him – never around his ego. Ordinary eyes couldn’t perceive the presence
of God in the midst of our humanity, but John’s eyes
could. John was free to see reality, the
way and the truth and the spirit of human life and the spark of Divinity hidden
within both Christ’s humanity and within ours.
On the third Sunday of Advent we are invited to reflect on Happiness and
what makes us happy in life. We know
that external things or even people do not guarantee us happiness and internal
peace. The journey must start without
any shadow of doubt from within. Let us
pray for the Spirit of God to give us the courage to continue entering in this
significant mystery especially during this Very graced time.
“Drop-In” Evening Surgeries
There will be no more Drop-in Surgeries
until the New Year.
Advent and Christmas
Advent Carol Service
Will be held here in the
church on Sunday 17th December at 4.00pm. Our Advent
Service is an opportunity to pause in the busy preparations leading up to
Christmas. Through readings, prayer and
music, we will reflect on the Christmas story and how it relates to our lives
today. All parishioners are invited to
come and share in this special service to start their Christmas week focussed
on Jesus.
Give Your Heart a Home
Wednesday 20th
December at 8pm - quiet reflection to prepare for Christmas with Fr David
Camilleri.
Decorating the Church for Christmas
We are meeting to decorate the church for Christmas on
Saturday the 16th at 10.00am.
Anyone who has an hour to spare to help us decorate the church is more
than welcome.
Christmas Crib – Poinsettias Needed
If you would like to donate some poinsettias for the
crib this Christmas, they would be gratefully received. Please drop them off at the Church on the
weekend of 16th and 17th December.
Christmas Rotas – Readers and Welcomers
For the Christmas Eve,
Christmas Day and New Year’s Day Masses, we are putting up a ‘please sign up’
list at the back of the church asking for Readers and Welcomers
to volunteer for the Mass times that suit.
Please complete the form on the table at the back of the church. Thank you in advance.
Christmas Day
Children’s Mass
The
9.15 Mass on Christmas Day is a Children's Mass. We are looking for kids aged 6-12 who would
like to join the choir. There will be 3
rehearsals - Dec 9th (Sat), 16th (Sat) and 21st (Thurs) from 12.00-12.45pm. If you are interested, please give your names
to jennifer.baracho@gmail.com. We are also looking for two children readers
for that Mass. Please complete the form
on the table at the back of the church. A
reminder that young children may dress up as angels or shepherds for the Mass.
Gifts on
Christmas Day
At all Christmas Masses you are invited to bring a
gift of a new toy to put around the Christmas tree. This year we are supporting Bromley and
Croydon Women’s Aid, who are looking forward to receiving toys/gifts for boys
aged 0 - 10 and girls aged 0 -12. We
know you will be generous as always.
Christmas Mass Times
Saturday
23rd & Sunday 24th December – Fourth Sunday Of Advent
6.00pm Mass
9.15am Mass
11.00am Mass
Christmas
Masses – The Nativity Of The Lord
Sunday
24th December
6.00pm – Children’s Mass
11.30pm – Midnight Mass
Monday 25th
December
9.15am (young children
may dress up as angels or shepherds for this Mass)
11am
Mass
The Christmas Masses on 24th December at
6pm and 11.30pm do not fulfil your Sunday obligation.
Petts Wood
Churches Together
Carol Singing with Petts
Wood Churches Together on Thursday 21st December from 5.30pm. Meeting at the bottom of station steps in
Station Square, Petts Wood. All welcome.
Monday Craft
Club
The next Craft club will be on Monday 8th January 2018.
200 Club
winners!
£500 No 127 Liz Vass
£200 No 173 M Jagger
£200 No 54 Maureen Matthews
£100 No 110 Irene
Webb
Congratulations to our
Christmas winners.
We would like to thank
Ken Evans for all his hard work organising the 200
Club. With all your help he has raised
an amazing £5000 towards the Church Maintenance.
However, there are still places available for any new
parishioners or late comers. Please contact
Ken Evans at 200club@stjamespettswood.org
for details.
Eucharist Adoration - takes place
for an hour each Wednesday shortly after
the morning Mass starting at 10.45 am and finishing at 11.45 am. This Devotion to the Eucharist is a time
of silent prayer and quiet music. Everyone
is welcome for all or part of this time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
Evangelisation Pillar
First Holy Communion 2018
The First Holy
communion programme for the parish will start on 13th January 2018. Your child will need to be registered. Therefore, please return your completed
registration documents to the parish office by 4th January 2018. If you wish your child to make their
Communion at St James and haven’t registered to date please contact the parish
office as soon as possible.
Pilgrimage to
The Holy Land
On Thursday 25nd
January at 8pm, a meeting will be held in the community centre for all who have
expressed interest for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Pastoral Pillar
Dementia Café
On Saturday 6th January at 10.30am, a meeting will be
held in the Community Centre to discuss bringing together the Dementia Café
which we are planning to start here at St James in the early part of 2018. We already have a number of
people who have expressed a wish to volunteer but if you were unable to attend
the initial meeting we had in November and would like to be part of this
initiative it’s not too late. You will
be very welcome to come to the meeting and we will be delighted to see you.
'Dementia Friends'
On Saturday 13th January from 9.30-10.30am Nikki
Fishman, Community Development Worker for Bromley Dementia Support Hub, will be
returning to St James to talk to us about the work of ‘Dementia Friends’. All are welcome and if you know of anyone
outside St James who may be interested, please invite them to come along. The meeting will take place in the Community
Centre. We look forward to seeing you.
Justice and Peace
Foodbank news
The organisers report that the current needs have changed because of
excellent collections from the churches of Bromley. At present
they are not short of any food stock but toiletries
and household items are needed. Strong
bags (e.g. ‘bags for life) are also
very useful. It is now too late to
deliver Christmas goodies. Please don’t
donate beans, pasta or soup – they have loads! Thank you, J&P Group.
Youth Pillar
St James Christmas Film Night
On Friday 22nd
December from 7pm onwards the youth of our parish are hosting a film night. If you are in school year 7 and above please come along.
Entry is £2 and food will be provided, the evening is
being organised by the young people themselves and supported by the parish team
– the evening promises to be lots of fun.
CYM Bromley Deanery Choir 2018
As part of the ongoing programme of initiatives for
young people in Bromley Deanery, we would like to explore the possibility of
starting a choir and/or youth orchestra in the coming year. We would like to hear from anyone who is
interested in getting involved and specifically from professional musicians/
musical directors who would like to be part of this exciting project. For general enquiries and for
more details email: susan.longhurst@bromleydeanery.org
or Rogf16@btinternet.com.
Friends of St James'
Children’s
Raffle Prizes
Congratulations to the
winners of the Children’s Raffle. We
have many unclaimed prizes so please check your tickets and contact the parish
office if you have a winning ticket:
Pink
ticket 193
Pink
ticket 180
Pink
ticket 208
White
ticket 316
White
ticket 500
A note from Fr David about the Christmas Fayre!
What
a wonderful weekend we’ve had again! This time at the Christmas Fayre.
I
would like to thank the Friends of St James, the Social Pillar of the PPC, Joe
Falzon for his beautiful poster, and all
of you individually for helping,
participating and coming along to the Christmas Fayre last Sunday.
Your
energy and joy was wonderful. It was once again so enriching to see the
unity that emerges when we are all sharing these joyful events in a complete
way as a parish community - all ages, all cultures, and all backgrounds seemed
to be present and having fun.
Thank
you for all that you do and for the many blessings that I find being part of
this community. (And see you next time!)
Fr David
RISE
Theatre Oscar Romero
We are
delighted that funds raised towards church funds were £970.00. Many Thanks to Ken and Angela Evans for
organising such a wonderful event.
Seeing a Chaplain if
You Are Admitted to Hospital
·
Protecting personal information (data protection) is really
important when you become an inpatient in hospital.
·
So please specifically ask hospital
staff to pass on your details
to the hospital’s Roman Catholic chaplain as soon as you are admitted if you
would like a Chaplain to visit you.
·
Fr David would always be very happy to visit you too, so please ask a
relative or friend to let him know about your admission. You, or they, can email Fr David on father.david@stjamespettswood.org,
or phone the parish office on 01689 827100.
Altar
Servers Rota for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
24th December 6.00pm N Cracknell
L Delamain
A&D Poulton
O&J McCabe
Paulina
M Lawrence
J Lench
J Monaghan
24th December Midnight Mass J Sriskanthara
A Sriskantharaj
P Marshall
25th December 9.15am E Molloy
R&F Norman Brown
A Lynch
P Marshall
25th December 11am F Ikenye
Paulina
Z&E Teare
Weekend Rotas: Thank
you for helping.
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Saturday 23rd December |
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Cleaning the Church |
S Lams, L Monsah, D Generowicz, K Salter |
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Wednesday Coffee 27th December |
M Gyi, S Barradell, B
D’Arcy |
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24th December |
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Mass |
Saturday 6pm (Vigil) |
Sunday 9.15am |
Sunday 11am |
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Welcomers |
K
Moon |
L
Samuels J
Samuels |
S
Kavanagh T
Connolly |
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Readers |
C
Kiely J
Bajorek |
Children’s
Mass |
P
Lowe R
Rowan |
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Ministers of Holy Communion |
P
Cosgrave (sub) A
Guyton P
Cantopher C
Cosgrave J
Bajorek |
M
Howell S
Cotta A
Ward M
Smith B
Cotta |
S
Ingle R
Del Guercio Z
Bajorek T
Troy A
Bunnage |
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Bar |
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F
Simon B
Fleeman P
Troy |
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Coffee |
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G
Brookes D
Brookes |
M
Harrington S
Paris R
Scott |
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Altar Servers |
R
& F Norman-Brown D
& A Poulton O
& J McCabe Paulina J
Sriskanthara A
Sriskantharaj J
Monaghan |
P
Marshall J
Lench L
Delamain |
F
Ikenye M
Laurence Z
& E Teare |
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Tellers |
L
Lynch, M Ardron |