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Thank you for your offerings last week of £1,409. Mass attendance 692. |
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23rd June (Saturday Vigil) |
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist 6pm People of The
Parish |
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Sunday 24th June |
9.15am Feast of St Columba (L Thomas) 11am Stephen Wyman RIP (Fry & Bridle Family) |
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Monday 25th June |
Feria 9.30am First Holy
Communicants (CWL) Joel Barclay
Parker RIP (Parker Family) |
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Tuesday 26th June |
Feria 9.30am Gerard Whelan RIP (Howell Family) |
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Wednesday 27th June |
Feria 9.30am O’Flaherty Family RIP |
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10.45am Eucharistic Adoration |
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Thursday 28th June |
Saint Irenaeus |
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9.30am Winnie O’Connell (O’Mahony Family) |
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Friday 29th June Whole School Mass |
Saints Peter and Saint Paul 9.30am Dorothy Robson (Foundation) 8.00pm People of The Parish |
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30th June (Saturday Vigil) Sunday 1st July |
Thirteenth Sunday 6pm Ken Leftwich RIP (O’Mahony Family) 9.15am People of The Parish 11am Anna Vassallo RIP (V Terry) |
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.
Rosary
Every day after Mass there
is rosary. All are welcome.
Sunday Mornings in the Community Centre
Every Sunday coffee and tea
are served after the 9.15am and 11am Masses.
Please join us for a while and get to know each other over a cuppa!
Second Collections
This week’s collection is a “3 in 1”
collection for Communications, Day for Life and Apostleship of the Sea.
Future collections:
Friday 29th June –
Peter’s Pence
Sunday
1st July – Maintenance Fund
Fr David writes…
I know that I am biased,
but my parents were a delightful couple.
As a young boy I did idolise them.
I looked up to them as most children do.
It was only in my thirties, when incidentally I was also geographically
far away from them in Melbourne, that I gave myself permission to start looking
at them from a critical perspective. From
the perception that I had a perfect upbringing, I started to accept very slowly
that it was more of a “good enough” upbringing.
This was a huge paradigm shift in my thinking. It became very clear for me that to start
understanding something of my own personal struggles at the time, I needed to
connect with my parent’s narrative. My
parents could not have children for a long time. They agonised over the prospect of having any
children as any other couple would do. It
was only after 8 long and arduous years, after a few miscarriages that my mum
conceived and gave birth to my eldest sister Grace. They could not be happier. Grace was a healthy beautiful baby girl. The family was formed at last. Little did they know, this euphoria was not
to last for long as after only four months, Grace died. Life turned very quickly from bliss to
despair. They had to learn very early in
life that life can be cruel at times. And
to try to make sense of their fate.
After nine months of
Grace’s death – my twin sister and I were born.
We were born in grief and so although they were over the moon with the
birth of the twins, they could not allow themselves to feel the full on
euphoria they felt for Grace in case they would be hurt again. Although we felt totally loved, we also
experienced their over protectiveness stemming from an understandable stance of
anxiety. This piece of information gave
me an insight into my own psyche and behaviour.
Instead of blaming them, I felt more compassion towards them and inner
healing started to emerge. I had now
felt empowered to live my life in a freer way.
This realisation confirmed to me the reality that we are the product of
a narrative.
The more, as adults we
are aware of our narrative, the less likely we would project our own unresolved
issues on our children. The more we can
look at our children for who they are. It’s
very tempting for parents to consider their children to be extensions of their
own lives, who should preserve the lineage and family interests or achieve the
unfulfilled dreams of their own lives. How
blessed are those children whose parents have the ability to connect with them
as individuals and have the patience to get to know them for who they are and
not for who they wish them to be. I
remember very vividly in my teenage years, that I had to be assertive
especially with my father who perceived my life journey in a very different way
from what I was perceiving it to be. It
was not an easy time for both of us. I
can assure you. He did find it difficult
to let go of his dream for me. Eventually
he was the proudest of dads. However the
journey, as most authentic journeys, was not plain sailing.
The birth of John the
Baptist is a sharp rebuttal to such automated expectations. Every child is a unique creation of God with
a clear mission from Him to fulfil. She
or he may become even a total rupture from the family interests and traditions
and they will inhabit a world unfamiliar to us.
As parents, the mission is to let go of our own dreams for them and help
them discern and realise God’s dreams for them.
In the barren womb of Elizabeth, the evangelist Luke sees depicted the
sterility of Israel and the condition of death in which the whole humanity lies. The desperate situation from which, without
the intervention from above, it is impossible for life to sprout. In the birth of John the Baptist, Luke
captures the start of the realisation of this prophecy. The central part of the reading of today
develops the theme of the child’s name. Naming
is a significant concept. It is at this
point that the name he received gains importance because among the people of
antiquity the name indicated the person, his condition, his qualities, his fate. Now the reason why the Baptist cannot be
called Zachariah becomes clear. When he
becomes a member of the people of Israel, he does not simply give continuity to
the lineage of and tradition of the father – as the neighbours and the
relatives think. They have not had the
revelation of heaven, but by the name of John, he marks the beginning of the
new era.
Gone are the days of remembering the promises; for
humanity the new day in which the prophecies are fulfilled has dawned. John is separate from his father Zachariah. The process of individuation needed to happen
in order that John could embrace his calling.
John starts off a new era. He is
the witness to the faithfulness of God. In
the last verse, the childhood of John is summarised. To each Israelite, the desert recalls a
crucial time in its history and awakens emotions and feelings related to the
journey from slaver to freedom. The
Baptist spends his adolescence and youth in the desert. He prepares for his mission assimilating the
spiritual riches that his people have accumulated through the desert experience. His calling is totally different from his
father’s. Let us today in a special way pray for both the gift of wisdom to the
parents of our parish and also let’s pray for our children that they would
always be respected as unique human beings with a specific identity and mission
in life, whatever that might be.
“Drop-In”
Evening Surgeries
Please note that the
next surgery will be on Wednesday the 4th July 2018. Fr David will be available at 281A Crescent
Drive from 5.00-7.00pm and no appointment is necessary.
200 Club
Unfortunately, due to new
legislation we are unable to publish names of the winners only their numbers:
£100 No
180
£50 No
3
£25 No
88
£25 No
1
Congratulations to our winners. Thank you for all parishioners who renewed
subscriptions. So far, the 200 Club has
raised £6,250 for church funds. However,
there are still vacancies available. For
any wishing to join please contact
Ken Evans.
Liturgy Pillar
Eucharist Adoration
This 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.
First Friday of Month
- Eucharist Adoration also takes place on the 1st Friday of each month from 7.30–9.00pm and concludes
with Benediction. The next one will take
place on 1st June. Everyone is welcome
for all or part of this time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
Pastoral Pillar
Helplines and Counselling Services
As part of our care for the community a list of helplines and counselling
services has now been added to the parish website and placed in the porch. The purpose of this is to give contact
details of various organisations which can provide help in difficult times
thereby enabling people to seek privately the information and support they may
need.
Service of Remembrance for Bereaved Families &
Friends.
Losing a baby or a child of any age is one of the most
painful experiences anyone may ever have to face. On Sunday 1st July you are warmly invited to
a Service of Remembrance for Bereaved Families & Friends. It will take place at 3pm in St James'
Community Centre. The service will be a
time of music, prayer, poetry and reflection.
We do hope you will be able to join us & to stay afterwards for
refreshments. Please pass this on to
anyone you know who might benefit from this service. All are most welcome.
Evangelisation Pillar
There will be a meeting for all catechists on Wednesday
11th July 8pm in the Community Hall.
Please join us for a glass of wine / juice and nibbles to celebrate our
achievements, and to share and support the catechist family.
Youth Pillar
Youth Film Night – Save The Date
The youth film night for
people aged 12+ will be held on Saturday 21st July at 7pm in the Community
Centre. The film showing will be ‘What
We Did on Our Holiday’. Food will be
provided. There will be a suggested
donation of £2. We look forward to seeing
you there!
St James’ Pre School
Noah’s Arc
The Pre School would like to
invite parishioners to come and see the rehearsal of their fantastic play
‘Noah’s Arc’ on Monday 9th July, after morning Mass at 10.30am. If you would like to show your support to our
younger parishioners, please contact the parish office on 01689 827100 to
reserve a seat.
Pre School Places
If
you are interested in a place at St James’ Pre School, please email stjamespreschool@live.co.uk. There are limited spaces available for September
2018.
Justice & Peace
The Justice and Peace Group
will meet on Wednesday 27th June at 7.45pm in the Parish Office
meeting room (281A Crescent Drive). All
parishioners are assured of a warm welcome.
Special Foodbank
donations
We should like to thank the Denhams
for the wonderful donation of food and household goods they collected for the
Foodbank. They held a birthday tea party
for neighbours and parishioners last weekend, requesting only donations for the
Foodbank. Thank you to them both and to
their guests who donated over 70kg of goods.
The volunteers at the Foodbank were extremely touched by this gesture. J&P Group.
Foodbank request
The food and drink needs haven’t really altered much,
but they still need tinned potatoes, tinned tomatoes, long life fruit juice and
jam, plus squash, biscuits and cold meat.
However, they have run very short of toiletries and household goods. So basically, all toiletries, apart from
feminine wear, are needed as are washing powder and washing up liquid.
Remember CAFOD in your
Will?
Once you’ve taken care of your loved ones, could you
include a gift in your will to your worldwide family? Pick up a leaflet at the back of church to
find out about the free will-writing service for CAFOD supporters, email legacy@cafod.org.uk
or call Hannah Caldwell on 020 7095 5367
Petts Wood Catholic Women's League
Our June monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 26th June at
8pm in the Community Centre. Please note
the change of day. At 8.30 we have Chris
coming along to advise us on 'Keeping Safe at Home' in view of the recent spate
of burglaries and car thefts. Members of
the Parish are very welcome to join us.
Advance notice - Our Annual Teddy Bears'
Picnic will be held on Thursday afternoon, 19th July - hopefully outdoors in
the Church garden. If anyone is looking
for a home for soft toys please bring them along and put them in the box at the
back of the church ready for our children's tombola.
Social Pillar
Film
Night
The next Film Club will be on Saturday, 14 July. We will be showing The Best Exotic Marigold
Hotel, a highly entertaining and touching British comedy/ drama. It was released in 2011 and has a great cast
of actors, including Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. As
before please feel free to bring a cold snack with you if you wish. The film will start at 7.45pm and runs for
just under 2 hours. Sign-up sheets are
in the church porch. We do hope you will
join us!
Garden Party and Fun Run
The time for our major summer event, the
Garden Party and Fun Run, is rapidly approaching. There are plenty of ways to help and get
involved:
On the day, Sunday 8th July, you can donate cakes and/ or
food from your country.
You can help man a stall for an hour.
You can help to set up on either the Saturday or Sunday or,
very importantly, be part of a group that clears up at the end of the event.
You can buy some raffle tickets, they are on sale from
today onwards at the end of every Mass.
You can come and enjoy the event from 12.00 until 4.00.
You can run in the fun run.
Starting point is beside St James’ School at Jubilee Park. This is a fun event suitable for all to walk,
jog, run. You can choose to do one or
two laps. Fr David is running again so
you could sponsor him to show your support.
At the back of the church there are sign up forms for this and all the
other ways you can get involved. Marshalls
are needed for the fun run so this might be something you could help with.
Sign-up sheets are at the back of the church.
Many thanks for your
continuing support.
Youth Pillar
St
James’ Youth Group
The next Junior Youth Group will be held on Saturday 30th
June in the Community Centre from Noon to 2pm.
£1.50 per session and this includes lunch.
3rd Petts Wood Family Quiz
Matt and Josh would
like to give many thanks to all those who attended or donated towards the Quiz
Night on Friday 15th June.
Thank you also to
everybody who helped or supported the evening, as it was a
great success, raising approximately £420 to be split equally between
our two causes:
Joshua Towell is raising funds for his Humanitarian Aid Expedition
to Borneo. This Summer, Ravens Wood
School will be returning to the village of ‘SK Laksian’,
where we will construct a fresh water supply system for the village and the
local school community.
.
This Summer, Matt
Delamain will be going to Kenya with his Explorer group. Whilst out there, he will be working with a
charity called “Harambee for Kenya”. This
charity takes in young boys who are homeless off the street and gives them a
better life including an education and friendships.
We would also like to thank St James’ Parish for
allowing us to use the Community Centre, and the 3rd Petts Wood
Scouts for allowing us to run and organise the evening.
Polite Reminder
The Parish
disabled parking spaces are for Blue Badge holders only.
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.
Weekend Rotas: Thank you for helping.
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Saturday 30th June 2018 |
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Cleaning the Church |
P Driscoll, J Rogerson, M Mitrovic
(Tuesday Team – 3rd July) |
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Wednesday Coffee 27th June |
M Howell, S Barradell |
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1st July 2018 |
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Mass |
Saturday 6pm (Vigil) |
Sunday 9.15am |
Sunday 11am |
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Welcomers |
M
Sands |
B
Guyton A
Guyton |
S
Barradell K
Edwards |
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Readers |
J
Bajorek M
O’Mahony |
C
Hairs H
Denham |
H
Marvell M
Ingledew |
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Ministers of Holy Communion |
H
Rothon P
Crosland C
Wakefield C
Cosgrave P
Cosgrave |
A
Guyton K
Chan T
Forde M
Howell S
Cotta |
Z
Bajorek T
Troy A
Bunnage P
Murray V
Terry |
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Bar |
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P
Troy M
Wright |
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Coffee |
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L
Lynch S
Barradell |
K
Walsh L
Moore |
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Altar Servers |
Paulina D&A
Poulton P
Marshall |
A
Lynch L
Delamain |
V
Marcolina J
MacFadyen Emily |
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Tellers |
M
Shea, T Wrafter |