Thank you for your offerings in August which were: £1,213.15 (3/8); £985.24 (10/8); £1,217.35 (17/8) and £1,214.69 and £181.03 for the maintenance fund (24/8).
Sunday 31/8/14	6pm Kay Livingston 100^th Birthday (M Clark) 9.15am People of the Parish 11am Sheila Simon RIP (H Jackson)
Monday 1/9/14	Feria 10.30am Requiem Mass for Edward McElroy. Please note that there will be no Mass at 9.30am today.
Tuesday 2/9/14	Feria 9.30am Kathleen O’Connor RIP
Wednesday 3/9/14	St. Gregory the Great (Pope) 9.30am Edith Mary George RIP (George Family)
Thursday 4/9/14	Feria 9.30am Wilbur & Betty Wright RIP (R & E Wright)
Friday 5/9/14	Feria 9.30am Sheila Simon RIP (LA Farrell)
Saturday 6/9/14	Feria 9.30am Mary Sanger
Sunday 7/9/14	23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 6pm Brian and Phyllis Redmond 9.15am People of the Parish 11am Vic & Ellen Clark RIP (Clark Family)

Your welcome!

I am deeply grateful to you for the wonderfully warm welcome all members of the parish have given me.  Fr. Bryan and Mrs Teresa Wells were most hospitable too.

I so enjoyed the 75^th anniversary celebrations led by Archbishop Peter. And of course, the ‘fun run’ (walk in my case!) and garden party were great chances to meet so many of you for the first time.  And many thanks to the ‘fun runners’ and the organising team who have this year raised £844 for parish funds.

But with the holiday season virtually over and everyone returning to school, college and work, I too continue the task of settling in and integrating myself into the routine of liturgical, pastoral and practical life here; all part and parcel of normal parish life. 

But I’ll need your help, your prayers and I suppose your understanding, cooperation, and very likely, occasionally your forgiveness too.  TC.

Official Induction

Oh! And there’s to be an official ‘Induction of your Parish Priest’. Bishop Patrick Lynch will be here to conduct this on Saturday 20^th September at the 6pm Mass.  By a nice coincidence it is the day and Mass already scheduled for the celebration of ‘New Parishioners’. 

Some members of my own family and a few friends from other parishes will be here too.

So I hope we can make a pleasant celebration of it all – with a ‘bun-fight’ and wine in the hall afterwards.  Again many thanks for your welcome.

Maintenance and General Upkeep

You may have noticed that the perimeter hedging, overgrowing laurels, creeper and leylandii have been trimmed, not to say slaughtered!  I myself have been unblocking drains and getting leaves and worse out of guttering.

I will be on the lookout for a few of the younger men to give me a hand with the simple albeit essential tasks of joining up plastic guttering, clearing stuff from the church tower and all manner of really horrid but essential little jobs. Any volunteers? As Churchill said about 1942 or so, ‘This is not the beginning of the end, rather it is the end of the beginning.’

Folks, there is a lot to do! - and you seem to me to be a great friendly community so there should be no trouble in progressing and improving on what is worthwhile. (Anyone got the loan of a long ladder?)

And of course…I am most anxious to meet the leaders of groups and activities as the weeks go by.

Second Collection for Zambuko House on 6^th/7^th September

The second collection next weekend will be for Zambuko House which is the overseas charity which the parish is supporting this year under the auspices of our Justice and Peace Group.

Zambuko House is a home, rehabilitation and training centre for homeless and vulnerable young people in Harare and is run by Jesuit Missions. 

Please give as generously as you can. Thank you.

The CWL’s Gifts for Romanian Children

This year the CWL will again be filling shoeboxes to send to the Romanian orphanage supported by the ‘Biggin Hill Romania Group’.

The CWL will be meeting on Monday 8th September at 1.30pm in the parish hall to fill and wrap boxes; and anyone who would like to help would be most welcome to come along.

Donations of gifts for the children would also be very welcome. The focus is particularly on presents for teenage boys; but boxes for other age groups (1 - 18) will also be packed. Donations could include, e.g., pens, pencils, toothbrushes, toys, sweets, (but not chocolate). 

Empty shoeboxes, wrapping paper and Sellotape would also be appreciated.

Please bring your donations to church next weekend and place them in the box under the CWL’s notice board.

The Autumn Festival 4^th October 12- 3pm

The Autumn Festival is fast approaching! Please make sure the date is in your diary, i.e., Saturday 4^th October.

Please also take a flyer home and complete and fill it in and return it to the box at the back of the church.  Thank you for your support!

Congratulations and best wishes to Louise Sheary and Andrew Mee who will be getting married here on Friday.

Welcome to baby Finn Robert MacFadyen who will be baptised here next weekend.

Sympathy and Prayers

To the family of Mr Edward Anthony McElroy, of Southborough Lane, who died on the 9^th of August and whose Requiem Mass takes place on Monday 1^st September at 10.30am. RIP.

Publications

I’d appeal to you to make a point of taking one of the Catholic newspapers every week.

We ought to make sure that we’re well informed on faith, moral and Church matters, as a matter of course. But all the more so when one sees how antipathetic the secular media can be to things we hold sacred. 

The monthly magazines ‘My Day by Day’ and ‘Bible Alive’ for September are available from today.