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Thank you for your offering last week of £1468.63. Mass attendances were 788. |
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Sunday 31/1/16 |
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
6.00pm Neil Meehan RIP (Meehan Family)
9.15am People of the Parish
11.00am Peter Judge RIP (Mr & Mrs Miele)
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Monday 1/2/16
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Feria
9.30am The Hyland Family
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Tuesday 2/2/16 |
The Presentation of The Lord
9.30am Mary & Jimmie O’Connor
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Wednesday 3/2/16 |
Feria/St. Lawrence of Canterbury
9.30am Peggie & Mai Linehan |
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Thursday 4/2/16 |
Feria
9.30am Ann, Peter, James & Gemma Ruggiero
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Friday 5/2/16 |
St. Agatha
9.30am Josephine & Seamus McMorrow
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Saturday 6/2/16 |
Vigil Mass
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Sunday 7/2/16 |
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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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.
Fr David Writes …….
As social beings we celebrate the fact that we have the ability to relate. To fit in groups. To feel a sense of belonging within a group. Because of this need, since childhood, our dread is rejection. The first 5 years of life are considered to be the most fundamental in the development of our personality. The quality of our attachments since early years inform our psyche whether we are welcomed, loved or else on the contrary that we are in the way. Some children experience neglect and abandonment and this registers in their psyche that they have been rejected. That is why there are always profound problems in children who had been abandoned as babies. Babies that have not been embraced both physically and emotionally tend to suffer in the future to build healthy relationships. They tend to have problems in social situations. They could either retreat in their own selves to protect themselves or else develop violent attitudes towards society as they feel that society in general is against them. Children who feel rejected from birth – according to studies – have less chance of adjusting and entering into healthy relationships in the future. There will always be a certain lack of trust in others. On account of their primal wounds they would also actualise the prophecy by putting themselves in situations that they would be rejected again. On the other hand even if we have had the best initiation in life, we are also prone to be fearful of rejection. Especially in the early years of schooling. Our biggest fear is not to fit in, in any group. The fear of rejection again is too much for the young fragile ego to contemplate. So we tent to wear the clothes that are cool and spend time to present to the world the image that we would think will help us to get accepted. As you know this is the time when bullying is huge amongst the youth. They are already feeling vulnerable as young people and yet children and young people can be very cruel to one another. Putting others down and making them feel rejected.
In today’s world there are many different ways of doing this. The most common amongst young people today is through the social media. Sometimes we hear stories about young people having felt so rejected and put down that unfortunately they resort to suicidal ideation or even worse commit suicide. Sometimes being bullied for reasons of the colour of their skin or their sexual orientation or just because of jealousy on the part of the perpetrator. Rejection is the worst possible punishment for anyone. As adults we can also feel rejected by clichés. We can easily compartmentalize ourselves according to our educational and cultural background or pedigree and class. And reject others who do not conform to our “world”. Adults do feel left out sometimes especially when they do not feel welcomed by the group. In civil groups this is bad enough but when this behaviour happens in a Christian context then it becomes totally unacceptable.
The gospel is all about social inclusion. This is where our “mission” especially as church, needs to be manifested – to make people feel that they do belong. That they are welcome and that they are respected for who they are. A parish needs to uphold this value very highly on its agenda. There is nothing worse in coming to church week after week and no one even takes the time to welcome you or try to get to know you. Sometimes people who come to church especially on their own might feel unwelcomed because parishes seem to cater somehow more for couples and families. We need to be very sensitive towards anyone whom we might think is on their own or else new to the parish. A welcoming parish is a parish which is living its gospel values. As a parish at St James, we are lucky to have the Welcoming Ministry and these are parishioners who have been trained to be Welcomers. But “welcoming” needs to be the responsibility of everyone in the parish. It needs to become the DNA of the parish.
In today’s gospel, which is the continuation of last week’s gospel, we see Jesus being totally rejected by his own people. Jesus accepts from his own experience that a prophet is not accepted in his own country. He is not free from local prejudice, he is not above the normal dynamics that people look at other people and events. People get tangled in his roots, they cannot see the tree for the roots. When Jesus tells his own people that his mission is addressed to all people, they become angry. Jesus refuses to share their own small-mindedness, their meanness of vision. He will have no part of their pettiness. In responding to his people, Jesus makes it clear that he is not going to live down to their expectations. But when your local audience suddenly becomes a mob, you have reason to be nervous. Jesus’ audience is in such a loss for words that they do what many mobs do they resort to violence. At this very early stage of his ministry Jesus makes himself scarce to protect himself. Jesus experienced rejection from his people and so had to find other ways how his mission and himself would be received. May the gift of our newly refurbished St James’ Community Centre would be a venue of welcome and hospitality. May anyone who enters it, experience a warm embrace and also of course a nice tea/ coffee and cake! May God bless our Community Centre with a spirit of hospitality!
Second Collection
Next weekend there will be a second collection for Poor Parishes. This collection enables the Archbishop to make grants to some of the smaller parishes in the Diocese.
Traidcraft
Traidcraft goods will be on sale this weekend after each Mass.
“Drop-In” – Evening Surgery
The next Surgery will take place this Tuesday 2nd February, 5.30pm – 7.30pm. Please call at 281a Crescent Drive – no appointments necessary.
2016 First Holy Communion Programme
The next session will take place on Saturday 27th February, 4.30pm-5.45pm in the Community Centre.
2016 Confirmation Programme
The next session will take place this Monday 1st February, 7.00pm – 8.30pm in the Community Centre.
Week of Accompanied Prayer
Sunday 28th February to Saturday 5th March 2016
"Is this an opportunity you shouldn't just reject as Not For Me?" If you're unsure, please pray about whether you should take an invitation. Forms to be returned as soon as possible to the box in the porch, or online. This Week is not just for newcomers to the experience so if you attended our Week in 2013 you are very welcome to come again. Please note that next Sunday is the last day for returning application forms.
Petts Wood CWL are supporting our local Bromley Women’s Refuge
During the first weekend of February (6th/7th) the CWL will be collecting new goods to give to the Women’s Refuge. Items requested include new toiletries, bedding, towels and underclothes. There is a list of items needed on the CWL notice board at the back of the church. Thank you for your support.
Children’s Liturgy during 9.15 Mass
We are very excited that Children's Liturgy will soon be up and running again in beautiful surroundings! If you have young children (3 years and over) and they enjoy coming out to listen to the gospel at their level, then perhaps you might consider being a helper or leader? You do not need to be a Catholic to be a helper. We desperately need new leaders and helpers as one of our leaders is expecting a baby in May. If we cannot recruit anymore people then unfortunately this Ministry will not be able to run every week. Please seriously consider helping, as it not only benefits your child but the whole parish as well. For more information please email childrens.liturgy@stjamespettswood.org.
Foodbank request
Many thanks to those who continue to leave items at the back of church. These are taken to the Foodbank every month. If you are a regular donor of food, you may like to know that they have no Milk, Fruit Juice, Squash or Sugar and hardly any tinned Potatoes, Rice Pudding or Custard. They do however still have vast quantities of Baked Beans, Pasta, Soup and Cereal!
Introducing and Commissioning our Parish Pastoral Council on 6-7th February
Dear Parishioners
You probably remember that we published the results of our parish survey last September and then we started a process to establish a Parish Pastoral Council (a PPC). On 27th September, in Briefly, I invited those who might be interested to complete a nomination form to join the PPC. This was then followed by an Awayday on 17th October so that applicants could find out more. Essentially, the seven pillars of work which our PPC will oversee include Evangelisation, Liturgy, Young Church, Communication, Social Activities, Maintenance and Finance. I am very pleased that our PPC now has fifteen members and I will be introducing them at the 6pm and 9.15am Masses on 6th and 7th February and then formally commissioning them at the 11am Mass on the 7th. The PPC will then be hosting a simple social event after the 11am Mass in the St James’ Community Centre so that you can meet and get to know them personally. I hope you will welcome our new PPC and please be assured that we will let you know about progress as things develop further in the months ahead. Fr David
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.