NEWSLETTER

Please Note!

Mass is being celebrated once again on a Saturday evening at the new time of 5.30pm. Please spread the word, as all are welcome.

Confession

Weekly Collections

Sunday 14th November:

Envelopes = £140.00, Loose Plate = £145.20, Total = £285.20.

Sunday 21st November:

Envelopes = £109.00, Loose Plate = £110.93, Total = £219.93.

Synod A two-year 'synodal' process is taking place in the Catholic Church from now until it culminates in the final Synod Gathering of Bishops in Rome in October 2023. The overall theme is "For a Synodal Church: i.e. Communion, Participation, Mission". For more Information go to  (https://bit.ly/3zXt4gx) https://bit.ly/2Tt6ope 

                         Letter from Father Anthony

01952 811299

Dear Parishioner,

I do hope you and your family are well in these challenging times. Please do contact us if the parish can be of any assistance. I write with some Important information for our community.

SUNDAY MASS TIMES

The Bishops of England and Wales invite us all to return to the regular practice of attending mass each Sunday which is at the heart of our faith and love for God. The Sunday mass obligation is to be re-introduced from the First Sunday of Advent, November 28^th, 2021.

There will be a Saturday evening mass recommencing on that date, but at the earlier time of 5.30pm (for an experimental period to see how attendance goes, since we have had much reduced numbers to date like all parishes). Mass on Sunday morning, 9.15am, as usual.

COVID SECURE as best we can. Hand sanitising upon entry, face masks are desirable, social distancing as far as practical.

PARISH FINANCE

Last Sunday I spoke about something that affects us all and that is stewardship of our parish giving and spending. At the end of the last tax year 2021, the yield from the Sunday Collection had fallen by £10,000, and on present figures is set to continue in the present tax year. A reduction of £20,000 over 2 years is quite a big hit to our parish finances because the outgoings remain the same. In the last tax year, it cost basically £30,000 to keep the church door open, as they say. Income was basically the same. In the previous tax year ended 2020, expenditure was significantly higher, but so was income. In that year, to provide some examples, property maintenance cost £10,660, insurance £1850, Diocesan Assessment £5427.It does cost much more to run a parish than we might imagine and every parish has to pay its own way.

A BIG THANK YOU to all our parishioners for your generosity in supporting the parish financially in the collection and in Our Mission Together (OMT). Without your support we could not pay our way.                                                                                                                                                              

I know this is a challenge, and of course everybody’s circumstances are different, but if 40 households could possibly increase the collection giving by £5 per household, that would at least return our income to the pre-pandemic level. Our giving is not just to cover expenses. We have an incredibly generous God and our generosity is an expression of gratitude for God’s abundant gifts to us. It is,

                                     “My gift to God and His Church”

WHAT WOULD HELP?

Standing Orders do help keep up the weekly collection (an SO Form is enclosed, if you would like to consider one. Please return to your bank).

Gift Aid enables increases giving considerably without any extra giving

£5 Gift Aid tuns into £6.25 without any extra giving. £10 into £12.50. (This is the government’s scheme to help charities by returning tax paid on the amount given. A ‘one off amount’ can also be gift aided) All that is required is to have paid enough tax for the reclaim. To gift aid £5 requires that the donor has paid £65 in income tax. (Form enclosed)

Using the Offertory Envelopes

We do have a beautiful church, a valuable resource in the Hall and a patrimony handed down to us. Let’s be good stewards of what we have been given.

 o

Foundation Governor vacancy at Our Blessed Saints Federation

This is an opportunity to offer your gifts and talents in service of our catholic primary schools. Anyone interested is asked to check out St Peter & St Paul school website, or follow this link where full information is available.  

https://sspeterandpaulcatholicprimary.org.uk/home/about/our-team/governors/

To all Red Box holders.  Could you please return your boxes to church or contact Catherine Rogerson to arrange for collection so that all monies can be counted during the month of November.  Also, if you would like to help with the counting, please contact Catherine on 07855 467108

November - Month of the Holy Souls

If you would like a Mass to be celebrated for your deceased relatives and friends, kindly put an offering along with your list of names in one of the envelopes provided and place it in the basket at the front of the altar. Many thanks.

Date	Time	Service	Intention
Sunday 28 Nov   Psalter week 1	Mass 9.15	FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT Year C begins	Parishioners
Monday 29 Nov	Mass 10.00		DRF Mandale
Tuesday 30 Nov	Mass 10.00	ST ANDREW	DRF O’Neill/Lockett
Wednesday 1 Dec	Mass 10am		Teresa Kitchen
Thursday 2 Dec
Friday 3 Dec	Mass 10.00	St Francis Xavier	Barbara Young
Saturday 4 Dec	Mass 5.30	St John Damascus	DRF Juhre
Sunday 5 Dec	Mass 9.15	SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT Bible Sunday	Parishioners

Advent sees the start of year C, the year of Gospel Readings mainly from St Luke

Gospel Luke 21:25-28,34-36 That day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand. ‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’

Commentary With this reading we begin the Year of Luke, for his gospel provides the readings for almost all the Sundays of the liturgical year which begins today. We begin at the end, for Luke sees the destruction of Jerusalem as the symbol and foretaste of final liberation at the coming of Christ. The horror of this day is represented by the cosmic disturbances, the collapse of all we regard as most stable and reliable, the eruption of the ocean and the collapse of the solar system, and so of the final triumph of Christ. It is a day for which we must prepare by our whole life, for revelation gives us no hint of when it will occur. H Wansborough OSB

Saint of the Week St Francis Xavier 1506 - 1552 Xavier was born in the Basque country of Spain in 1506. He met Ignatius Loyola when he was a student in Paris, was one of the first 7 Jesuits who dedicated themselves to God in Montmartre in 1534 and he was ordained priest in 1537. In 1541 the Pope sent him as part of a mission to Portuguese India, and he spent the rest of his life in the East, preaching the Gospel in Goa and Malacca. He made many converts and fought against the exploitation of the native population by the Europeans, writing outspokenly to the King of Portugal about the oppressive exploitation by Europeans. He then went to Japan, laying the foundations of many Christian communities; and in 1552, after entering China secretly as it was closed to foreigners, to preach the Gospel there, he died of fever and exhaustion on the Chinese island of Shangchwan. Patron Saint of Missionaries.