NEWSLETTER

Confession

Attention All Gift Aid Donors.

The tax year 2020 / 2021 will be coming to an end on 5th April and the Parish will then undertake the process of claiming back the Gift Aid refunds on donations made during the year. If your circumstances have changed and you no longer pay income tax or the amount paid has reduced, please let Father Anthony know or contact Barry Johnson or Louise Sadio, the local organisers ( 01952 403440 ) by the 5th April, otherwise it will be assumed you have paid sufficient income Tax for the Parish to reclaim Gift Aid on donations made during the year.

If anyone wishes to join the Gift Aid Scheme for the first time, or needs any more information please use the same number ( 01952 403440).

 
Further details of the Gift Aid Scheme and weekly donations can be found on the parish Website: SS Peter & Paul Church Newport

As coronavirus brings devastation across India, CAFOD is working with experienced local Church agency, Caritas India, to provide vital support to poor and marginalised communities. Donations to CAFOD’s Coronavirus Appeal will help Caritas India distribute PPE kits to frontline health workers, promote COVID & vaccine awareness campaigns, and set up safely run isolation & quarantine centres. You can donate online here: cafod.org.uk/give.  Please keep praying for the people of India and all those affected by the pandemic.

Mass times for the week

Sunday 9 May Psalter week 2	Mass 9.15	Sixth Sunday of Easter	Parishioners
Monday 10 May	Mass 10.00	Monday of 6th week of Easter	Tom&Alice O'Neal
Tuesday 11 May	Mass 10.00	Tuesday of 6th week of Easter	Katherine Gibson
Wednesday 12 May	No Mass	Wednesday 6th week of Easter St Pancras or Ss Nereus & Achilleus
Thursday 13 May	Mass 12.00	ASCENSION of the LORD	Parishioners
Friday 14 May	Mass 10.00	Friday of 6th week of Easter St Matthias	Barbara Young
Saturday 15 May	Mass 10.00	Saturday of 6th week of Easter Our Lady of Fatima	An end to the pandemic.
Sunday 16 May	Mass 9.15	Seventh Sunday of Easter Day of Prayer for World Communications	Parishioners

Gospel John 15:9-17  Jesus said to his disciples:  As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. You did not choose me: no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I command you is to love one another.’

Commentary Self giving and concentration on the needs of another reflect something of the quality of God’s love in Jesus.  Jesus hopes that we will choose to keep on giving ourselves in love, even when the giving hurts, even when we feel we have nothing left but our exhausted presence. That is the kind of love that mirrors God’s kind of love.  As Jesus said, the love is the giving of self, the communication of the self, the handing over of the self.  We can only choose to try, confident that our struggle is backed by God’s energetic love. Denis McBride CSsR

Saint of the Week St Pancras We have no reliable historical information about this martyr. Legend tells us he was born at the end of the third century around 289, at a place near a city of Phrygia, to parents of Roman citizenship. His mother Cyriada died during childbirth, while his father Cleonius died when Pancras was eight years old. Pancras was then entrusted to his uncle Dionysius' care. They both moved to Rome to live in a villa on the Caelian Hill and converted to Christianity. Around 303 he was brought before the authorities and asked to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Diocletian, impressed with the 14 year old boy's determination to resist, promised him wealth and power, but Pancras refused, and finally the emperor ordered him to be beheaded on the Via Aurelia.

Pancras is especially venerated in England because Augustine of Canterbury dedicated his first church to Pancras and his relics were presented as a gift to the king of Northumberland. A district in London is named St. Pancras after him, and of course, the station.

Pancras is a Greek name meaning 'the one that holds everything'. Pancras is popularly venerated as the patron saint of children, jobs and health. His name is also invoked against cramps, false witnesses, headaches and perjury. He is also the patron saint of the Italian city San Pancrazio Salentino.

Link for the letter from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales:

Reflection on the times after Covid. The Day of the Lord.

https://www.cbcew.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/04/Day-of-the-Lord-220421.pdf

May – the month of Mary and the Rosary

The Pope’s Intentions for Prayer: May – The World of Finance Let us pray that those in charge of finance will work with governments to regulate the financial sphere and protect citizens from its dangers.

Wilf McSherry from our sister parish in Market Drayton has now received, after a long journey, confirmation from Bishop Mark that he will be ordained as a Permanent Deacon on 24 July at 12 noon. The event will take place at the largest church in the diocese – St Michael & All Angels, Birkenhead CH49 5LB to allow for any Covid-19 restrictions still in place at that time. Further details will follow. Wilf would like to thank you for all your prayers and support during his time of formation.