FR DAVID WRITES
Today is the beginning of the Advent season. During Advent, the liturgy invites us to prepare for Christ’s coming at the end of time, and also to prepare to celebrate the feast of his holy birth at Christmas. Let us ask the Lord to renew within us his gifts of faith, hope, joy and love. Please take an Advent sheet from the church porch.

TODAY: OUR CHRISTMAS MARKET
Please make a special effort to come into the hall today after all Masses for our Christmas Market event to support the parish and especially the work in the church. We have all kinds of fancy goods, gifts, cakes, a grand raffle, and so on. It promises to be a lovely weekend! Thank you to Janet and our volunteers for their time, energy and generosity.

NEXT WEEKEND: ADVENT
Next weekend is the First Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new year in the Church’s calendar. We will begin Year C in the liturgical cycle, and we will also see the introduction of the new Lectionary for Mass. New Mass books will be available at the back of church for use at Mass.

FR DAVID WRITES
Today is the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, the penultimate of the year. Next weekend we will celebrate Christ the King, the final Sunday in the Church’s calendar. Next Saturday at 6 pm Mass, our new choir for young people will sing for the first time. Thank you to our readers who came to the formation session which was on Saturday morning. Please pray for me on Friday as I will mark the sixteenth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood.   I only have another thirty years to go until I qualify for the Retired Priests’ Fund! Please do be generous this weekend to the priests who have served us so well for so long. May God bless you all this coming week and beyond.

FR TOM WRITES
On Saturday 16th November the Church commemorates St Edmund Abingdon, the 12th Century Archbishop of Canterbury. Whenever the feasts of British saints arise, it is a fantastic opportunity to pray for all the people who live on this island, especially those who have abandoned their faith in Jesus Christ.

FR DAVID WRITES
Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate the Feast of All Saints and then All Souls Day so well. May God bless you all. We hope everyone had a good half-term break, and wish you all well for the coming half-term which will lead us through November and Advent. Have a wonderful week ahead.

ALL SAINTS
This Friday, 1st November, is the solemnity of All Saints, a holy day of obligation. Masses here will be at 8 am, 10 am and 7 pm. The car park will be open early on that day. There is no Friday Abstinence that day.

ALL SOULS
This coming Saturday, 2nd November, is All Souls Day: the commemoration of all the faithful departed. The Requiem Mass will be celebrated here at 11 am. During Mass, we will enthrone the Book of Remembrance and light candles for our loved ones who have gone to God. Please note that the afternoon Masses on Saturday will be the Vigil Masses for Sunday; the morning Mass is the one for All Souls.

 

FR TOM WRITES
As we approach the end of October, we begin to think about All Saints, All Souls and the month of praying for all souls. Throughout the year we pray for those who have died, that their sins may be forgiven and they may pass through purgatory and be admitted into the glory of God’s love in heaven.
Please remember that the Feast of All Saints (1st November) is a Holy Day of Obligation, with Masses in the Parish at 8am, 10am, and 7pm.
Mass for the Commemoration of all Souls is at 11am on Saturday 2nd November.

THANK YOU FROM CAFOD
Thank you for giving to CAFOD’s Family Fast Day last weekend. We are most grateful. We are standing in solidarity with those facing incredible hardships, as part of one global family. Learn more at cafod.org.uk/harvest

FR TOM WRITES
Monday 7th October  is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; which of all Catholic devotions is surely the closest to the heart of the Catholic community. However, we can very easily lost the habit of praying to Our Blessed Mother. We know as the mother of Christ the King, she is the Queen of Heaven and has a tremendous power of intercession. On Monday, and throughout October, we encourage all our parishioners to pray the rosary for their needs, the needs of the Church, and the needs of the whole World. May Our Lady, Queen of the Rosary, intercede for us.

FR DAVID WRITES
Thank you to all involved in our lovely ‘Welcome Mass’ celebrated on Friday to begin the new school year and term. This week we will welcome Father Anthony Fernandopulle who is visiting the parish from the Archdiocese of Columbo. Many of you may remember Fr Anthony as he previously spent some time in the parish for his studies in London. This coming Friday is CAFOD Family Fast Day (Harvest Fast Day) - please see the note opposite. May God bless us all in the coming week.

FR TOM WRITES
Thank you for such a warm welcome into the Parish over the last two weeks. As you are mostly aware this is my first placement being ordained in June so I ask for your continued prayers that I may be given the grace to serve the Lord, and the Parish. This Sunday we hear the Lord telling us that “if anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.” Many times we want to be in places of exaltation, however my experience is that in following the Lord in this mission of service is to truly participate in the love that He has manifest for the world.