FR DAVID WRITES
This coming week is half-term holidays. Have a lovely week if you are off from school or work. We look forward to seeing you all back soon. The week immediately following the half-term is the beginning of November. Please see the dates below which highlight forthcoming celebrations and holy days.

FORTHCOMING DATES TO NOTE
Wednesday 1 November: All Saints’ Day - Masses at 8am, 10am, 7.30pm
Thursday 2 November: All Souls’ Day - 8am, 10am, & special Mass at 7.30pm
Saturday 11 November: Fr Jerome’s Farewell Mass here 11.30am
Tuesday 14 November: Deanery Requiem Mass at Enfield Town Church 12 noon
Friday 17 November: Fr Andrew Bowden’s Installation Mass as PP at Poplar 7pm
18/19 November: Parish Christmas Market event here after all Masses.

FR DAVID WRITES
This coming Friday we will welcome all the children and staff from Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School to celebrate their ‘Welcome Mass’ at the beginning of the new school year. Friday is also the Feast of St Edward the Confessor, Patron of the Diocese, and incidentally, the sixth anniversary of my installation as the Parish Priest of New Southgate. Please pray for me and each other. God bless.

FR DAVID WRITES
Well done and thank you to everyone involved in our school who have had the Diocesan Inspection this week. All your efforts are greatly appreciated.

OCTOBER
October is month of the Holy Rosary. You can join the rosary here every weekday at 9.30am, before 10am Mass. A plenary indulgence may be obtained, under the usual conditions, by reciting five decades of the Rosary in church, as a family at home, as a religious community or as a pious association, or in general whenever several persons have gathered for a good purpose; in every other circumstance, a partial indulgence may be gained.

FR DAVID WRITES
Thank you to everyone who came to pray at the cemetery Mass and the prayer afterwards. This week we had the internal audit in the parish and I’m pleased to report it went very well. Can I take this opportunity to thank our parish office staff, all our collectors and counters, and the members of the parish finance committee. Your dedication, generosity and professionalism is a great gift to the parish. May God bless you all in the coming week.

FR DAVID WRITES
This week we welcome back all our children, staff and helpers to the new school term and year. We hope the summer holidays have been both enjoyable and restful, and send you good wishes and blessings for the academic year ahead. Best wishes to everyone going off to college and university. We send special prayers with Ashley who will begin his time at Allen Hall Seminary on Friday. This coming Friday is also the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the first anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. May the Lord be with you all in the coming week.

FR DAVID WRITES
Farewell and many thanks to Fr Jerome on this his last weekend with us. His final Mass here will be on Bank Holiday Monday at 10am. I know that we will miss him. He has been a great priest here and a very good housemate in the presbytery. Once he is settled into West Green with Fr Vincent, we will get him back for a special Mass of Thanksgiving. The new Fr Andrew (not to be confused with the ‘other’ Fr Andrew) will arrive here on Friday. We wish him well and I know you will make him feel welcome and at home. Once again, we are having some difficulties with the phones. At the time of writing, it seems you cannot leave voicemail. This may be fixed by the time you read this, but if not, then hopefully soon. I understand this is an inconvenience for both you and me!

FR DAVID WRITES
It was lovely to get back to the parish last Monday, and especially to be back in time to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption last Tuesday. I hope you have all had a good summer thus far! Thank you to Fr Jerome, Fr Johnson and the new Fr Andrew for their work and ministries while I was away; and to the office staff. Please note carefully that the Parish Office will be closed this week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - please remember any business should be done on either Thursday or Friday. Fr Jerome’s last morning with us will be on Monday 28 August. Please pray for him as he prepares to move to West Green. God bless you all.

FR JEROME
Fr Jerome will be taking up his new appointment at St John Vianney, West Green Parish at the end of this month, and his last day with us will be Monday, 28th August.  We thank him for all that he has done for this parish over the last eighteen months and wish him well for the future.  We will miss you Fr Jerome!

FR JEROME WRITES
In the Last four weeks Jesus Christ, through many parables, has been telling us what the Kingdom of God is like.  In today’s liturgy Jesus allows some of his Apostles see the glimpse of His Glory, that heavenly Glory which awaits us all as we follow his way and worship our God in the Eucharist.  The Transfiguration offers us the foretaste of what awaits us at the end of time. It also reminds us that our life is more than the physical world we can see now but also includes the spiritual. So let us live and work not only for here and now but also for the life to come, by bringing and professing Christ Jesus through our actions, words and relationships with one another. May God transform us to our original image as we listen to His only begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.   

FR JEROME WRITES
What was it like sitting with the crowds on those Galilean Hills listening to Our Lord speaking and teaching the people gathered around Him.  He teaches through Parables; using examples of everyday life to gain their understanding, speaking to the hearts of the people, giving them hope, raising them from their despondency, making a new creation.  By using parables, which can be told and retold among the people of the Holy Land, His voice reaches many who cannot be present but who are brought to understanding through His stories.