Newsletter
LAST WEEK’S COLLECTION
Thanks for your generous support which amounted to £887-97 (In addition each week we receive about £200 in direct debits from parishioners).
GROUPS & ORGANISATIONS
The Bible Study group meets on Monday at 1.30pm in the Parish Hall. All welcome.
Mothers Prayers meet at 8 Priory Close on Tuesday at 12.30pm.
The SVP meets on Tuesday at 2pm.
The House of Prayer meets on Thursday at 10am at 52 Cherry Drive.
The Ascent group meets on Friday at 2.30pm at 6 Victoria Crescent.
COFFEE MORNING THIS WEEKEND
the CWL will be serving refreshments in the Parish Hall after the moring Masses. There will be a Christmas Stall, a Bric-a-Brac Stall & a Piety Stall. Christmas Cards in aid of the Catholic Children;s Society and tickets for our own Christmas Raffle will be on sale. Please come and support us.
KANYIKE PROJECT
Fr. Kakuba is with us this weekend to let us know how things are going in Uganda and a DVD will be shown during the Coffee Morning. The Retiring Collection will be for the Kanyike Project. Please do be generous!
CHILDREN’S ADVENT ADVENTURE
This is taking place on Sat. 5th Dec., 2 - 4pm in the Parish Hall. Please sign your children up if they are definitely attending the children’s Christmas Eve Mass.
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (C)
I am going to fulfil the promise… The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him… May the Lord confirm your hearts in holiness when Christ comes… Stay awake, praying at all times…
SOMETHING TO PRAY ABOUT……
We can join Pope Benedict in his prayer intentions for the month of December: General: That children may be respected and loved and never be the victims of exploitation in its various forms. Missionary: That at Christmas the peoples of the earth may recognise in the Word Incarnate the light which illuminates every person and that the nations may open their doors to Christ, the Saviour of the world.
ROLLING STONE JOBSEEKER CLUB:
Carlo Zambonini, from St John's, has offered to facilitate a group for any seeking work at this time, providing friendship, support and guidance. It will meet at the back of the Parish Church of St John the Baptist on MONDAYS between 3 pm and 6 pm.
WORLD AIDS DAY
(December 1st) December 1st focuses our attention on patients and their families who have to deal with AIDS and HIV. The number of people living with AIDS or HIV has trebled in the UK in the last decade. There are currently approximately 80,000 people and the figures are increasing. While doctors and nurses look at ways of countering the disease, we can play our part not only by our prayer and support of those who have AIDS but by the way we refuse to become part of the widespread discrimination that often surrounds this illness. God of all life, we pray for those living with AIDS and HIV. Where there is pain let it be removed; where there is despair let there be new hope. Lord and healer, we pray for those involved in the discovery of treatment that you may fill them with wisdom and help them in their search for a breakthrough. Lord of all gentleness, we pray for families of the patients, protect them from any discrimination and give them patience and strength. May we respond generously to provide funds for research, and in all things may your will be done. Amen.
MIGRANTS’ DAY
(December 3rd) “In the Catholic Church we have a very rich tradition and understanding of mission. From the earliest times as the early disciples moved out from Jerusalem to new lands and cultures, the mission of the Church has consistently included three interdependent elements: First: the task of the proclamation of the word. This is the task of leading people to a deeper relationship with the Risen Lord - the evangelical and catechetical dimension. Second: the task of building up and renewing the communion and holiness of the Church. This is the task of strengthening the liturgical, social and prayer life of the church community - the ecclesial dimension. Third: the task of being at the service of God’s kingdom. This is the task of reaching out to the poor, the excluded, the vulnerable, promoting the value of ‘life’, dialoguing with those of other faiths, sharing the powerful and energising message of the coming kingdom and helping to build a more peaceful, just and reconciled world – the ethical dimension.” (Mission of the Church to Migrants in England and Wales)
ADVENT QUOTES
Advent is both a beginning and an end, an alpha and an omega of the Church’s year of grace. Too often considered merely a season of preparation for the annual commemoration of Christ’s birth, this rich and many-layered season is actually designed to prepare the Christian for the glorious possibilities of the parousia. It is a season of longing expectation – “Come, Lord Jesus”. (William G Storey) Expectation – anxious, collective and operative expectation of an end of the world, that is to say, of an issue for the world – that is perhaps the supreme Christian function and the most distinctive characteristic of our religion. (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry person; the coat hanging in your closet belongs to the person who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the person with no shoes; the money which you put in the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help, but fail to help. (St Basil, 4th century) Because the beginning shall remind us of the end,And the first coming of the second coming. (T S Eliot)
NEWSLETTER DEADLINE
Items for next week’s issue at the Presbytery by 6pm on Monday.
NEXT SUNDAY’S READINGS
Baruch 5:1-9 ;Philippians 1:3-6. 8-11; Luke 3:1-6