St. Bede's Catholic Church

Newcastle upon Tyne

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• Pope John Paul II

• Election of Popes

• Lent 2005

• The Passion Story

• The Vatican

• Adult Christian Education

• Sunday 27th March 2005 - Easter Sunday

• Sunday 20th March 2005 - Passion (Palm) Sunday

• Sunday 13th March 2005 - 5th Sunday of Lent

• Sunday 6th March 2005 - 4th Sunday of Lent

• Archives

CHRIST IS RISEN ALLELUIA

A Grateful Thank You to everyone who has cleaned, arranged flowers, ministered, sung, lit fires, served and generally contributed to our Holy Week and Easter Worship.  It has been a lovely experience for me as the newest-oldest parish priest in the world to experience liturgy in St Bede’s and St Joseph’s.  There is great talent around, you are well able to make special events very special.  Thank you once again.

Mission Appeal

A missionary priest from the Comboni Missionaries (commonly known as the Verona Fathers ) will be visiting the parish during the weekend of the 30th April & 1st May.

Pilgrimage: Hexham & Newcastle Pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne will be from the 11th-22nd August 05. it is open to 18-30yrs. This cost is £475 which includes: Travel, Hotel accommodation in Dusseldorf, WYD pack & travel insurance. If you would like to know more there is to be an information evening on 13th April, 7.30pm at Birtley Catholic Club. Contact YMT Tel: 01207 5992244 if you hope to go to the meeting or require a booking form.  Time is getting short in relation to this event, so let me know if you’re interested.

There is a bit of an idea around that there might be a General Election on 5 May?  Actually the following day might be more interesting!  The Bishops of England and Wales have prepared a brief comment (well, 4 pages actually) about some of the issues you might want to take up with prospective MPs.  There are copies at the back of the Church.  Please take on, read it and be prepared to have a bit of a row on the doorstep in the weeks to come. 

Another Pilgrimage: Madjugorje Pilgimage 2005. Flying from Newcastle Airport !st-8th June 2005. Cost £404. Spiritual Director– Fr Ciaran Mc Donnell For booking forms contact Mrs Sylvia Carruthers, 1 Acomb Crescent, Gosforth, Newcastle. Tel 01912856678

Divine Mercy: Benediction/Holy Mass: This will take place at Our Lady Queen of Peace. Penshaw Tyne & Wear. Sunday 3rd April 2005. Beginning at 2.00pm. For futher info contact Mary and Bob Askew. Tel 0191 3853262.

Confirmation

There will be confirmation for older people (no this is not being ageist) on Pentecost Sunday May 15th 2005. Anyone who is feeling their age and has not been confirmed but would like to be please have a word with me.

An Ignatian Experience at Minsteracres: 20th-22nd May 2005 This weekend offers the opportunity to experience what an Ignatian Retreat and its spirituality can offer. For further info and booking form contact Pat Kennedy, 42, Southwood Gdns. Kenton Newcastle NE3 3BU ( enclose a stamp addressed envelope please.)

Giving Envelopes and Gift Aid—just a brief reminder about what Paul Henderson said last week about Envelopes and Gift Aid.  Thank you to all who contribute in any way at all, and, once again, if you pay tax, you can painlessly and effortlessly help the parish even more.

Catholic People’s Weeks.  I have left a brochure about these fascinating weeks at the back of the Church.  They’re a sort of holiday/conference/retreat/general good thing, and they happen in different parts of the country.  The national organizer, Theresa Saunders, lives in Fenham, so no problem getting further information if needed.

Adult Religious Education—there are tons of courses on offer from the Diocesan RE Centre.  I’ll see about having them listed in the near future.  I would want to encourage anyone who is interested in programmes about Baptism, Confirmation, First Holy Communion and Reconciliation, RCIA, becoming a Catechist, and so on, to seriously consider it—don’t worry about finance, if the community benefits, then we should support those who are prepared to go.

EASTER

A local journalist asked me during the week what Easter had to do with Religion.  I asked her if she’d ever been in love…(she never answered that question), and I then tried to say that God loves us, Jesus is God’s body language and gave his live in love for us—so go and enjoy it.  Not at all sure what she made of it….JOK

HOLY WEEK

This is the most Sacred Week of the Church’s year.  I wonder why our communities don’t really acknowledge this?  There is real solemnity about it—until Saturday night when the Vigil is an explosion of symbol, celebration, faith and community.  I’m sure the early Christians cottoned on to all of this, perhaps we’ve lost something?

Please refer to Mass Times and Intentions for times.

On Wednesday 23rd at 6.30pm—7.30pm there will be Exposition, the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, followed by the Stations of the Cross at 7.30.  Clearly parishioners (and others!) can simply come for part of the evening’s prayer and reflection.  

6.30—7.30 pm Sacrament of Reconciliation and Stations of the Cross.  We celebrated God’s love and forgiveness last Sunday.  There are always opportunities to celebrate individually, the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  On Wednesday evening you may like to take advantage of that—followed by The Stations of the Cross.

7.30 pm—no better way of finding out what John The Evangelist thought about the Passion of Jesus than joining us to hear what Bernard Robinson has to say about it.  His amazing 500 word synopsis of the four different stories from the Evangelists is on our Website—take a look when you get the chance (go to The Passion Story).

Holy Thursday:  We will have a time of silent ‘watching’ until 10.00 pm following the Mass of the Lord’s Supper which begins at 7.30 pm.

Good Friday

9.15 am.  Stations of the Cross.  I know this is earlier than usual, but I will be taking part in the Benwell Procession of Witness later that morning.  Please feel free to come and stay as long as you want.

3.00 pm - The Passion of Jesus

Easter Vigil—at 8.00pm  We will be welcoming two new members into the Catholic Community that night.  This really is the highlight of the Church’s year, please come and join us to make it a memorable occasion for all.

OK—so, this is me, first time round, wondering who will help with the following?  I’m sure its all in place, but I would appreciate knowing what happens about:

• Altar Servers for the Services in Holy Week

• Volunteers for the washing of the feet (or foot, I believe, in St Bede’s!)

• Volunteers to arrange the Altar of Repose for Holy Thursday night

• People who know about Purple for the statues etc

• Volunteers to help strip the Altar that same evening

• Members of the Community to ‘watch’ on Holy Thursday night

• Someone to oversee the lighting of the Fire on Holy Saturday night

• Volunteers to help us arrange things on Holy Saturday night.

WEEKLY OFFERING ENVELOPES

New boxes of envelopes are now available for the start of the next financial year and Paul Henderson will be at the back of Church after Saturday Vigil/Sunday morning masses over the next few weeks to distribute these.

Approximately 2/3rds of  our parishioners use these envelopes for their weekly offering to the Parish and presently about 1/3^rd   of  parishioners are members of the Diocesan Gift Aid Scheme.

The contributions of those members last year allowed the Diocese to reclaim on behalf of the Parish a large sum from the Inland Revenue at no additional cost whatsoever to those parishioners.

Monies reclaimed in this way represent a significant and important source of income to the Parish. It is the intention that these funds will help repay the monies borrowed from the Diocese for the roof repairs.

To be eligible to join the Gift Aid Scheme, you must pay tax either on wages/pensions or possibly on interest from savings or investments and I would encourage any of you who meet these criteria to consider becoming members of the Scheme.

Paul will be available after Mass to answer any questions you may have about the workings of the Scheme.

Honestly, it is very simple, you do not have to pay anything extra, it is money that we can reclaim and it can only benefit St Bede’s.  Please give it some thought and have a word with Paul in the near future.

Very many thanks – have a reflective Holy Week and a very Happy Easter.

Jim O’Keefe.

Saints and Feasts this Week 

• St Patrick:  Q: What do King David, St Cuthbert and St Patrick have in common?  A: they were all shepherds—they learned to spend days and days in silence.  They all became extraordinary leaders. Patrick (385? - 441?), the Apostle of Ireland, helped to establish freedom of worship for his adopted Christian sisters and brothers.  It goes without saying that there will be celebrations around the world for the shepherd who said that he used to pray ’a hundred times by day and a hundred times by night’. 

• St Cyril of Jerusalem:  another 4th century bishop (315-386), and out of the 35 years he spent as a bishop, 16 of them were in exile.  A great and courageous teacher, he was particularly concerned about preparing adults for their Baptism at Easter— no wonder he is remembered this week.

• St Joseph: husband of Mary—never actually speaks in the Gospels, but is a model of patience, compassion, courage and someone capable of discerning the will of God in more unusual ways.  We know little about his life, but much about his sense of responsibility and commitment.

Many thanks for Fr Jim Sheehy from Ushaw for supplying last weekend.  He thoroughly enjoyed his weekend here, it would indeed be a change from Ushaw! Many thanks also to Fr Ted Featherstone, who is allegedly retired and is very happy to supply at St Joseph’s parish during Holy Week.  I will be celebrating Mass on Passion Sunday at 9.00 at St Joseph’s. There will be many children there, a procession, and the reading of the Passion so I will undoubtedly be late arriving for Mass here. Can I suggest we try and begin at 10.15 on Passion (Palm) Sunday. 

St Cuthbert’s High School Spring Fair is next Saturday—19th March, 11.00 am—12.30 pm in the Upper School on Gretna Road—you are welcome to bring items for the stalls to the school  - including bottles, toiletries, toys and games, books, cakes and so on—then you are more than welcome to go and buy them all back during the Fair itself.

The Catholic Truth Society Bookshop (the Newcastle Shop is one of only 4 in the country), requires a full time member of Staff.  There is further information at the back of the Church.

The Montague View Pit Disaster Memorial Service—is on Wednesday 30 March at 7.00 pm at St Margaret’s Church Scotswood.  This event will remember and commemorate the 38 men and boys who lost their lives in 1925 in Montague Pit. If you can go, it would help to ring 2742173 or 2749822 to let Margaret Cooney know. Thank you.

Benwell and Scotswood Community Event on Saturday 19th March 10.00 am—2 pm at Jury’s Hotel—that’s one of those new posh buildings near the Centre for Life.  It is meant to look at the whole District Heart (Condecum Road?) area, Neighbourhood Renewal and Bridging Newcastle/Gateshead.  There’s a poster about it at the back of Church.  I cannot go myself, but it might be useful if someone could go on behalf of the parish… Any takers?

Fifth Sunday of Lent.  The readings are something of a roller coaster.  There is something totally wonderful about Jesus crying because his friend Lazarus has died.  It can free us to do the same for others.  There is something more wonderful about Jesus being able to overcome death—a hint of the Resurrection of the Lord in two weeks time.

Men, however, are like computers—hard to figure out and never enough memory...JOK

Saints and Feasts this Week 

• SS Perpetua and Felicity These two brave ladies were imprisoned by Emperor  Septimus Severus in the year 203 just because they were Christians. Perpetua’s father, who was a pagan, begged her to give up her faith but she refused. It was decided that they would be executed on March 7th 203. This worried Felicity as she was 8 months pregnant and the law of the time would not allow pregnant women to be executed. (If only the laws today protected the unborn child so well). Her baby was born 2 days before she was due to be executed and was adopted by a Christian lady so Felicity was Martyred as she wished.

• St John of God   Born in Portugal in 1495. After leading a dangerous life as a soldier, he wished to devote the rest of his life to good works. He gave himself up completely to looking after the sick. He founded a hospital at Granada in Spain and with his followers set up the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God. He was outstanding in his love for the sick and needy. He died in Granada in the year 1550.

• St Frances of Rome This lady was born in Rome in the year 1384. She was married when very young and gave birth to 3 children. She lived in troubled times and gave her goods to the poor and tended the sick. She was outstanding in virtue especially in   humility, patience and devotion to the needy. In the year she founded a Congregation of Oblates following the rule of St. Benedict. She died in 1440.

If you haven't bought a Mother’s Day Card by now, you might just be in bother….time to think of a really good excuse…...Sunday 6th March

Cancelled - to be rescheduled probably Wednesday 16th March.

St Cuthbert’s High School

Spring Fair—Saturday 19 March at 11.00am—Upper School Site.  You’re welcome to bring in items for the stalls including bottles, toiletries, toys and games, books, cakes and plants, and particularly Easter Eggs (especially if they’ve been decorated in the Activity Group—cf above…) - then go and buy them all back on Saturday 19th…

Parish In Council

Many thanks to those who braved the weather and met together last week.  One of the items on the Agenda was how we cope with Holy Week and Easter this year. I have not been able to recruit further help, so we will manage with one priest in two places.  The Parish in Council suggested that I alternate between St Bede’s and St Joseph’s.  I have mentioned this to some of the parishioners in St Joseph’s and there seems to be no alternative.  I will produce a time table next weekend of times and places of the Holy Week and Easter Services, as well as opportunities for Stations of the Cross and The Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I really do appreciate that this will be difficult for some people, but despite my best efforts, bi-location is still beyond me.

Don’t Forget the Fair Trade Fortnight which will continue until the 14th March.  There was an excellent launch in one of the Newcastle University Lecture Theatres last Thursday night.  Mr Chris Bain, Director of CAFOD was one of the three main presenters.  I was amazed at the number of people there (including Bishop Kevin) - do your shopping down the Grainger Market—Unit 72. 

Unfortunately there’s not much space left:  Advantages of being a Woman—they say:

We don’t look like a frog in a blender when dancing….

There are times when chocolate really can solve all our problems……(don’t blame me  JOK)