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St. Bede's Catholic Church Newcastle upon Tyne
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First Confession and Holy Communion Preparation
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October 2004
Select from list or scroll down: Sunday 31st October 2004 - All Saints Last Sunday was ’Mission Sunday’: Many thanks for the donations. CAFOD: Many thanks for the £329.75 sent to CAFOD from St Bede’s, that is a most generous donation. Today: Retiring Collection for the Priests Training Fund. If you use the special envelope provided, the parish will also benefit from tax recovered. I notice that last year St Bede’s donated a total of £593.50, over £400 via private donations—a magnificent achievement. I need to be careful, here, this fund once helped to pay my wages... Fr Peter Stott: Peter has been hugely helpful to me over the last few weeks, and I rather suspect he will be over the weeks and months ahead. We spoke during the week and arranged for him to come back to St Bede’s on the evening of Friday December 10 at 7.00 p.m. The deal at the moment is that Peter will be main celebrant and I’ll preach, and he’ll have right of reply after Communion. We can all adjourn to the Hall afterwards for further celebration. Can I suggest we have all donations in by next weekend. Many thanks. Feasts this week: In Memory of the Faithful Departed: Been harassed by ‘trick or treaters’? Most of the bairns at my door have no idea what it means. The ancient Celts were really good about the gap between summer and winter, the end of one year and the beginning of the new, Samain to them. They sacrificed to the gods to soften the rigours of winter—not such a bad idea. We have the chance to celebrate the ‘next life’ on All Saints and All Souls. One of the very special things about being a Catholic is that we pray for those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. We will display the Book with the Names of the Dead in Church during November. If you would like the name of anyone including, please let me know. Sorry to say, my handwriting is really pretty awful, so if anyone is into calligraphy and could include future names, would you please let me know. Many thanks. Charles Borromeo: .. A good guy, someone once tried to shoot him! A brilliant man, expert in civil and canon law, a Cardinal in Milan, did a huge amount to help educate those preparing to be priests—a good week for us to pray for all those in training today. Traidcraft—please look at the accompanying leaflet. Comings and Goings: Please pray for Victoria Burrows and Denise Davison who were baptised last Sunday, and Danny Stewart who was buried on Friday. The Fayre: Are you saving up for it? At least give some thought to bringing goods for sale. The Garage is pretty empty at present, plenty of room for lots of things. Don’t be shy, Don’t even ask what I’m thinking of donating to the Fayre this year… Parish in Council: I realize that this is very short notice, but I wonder if we could have a Parish In Council meeting this Wednesday, 3 November, after evening Mass? I’m pretty horrified how quickly the diary has filled up for the next month or so, and if we need to avoid Thursdays because of events elsewhere in the City (half the crowd would feel guilty about being in the sacred shrine of St James’), then this looks like the best date. Please offer items for the agenda. Looking forward to my first ever ‘Parish in Council’ meeting… There are all sorts of things to look at from security around the Church; painting; RCIA; Advent Services; Requests for Appeals; Baptism and Marriage preparation; how we add our voice to West End regeneration—and so on. Good Old Bingo: 8.00 pm in the Hall on the first Thursday of the Month, also Parish in Council Meeting at St Joseph’s that night. Altar Servers: We’re blessed at St Bede’s with really good altar servers. But we need to keep an eye on the future. I know the parish was really well served (!) in the past, and I wonder if someone could help with this in the future? We need servers (male and female, young or not so young) as well as someone to help train them. Give it a thought. Thanks. Diocesan Youth Sunday: I intend to go to this Celebration on Sunday 21 November at St. James’ in Hebburn 4-6pm. Anyone want a lift? I’m pretty conscious of Child Protection Guidelines and things, so it would need to be folk over 18—as many as we can get in a Ford Focus...Just say if you want to go. Bereavement Service: Next Sunday—7th November-there will be a Service in the Cathedral at 3.00pm for those who have lost a child, particularly those who have suffered death of a baby; miscarriage; abortion; violent death as a result of war/terrorism/murder; family breakdown and so on. People of all faiths and none will be very welcome. Regional Assembly: Don’t forget to vote… Sunday 17th October 2004 - 29th Sunday 24 October—’Mission Sunday’ Special Day of Prayer for the Evangelisation of the World—Special Collection. This is the principal day in the Church’s calendar for thinking about our commitment to proclaim the good news to people throughout the world. Please pray for all those working in the overseas mission of the Church. Feasts this Week: St Luke, a fascinating person. Well educated, Greek speaking, wrote his one book (the Gospel and Acts were all one book) for non Jewish people who were already Christians, and getting a bit soft about it. He is brilliant on how God is hospitable and welcoming to all of us. Things Ecumenical: Earlier this week I met with Rev Chris Knights, Vicar of St Margaret’s and Hendry from Denton Burn Methodist Church. We had a very fruitful discussion and decided to meet monthly on a Wednesday morning to pray, talk and drink (fairtraded) coffee. We talked broadly about Ecumenical pilgrimages, prayer and action. I know that this is short notice, but there is a meeting this Wednesday (20th) evening (7.30—9.30) at St Margaret’s on the Referendum about the proposed Elected Regional Assembly. Both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ folk will be represented. I’ve tried reading up about it and find it difficult to grasp. My fear is that there will be a poor turnout for the Referendum, so it might be important to become a little more informed about it. Please give some thought about attending the meeting and discovering more. I hope to be there (late) after our Parish Finance Meeting. Local Ecumenical Representatives —to meet at St Margaret’s on Thursday 18 November at 7.30. 200 Club. It is that time of the year when members are encouraged to ‘pay their dues’. So please see those who organise it, smile nicely and hand over the spondoolicks. It cost £12.00 per year, and although it doesn’t pay out as much as the National Lottery, you have about 10 million times more chance of winning. New members will be very welcome. There’s no reason at all why we can’t have a 239 Club, for example… The Famous Rotas: New Rotas will be prepared for the First Sunday in Advent, 28th November (also Autumn Fayre Day, Ecumenical Service in the evening and there’s an Advent Service in St Joseph’s at 6.30 that evening—could be a bit of a busy day..). So if you want to withdraw from or join any of the different ways of helping the parish to celebrate Word and Sacrament, please contact Fr O'Keefe. The lists will include: Servers, Offertory Collectors, Church Cleaners, Flower Arrangers, Readers and Eucharistic Ministers. Many thanks to all those who do serve the worshipping community in these ways. The Year of the Eucharist: I mentioned last week that Pope John Paul has declared the next 12 months a Year of the Eucharist. I guess this is something we can discuss at the next Parish in Council meeting, but it occurs to me to say that we have 30 minutes of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every Saturday morning after Mass from 10.30. You’re more than welcome to come and simply pray silently during this time. I suspect it could be a bit of an oasis in the midst of busy lives. Person with Screwdriver: Many thanks to the person with the screwdriver who did a brilliant job with the new light fittings. I shudder to think what sort of a mess I would have made of it all. The Teams of Our Lady in the area are preparing a service for 3.00 pm on Sunday 14th November. They will lead it themselves and will reflect on and pray for those who have died, particularly as a result of conflict. It is Remembrance Sunday, so this may well be a special way of marking the day and praying for Peace. Some Reminders: NB—this week:
Odd Thought: I’ve walked through all our towns and cities And found no statues to committees… G.K.Chesterton
Last Updated: 02/02/2007 |
