St. Bede's Catholic Church

Newcastle upon Tyne

The page is usually updated on Friday or Saturday although additional updates can be made during the following week. Please check 'Last updated' under latest news.

• Document Downloads

• Events

• Watch CAFOD Holy Island Pilgrimage June 2009

• Rome and Assisi June 2008

• Journey In Faith 2006/2007

• "The Desert Will Bloom": Justice and Peace Conference at Swanick (21st to 23rd July 2006)

• Message from Pope Benedict XVI for Lent 2006

• Parish Visitation 12th February 2006

• Agenda Parish Visitation Meeting - 3/11/2005

• Daniel Jopling in India

• Live 8 St Mary's Cathedral -  (Reflection prepared by Fr Jim O'Keefe)

• Pope Benedict XVI

• Pope John Paul II

• Election of Popes

• Lent 2005

• The Passion Story

• Events

• The Vatican

• Adult Christian Education

• Latest News

• Saint Mary's Cathedral - Redevelopment

• Sunday 7th March 2010 - Third Sunday of Lent

• Sunday 28th February 2010 - Second Sunday of Lent

• Sunday 21st February 2010 - First Sunday of Lent

• Sunday 14th February 2010 - 6th Sunday of the Year

• Sunday 7th February 2010 - 5th Sunday of the Year

• Archives

Latest News:

[Back to Top]

Journey in Faith… Thursday 11 March, St Bede’s Meeting Room… This week - Audrey Marshall will be looking at the Sacrament of Marriage. Can I ask you to continue praying for those who are journeying towards the Catholic Community. Those who hope to be received into the Church during our Vigil on Holy Saturday night really enjoyed the rite of Election with Bishop Seamus at St Joseph’s in Gateshead a couple of weeks ago. The evenings seem to be going really well - you are most welcome to come along and join in.

CAFOD Family Fast Day… Very many thanks for the £127.00 collected for CAFOD on this 50th Anniversary year of ‘Family Fast Day’. I know that CAFOD is working very closely with its friends and partners in Chile following the dreadful effects of the earthquake there just over a week ago. We really are extremely well off and safe in this part of the world when compared with sisters and brothers elsewhere.

Third Sunday in Lent… One of the themes of our Mass this weekend is around: ‘What is fruitful and holy?’ The answer seems to be that everything - including the far side of mountains in the desert and rather decrepit trees - can be both holy and fruitful - it just takes time, on occasion, to realise that.

Hospital Chaplain’s Request… Long gone are the days when a Catholic Chaplain could wander into a hospital ward, check who the Catholics are and then visit them. This has not been possible for many years. Now, if you or anyone you know requires a visit from the Hospital Chaplain, you have to request it. The Hospital Staff will ring for a visit, or you can contact the Chaplain yourself on 0191 232 1892. It might be worth keeping this number safe somewhere in your house. (In the old days, that would have been behind the clock on the mantel piece …)

Faith Alive - this is a free booklet from the same stable as Bible Alive - can I suggest we let those who subscribe to Bible Alive to take them? If you do want to receive Bible Alive, please let me know, it is easily arranged, and it is a good read - reflections on the daily mass readings and other articles.

Tesco are once again offering vouchers for schools. I do feel awkward advertising this - but our school does benefit. Yet they do make this offer to ‘help’ schools in Sports, ICT, Creativity and other areas. And I wouldn’t care, I’ve even been known to shop there… If you do, and you want to hand in your vouchers at weekends, I’ll certainly pass them onto St Bede’s, when I’m celebrating Mass here, and St Joseph’s, when I’m in Benwell. Isn’t life complicated!
 

Lots of Future Dates for some and for all:

Tuesday 23 March, 7.00pm, St Joseph’s. Thirty years ago, Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered while saying Mass on the evening of March 24 in the hospital chapel across the path from the little bungalow where he lived. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world will be remembering this anniversary - and you will be very welcome at St Joseph’s that night to join those who care about justice in the world. The evening is being arranged by CAFOD and our Diocesan Justice Peace Commission. I’ve had a sneak pre-view of a couple of emails, and there’s a good chance there will be food on offer - including local (ie El Salvadorean) black beans and rice… You’re more then welcome to come and join our Liturgy and lavish fare…..

Thursday 25 March, 7.00pm, St Joseph’s - Celebration of Reconciliation and Penance. Once again you are invited to gather to celebrate our need for Forgiveness and God’s love for us all. There will be the opportunity for those who would like to take advantage of individual Confession and Absolution that evening. Everyone is welcome.
 

Much of the rest of this Newsletter will offer days, courses, programmes for anyone interested in following up some guidance or further training to help us in the parish. PLEASE LOOK AND SEE IF YOU’D LIKE TO FOLLOW ANYTHING UP...Don’t be put off by the cost of things - if the parish is to benefit, then I’m sure we can make funds available to pay for it.

Sunday April 17 - St Joseph’s Parish Centre in Gateshead. Journey in Faith/Exploring RCIA The Day is being offered to the Diocese by the Northern RCIA Network. It is intended for anyone already involved in helping people ‘wonder’ about the Church - or anyone who would like to be involved in it. It is 10.00am - 3.45pm. The cost is £10.00 (please see above!) per person, or £30.00 for a parish group - just think, if 5 people wanted to go ...we’d be quids in… Further details can be obtained from Mrs Angela Joyce on litformation@yahoo.co.uk or on 0191 285 2651 - please let me know if you would like to attend. Many thanks.

First Thursday Talks - Reflecting on Scripture:
These talks take place up at St Cuthbert’s House on the West Road between 7.00-8.30pm. Tickets are £6.00 per night or £15.00 for all three. Tickets from the Diocesan Education Service on 0191 243 3313 or
www.edurcdhn.org.uk Cheques payable to ‘The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle’ - see the poster at the back of Church for a little more information.

Thursday 6 May Bible Study

Thursday 3 June Lectio Divina-Prayerful Reading of the Scripture

Thursday 1 July Where to encounter the Word of God.

‘Yearning for Running Streams’ - A Refresher Day (including Children’s Liturgy and RCIA) Saturday 15 May 2010, St Joseph’s, Gateshead 11.00am-4.30pm. Closing date is 9 May, so if you are up for it, please get hold of an application form from the Diocesan Education Service - address and phone number above. £5.00 per person - please bring a packed lunch. If you would like to go. please let me know-parish pays!
 

Ecumenical Outing to Holy Island, Saturday 22 May. This day has been arranged by our Ecumenical Steering Group. The Pilgrimage will leave Denton Burn at 11.30 and be back around 7.00pm. It will include an opportunity to walk the Pilgrim’s Way from the mainland to the island, a prayer service in St Aidan’s Catholic Church at 2.30 and fish and Chips at Alnwick on the way back. The whole cost is £16.50. The day is being organised by Eileen Bell of Denton Burn Methodist Church. Eileen would like to have numbers by mid April… so, if you are up for it, please sign on the rather large, prominent yellow poster in the porch. Many thanks.

Day of Reflection with Fr Eamonn Mulcahy, St Robert of Newminster School in Washington, 29 May 10.30am - 4.00pm. Fr Mulcahy is leading the Retreat for the priests of our Diocese from 24 - 18 May - I’ve signed up to join that Retreat. He led the Diocesan Retreat last year and was a great success with our diocesan priests. Please look at the poster for further information - like £16.50 per person - again, contact the Education Office if you are up for it office@edurcdhn.org.uk Closing day is 14 May. Bishop Seamus is keen for as many people as possible to explore this particular day.

Hopefully...Lent is going well, in case you need something to lighten the days then…

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

He, who laughs last, thinks slowest.

A day without sunshine is like, well, night…

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end-to-end, someone would be stupid enough to try and pass them.

If the shoe fits, get another one to just like it.

The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in the dark...
 

Journey in Faith… 7.00pm - this week the subject is the ‘Anointing of the Sick’. Please feel free to come along.

Women’s World Day of Prayer… You’ll (all, men as well…) be very welcome on Friday 5 March at St Margaret’s to join in this annual service of prayer. This year, the service has been prepared by women from the Cameroon. Sr Lucina will be the preacher that evening, so do enjoy it.

St Cuthbert’s Care depends on the generosity of its supporters to develop services where other funding services are not available. You can find out more by ringing 0191 228 0111. St Cuthbert’s Care Home here in Newcastle for older people, St Catherine’s, is offering respite support for non-residents. Short stays at the purpose built home - which is just at the top of the hill on the West Road, near St Cuthbert’s High School - are available for older people who require temporary care in a residential setting If you would like more information please contact the manager, June Spoors on 01912452400 or email june.spoors@stcuthbertscare,org.uk

Lent ...I hope all Lenten resolutions are intact! But it is interesting, do we give up, give (hand) over, give to or give back? Lent isn’t particularly about proving what great power will we have, nor is it about losing weight or necessarily, doing more ‘religious’ things. It is really about re-thinking and re-ceiving. We wonder again about the huge gifts of Jesus to us, the life he lived, the sacrifices he made, and wonder how this might change us. In a real way, it is about ‘receiving’ rather than giving up! In today’s Gospel we have the followers of Jesus being astonished, even very frightened by a glimpse of what Jesus is really about - who his real friends are! So, its not surprising if we find ourselves a bit scared, amazed and astonished at some of the things that can occur to us during Lent.

SEMITONES .. Musicians wanted to play in hospices and nursing homes .. You’re welcome to join this group dedicated to visiting hospices and homes to entertain those who live and work there (they’ve visited both the Little Sister and St Catherine’s) - any musicians, all instruments and all standards are welcome. So. if you’re musical and want to do something for the community, or if you just want to make music in public - a team is gathering to do it, please contact e.b.posner@ncl.ac.uk

Sunday 7 March - 8.00pm-11.00pm. There will be a Charity Ceildh at the Tyneside Irish Centre with the proceeds to the Little Sisters of the Poor - admission £3.00. The Pauline Dancers will be performing - so, definitely worth a visit. Enjoy…..

Please note that Mass on Tuesday is at 9.30 am NOT 12 noon
 

Very many thanks to everyone for the £350.00 that we were able to send to CAFOD for the Haiti Appeal. This came as a result of discussion at the Parish in Council meeting following our Autumn Fayre Collection. Just in case folk don’t remember, once upon a time, prior to the new roof in 2004, the money raised from the Christmas Candles went to different Charities. Once we needed a new roof on the Church it was decided to split the income between the roof and another Charity. - just to remind us, that despite the difficulties we might face, there are others who are in far more difficulty that we are. So, over the last few years we have donated to Charities local and National - including, the Pendower Project, Housing Justice, The St Joseph’s Asylum Seekers Project, The Catholic Association for Racial Justice, and this year for the Haiti Response - this is on top of the £100.00 from the Wednesday Coffee Group - very many thanks….

50th Anniversary… of Family Fast Day… Can you believe it?... 2010 is the 50th Anniversary of the First Ever Family Fast Day. It happened in 1960, when a group pf Catholic Women joined together during Lent to so something extraordinary. Members of the Catholic Women’s League, the Union of Catholic Women and the National Board of Catholic Women (interesting...it was women’s organisations that urged the Bishops to invent CAFOD…) held the first ever Fast Day in England and Wales. They wanted to support the mothers and children in Dominica - not far from Haiti… They thought they might raise around £500.00 - this was in 1960 (in the last couple of weeks St Bede’s School has raised £450.00 for Haiti) in fact they raised what was then a remarkable £6,000. We do live in a different world today.

The Catholic Women’s Organisations started a brilliant tradition .. The Family Fast Day. Now CAFOD is developing a new ‘take’ - to use a new phrase - on the traditional commitment for the poor. The new phrase is ‘Give It Up’… Attached to your Weekly Newsletter is a small information leaflet about CAFOD’s work and the invitation to make a donation - please do give what you can and return the envelope next weekend ... Many thanks. You might find the accompanying information interesting….If you want any further information about CAFOD, please look at www.cafod.org.uk/giveitup - there’s tons more information… you might like to look at the attached information sheet about CAFOD and what we’re up to on your behalf…..
Please use the Gift Aid Envelope to add to your donation to our CAFOD contribution ...and if you don’t manage to do it for your parish - please talk to Paul Henderson or myself, honestly - it might just help us all ...many thanks
 

There is no ‘Journey in Faith’ this week because it is Half Term. However on 25 February, the topic will be Reconciliation.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh is visiting Hexham on Saturday 20 February. He will speak on ’Trident. Seen with the eyes of a Twentieth Century Faith’. The Cardinal, along with many other Scottish Catholic Bishops, has been very involved in the whole nuclear debate and is extremely well informed on the subject. You might be interested in what he has to say at 11.00am in the Parish Hall of St Mary’s Catholic Church, Hencotes. This is a rather special occasion for those interested in the arms race/poverty debate. Admission is Free… there will be time for questions and a retiring collection.

Many thanks once again to those who began our Confirmation Programme last Sunday at St Joseph’s. There were almost 30 young people there with their parents and guardians and the atmosphere in both groups was really very positive. Thanks to all catechists involved, it was a great start to our preparation for the Celebration at the end of April - please keep everyone in your prayers.

We celebrate the beginning of Lent this week on Ash Wednesday. Doesn’t it come quickly after Christmas this year…. The whole of Lent is, once again, a time of preparation for the most important time of the year for Christians - the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are offered the opportunity to slow down a little and wonder about what basically makes us tick, even to focus on how we pray and perhaps overprotect ourselves with what we grasp and yearn for - the fasting and almsgiving references to in our Gospel reading on Wednesday. Actually we’re blessed with the ‘Beatitudes’ this Sunday - a brilliant reading for us to use to prepare for Lent.

Annual Day of Recollection for Eucharistic Ministers - led by Fr Adrian Dixon at St Cuthbert’s Primary School Hall on Balmain Road in Kenton. This is taking place on 6th March from 11.00am - 4.00pm and all are welcome. There is no booking required for this day of Recollection, but there will be a collection on the day towards costs. For further information, - there is a little more on the poster in the porch - or ring 0191 284 1690.

Tins for Asylum Seekers…. Next Sunday, if you can think on, there will be a collection for our project at St Joseph’s. Many thanks

Please note the poster at the back of Church giving details of Mass times at St Andrew’s on Ash Wednesday. There are NO ASH WEDNESDAY Masses being celebrated at the Cathedral
 

Journey in Faith - Please come along and explore ‘The Mass - and why we go’! At 7.00pm on Thursday 11th February.

Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, celebrated by Bishop Seamus Cunningham at 7.00pm on Thursday 11th February at Our Lady’s, Village Lane, Washington. There’s a wee bit more information at the back of Church.

Marriage Week - Celebrating Commitment 8 - 14 February. If you want to follow this up a little more closely, please look at our diocesan website www.rcdhn.org.uk or for further ideas on www.marriage-week.org.uk There will also be further reflections in the Northern Cross this weekend.

A little Advance Notice ...Lent Family Fast Day is on Friday 26 February. This is the 50th anniversary of the 1st Family Fast Day. There are all sorts of new ideas from CAFOD about this particular event and long tradition in our Church. Many of them are around the phrase Give it Up... more about this later. Now that you are into it, you can find out more on www.cafod.org.uk/giveitup.

Many congratulations and a huge Thank You to the children/families of St Bede’s school for all the thinking and wondering and collecting for the people of Haiti - including a brilliant video produced by the Reception Class on their Pyjama Day - it really is excellent.

Tickets
A priest parked his car in a no-parking area in the city and because he was short of time and couldn’t find a space with a meter he put a note under the windscreen wiper that read: ‘I have circled the block 10 times. If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment. Forgive us our trespasses.’
When he returned, he found a ticket from a police officer along with this note:
‘I’ve circled this block for 10 years. If I don’t give you a ticket I’ll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation.’
 

Wednesday 17th February - Ash Wednesday services will be
St Bede’s 9.3Oam
St Joseph’s 7.OOpm

Please note that Mass on Tuesday 9th February is at 9.3Oam