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.

If you have any queries or comments about news items please E-mail: news@stbedesnewcastle.co.uk

• Document Downloads

• Pope Benedict XVI

• Pope John Paul II

• Election of Popes

• Lent 2005

• The Passion Story

• Events

• The Vatican

• Adult Christian Education

• Latest News

• Sunday 29th May 2005 - 9th Sunday of the Year

• Sunday 22nd May 2005 - Trinity Sunday

• Sunday 15th May 2005 - Pentecost

• Sunday 8th May 2005 - 7th Sunday of Easter

• Sunday 1st May 2005 - 6th Sunday of Easter

• Archives

Feasts and Celebrations this week 

• Visitation of Mary– Young and old, town dweller and country dweller– a fascinating meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, leading to a most prophetic hymn from the Mother of the Lord—The Magnificat.

• Marcellinus and Peter: Remember them from the The First Eucharistic Prayer?  They were martyred in 304, and we know little about them.  It seems that the executioner told the Bishop of Rome about them, who promptly wrote down the story and eventually built a Church over the place the were buried.

• The Immaculate Heart of Mary: An opportunity for us to thank God for Mary and her willingness to do God’s will—and be free of any sinful choices during her life.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY:  There is a list at the back of the Church inviting everyone to go to Edinburgh on 2nd July.  There will be thousands of people there urging  the leaders of the richest countries in the world to drop debt and change trade agreements to assist the millions of poor people in our world, members of our human family.  It is a very good thing to do..

The Irish Government has made some money available to help those born in Ireland and living in the West End of Newcastle.  This help is via West End Befrienders—a voluntary organisation based in Gingerbread House, 34 Grainger Park Road NE4 8RY Tel: 0191 272 4414.  This is specifically for the elderly, lonely and vulnerable.  If you know of anyone who might benefit from this service, please let them know of what is available. 

Thanks also to Rev Catherine Pickford and parishioners of the Venerable Bede for joining us on the evening of the Feast of St Bede.  The  children in school enjoyed an Assembly on the life of Bede as a young monk—they’ll never forget that he had to drink milk while the older monks drank wine...the water would do you more harm than good…

Pilgrimage to Ladyewell on 11 June:  If you would like to go, the bus will leave St Marks Westerhope at 8.25 am, worth catching it, it’s a long walk to Preston in Lancashire.

Eugene Ionescu

Saints and Feasts this Week 

Feasts and Celebrations this week:  Well, we are having a bit of a time these days!  Last week we celebrated Pentecost—and many thanks to those who joined us last Sunday evening for our Ecumenical celebration of Pentecost. It was good to greet our Church of England and Methodist friends on this occasion.  Last Friday all the children came over for mass to celebrate May as the month of Mary. A good day to celebrate, so soon after a Catholic and Anglican agreement on the role of Mary in the Christian Church.

Now we are into other big stuff!:

• The Holy Trinity this Sunday.  Nobody can do justice to this in a couple of lines!  Sorry to say it, but St Patrick didn’t help with his mathematical puzzle. The Trinity is totally central to our Faith—God is a community of love, not a plant! 

• St Bede!  Well—a fantastic saint.  Local, committed, dedicated, loved the scriptures and many other things, join us at Mass or at the Ecumenical Service here on Wednesday and hear more about him. The Rev Catherine Pickford from the Venerable Bede, and myself, will be involved in School assemblies and our Ecumenical Service that night.  He is a great man.  I’m so chuffed to be associated with his parish!

• Corpus Christi next Thursday. Once again the children will join us for Mass at 9.15 here at St Bedes, and 10.30 at St Joseph’s.  It is a Holyday of Obligation (still), in this part of the world. A feast that unites us with all our Catholic sisters and brothers throughout the world.

• St Augustine of Canterbury...on Friday.  Another amazing (and reluctant) visitor to our shores.  Arrived here in 597, and helped to re-established the Christian Church in these islands (we had our own arrangements up here via St Columba, Iona and Lindisfarne—things got a bit tense later on).  A really good man, an important memory for us in our times.

Parish in Council: - Many thanks to those who joined us for the meeting last week.  To be serious for a moment….We looked over many items.  Some can be dealt with easily, many need more discussion.  We will meet twice over the next couple of months to look at how we arrange things in the years to come.  One element in the discussion is our Financial Statement.  I enclose a copy of what was presented.  Very many thanks to Paul Henderson for looking after our Financial affairs. Paul will say something at Masses this week and next.  We need to look at many other things—how we prepare for fewer priests in the future and encourage parishioners to accept responsibility for all sorts of things such as:  Preparing altar servers, Marriage Preparation, Liturgy (including music), Confirmation, Bereavement support, those who want to come into the Catholic Church—and so on.  I said something about my own commitments to the Diocese and how we need to look to further formation for more parishioners in the months and years to come.  More information about this in the weeks ahead.  In the meantime, I enclose our Financial Statement for the last 12 months. 

It is clear from this that our Gift Aid scheme is hugely important in the way we address our £30,000+ debt because of the new roof (which really does seem to work..) on our Church.  I would encourage those who do give regularly to our collection, to consider gift aiding their contribution.  It costs absolutely nothing to the donor, the extra income comes from the Government, and lets be honest, that can only be a  good thing.  If you do give regularly and would want to consider gift aid, please have a brief and confidential word with myself or Paul Henderson, as they say, it really will make a difference.

One Decision that has been made!  We had £1100 from the Christmas Collection of 2003.  It was lying in the Bank and not benefiting anyone (except the Bank).  What to do with it has been raised at the last 3 Finance Meetings and the last 2 Parish In Council Meetings.  It was originally earmarked for ‘young people in the parish who want to go to Lourdes’.  No one has asked about it for the last 18 months, so we have finally sent off three cheques to:  ‘The Catholic Handicapped Children’s Fellowship’ - based in Walker; a local Charity working with young people with disability who do go to Lourdes—’The Sunnybank Project’ in Benwell; and a national Housing Charity- ’Housing Justice’, who wrote to us after Christmas .  The decision to contribute to these charities was unanimous.  We now need to look to  how to distribute the funds raised last year—2004—and we will have a very clear objective for the funds we hope to raise in December this year.  Any comments are very welcome.

Ecumenical Trip to Holy Island:  September 10th.  Please sign on the list if you want to join this Expedition!  The Bus will leave Denton Burn Methodist Church at 8.30 am—Coffee stop at Amble Methodist Church (an absolutely excellent place to stop…) then on to Holy Island for a service in the beautiful St Mary’s Church at 12.00 noon. Fish and Chips at Alnwick on the way back (not as good as Charlie’s at Amble…but pretty good).  Limited places, so please sign as soon as possible. Tick if fish and chips are required…!  Total cost £13.00  and £7.00 needed by 2 July.  The balance to Eileen Bell, Denton Burn Methodist Church by 20 August.  Many thanks to our Ecumenical Representatives and to Eileen of Denton Burn Methodist Church for doing all the arrangements and homework for this event.

PLEASE SIGN UP ON THE LIST AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH—MANY THANKS...

I hear there used to be a really good relationship between St Bede’s here at Denton Burn and our local Christian communities….it can only be a good thing to encourage and support these initiatives. 

I have heard from many people that there was a really good relationship between the Venerable Bede and St Bede’s a number of years ago.  I remember Cardinal Hume talking about his visit to ‘The Bedes’ in Newcastle many years ago. He was pleased to be asked to join both communities.  This Wednesday—25th May —we will celebrate the memory of Bede here, and the community from the West Road are invited to join us.  There will be a huge feast of tea, biscuits and a good bit more on offer afterwards—do think about joining us—actually, don’t think about it, just do it, as the advert says...

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY– Last Monday afternoon I found myself representing Bishop Kevin at a photocall at the Hancock Museum to mark the North East’s contribution to the MakePovertyHistory campaign—museums-history– and that...There is a huge drive to encourage people to go to Edinburgh to make the point that we do believe that the European Union and richest countries in the world can make a profound difference to the plight of our poorest sisters and brothers throughout the world.  Bishop Kevin Dunn is going to Edinburgh as part of our Diocesan presence on 2 July.  The more folk who go, the more our politicians will have to listen to our voices. 

Please give a bit of thought about going up to Edinburgh for the day.  If you are interested, have a word with Anne Maughan or myself..we can arrange transport via CAFOD North East, and it would be good to have some representation from St Bede’s and St Joseph’s to make the point.

If you can’t go, but want to make the point—please write a message and sign your name on the sash at the back of the Church.  This sash will be taken up to Edinburgh and added to thousands of others from parishes around England and Wales to make the point that we do care about the plight of our sisters and brothers throughout the world.

Traidcraft:  I managed to run out of coffee during the week and was delighted to simply dive into Church and replenish the stores!  Much quicker than going to the Co-op.  Do look at the goods available after weekend masses.  Of course it’s a bit dearer—that’s the point, we need to support those who do the growing and harvesting rather than take advantage of them and give the money to the transporters...Give it a thought….We now have our FairTrade Parish Certificate next to the shop—something to be proud of (excuse the English…)

Once again, in case you think this is all a bit heavy: 

You probably thought that the 7 wonders of the world were:

1. The Pyramids in Egypt

2. The Grand Canyon,

3. The Panama Canal

4. The Empire State Building

5. St Peter’s Basilica

6. The Taj Mahal

7. The Great Wall of China

OK I know there are ancient ones (what a great Geordie word, ‘ones’ is) as well, but what about these from a youngster in school: 

To See, To Hear, To Touch, To Taste, To Feel, To Laugh and To Love  - good for her….                                                                                                                    JOK

Saints and Feasts this Week 

• St Dunstan...was born near Glastonbury in 909, and died at Canterbury on this day in 988. He was born into a noble family and was raised at court. He studied secular arts and literature before becoming a monk at Glastonbury. He was the principal agent in the restoration of English monasticism after the Viking devastations. In rapid succession, he became bishop of Worcester, bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. A man of many talents, he was renowned as a painter, musician and worker in metals, besides being a counsellor of Kings and a zealous reforming bishop. He is remembered as one of the most popular Anglo-Saxon saints.
   

• St Christopher of Magallanes...born into a Mexican farming family in 1869, he was ordained a priest towards the end of the 19th Century. He worked hard to further the economic and spiritual well-being of his people during a time of religious persecution. As fast as the anti-Church government suppressed the seminaries, he provided replacements, eventually resorting to teaching classes in private homes. He was a thorn in the side of the establishment and was falsely accused of inciting armed rebellion and was arrested while on his way to celebrate Mass. He was condemned without trial and shot in 1927. A number of fellow priests and laity who also died for their beliefs were canonised with him in May 2000.
   

• Pentecost Sunday: Today is the Birthday of the Church, from then on it has been up to us – with the help of the Holy Spirit – of course. The Christian faith arrived in these islands around 18 hundred years ago, with Christians in the Roman army. We’re getting on a bit... we may be a bit tired. Hopefully this feast of Pentecost will help us glimpse some of the enthusiasm and imagination of our first sisters and brothers.

Computers for School:  Lets be honest, Tesco are in the business of conning us to shop with them by offering vouchers to be exchanged for Computers for Schools.  OK – other folk do other things, but if you do shop in Tesco, I know that St Bede’s school would be delighted to receive your vouchers if you’re not sure what to do with them.  I did my last week’s shop in Kingston Park on the way back from a big walk in Northumberland (in fact I could hardly push the trolley around the shop…) – and the vouchers went to School.  I don’t like being conned, but the result will be good for our School.

Parish in Council:  Next Wednesday, 18 May at 7.00pm we will have our Parish in Council meeting.  If you have any items for discussion  please let me know and we will include them.  I’d like to look at such things as further adult formation etc – come along and see what happens!  We will also have a presentation of the accounts.  If you want to know more – you’re welcome.

Saints and Feasts this Week 

Saints this week: 

• St Pancras:  Very well known saint because of the London Railway station (recently refurbished, looking really good) and the London Hospital.  To be honest, we know very little about him.  Possible died in 304 as a young man.  We know about him because St Augustine brought some relics of his to Britain when he arrived in 597 AD.  One of these years, the Eurostar train will connect the North of England to the rest of Europe via St Pancras Station…

• St Matthias:  one of the most famous ‘substitutes’ in the history of Christianity—bit like being an Episcopal Vicar, to be honest— the man chosen to take the place of Judas after the Resurrection of Jesus.  It was really important that there were 12 Apostles.  The early Christians needed to know that they were following in the footsteps of their Jewish ancestors, and the number 12—as in tribes– really mattered.  So, as they say, ‘the lot fell on Matthias’, one of the witnesses to Jesus after the Resurrection—have a bit of a look at the Book of the Acts of the Apostles chapter 1, verses 15-26.

Thanks also for your generosity to Fr Francisco of the Comboni Missionaries.  He really enjoyed his visit to Newcastle and St Bede’s was able to contribute to their work throughout the world.

Today is Communications Sunday—there is a special Collection to help with the work of the Catholic Communications Network.  I know I’m a bit biased about all of this, but I do think it matters.  I once spent 3 months in the Catholic Communications Centre (then in Hatch End in North London), learning about Radio and TV production and presentation, and then spent 3 years producing radio programmes for Radio Tees (as was) in the early 1970s, presenting Phone-ins and all that sort of thing.  I often thought that I’d speak to around 30,000 people (the Station claimed) on a Sunday night for an hour or so, after celebrating mass with around 250 during the day—the media bit does matter, and we need good folk to re-present the Church in the media. This is just a thought...you know how many phone-ins there are on radio (tons of them, because its cheap radio…) I wonder why we don’t look seriously at training normal Catholics (folk like you and me) to pick up the phone and engage in arguments and debates from a Gospel/Catholic point of view—without being too heavy about it?  As I say, just a thought….

Prepare the Place:  There is Day of Reflection for Sacristans at Ushaw on 11th May from 10.30—4.00.  If any of our Sacristans would like to take part, please let me know.  The Parish can ’foot the bill’.  Thanks.

Next Tuesday 10th May, after 9.30 Mass, there will be a bit of a parish celebration for May’s birthday.  We meet for coffee every Tuesday and May will join us that day.  There will also be a couple of youngsters from St Bede’s school joining us to thank May  for her commitment to Catholic Education—please feel free to come along and join in. 

Also—next Tuesday, 10th May, the Activity Group will be meeting in the Hall at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome. 

The Annual Diocesan Rosary Rally, led by Bishop Kevin Dunn, will take place at St Joseph’s (The Little Sisters) on Saturday 21 May.  The Event in organised by the Knights of St Columba at 2.00 pm.

MakePovertyHistory– just a bit of a reminder about the Gathering in Edinburgh on 2 July to make the point that all of us need to work together to do exactly that—make poverty history.  There is a poster at the back of the Church about CAFOD’s involvement in the Demonstration.  On Friday 1st July we St Bede’s is hosting an Ecumenical service and lunch to mark the event.  Also, on the evening of 1st July, there will be Service in St Mary’s Cathedral to pray for the success of the Talks.  More information about that at a later date.

Pentecost Sunday:  Next Sunday, 15th May, is the Feast of Pentecost.  It is the turn of St Bede’s to welcome our local Christian colleagues to an Ecumenical Service. It will take place here at St Bede’s at 6.30pm.  The Congregations from the local Methodist and Anglican communities will join us that evening to pray and look to further cooperation in the future.  You a most welcome to join us that evening.  I suspect I might be going on a bit about what ‘the Church is for’ - basically, to listen and be guided by the Holy Spirit…

Local Ecumenism— while we’re on the subject, there is a 24 hour Course at Ushaw over the weekend 11th– 12th June on Local Ecumenism—Learning from Other Traditions.  If anyone is interested in going on the Course please let me know.  Once again I’d suggest that if people do want to take advantage of Further Education programmes, then the Parish is in a position to pay for them.  Give it a bit of a thought now and again.

Pilgrimage to Ladyewell….No, I haven’t spelt it wrong!  If you are interested in joining this Pilgrimage, please put your name on the list at the back of the Church.  A couple of weeks ago I was in Preston and saw ‘Ladyewell’ on one of the signposts.  I went to look at the shrine and had a bit of ’quiet time’ there.  It is a lovely spot.  You might enjoy it.

Welcome to Deborah Hooson, Chelsea Lee Patricia Hooson and Baylee Ellis Shearer who were baptised here at St Bede’s last Sunday.  And many thanks to Sr Patricia and Margaret who help with all the preparation for baptism.  I am most grateful, there’s no way I could do it all myself.  I have just received a Video and DVD of a Baptism Preparation Programme which looks really good—hopefully we can use this is the future for those preparing to join our Community.

This Weekend we celebrate something very special...Ms May Spoor is 100 years of age.  Totally amazing!  Many congratulations to her, and, as Cardinal Cormac O’Connor sang once Pope Benedict was elected Ad multos annos vivas , my Latin isn’t brilliant, but what it amounts to is ‘May you live many years to come…’.  (more at the diocesan web site)

I want to pray tribute to May for her commitment to the training of teachers.  Until the early 1970s May helped to form generations of primary school teachers.  They are so important.  I feel that teaching is one of the noblest of professions, so thanks to her for her commitment, dedication and concern for young people, not too much else matters.

I’ve done a wee bit of homework. In 1905, when May was born, the folk down in Elswick and Benwell, were building most of the ships for the Japanese navy!  In fact they were in mourning when one of the Elswick built ships was sunk by the Russian navy…

In 1905 Sweden separated from Norway

There were riots in St Petersburg and sailors mutinied on the battleship ‘Potemkin’.  Students and workers rioted in Moscow—sounds like a busy year…

The Liberal Leader—Campbell-Bannerman, became Prime Minister…..no comment

Sinn Fein was started by Arthur Griffith

The Automobile Association (AA) was founded, and the speed limit went up to 20 mph

Dr Bernardo died—and so did Jules Verne  (20 Thousand Leagues and all that). 

Overall, lots of things happened, - and May was born.  Many happy returns...

Just in case all the above is a little too serious, try the following Quiz:

1. How long did the Hundred Years War Last?

2. Which Country makes Panama Hats?

3. In which month do the Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

4. What is a camel’s hair brush made of?

5. The Canary Island in the Pacific are name after what animal?

6. What was King George VI’s first name?

7. What colour is a purple finch?

8. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

9. What is the colour of the black box in a commercial airplane?

10. From which animal do we get cat gut?

 Answers—I think….

1. 116 years
2. Ecuador
3. November
4. Squirrel fir
5. Dogs
6. Albert
7. Crimson
8. New Zealand
9. Orange
10. Sheep and horses.

 Needless to say, I got none of them right.  JOK

THE ASCENSION

This is not exactly a pub quiz, but which Gospel writer never mentions the Ascension at all? Answer:  Matthew.  I’m sure that there are many books in the world explaining how references in Mark and John’s Gospels were all added on after they’d finished their bit.  St Paul never refers to it at all.  There is one hint in the Letter to Timothy, but that was probably written about 25 years after Paul was martyred.  So what?  You ask...Well, it doesn’t matter that much, the important question is what might it mean.

 I truly believe that it is a Feast that helps us to grow up, to grow in faith.  After the Resurrection, Jesus is seen meeting his followers and giving them all another chance to believe in him once again. He walked with them when they were escaping from Jerusalem (to Emmaus), he cooked breakfast for them when they were out fishing, he met them ‘in the upper room’ when they were afraid.  There came a point when the disciples had to get used to the idea that Jesus was with the Father, wouldn’t be around in the same way as he had been, either in the flesh or as a risen person—so the Ascension is the Memory of the disciples beginning to learn to move on from having Jesus around them for safety—they began to grow up in the faith.  Of course Pentecost is another stage in growing up in the faith—and we need to wait a little longer for that.

Saints and Feasts this Week 

People to Celebrate this week: 

• Philip and James—Philip had been a disciple of John and came from Bethesda—same place as Peter and Andrew. I’d like to meet him. He was the humble man who said ‘Come and See’ when one of his friends (Nathaniel) asked about Jesus. We’re all Philips, in a way...James—may have been the leader of the Church in Jerusalem, famously refereed a bit of a spat between the ideas of Paul and Peter, he must have been a saint.

• English Martyrs—three Carthusian monks were hung at Tyburn in London on 4 May 1535. They were the first of many Catholic and Protestant men and women who died for their faith during the English Reformation. We remember their courage and faith in the face of persecution.

• St John of Beverley, was a Benedictine and one of our former bishops—the Bishop of Hexham. He died in 721 and was succeeded by Wilfred. He took early retirement and spent his last years as a in that part of Yorkshire we now call Beverley. Incidentally he was canonized by Pope Benedict X, I’ll bet these Benedicts keep appearing all over the place now.

A Warm Welcome to Fr Franco of the Comboni Missionaries who is joining us this weekend to tell us about the work of his colleagues throughout the world and to benefit from our generosity.  He is most welcome.

Congratulations and welcome to Dr Harry O’Neill.  Dr O’Neill has just been appointed to the post of Director of Education for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.  He is a parishioner of St Mary’s South Moor, and is chair of their Parish Council.  He brings with him extensive educational experience, most recently as someone seconded to Sunderland Education Authority.  He went there following many years as head of St Robert of Newminster Catholic Comprehensive in Washington.  He has the respect of many heads, both secondary and primary, in the Diocese.  He is taking on a big job, we remember him in our prayers.

Next Sunday (8th) is also World Communications Day.  There will be a Special collection for this particular section of the Church’s work.  We will never forget the amazing media coverage of the death of Pope John Paul and the election of Benedict XVI.  There were all sorts of church people being asked to speak on radio and TV and write for the press.  These folk have to be trained and that costs money.  The Church increasingly needs good advice on handling the media and engaging with the media in a positive way—this Collection goes some way to providing that service.

WELCOME MASS FOR THOSE RECENTLY RECEIVED INTO THE CHURCH: This will take place at St Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday 19 May at 7.30 pm. Bishop Kevin would like to invite all those received into the Church in recent years, to join him along with their families and friends and catechists.  Please feel free to join them if you would like to.

A little advance notice...on Saturday 14 May, at Gretna Road there will be a Plant (and Coffee) Sale.  All gardeners, flora enthusiasts, tree spotters, green-fingered geniuses are hereby warned to be there on the dot.  It begins at 11.00am, though it is only confined to that one house, no pinching stuff from the folk next door.  Proceeds will come to parish funds—many thanks.

Also on 5th May (I believe), we are having a General Election.  So this is the last time you have the chance to pick up the leaflet from our Bishops about what they/we believe are the important issues.  I suspect that the events during the night of 5th May, Jon Snow’s famous ‘swingometer’ etc will be more engaging than the rather (in my own view) petty debates on important questions that we have heard in recent days.  I discovered recently that in :    

• 1963 there was a National Teenage Party

• 1984 there was a Four-wheel Drive Hatchback Road Safety Party (probably standing only in Chelsea)

• 1987 there was a Let’s have another Party Party (I like that one)

• 1994 a Eurobean from the Planet Beanus Party…

• In 1987, a candidate called W O Smedley created a Party and stood for the ‘Common Market, ‘No’- ‘Hanging, ‘Yes’ Party’.  The sad thing is, he got 217 votes.

The point of all of this?  We are rightly proud of our democracy.  Sadly, democracy is often seen as ‘the opportunity for all men and women of a certain age to have the vote’.  It is much, much more than this.  Democracy also includes a commitment to ‘social inclusion’, to equality, to cultural and educational opportunities—which is more fundamental than choice.  Democracy is more than voting.  But voting is one of the basic indicators that we want to take these things seriously.  Please exercise your right to vote.  I’ll certainly be down to Denton Burn Methodist Church at some stage during the day.