20th September 2020
Fr Colin Writes:
I am pleased to announce that we will be joined by a new priest at the end of next month. He is Fr DAVID KNIGHT and is being ordained a priest this weekend, Saturday 19th September, in Westminster Cathedral. Please pray for him as he starts out on his public ministry. We are very privileged to be a parish with an extra priest, as priests are very scarce at the moment. There are only 3 priests being ordained for our diocese this year. Fr David will join us by the All Saints weekend, 31st October /1st November.
Having a younger priest will be of great benefit to the parish. The guidelines say that priests over 70 cannot greet the people outside after Mass. That is why I have to return to the sacristy. But there seems no reason why I cannot greet you after Masses that I have not been celebrating. Priests under 70 can greet people but they must remove their vestments before doing so. Priests under 70 can visit parishioners in their homes, take Holy Communion and anoint the sick—all things that I am not meant to do. So, from November, we will be able to step up our pastoral care and be able to resume some of the things not done since March.
Thank you for abiding by the various guidelines we have in the church. They are to make us safe and we can have confidence in coming to church that we are not going to catch the virus. If you are not feeling well, please do not come. The obligation to attend Sunday Mass still does not apply. Please observe Social distancing when you leave the church. It may take a little longer than before, but we are allowing people to leave by the entrance door. If you wish to come forward to put money in a box or light a candle, please wait until the aisle is clear before coming forward. Thank you.
Have a good and safe week. Father Colin
Baptism Preparation
There will be a session for parents who wish to have their baby baptised at 4PM on Sunday 4th October in the church.
Mass Count
Today and for the following 3 Sundays, there will be a Mass count. This will be done by the altar server stewards at Communion time. The numbers obviously will be much fewer than previous years with our current limited capacity.
Second Collections
There are several second collections that were postponed because of lockdown since March. We have been given alternative dates to hold these collections if we wish. I have decided for this year not to have those postponed collections but we will go ahead with those already planned for the autumn:
Sunday 11 October CAFOD Harvest Feast Day
Sunday 18th October World Mission Sunday
Sunday 8th November Sick and Retired Priests
Offertory Envelopes
We still have over 60 boxes of envelopes which have not been collected. Because of lockdown, many have not been using envelopes. If you would like to receive your box of envelopes please ask Father Colin. Unfortunately we cannot leave them in the church because of Data Protection rules.
Signing Secondary School Forms
As parents require forms to be signed for the entry of their child into secondary school, I have left completed forms for you to add the child’s name address and date of birth on the table at the back of the church. As I cannot make individual contact and the parish centre is no longer open, we cannot have signing sessions as before. Please take a form without touching the others. I have not touched the forms for at least 72 hours.
25th Sunday of Year A
Last week’s parable of the master cancelling the servant's debt should have made us stop and think—today’s parable of the labourers in the vineyard should do the same. On the face of it, why is it fair that a worker who does an hour’s work receives the same wage as one who has worked throughout the day including the hottest part. As Isaiah puts it in the 1st reading, ‘my ways are not your ways’. God does things differently to what everyone might expect. Jesus uses parables to reveal how ‘upside down’ the world of the Gospel is to contemporary thinking. The idea of paying exactly the same wage for those who work for a single hour as those who work all day defies all our sense of economies as well as fair play. In this week's parable the key factor is quite simple—everyone needs their daily bread as the Lord’s Prayer states. We are given no reason as to why the labourers at the end of the day are unemployed- were they last because they didn’t turn up until late? Were they known to be untrustworthy? Were they unwilling to push themselves forward? We are not told, and in the scheme of the kingdom these things do not matter. What matters is that they NEED their denarius, In fact ‘denarius’ actually means a day’s wage and a day’s keep. So often we are given blessings which we do not deserve. We don’t deserve to be a member of God’s kingdom because of our sins. We don’t deserve to have our sins wiped away but God’s love for us is unbounding. If God gives us good things which we don’t deserve, then we can give others things that they do not deserve. It is a way of passing God’s love on to others.
The parable concludes when Jesus answers the complaining workers by saying ‘why be envious because I am generous’. It is a parable about the extraordinary generosity and love of God. It is not about human rights. It is about what the kingdom of God is like. The Church, the messenger of Jesus, is sent to preach the Gospel to people in every kind of situation. Both young and old, with the invitation to enter the kingdom of God. We can only do this and offer a welcome to those who come to the church from all kinds of backgrounds, if we share the mind of Christ and his love for sinners. If we think “why should people just be able to walk into the kingdom of God, when we have disciplined ourselves and kept the commandments all our life?”, we do not have the mind of Jesus. Jesus came into the world to seek and to save those who are lost.
Every soul is of infinite value to God— When we love as Christ loves, without a hint of judgement, we want to see everyone saved, including those addicted and tied into a sinful life, those who have not yet come to believe, those who are hostile to the Church and those whose lives have fallen apart. The Lord opens his arms to all.
Good Counsel Network
‘On Monday 28th September, please pray and fast for the end of abortion and euthanasia in this Country. Your prayer and fasting is urgently needed as last year this country saw the highest number of abortions ever. For details of our life saving work see www.GoodCounselNetwork.com’
St Richard Reynolds Catholic College Vacancy and Open Evening
"St Richard Reynolds Catholic College is offering two Virtual Open Evenings for entry to Year 7 in 2021, on Tuesday 13th October, 2020 at 6:30pm and 7:30pm respectively. Details to sign up are available on our college website https://www.strichardreynolds.org.uk. We very much look forward to welcoming you to our College.”
St Richard Reynolds are recruiting for an RE teacher with a specialism in KS4 / KS5 from November 2020 (maternity cover). Part time will be considered. Please contact recruitment@srrcc.org.uk for further details.
Saints of the Week
Monday 21st-St Matthew, little is known about St. Matthew, except that he was the son of Alpheus, and he was likely born in Galilee. He worked as a tax collector, which was a hated profession during the time of Christ.
According to the Gospel, Matthew was working at a collection booth in Capernaum when Christ came to him and asked, "Follow me." With this simple call, Matthew became a disciple of Christ. His book is the first of the four Gospels in the New Testament.
Wednesday 23rd -St Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), he was an Italian friar, priest, stigmatist and mystic, now venerated as a saint. Born Francesco Forgione, he was given the name of Pius when he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.
Thursday 24th– Our Lady of Walsingham, Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated by Catholics and some Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches , a pious English noblewoman, in 1061 in the village of Walsingham in Norfolk. Lady Richeldis had a structure built named "The Holy House" in Walsingham which later became a shrine and place of pilgrimage. Pope Pius XII granted a canonical coronation to the Catholic image via the papal nuncio, Bishop Gerald O'Hara, on 15 August 1954 with a gold crown funded by her female devotees, now venerated in the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham.