There’s quite a lot happening on the clergy front at the moment…
We were very grateful to Fr Gareth Leyshon for being able to supply while I was away, and to be in residence at the presbytery. He has now returned to Coventry, his base for his work with the Sion Community. He is busy planning and preparing for their forthcoming missions in parishes in various places. These include Merthyr Tydfil later in the autumn.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to welcoming Fr Andy Bord to our 3 Churches. He will be moving in later this week. It will be a big change for him as he has been ministering in St Mary’s, and latterly also Holy Family, with Canon John Maguire for thirteen years – that’s quite a wrench. It’s also of course a big change for me and for us all. While we were blessed to have Frs Modest, James and Tomy from Kerala from 2004 until a few years ago, it’s a long time – twenty years for me – since I have shared a home and parish life with a priest from our own diocese. Luckily Andy and I know each other well, and I think his arrival will be a real blessing for all of us. Unfortunately, Andy had already planned his summer holidays for September – at the same time as our September Pilgrimage! So, while we will both be here next weekend, 1st September, we will not be really firing on all cylinders until the weekend of 22nd September.

Fr Peter Davies has also been on annual leave from his hospital ministry and will continue to assist us on most Sundays, for which we are very grateful.
One last piece of clergy news – Archbishop Stack has recently accepted Christian Mahoney from our 3 Churches as a candidate for the permanent diaconate. Christian has already started his formation, centred around monthly weekend sessions at Wonersh Seminary near Guildford. Please remember him, Esther and their family in your prayers.

That’s it – bulletin over!

Fr Matthew

There are various traditions surrounding the where and how of Assumption of Our Lady (Feast 15th August). Even in Jerusalem, one such version has it happen at the site of the present Church of the Dormition, (the Eastern Church’s alternative name for the Assumption), south of the Old City, while another shows you the cave-church dedicated to the event, close to the Garden of Gethsemane. One such tradition says that on the day of the death (and Assumption) of Our Lady, St Thomas the Apostle was not present, just as he was at the appearance of Our Lord on Easter Sunday evening. It was said that they opened the new grave for him to gaze on her one last time…

They bore her in a reverent group To a holy place,
Left her body in the earth –
Her body, “full of grace”.

But Thomas, tardy, slow of foot, Absent when she died,
Spent with sorrow, craved to see Her of the Crucified.

There was a swift intake of breath,
A hurried silent prayer;
Startled they opened the new-made tomb To find but lilies there.

– Sister M. Angeline

Pope Francis on the internet

I sometimes in this newsletter refer to various websites, and I know people follow them up. However, I suspect many will think, “Well I haven’t got time for that.” But in the lazy hazy days of summer I would really like to recommend one for your browsing. It’s a large site called New Pilgrim Path www.newpilgrimpath.ie
It’s a huge resource coming from Ireland, a “portal” in internet language, beautifully put together and covering many aspects of our faith and its expression in the arts, music, liturgy, spirituality etc.

As their opening page says, Pope Francis describes the internet as “offering immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is truly good, a gift from God”. They hope that the site and the resources “help you as you seek encounter with the person of Christ, the Word of God in our midst.”

The menu gives an idea of what kind of thing you’ll find: Website of the Week; Music for July; Sacred Music; Poem of the Week; July Book of the Month; Daily Prayer; Inspiration; Online Retreats; Broadcast Resources.

Just taking “Sacred Music” as an example, I came across a spine-tingling setting of the Lord’s Prayer sung by Andrea Bocelli (not usually a huge fan) and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Another example: the “Inspiration” page will take you to Henri Nouwen, Daniel O’Leary and many, many other top writers of our time.

So – why not have a wander through the upside of the internet, and enjoy this “gift from God”

www.newpilgrimpath.ie