Seven days in the life of our 3 Churches

By the time you read this, at 12 noon on Saturday Faye Johnson will have married James Evans at Christ the King. During the week we will celebrate the funerals of Sheila Marks, Tony Woodward and Brian Gowen in St Brigid’s, Christ the King and St Brigid’s respectively. Then on Friday evening Archbishop Stack will ordain Deacon Peter Davies to the priesthood on the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul. Then of course, we celebrate theHoly Eucharist and Reconciliation as usual this and every weekend. And just in case you’re worried about “missing sacraments” we had three Baptisms last Sunday and it’s not long since Confirmation – and I anointedtwo people on Thursday evening.

The sacraments and other liturgies are like jewels, marking out our paths of faith through life, like those lights with which some people line their garden paths or drives. Some are “one offs” like Baptism, Confirmation or Ordination, others are part of our ongoing Catholic journey, like the Eucharist and Reconciliation, while others again mark out our callings in life, like Matrimony and Holy Orders.

In this month of the Sacred Heart, and as we move through this week rich in sacraments and liturgy, let’s ask the Lord to deepen our love for Him. May Jesus enrich our understanding of, and devotion to, the sacraments – His sacraments. They are precious, precious gifts from a loving Saviour.

In particular, let us pray for Peter Davies, to be ordained priest. We remember that with the Word and service, the celebrating of the sacraments will be the very centre of his ministry. From bringing little ones into the family of God at Baptism, through to bringing the not-so-little home through anointing and funerals, via the extraordinary privilege of uttering the words of consecration and absolution, Peter will touch the very heart of our humanity with the love of Jesus. That’s what the sacraments are all about.

Fr Matthew (approx 20,000 Masses and counting)

Sunday 1 July is special for us in our 3 Churches as the by-the-Father will celebrate his first Mass (see notice on page 2). However, it’s also special across our diocese as it is an “Adoremus Sunday”. Taking its name from the National Eucharistic Congress in September, this is a chance to invite a friend to “come and see” the Church at its most important – the Mass. This is a simple and perhaps unthreatening way of sharing our faith -something that we are often very reticent about in Britain, for various reasons, many historical.

There are two stages to this plan.

1. This Sunday you are invited to take an invitation card. Over the next few days think and pray about who you should give it to. Fill in the details about which Mass you will invite them to (the card is for them, not for you!) and make the invitation in your best friendly style…
2. Then on 1 July accompany your “guest” to Mass and help make it an inviting and inspiring experience. Now this actually applies to all of us. A special booklet for our guests will be given out, and we can all contribute to the three “H”s – excellent hymn singing (all of us), excellent hospitality (all of us), excellent homilies (well I suppose that’s restricted to just a few of us)

Thinking of hospitality – each congregation should think about how to interpret that – and in any case, do it better than usual. If your Mass already has tea ‘n’ biscuits, up the odds to something a bit better. If your Mass usually does nothing regarding hospitality – think about what you can do to make people welcome on 1 July – and maybe more frequently afterwards! Put your thinking caps on and let’s do something!

There are 100 cards per church – let’s bring in 300 people to the heart of our parish life. Take a card, choose a guest, give them the card, bring them along.

Let’s all make them feel welcome on 1 July – and leave the rest to the Lord!

Fr Matthew