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St. Mary Magdalen's
Catholic Church
Willesden Green
London NW10
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Friday, September 30, 2011
27th Sunday -2nd October 2011
PARISH UPDATE

Fr Hugh – a message: Thank you so much for the recent goodbyes! My parting party was indeed "sweet sorrow" - great to have the chance to see so many once again, and to have the, all too brief, chance to express our farewells and friendship. As ever parishioners have been very generous with messages cards and gifts. They speed me on my way in good heart. The beautiful book of messages will have pride of place - physically and spiritually. At this time I think especially of our sick and housebound who are always with us in spirit and whose prayerful support has been so important to my ministry. I thank them for their endurance and prayers. The Mass set I received on Saturday is a great gift. It will make my remembrance of you all at that point of closeness with Christ even clearer. Through Christ in the Mass we will always be closely linked.

• Thank you: We would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of Fr Hugh’s leaving party. Special thanks go to the UCM for their organisation in putting everything together. But also thanks to all the individual parishioners who generously contributed food for the event, as well as all those unsung heroes who quietly and with no fuss worked behind the scenes helping to ensure a successful event. It is so good to see that this parish is truly a community which comes and pulls together.

• Catholic Childrens’ Society: Many many thanks to all who supported the collection last weekend - £512 was raised for the Society.

• Altar Servers: Reminder to all altar server and their parents that we have a meeting of ALL servers in the Church at 4:00pm this coming Saturday (8th October)

• Prayers please: We need your earnest prayers to find a solution to a difficulty. Each year there are people who feel called to the Church and join our ‘Journey in Faith’ group. We meet at 10:30 on Saturday mornings. These may be non-Catholics, or those baptised but never completing their Christian Initiation, or those returning to the Church after a period away. Often God chooses the birth of a child as a moment to prompt people to review their spiritual lives. But the sad reality is that sometimes people drawn to learn more about our faith and who would love to attend the meetings then find if difficult to attend as they cannot find baby-sitters; and it is very challenging for all concerned trying to have these sessions with small children present. At this stage we are asking for your earnest prayers, so that we may be directed by God into finding the right solution to our ‘problem’ and for Him to send the right people to help in the project that He no doubt will reveal to us.

• First Fridays: The Church has always held Friday as a special day remembering what Jesus did for us on Good Friday. But on the First Friday it remembers the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of course the Sacred Heart is the sign of Jesus’ love for us, which is why he died for us. So each First Friday of the month we have a Holy Hour, after the 6:30 pm Mass, from 7:00 – 8:00pm, with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with periods for silent prayer, interspersed with meditations and ending with the Evening Prayer of the Church and Benediction


Youth Clubs: The new term has begun and we are looking to restarting the two Youth Clubs which the parish run for school year’s 5 – 6 and 7 – 8. Previously the year 5-6 club was on a Thursday and year 7-8 club on a Friday. However, as of this term, both will be held on a Thursday evening. The Yr 5-6 club will meet from 5.30pm – 7pm and the Yr 7-8 club will meet from 7pm – 8.30pm. Both of these groups have been very successful and fruitful over the past few years and we owe a massive thanks to all of the leaders who have given their time & commitment to helping run and develop them. We are looking for a few more helpers for the year 7-8 club. The format of the Youth Club is as follows: 7.pm – 7.30pm – Faith Formation & from 7.30pm – 8.30pm – Creativity & Activities. The new volunteers would be involved in helping with the general supervision of the children throughout the whole session and in co-leading the various activities from 7.30pm – 8.30pm; activities such as creativity, games and sports. There is a rota for the youth club and therefore you would only be needed every 2nd week maximum. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact myself at rachel_kidd@hotmail.co.uk or Fr Kevin at the Parish office. Many thanks - God Bless Rachel Kidd

Forthcoming Events

Union of Catholic Mothers: Annual coffee morning in aid of MacMillan Cancer Care will be held in the Annexe on Friday Morning 14th October at 10.00 am.

posted by Sinead Reekie at 8:42 am

Friday, September 23, 2011
26th Sunday of the year - 25th Sept 2011
FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Journey in Faith: Our programme for those who wish to become Catholics, adults who have not yet been confirmed, or any others just wishing to deeper their understanding of the faith has started, and will continue on Saturdays at 10:30 am in the Annexe. Please invite any you know who may be interested to come along.

• Cathoilic Childrens Society: Annual collection after all masses this weekend.

• Cricklewood Homeless: Monthly collection of non perishable food after all masses this weekend.


Re-establishing Friday Penance

From Friday 16th September we have been required to abstain from meat. Friday penance, to remind us of the suffering and death of Our Lord, Jesus Christ on Good Friday, has always been a requirement, but the reality was that when it was left to us to decide what that penance should be, many never did any penance. Furthermore this practice can be a great opportunity for us to witness to our faith, eg. A work colleague may notice and ask why we don’t eat meat – and that could be an opening to talk about our faith.

Outside events

• Catholic Singles is an organisation which helps single adult Catholics of all ages meet, either one to one or through social events. Please tel. 0161 941 3498, visit the website www.catholicsingles.org.uk or email info@catholicsingles.org.uk

• A Day with Mary - Saturday 8th Oct Westminster Cathedral 9.45am start.

• The Passage helping homeless people. There will be a string quintet concert in aid of The Passage featuring music by Haydn and Mozart at the Church of The Immaculate Conception, Farm Street London W1K 3AH on Monday 3rd October 2011 at 7.00 p.m. Tickets £15 from The Passage, St Vincent’s Centre, Carlisle Place, London SW1P 1NL tel 020 7592 1856 email tickets@passage.org.uk


Vacancies

St Gregory’s Science College, Kenton - Physics Technician Vacancy- Contact Mrs Cora Ryan on 0208 907 8828 or email SchoolOffice@stgregorys.harrow.sch.uk for more details.


St Anselm’s Primary School, Church Avenue, Southall - vacancy for a Deputy Head teacher from Jan 2012. Please contact the school administrator Susie Debono on 020 8574 3906 or email sdebono@st-anselms.ealing.sch.uk. Closing date: 12 Noon, Tuesday 11 October 2011. Interviews: Wednesday 19 October 2011.


Pilgrimages

Pilgrimage to Lourdes (privately organised) 4th-8th Oct 2011- Cost £480 incl. Insurance, transport to airport, full board at Alba Hotel. Trips to Bartres and San Pierre. Contact John O’Sullivan 0208 459 0279.


Pilgrimage to Fatima 7 days by plane from Gatwick- 20th Nov -26th Nov 2011. £579 including all excursions & full board. Contact Mrs R Mozzi 0208 472 0843.

posted by Sinead Reekie at 8:50 am

Monday, September 19, 2011
25th Sunday of the Year – 18th Sept 2011
FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Journey in Faith. Our programme for those who wish to become Catholics, adults who have not yet been confirmed, or any others just wishing to deeper their understanding of the faith has now started, and will continue on Saturdays at 10:30 am in the Annexe. Please invite any people you know who may be interested to come along.

• Retiring Collection: – This weekend we will be making a collection for Fr Hugh’s leaving present.

• Fr Hugh – leaving party – Saturday 24th September, 7:30 pm in Linacre Road, School Hall

Food: Please continue to sign up on the forms provided against the required food items, indicating what food you will bring. Your contribution will need to be brought to the School Hall, Linacre Road School on the Saturday afternoon between 4:00 pm and 6:00pm.

Tickets: Please take tickets, but only if you will be coming. They are free but the number issued will be used to determine the amount of extra food / drink that we need to buy.

Personal messages: This is the last opportunity to write your personal messages in the book at the back of the Church. You will need to find blank spaces to squeeze in your message.

• Re-establishing Friday Penance, from last Friday 16th September.
God took an awful risk when He gave humanity the power to choose between good and evil, and God paid an awful price for that loving decision; the death of his only-begotten Son, Jesus.

We are all sinners, but forgiven sinners. However, we must still fight against the pull of evil in the daily decisions that make up our lives. That struggle against sin and evil in our lives is called penitence. That is why from the beginning, the Church has told us how important are fasting, prayer and almsgiving, ‘which express conversion to oneself, to God and to others’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1434).
From ancient times, Friday was a day of penitence, a reminder of that first Good Friday; so Friday penance is nothing new. But since 1985 we have been free to choose how to observe Friday penance; however, reflecting on the visit of Pope Benedict last year, the Bishops of England and Wales decided that it would be good to call the Catholic community to a public witness of penance by abstaining from meat on Friday. Our obeying this invitation is a sign of our desire for a deeper conversion. If not eating meat is no sacrifice for us, then we could consider marking the Friday in another additional way.

Let us be prudent – if circumstances make it really difficult on occasion to refuse meat on Friday, then be sensible! The important aspect is to make sure that penance is in our lives, especially on Fridays and during Lent. Simple public acts of devotion that show that we are Catholics and love our Faith can be channels of God’s grace in the lives of the people amongst whom we live. (Adapted from the Pastoral letter of Bishop of Wrexham).


• Outside events
A Day with Mary- Saturday 8th Oct Westminster Cathedral 9.45am start.

posted by Sinead Reekie at 8:16 am

Monday, September 12, 2011
24th Sunday of the Year – 11th Sept 2011
FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Journey in Faith
Our programme for those who wish to become Catholics, adults who have not yet been confirmed, or any others just wishing to deeper their understanding of the faith has just started, and will continue on Saturdays at 10:30 am in the Annexe. If you know of anyone who may be interested please let them know and invite them to these sessions.

• Biblical Walk through the Mass.
Our 5 week course to Explore the Mysteries, Discover the Meaning and Experience the Riches of the Mass starts this coming Tuesday 13th September at 7:30 pm in the Annexe / Church


• Fr Hugh – leaving party – Saturday 24th September,
Food: We hope that parishioners will provide much of the food for this party. Please sign up at the back of the Church on the forms provided against the required food items, indicating what food you will bring. Your contribution will need to be brought to Linacre Road School on the Saturday afternoon before 6:00pm.
Numbers coming: So that we can properly plan for the event, we need to have a good idea of the numbers coming. To help us with this we will be issuing tickets to those who wish to come. The tickets are FREE, but are important for the organisers planning the event.

Leaving present: A collection will be taken NEXT weekend for Fr Hugh’s leaving present, which will be a portable Mass set.
Personal messages: Please feel free to write your personal messages in the book at the back of the Church. This will be presented to him at the leaving party and will be a lovely keepsake reminding him of our parish community


• Distribution of Holy Communion
Thank you all for your cooperation with the new way of receiving Holy Communion. You may remember that the reason for this change was to help us be better recollected and more reverently receive the Blessed Sacrament, this would be helped by the few extra moments waiting for the minister to come to you, and the few moments after receiving before moving away.
This is still not working perfectly and it would help if people formed a second row behind those at the sanctuary step, and so be in a position to then simply move forward as the person having received moves away.


• Re-establishing Friday Penance
From this forthcoming Friday (16th September) we will be required to abstain from meat. Friday penance, to remind us of the suffering and death of Our Lord, Jesus Christ on Good Friday, has always been a requirement, but the reality was that when it was left to us to decide what that penance should be, many never did any penance. Furthermore this practice can be a great opportunity for us to witness to our faith, eg. A work colleague may notice and ask why we don’t eat – and that could be an opening to talk about our faith.


• Outside events
A Day with Mary- Saturday 8th Oct Westminster Cathedral 9.45am start.


• Vacancies
St Gregory’s Science College, Kenton- Physics Technician Vacancy- Contact Mrs Cora Ryan on 0208 907 8828 or email SchoolOffice@stgregorys.harrow.sch.uk for more details.


• Pilgrimages
Pilgrimage to Lourdes (privately organised) 4th-8th Oct 2011- Cost £480 incl. Insurance, transport to airport, full board at Alba Hotel. Trips to Bartres and San Pierre. Contact John O’Sullivan 0208 459 0279.


Pilgrimage to Fatima 7 days by plane from Gatwick- 20th Nov -26th Nov 2011. £579 including all excursions & full board. Contact Mrs R Mozzi 0208 472 0843.

posted by Sinead Reekie at 8:44 am

23rd Sunday of the Year – 4th Sept 2011
TODAY 4th September

• New Translation of the Mass: Today we start using the New Translation of the Mass for the ‘Ordinary of the Mass’ (the parts of the Mass which remain the same each week). We have new Mass sheets with the new words. Please DO NOT take these home with you, but leave them for later Masses, because we have ordered 500 copies for each week, but with a Mass attendance of over 1000 we do need to reuse them at later Masses.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Journey in Faith
Our programme for those who wish to become Catholics, adults who have not yet been confirmed, or any others just wishing to deeper their understanding of the faith starts this coming Saturday (Saturday 10th September), at 10:30 am in the Annexe. If you know of anyone who may be interested please let them know and invite them to these sessions.

• Neophytes
Our monthly meetings with those received into the Church at Easter restarts, with the first meeting at 12:00 noon, on Saturday 10th September, in the Annexe.

• Biblical Walk through the Mass.
Our 5 week course to Explore the Mysteries, Discover the Meaning and Experience the Riches of the Mass starts on Tuesday 13th September at 7:30 pm in the Annexe / Church

• Help people to Mass.
We are / should be a community prepared to help each other. There are some who are housebound but who would love to come to Mass, if only someone would bring them to Mass in a car. At the same time there are parishioners who drive to church in their cars. If you are one of those, why not consider helping a parishioner in need and bring someone to Sunday Mass? Remember that God rewards a generous giver, as Jesus said “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap” (Lk 6:38)
If you know of any housebound person or are offering your services, then please give you details to Deacon Michael or one of the priests.



• Fr Hugh – leaving party.
The parish will be hosting a leaving reception for Fr Hugh on Saturday 24th September, at 7:30 pm in St Mary Magdalen’s School Hall, Linacre Road. Fr Hugh will celebrate Mass at 6:30pm on that Saturday evening. We will be giving Fr Hugh a leaving present (we know he would really appreciate a portable Mass set) and we will be taking a collection after all Masses on the weekend of 17/18th September. Many have already given Fr Hugh personal cards, but we will also be presenting him with a book of messages from parishioners, which he can always keep as a reminder of his time here with us. The book will be put at the back of the Church, for anyone to write their own personal message to Fr Hugh. Further details of the leaving reception will be given in due course, inviting people to prepare food.

• Do you want to grow in the knowledge, spiritual resources and skills which will help you to be of greater service to the local Church and her mission in the world? There are still a few places available for October entry on the Pastoral Mission Programme, a formation programme for the lay apostolate, jointly directed by the Westminster Diocese and Heythrop College, University of London, in Kensington Square, W8. Places available for the 2-year Foundation Degree, which comprises a thorough background in Catholic Theology, spiritual direction and work-based mentoring; and, for those having completed a Foundation Degree or equivalent, the new 1-year blended learning experience leading to the BA.
For further details please contact the Programme Convenor, Fr Dominic Robinson, SJ, at d.robinson@heythrop.ac.uk

posted by Sinead Reekie at 8:40 am