THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH
27th DECEMBER 2009:
MASS TIMES: INTENTIONS:
Saturday Vigil Mass 7:15 p.m. Trevor
Sunday: 9:15 a.m. Karen Hughes
11:00 a.m. Paul Murphy
Monday 9:15 a.m. Terry & Margery
Whatmough
Tuesday 9:15 a.m. William & Lilian Duggan
Wednesday 9:15 a.m. Maud Bagshaw
Thursday 9:15 a.m. Vic Fry
Friday, 1st Jan 2010 10:00 a.m. Patrick Regan
Saturday 9:15 a.m. Derek Kinston
Saturday Vigil Mass 7:15 p.m. Ada Laura Savage and Gavin Webster
Sunday 9:15 a.m. Patrick McCarthy
11:00 a.m. The Parish
LATELY DEAD:
Please remember in your prayers Mary Agnes (Molly) Massey, who died last week. We offer Ann our sincere condolences and assurance of our prayers for her mother. Her Requiem will be on Tuesday, 5th January at 9:15 a.m.
MORNING PRAYER:
9.00 a.m. in the Sacristy Office, on weekdays except Wednesday (and not Friday this week).
CONFESSIONS:
Confessions are heard on Saturday evenings from 6:45 p.m. to 7:10 p.m.
BAPTISMS:
By arrangement with Fr. Cooke. After speaking to Fr. Cooke, it is important that families contact our Baptism Co-ordinator, Ann Siddall, 01244 371787, who will arrange for members of our Baptism Team to discuss Baptism and the practical details.
THE SICK:
Please keep in your prayers all the sick and housebound of the Parish and those who care for them. If you know of anyone who can no longer come to Mass and would like to receive Holy Communion inform Fr. Cooke or a Eucharistic Minister.
ANNIVERSARIES:
Please remember in your prayers Thomas McGuiness, Frederick Nixon, Francis Wilkinson, Richard Bird, Paul Murphy, Marjorie Houlbrook, Elvet Roy Eaton, Mary Mitchell, Catherine Sheridan, Fred Beswick, Harry O’Koru, Eva McDonnell, Adam Barnhill, James Ball, Kevin Connolly, Thomas Edward Johnston, Jacobus Philips, Joseph Herbert Lucas, Evelyn Taylor, Harry Ralph, John Leonard, Elizabeth Mary Kirk, John Steven Colgan, Mary Winifred Smithwhite, Teresa Bettridge, Veronica Howard, Thomas Wall, Chris Speed, Patrick Peter Wilson, Jane O’Hord, Kevin Connolly, Patrick Joseph Regan, Eileen Josephine Donoughue, Ada Laura Savage, Harold Sweeney, and Lawrence Stevens.
OFFERTORY (w/e 19/20th Dec.):
Loose Plate: £557.10
Planned Giving: £489.50
Average Weekly SO’s £568.00
Piety Stall: £125.00
Hire of Hall: £117.00
Thank you very much for your generous offerings.
CRIB OFFERINGS:
As customary, the Crib offerings are for benefit of the Diocesan Children’s Society. You can see more about their work at www.cathchildsoc.org.uk
BAPTISM CELEBRATION MASS:
Our Baptism Celebration Mass will be held at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday, 10th January 2010 - the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We celebrate with the families who have had a child or children baptised at St. Columba's during 2009, and welcome them again into the family of God, and our Parish community. All are most welcome, especially all those families involved in a baptism in 2009.
UPTON CHURCHES PRAYER DIARY:
This week we pray for:
The residents of Woburn Drive, Halton Road, Dorset Place and Cotswold Close
Youth Groups, Fury and Seekers Groups.
All young people in our community.
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
Fr. Cooke would like to thank all who made the celebration of the Feast of Christmas so fitting. Also, all your cards, gifts and Christmas Offerings were very much appreciated. Continue to enjoy this great season of faith and love.
feasts of the week:
The Holy Innocents: Monday 28th marks King Herod's massacre of all male infants in and around Bethlehem under the age of two in his attempt to kill the young Christ.
St. Thomas Becket: Tuesday 29th is the Feast of St. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on the orders of his former close friend Henry II in the year 1118.
WORLD PEACE DAY, 1st JANUARY 2010:
“if you want to cultivate peace, protect creation”
This is the theme of Pope Benedict’s Papal Message for World Peace Day. His 4000 word text amounts to an urgent appeal to humankind to protect the environment, warning that its abuse could become just as much a threat to peace as wars, acts of terrorism or human rights violations.
“Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?”
The Pope goes on to say that it is becoming more and more evident that the threat of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our life-style and the prevailing models of consumption and production, which are often unsustainable from a social, environmental and even economic point of view.
“May this be clear to world leaders and to those at every level who are concerned for the future of humanity: the protection of creation and peacemaking are profoundly linked!”
A copy of the full Papal Message is on the notice board in the front Porch, and there are some additional copies available. It can also be viewed from the Vatican website www.vatican.va under Latest Updates.
NEWS FROM fR. jOHN KIRWAN:
We have received copies of the Christmas 2009/ New Year 2010 newsletter from Fr. John Kirwan, originally from Chester but based for many years as a Mill Hill father in D.R. Congo. In many ways Fr. John’s letter reflects the pleas in the Pope’s Message for the World Peace Day. Basankusu Diocese in the Congo is entirely within the equatorial rain forest, and Fr. John points to the danger that some conservation measures, imposed from above, are displacing some clans from ancestral forest areas so is a source of potential trouble.
Fr. John is involved both with work at the provincial seminary and with support of the diocesan bishop. As usual, he is a little diffident in appealing for financial support, but their needs are increasing. St. Columba’s parish does offer regular support through the Third World Group. Fr. John’s letter is on the notice board in the front Porch, with a number of additional copies available. Local contacts are Kevin and Tess Kirwan, 0151 630 4003, email kevintessYOUKNOWTHESYMBOLtiscali.co.uk
CHRISTINGLE APPEAL:
Margaret Jarrett would like to thank everyone at St. Columba’s who gave so generously to the Christingle appeal for the OAKS charity and their work for the school in Bo, Sierra Leone. The amount raised was £762.34. Thank you so much for your continued support.
St. Columba's guild of st. stephen For Altar servers:
Bishop Brian recently gave permission for a branch (Guild) of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen to be established in the parish. The branch is now affiliated to the Archconfraternity at Westminster Cathedral and this will be certified by Archbishop Vincent Nichols in due course.
Members of our parish group were enrolled in the Guild at Mass on the Feast of St. Stephen, on Saturday 26th December.
Our Altar Servers are an essential and valued element of parish liturgy, the aims of The Guild are to nurture their skill and knowledge of serving and foster relations with other Servers' groups.
PARISH BUILDINGS COMMITTEE:
Following discussions with the parish Pastoral Council and Diocese the remit of the Buildings Committee has been agreed. At the meeting on 11th December a number of key tasks were identified. These include developing a list of suitable maintenance contractors, monitoring energy consumption and addressing fire safety.
If you have any comments on the church and hall they would be welcome.
The committee is at present very small – so it offers a very warm welcome to any parishioners with any relevant expertise. We would especially welcome anyone with any expertise in the field of Health and Safety. Please contact Pauline Rourke – pauline.rourkeYOUKNOWTHESYMBOLbtinternet.com for further information.
The next meeting will take place on Monday 25th January at 7.30 p.m. in the Church Office.
NEXT WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:
This will be compiled by Harry Sweeney
Tel: 01244 327462, email:
harrye_sweeneyYOUKNOWTHESYMBOLhotmail.com
Items for inclusion can also be left in the blue folder in the Sacristy. Please ensure that all items are in place by 9.00 a.m. on Thursday. Please include a phone number in case of queries.