Celebration with New Parishioners
On Sunday 2 February, we held a celebration with our new parishioners after the 10.30 Mass. New parishioners were welcomed in the hall, together with more familiar faces: about 100 people in total! Cheese and wine was on offer, together with non-alcoholic options. We even brought out our seemingly endless stock of Christmas mulled wine, which went down a treat (speaking personally).
The event was organised by our Coordination Team. As a reminder, the team was created by Fr Bill to help deliver our Statement of Aspirations. Fr Bill welcomed new parishioners and shared his recollections of a rather ‘over the top’ approach to introductions in the USA. Ours, he said, would be heartfelt but lower key! He introduced Harvey Bradshaw, who currently chairs the team. Harvey welcomed everyone and described the desire of the team to create a vibrant culture of faith, celebrating and fully involving all the cultures we have in our parish.
The team introduced themselves. As a reminder, they are:
- Mary Gorton leading faith development;
- Neil Whitmore leading sacramental development;
- Mary Burke leading welcomers and liturgy;
- John Mortimer leading social activities;
- Theresa Park leading outreach;
- Thomas Andrews leading youth.;
The key message to everyone was ‘get involved in your parish’. We can only thrive if people help. Please contact the parish office and help in any way you can!
National Marriage Week 7th to 14th February
For those already married…..
On Saturday 8th February why not come and be part of a half-day of events to celebrate your marriage and to share some couple-time with each other?
Date: Saturday 8th February 2025
Time and place:
2pm – 5pm in the Chatterton Room – a Marriage retreat, taking time out together from the busyness of life to celebrate your relationship, to listen and talk to each other, to relax and enjoy yourselves. Including tea and cake!
5:30pm Mass with renewal of Marriage Vows followed by:
After Mass – 7:30pm Wine and nibbles in the Hall.
To register for the Marriage Retreat please email teresaweeks@hotmail.co.uk
(Places limited by the size of the room to 12 couples)
Mass and refreshments open to all.
Organised by Marriage Care and the Parish Coordination Team.
Last Christmas…
Thank you for your support over 2024 and Happy New Year! After all that preparation, Christmas seems to come and go in the blink of an eye. As I mentioned in the Newsletter, we had over 3300 people attend one of our five celebration Masses.
Nearly 250 of you attended the carol service hosted by our Coordination Team with singing brilliantly led by George and the choir. Afterwards, with mixed emotions, we said goodbye to Fr Stephen, who has provided so much help and support over the last three years. It was lovely to finally meet Fr Stephen’s mum who had come to enjoy the festivities and fond farewells. Mulled wine and festive goodies were consumed with gusto by everyone involved.
The St Joseph’s Christmas Tree had hundreds of your wishes attached, ranging from heartfelt and deeply personal messages to appeals for peace and tolerance (with a few hoped-for presents included for good measure). We hope you got what you wished for!
Whether you had a great Christmas or found it a difficult time, we hope you call to mind the Advent message from Fr Bill and Fr Simon that the greatest gift we receive is Christ and the light and hope he provides to us all. We hope you feel rested, restored and ready for 2025, and we look forward to welcoming you back after the festive break.
Fr Bill and Coordination Team
What just happened at the Synod?
On Friday 10th November, Austen Ivereigh, the well-known writer on Catholic affairs and papal biographer, came to visit us to share his reflections on the recent Synod gathering in Rome. This meeting of the global Church happened throughout October. Austen had a key role as one of the ‘scribes’ tasked with recording emerging thoughts and themes.
More than 100 parishioners and visitors from nearby parishes enjoyed listening to Austen’s engaging talk. This was followed by an opportunity for all present to ask questions and add their own observations.
Austen explained that the role women play in the Church is becoming one of the Synod’s most important focuses. Although female ordination is not within the remit of the current Synod, urgent attention is being given to how women can play a bigger part in the life of the Church, including its leadership.
Austen also highlighted three points:
- The Church can create new ministries and these can be used to empower people to contribute more fully to the mission given to us by Jesus. This mission must be central to all we do: ‘The Church does not have a mission – the mission has a Church.’
- This mission increasingly takes place in the digital space, especially for younger people. The Church already has a presence online but this needs to grow.
- The Synodal process has shown us the importance of listening to help us discern the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Future decision-making in the Church should always begin with listening, as we endeavour to become a truly Synodal Church.
The current Synod on Synodality concludes with a second gathering in Rome in October 2024. In the meantime, we are all encouraged to read and reflect upon the synthesis from the recent meeting. As parishes do this, we are encouraged to try new approaches and gain experience that can be shared with the Synod gathering next year.
You can see Austen’s talk below or on our YouTube channel here (although unfortunately the audio does not begin until about 14 minutes).