Author: Jacky

Fr Rory Writes

Fr Rory Writes:

On the first Friday of the month we will have a special service with the Sacrament of Healing with Mass and Veneration of the Blessed Sacrament at St George’s Church.  The Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation is always available on request, and I am usually available for an hour before Mass on Sundays and for half an hour on weekdays.

We are now going ahead with the Memorial Plaque for the Garden of Remembrance at St Wilfrid’s, and at this stage we have received names from the Parish Community that will be added to this plaque.  If you think that there are any outstanding names that should be included, please let us know.

Special Celebration Service

Special Celebration Service:  at St John’s, Meads on 9th September at 2pm.  Open the Book (part of the Bible Society) is celebrating 20 years of ministry.  The service will include a presentation by Bob Hartman, author and illustrator of the wonderful Lion Storyteller Bible, and a storytelling by the St John’s Open the Book team.  Pupils from St John’s School will be sharing their experience of Open the Book and saying prayers.  There will be afternoon tea after the service.  Please come and share this special time with us, and discover more about Open the Book.

Outing

Outing:  We are organising an outing for all the parishioners of St. George’s and St. Wilfrid’s churches on Sunday 8th September 2019.  We will meet at St Mary the Virgin Church car park, in Ringmer, at 12 pm and walk towards the green, where we will spend some time picking up berries. After that, we will go back to the car park and head to St. George’s hall, where grown ups will make jam and children will decorate jars. Once the work is done, we will serve Afternoon Tea with delicious jam and scones for everybody (around 3:30 pm). There will be board games for both children and grown ups to play at the hall. Please, bring carrier bags and as many jars (small and medium sizes) you can. Those who may prefer to do just a little walk, could wait for us to come back from the green, at The Anchor pub, just opposite the church. We look forward to seeing you there!

Deacon John Writes

Deacon John Writes:

Fr Rory wrote a few weeks ago about two deaths that had occurred recently in our communities. The following are two articles which are about how we might cope with tragedies in our own families. I hope you find them helpful and give food for thought: The first is Sister Joan Chittister’s response to a reporter who asked her how she kept going after her family tragedy: “Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? Mourning what we have lost in life only obscures the beauty of what remains.” Sr.Joan is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author and speaker. She has served as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

On the same theme, the Right Reverend Monsignor Roderick Strange, a Visiting Professor at St Mary’s University, having previously been rector of the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, wrote: “We never get over the wounds we have received; our defeats are always defeats. However, if we allow ourselves to become completely absorbed in our own misfortune, if we cut ourselves off, then the defeat creates a crippling selfishness, and is death-dealing indeed. But if we resist the whirlpool of selfishness, and turn outwards, determined to show care and generosity and love where it is needed, if we keep our hearts open, then the transforming change can and will take place.”       

Hailsham Foodbank

Hailsham Foodbank:  The Foodbank has been particularly busy and their stocks have hit an all time low.  If you would like to contribute in anyway, please leave donations in our church porch suitably labelled “Foodbank”.   Current urgent needs include: Tinned Fruit, Tinned Carrots, Peas or Sweetcorn, Tinned Tomatoes or Pasta Sauce, Instant Mash, Tinned Meat, Tuna and Toilet Rolls.  Thank you.

Deacon John Writes

Deacon John Writes:

Last week I concluded with a prayer from CAFOD which ended with this plea: “Teach us how to share our daily bread with all people, and to treat each other as members of one family.” This leads me to remind you that we already have the answer to this as we collect goodies for those in need of support in Eastbourne and Hailsham through the Food Banks. There is a basket in the porch at St George’s into which you may put any items for this cause. It is emptied regularly and the Food Bank arrange a monthly collection of the goods we have collected.  (See the separate article in this newsletter about the Hailsham Food Bank for more details at St Wilfrid’s.) Current urgent needs include UHT milk, cereals, tinned meat, tinned fruit, tinned rice pudding/custard, tinned vegetables, pasta sauce, tinned fish,  instant mashed potato, long life apple and orange juice, pasta, coffee, tea, biscuits, peanut butter, chocolate spread, marmite, baby food, nappies, shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant. [Currently they have plenty of baked beans and spaghetti] Please ensure all items are within use-by date. I wish to thank you for your support of this venture and if you haven’t supported it to date I invite you now to consider doing so if you possibly can. Thank you.

With my love and prayers for you all.