Fr Rory Writes

Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

The Parish Council Meeting on Tuesday evening went very well; please God, it is preparing us as well as possible for our future.  At the heart of this is the need to become communities of faith.  In order to do this the ministries of the church are most important.  We will establish a structure to develop these ministries.  Clearly this calls for a syllabus and a time frame to be established, so that all can play a full part in the life and liturgy of the church. 

I just received a letter from Bishop Richard confirming that Fr Kevin Dring has been appointed as Moderator of the Moderated Parish for the communities currently making up the Eastbourne and St Leonards Deanery.  I know you will join with him in continuing to develop the Pastoral Plan across the communities involved.

Lourdes Fundraiser

Our thanks to all who have   given so generously with both money and prayers for Claudia, Laura and Maria our parish youth due to attend Lourdes in July/August. The girls are all very humbled by how much has been raised, in excess of £800 to be divided equally towards their fares.  They plan to produce a short video of their journey and time in Lourdes which we will arrange to show to you all in Autumn.  Please do continue to pray for all Lourdes pilgrims this year.

Parish Quiz Night Success

Last Friday’s Parish Bi Annual Quiz night at St George’s was a great success and our thanks go to all who made it so: quizzers; refreshments and raffle team; and especially Mary & Colin our quiz masters.  The night raised over £400 (£200+ for each church) and the winning team, Paula’s Angels, really were wonderful when they donated their £60 winnings to our Youth attendees at Lourdes fundraiser, a very lovely gesture – they were more keen on the coveted trophy than money it seems!  Our next Parish Quiz will be in October at St Wilfrid’s Date TBC.

Fr Rory Writes

Just a lovely, lovely hour on a Saturday morning with Adoration and Veneration of the Blessed Sacrament,

and available to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a time of grace and peace. 

Time is flying by, but thanks be to God for Holy Week and Easter.  It is a loss to see the Garden of Remembrance  installed at the Altar sliding away.   So our greatest care is the Ascension with Jesus returning to His true place in our Fathers House in Heaven.  As these signs and symbols of a great season move on, it is essential that we focus upon this time; the most important time in the whole year.  The words of Jesus; ‘It is good for you that I should go back to the father,  because when I go I will send you the Holy Spirit’.  Good preparation to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, must be the most important thing for all of us.

Then down the road is my Golden Jubilee year.  I look forward to its celebration.  The date chosen has been the second Sunday in July, which is the 14th.  Most important to it will be our return to the sponsored walk which got off again to a good start last year.  As we have two churches making up our parish community it is essential that both should celebrate the occasion and have a positive energetic experience.  An experience of grace, good stories to tell, an achievement to remember and so the emphasis is on all that can be done together now that in the near future there will be a real shortage of priests.  God willing I am hoping to soldier on for a time.

St Wilfrid’s

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we would like more of you to help us in our hall on the various social occasions.  Many of us are too old to help as we did in the past.  This was brought home to us last Sunday after mass when Anne had to rush off and Lulu was offered a lift home after mass because she was in a lot of pain.  Many of you went into the meeting in the church following mass and so it was left to the “oldies” to do the best they could.  If anyone would like to help us in the hall after mass on a Sunday and Wednesday, please get in touch with Joan 07873390944.  Thank you.

Having enjoyed our “Easter Bag Sale”, if you have any bags to spare ready for the next one, please pop them in the box provided in the church porch.  Thank you.