Category: Latest News

A BIG thank you to all who have supported January’s Charity Breakfast at St George’s we are delighted to have raised £145 for St Wilfrid’s Hospice.  Lent Last Sunday Charity Breakfasts (Sunday 26th of February and March) will be for our local branch of HCPT (Hosanna House Children’s Pilgrimage Trust) offering pilgrimage holidays, to Lourdes, for disabled and disadvantaged children.  Delicious Bacon & Sausage Baps will be served. All Welcome (feel free to invite friends and family).

St Wilfrid’s & St George’s First Communion Children will be taking their first reconciliation during our Parish Penitential Service on Sat 18th March, 5pm at St Wilfrid’s.  Everyone is  invited.  Please make the effort to come and support our children.  In the past this has not been well supported.  So please attend this very moving service, our children are the  future, without them nothing can be achieved.

We often hear the following prayer in services and in private prayer: Eternal rest grant unto him/her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him/her. May he/she rest in peace. Amen. May almighty God bless us with his peace and strength, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The various prayers for the departed have three main purposes: first to pray for the repose of the departed, second, to comfort the living, and thirdly, to remind those who remain of their own mortality. The practice of praying for the dead is rooted in Christian belief in the everlasting life promised in Jesus’s teachings and foreshadowed by his disciples’ experience that God had raised him from the dead.

We gather together at a funeral service not to talk about the deceased but to pray for him/her. We believe that our prayer can help the deceased. We know that prayer is powerful so we pray for the deceased. There is nothing else we can give and prayer is something we can do so easily. Flowers, as in a wreath, will wither but the prayers we offer will never wither. Every prayer lasts into eternity. Prayer has lasting value. 

We do so many things during our lives that in the light of eternity, are a waste of time. The priority in our lives must be to put God first. Jesus said in St John’s Gospel that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John.  14:6)  If we are not living our lives in union with Jesus then we are not on the way and if we are not on the way then we are lost. In St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his followers “Seek the kingdom of God first and all these other things will be  given you as well. (Matt 6:33). It follows that when we do as Jesus said and seek his kingdom first, and love the Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, then, and only then, will we be on the way.

Drawn last Sunday and had over 50 prizes, our new way of no counterfoil tickets; but names on back of original certainly paid off.  Any absentees will have their prizes delivered asap.  The jewellery table proved popular and will appear again at our Table Top Sale on Sat 11th March, 10am-3pm in our hall.  A big thank you to all who helped in anyway.  The refreshment table was laden with goodies and quickly disappeared with a cuppa whilst the raffle was on.  We raised a grand total of £160.00.  Thank you.

Don’t forget our Parish St Patrick’s Evening Get   together:  St Wilfrid’s Hall on Fri 17th March, 6-9pm. Tickets will be available nearer the time, £5 per adult Children free.  We don’t expect many of us will get up for an “Irish Jig”, but we can assure you we shall have a great evening with plenty of goodies. 

St George’s Charity of the Month is Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust we will give 50% of our table sale proceeds to this charity (50% goes to support our Parish Youth activities).

Also, our last Sunday Breakfast on 26th February 10am is in aid of Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust.  Please make time to attend and invite friends and family to join us at breakfast even if not attending mass that morning.  We will serve sausage and bacon baps and a selection of lighter pastries.

Our next afternoon tea will be Thurs 23rd Feb at 2pm.  The theme is “Chinese New Year – year of the Rabbit”.   Our party table, raffle and prizes table will all have a Chinese theme.  If you missed our last party “Scottish Theme”, do try to come to this one.  We can assure you of a fun and laughter afternoon.  As soon as the weather improves, probably March, we will be going on our little outings on the Cuckmere Bus.  Check the newsletter for dates, times and cost.

For the last few weeks the Synod group have been telling you about the formation of a new Parish Council.  NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!   We ask you all personally to do your best to recommend one or more people to join the Parish Council.   Please take a form home, complete it and bring it back to church next week. Thank you.  

Parish Meeting:  at St Wilfrid’s, 11.30am on the 5th February.

“Waters of life cleanse and refresh us, raise us to life in Christ Jesus”

Please God, this Sunday we celebrate the baptism of Maceo Adelaja.  I hoped that this celebration would have taken place on the feast day for the baptism of Jesus.  The waters of baptism open the way for God’s salvation, but above all focuses our need for community.  A very important moment during the celebration, is the lighting of the baptismal candle from the paschal candle.  It is then handed to the parents and godparents with the words “This light is          entrusted to you to keep burning brightly, your child has been enlightened by Christ”.  The parallel with the natural order is the same in the order of grace.  This is the beginning of a new life and I will continue to return to this during our journey through Lent, Easter and Pentecost. 

As you see in our parish newsletter this week, the recommendations of our parish council.   A lot of work has taken place and now it is time for it to bear good fruit, so please give this great care and attention