Category: Saint George’s latest news

This year as we cannot celebrate Harvest together, we’re using the Bankuet website to help us carry out our Harvest food drive for    Hailsham and Eastbourne Foodbank online. We’re encouraging everyone to give what they can to help people in our community who are experiencing a crisis; Bankuet will then pool everyone’s generous gifts and use them to bulk-buy the items the food bank needs most. This makes it easy for everyone to contribute and increases our impact as a church. By giving through Bankuet, Bankuet are able to deliver 10-20% more food than traditional donations. They are also able to deliver the exact items requested by the food bank, and    deliver the order at a time most convenient to them!

Bankuet dreams of a world where people don’t go hungry. You’re part of a growing movement of people who are using technology to make that happen.
All you have to do is go to bankuet.co.uk/givenow and make a donation, selecting “Harvest The Parish of St Wilfrid and St George” from the drop down menu at checkout to make sure it goes towards our shared total. Thank you so much for whatever you are able to contribute. We are hoping to raise £250 and will be sure to let you know how we get on!

The Bonus Ball will re-commence this weekend.

The theme of this Sunday’s readings is the necessity of bearing fruit in the Christian life. In the light of this we should all ask ourselves this question: Are we good fruit-producers in the vineyard of the Church?  Jesus has given us many tools to use in order to make us fruit-bearing, so we really do not have any excuses for not doing so. Some of these tools are as enumerated below:  

1) The Bible to know the will of God.  

2) The priests to lead us in God’s ways.

3) The Sacrament of Reconciliation for the forgiveness of sins.  

4) The Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food. 

5) The Sacrament of Confirmation for a real fruitful life of Faith. 

6) The Sacrament of Matrimony for the sharing of love in families.

7) Role models in thousands of saints. 

We really must make use of these gifts and produce fruits for God so that we can say that we are grateful stewards for everything God has given to us. He will care for his Church, not by committees or documents, but by raising up saints who will properly tend the vineyard.

I will leave you with a couple of questions for you to ponder! Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’ presence and love? What kind of impact do we have? Do we measure the quality of our parish by what happens during Mass, or on what happens when we leave Church? 

Due to Covid 19, I have decided not to collect the Mission Boxes as usual in September.   Instead, hopefully myself and the promoters are planning a collection sometime in March 2021.  So please keep topping your Boxes up as usual until then if possible. Thank you all for your continuous support for the Missions.  Above all, keep safe and well. D. Jung. St. Wilfrid’s APF M-Secretary.

St George’s Church, Polegate/St Wilfrid’s Church, Hailsham

We are delighted to record good attendance at Masses during the week and on Sundays.  Great attention is paid to the spacing and general safety of our congregation. All precautions are in place and our stewards are always in church to offer assistance and guidance.

Now schools have restarted, our younger families are returning to Mass, obviously needing to come on Sundays to fit in with the school week.  Therefore it has become even more essential for us all to BOOK IN when we wish to attend and, importantly, to remember to CANCEL when we cannot be in church.

The Coronavirus is still with us, and sadly we may see an increase during the winter months. To reduce the risk of spreading the infection, windows must remain open, however inclement the weather.  AS THE TEMPERATURE DROPS, PLEASE REMEMBER TO WEAR WARM CLOTHING!

Our booking details remain the same:

St George’s Church

Tuesday Mass, please ring – 01323 870990

Thursday Mass  –  01323 704753

Sunday Mass – 07808175455

St Wilfrid’s Church

Online: www.saintsgeorgeandwilfrid.co.uk or

Telephone Jackie: 01323 841504 or

Email Jackie: [email protected]

We look forward to welcoming you all.

The readings last weekend were all about forgiveness. I think we all know how difficult it can be to forgive. I hope these two stories will help and encourage you to forgive others for what they have done and also to forgive ourselves for doing something we know to be wrong, for forgiveness brings with it peace of mind.

Sheila Cassidy, who was tortured by Pinochet’s men in South America,

wrote: I can only say: however much we have been wronged, however justified our hatred, if we cherish it, it will poison us. Hatred is a devil to be cast out, and we must pray for power to forgive, for it is in forgiving our enemies that we are healed.

In 1965 Richard Dimbleby visited Belsen where notices in different languages asked you to respect the dead who were buried there, about 70,000 of them. He came across a large wooden cross with wreaths beneath it. Below it was a prayer written on a scrap of paper by a woman prisoner. She had written it for those who were tormenting her. This is the prayer: Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not only remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us. Remember the fruits we bought, thanks to this suffering. Our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this. And when they come to judgement let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness.

A Huge Sincere Thank You To:  Our beloved Fr Rory, Sophie, Lawrence, Loretta, Maeve, Jackie, Bob and to the magnificent Bagpiper, Ivan Brooks, Anna & Karen at C.P.J.Field Undertakers, and to everyone who sent cards and helped in giving my beautiful Mum a magnificent Requiem Mass send off at St Wilfrid’s Church on Tuesday 25th August 2020.    To celebrate my beautiful Mum, Mrs Margaret McLean Westcar, wonderful 90 years of her beautiful, happy fulfilled family life.   Thank you xx and God bless you all xx love from Gary Westcar and his family xx

Private tuition in Maths and English available for Primary children from an experienced catholic teacher. DBS provided. Please contact 07481180958 to discuss the support that you would like. 

The common theme of the readings for this weekend is God’s command concerning our spiritual responsibility and individual accountability for others in our families, parishes and community.

“Take the time to do what you need to do and do it now!” That is surely the best advice on what action to take if you have been hurt by someone. The hurt may have been intentional or may have been unintentional. Whatever the rights and wrongs the important thing is not who is right or wrong but to find a way to keep that relationship. Who will take the first step to heal the situation, me or the other person, is something we can all do – the best time to take that step is today! Do not delay.

There is a story called “The Carpenter” which illustrates how to promote mutual and forgiving love in any community. There were two brothers on neighbouring farms who fell into conflict where for many years they had worked together sharing resources. This conflict turned into a major discord which resulted in weeks of silence and absence of any sharing. One day one of the brothers heard a knock on his door and a man with a carpenter’s toolbox was there. He said “I need some work i hope you might have some work for me here which I could do.”

“Well as a matter of fact i do have a job you could do. You see that ditch over there. I want  an 8 foot fence built so that I won’t have to look at my brother’s farm across there any more. He constructed the ditch there just to spite me.” The carpenter thought and then said “I understand what you are saying and I am sure I can do a job that pleases you. Just give me the materials and I will do it today for you.”

The brother said “Alright”, showed him where the materials were and went off to the town for a meeting. When the brother returned that evening he found the carpenter just finishing the work, but there was no fence, he had built a bridge across the ditch. It was well made, sturdy and with handrails along the sides. At that moment he saw his brother coming on the bridge with his hand reaching out to him and saying “Well done for building this bridge between us after all I have said and done.” The brothers met in the middle and joined hands. They turned to see the carpenter putting his toolbox on his shoulder, about to go. “No, wait! Stay a few days. I’ve a lot of other projects for you”, said the brother who had asked him to do the work. 

“I’d love to stay on”, the carpenter said, “but I have many more bridges to build.”

Finally I read the following short story recently, told by a man called Roy A. Burkhart.  Once a boy went out of his home to do something that his parents felt was wrong. He was involved in an accident and lost both legs. It was a terrible blow, but the father told me one of the most beautiful stories I have ever heard. He said, “When his mother and I saw him in the hospital cot lying there aware that he had lost both legs, he said, ‘Will you forgive me?’ We both ran up and hugged him and said, ‘Of course; we have already forgiven you.’ And he answered, ‘Then I can live without my legs.’ ” 

As a Post Script to my Article about the Ministry of Consolation last week, I would like to state that this Ministry is STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.