Category: Saint George’s latest news

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.

Funeral of Margaret Westcar:  Gary Westcar is asking if anyone filmed or took any photo’s of the procession leading up to the church service.  If so, please could you let him know by email [email protected]

Ministry of Consolation:

Bishop Richard initiated a new Ministry late last year, and requested volunteers from the various Parishes in the Diocese, with the help of his Marriage and Family Advisers, to come forward for this Training Course  – the new Deacon Simon South for this area  who was also working for the Bishop in the Marriage and Family Adviser capacity, has been running this course in conjunction with The Bishop who employed Kathy Quint ,  a Professional Counsellor and Therapist, who was brought in to run this course – she is a Christian, and  she writes many papers and courses for various large organisations.  She also sometimes runs a course herself – which she did for our Diocese.

Bishop Richard writes –

‘If you have been affected by the loss of a family member or close friend and would like someone to talk with or to jut listen, please speak to your Parish Priest who can put you in touch with one of our Bereavement Supporters.

We have people within our Parish who have been trained to support you through your bereavement journey either in person or via the telephone.  This support is free of charge as a Ministry of Consolation in the name of Our Lord who comforts us all in our sadness.’

Our local Ministry of Consolation person is Sue Longridge, and she is happy to speak to anyone who needs just that person to listen, without any judgement, to anyone who is experiencing any difficulties.  Please feel free to call her on 07921 152444.

I recently read the following item which I thought you might like:

“On those occasions when we ask ourselves questions like: Why should I bother? Why am I doing this? What about me? it may help to remember that it is by what we do, rather than by what we say, that we show whether or not we have the right answer to the question of Jesus: “Who do you say I am?” In our struggles each day to decide what to do, here are two statements that are worth remembering. The first is by Jesus, who once said: “If you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.”

That was put in different words by Albert Schweitzer. By the time he was 30 he could have spent the rest of his life as a theologian or an organist. Instead he decided to become a doctor, and go to Africa, where he spent most of the rest of his life, until his death at the age of 90. He planned to spread the Gospel not by the verbal process of preaching, but by the example of his Christian work of healing. In 1952, at the age of 77, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of Reverence for Life. He once said: “I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end. One thing I know, the only ones among you who will be really happy, are those who will have sought and found, how to serve.

(Rivendellsfoodforthought)