Category: Saint George’s latest news

Lent starts this Wed 14th with mass being said at 10am in St W and 12noon in St G. During this most important part of our year with Christ we are encouraged to do even more: more prayer and devotions; more fundraising (our lent charity is Lourdes youth attendees); more for our community and others.

There are several things already planned All Welcome:

Sunday 25th February:  St G – Charity breakfast after mass for those attending Lourdes from our parish

St W – Family lent activities and CAFOD Soup lunch after mass 

Saturday 9th March at St Georges from 10.30am

– Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 10.30 – 11.30 Holy Hour

– Family Stations 11.30am followed by Soup lunch 

Please all make a special effort to attend this together as a   Parish.

Stations of the Cross Sundays at St George’s 3pm. 

(Not Mothering Sunday 10th or St Patrick’s Day Sunday 17th)

Good Friday 29th March

– Family Stations 10am St Wilfrid’s followed by refreshments/hot cross buns

– 3pm Good Friday Liturgy in both churches 

Holy Week services and times will be listed next week.

St Patrick’s Day and Easter Cards are on sale at the back of St George’s Church.

Next Wednesday is ‘Ash Wednesday’. It is a day of Fasting and Abstinence. It is a day when we have ashes marking a sign of the Cross on our forehead. These ashes say we will not settle for what we are but live in hope for what we can be. And what we want to be is more humble, more holy, more patient, more loving. These ashes mean we are mortal. In a time when we like to not face the reality of death, we announce this very clearly: We will die. They say to all who see them, “I don’t have forever. I am dust. And one day, I will be dust again.” That is the bottom line for every one of us, our common denominator. It makes the ash mark matter even more.   Recently I read an article on the Internet that offers 40 ideas of suggestions for what we might do as extras for Lent. They included the following suggestions:

1) Pray for one person every day of Lent. It might be someone you know. It might be a stranger. Sacrifice something for them.

2) Pray a rosary every day for someone who has hurt you.

3) Write a letter to a different person each day, telling them what they mean to you.

4) Volunteer at a shelter, soup kitchen or retirement home.

5) If you have a long car journey as a passenger spend some of it in silent prayer.

Those can act as starters for you. I am sure we can all think of many other ‘extras’ we could do during Lent so why not do some of them! There is no compulsion and you should not tell anyone what you are doing. They are to be secret between you and God.

Parish Quiz Night Friday April 12th 7pm – get your
teams ready and the date in your diary for the
second of our bi-annual quiz nights this time held at
St Georges. Teams of 6 with children under 12 not included in team numbers. More details to follow.  

Our next afternoon tea will be Thursday 29th Feb at 2pm.  Our theme is “Chinese New Year”, year of the Dragon. 

We had a fabulous turnout last Sunday including the wider Polegate      community.  We raised a total of £200 for the Children’s Respite Trust.  Our next date will be Sun 25th Feb after St G’s 9am mass – fundraising for our young parishioners who sign up for the Lourdes    Pilgrimage.  All Welcome invite friends and family, they are welcome just to attend breakfast or join for mass also.

Everyone is invited to be part of our Lenten Programme.  Whether you take part in our five “Invited” mission sessions that will take place after 10.00am Mass or online as part of the diocesan group, everyone watches the same episodes and    explores the same material each week.

The material explores “Discipleship” as we continue to conform our lives to The Lord.

If anyone would like to join an evening session, we could hold these on either a Monday or Friday evening if enough people are interested.  Please talk to David Hoad or Maria Hills if you would like to explore this further.

The five parish sessions will be held on Wednesday 21st and 28th February and 6th, 13th and 20th March.  For online sessions please see the “Invited” section on the Diocesan website.

A RACE NIGHT on the 16th February at St Wilfrid’s is our next parish social/fund raising event. The race cards will go on sale at £5 each which be your entry ticket from today at St Wilfrid’s and on Sunday 4th February at St George’s. This is a fun evening so please put the date in your diaries.

Lourdes Diocese one week pilgrimage 25th July to 2nd Aug 2024 – The 50th anniversary of the Diocese led pilgrimage. All our Parish youth school years 10-13 are encouraged to consider attending. We would also like all other parishioners to consider joining as either helpers or supported pilgrims. We will have a launch meeting in February to form a parish group of attendees and consider our Lent Fundraising which we plan to undertake to help paying towards our parish attendees costs. To have our own Redshirts/youth group in advance of going this year will be amazing so please do consider it, we have four signed up      already. Families with younger children also have options for going. 

Further details of the pilgrimage can be found on the Diocese website at www.abdiocese.org.uk/lourdes/home. 

To find out more or to discuss fundraising options email       [email protected] or text/call 07791627368.

CAFOD Fast Day is on Friday, February 23rd. Envelopes for your donations are available at the back of the church or why not join us for a simple lunch of soup and bread at St Wilfrid’s Hall after mass on Sun Feb 25th, 11.30-1.00pm. Food is free but we encourage generous donations to CAFOD. This is an event for all ages. There will be fellowship and Lenten themed activities for all. We look forward to seeing many of you there.  Could you volunteer to help make or serve the soup? If you are able to help please contact Lesley Crowe or Teresa Palmer on 07951 082592. Eat simply to help others simply eat!