Category: Saint George’s latest news

St Wilfrid’s is now inviting parents to enrol their children in our First Holy Communion Programme for 2021. In our Diocese, the usual age for receiving this Sacrament for the first time is 8 years of age (children in Year 3 or above.) There will be an introductory meeting for parents and children on September 29^th at 6.30pm in the church hall, with a view to starting lessons in October.

Please contact Annette Wake 07839571916,  [email protected] or  Teresa Palmer on 07951082592, tpalmer2205@gmail before September 22^nd to reserve your child’s place. 

Presence” is more important than anything else in the Bible. When people say, “God was present,” the Bible chimes, “If God is not present, nothing is worthwhile.” This is a story about ‘presence’.

In the United States, the American Indian tribes, especially the northern tribes, had the custom of initiating their sons. Boys would be about eleven years old and what they were to do is their father would take their hand and bring them out into a forest, a deep and dense forest.

And he would have a little opening in the forest and he would sit his son down and he’d give him a shield. And he gave him a sword and he gave him nothing else.

And he said, “Now, you are about to become a man and this is where you’re going to defend. With your shield and your sword, you will defend us from all the evil things that live in this forest and all the terrible things that can happen with wild animals overrunning the Indian reservation,” and going on and on in this way.

And the little boy would be looking back into his father’s face.

And his father would leave him.

And then the little boy would sit down and he’d keep watch.

And the minutes passed and the hours passed and the darkness deepened and the howling of wild animals all around him, and he would sit there and he would look.

And then he would get up. And he paced back and forth. And he would be frightened, but he was a man now, he was not allowed to cry for help.

And so he did all night long until finally the sun goes up and his father came back. And his father took him in his arms — and the little boy was so happy — and he said, “Now, my child, you are now a man. You have stood up to defend your people in the terrible darkness and did not run away.”

(To be continued next week when we are told what the father was doing)

A heartfelt “thankyou” to all our friends at St George’s Church for a wonderful surprise  breakfast party last Sunday. The hall looked beautiful, and the food was delicious, thanks to a number of skilled cooks, bakers and planners, who worked so secretly!  We were presented with  beautiful gifts and cards, for which we thank you all.  You welcomed us warmly when we arrived here 19 years and we have enjoyed warmth, true friendship and love from the whole congregation and Father Rory; leaving you all is hard, and we are moving only to be closer to our family  in Newick, which  not  far away, so we can look forward to seeing you all again, both in church and on more social occasions.  We will carry your love and friendship in our hearts.  Margaret and Charles

Miss Holycheek, the Catholic Sunday school teacher, had just finished explaining the feast of the Assumption to her class.  “Now,” she said, “let all those children who want to go to Heaven to see their Heavenly Mother raise their hands.”  All the children raised their hands except little Marie in the front row.  “Don’t you want to go to Heaven, Marie?” asked Miss Holycheek.  “I can’t,” said Marie tearfully. “My mother told me to come straight home after Sunday school

St Wilfrid’s Celebration Mass and Visit to our Garden of Remembrance where we had a very moving service:

Thank you Father Rory for making this celebration so special, Teresa and Annette for the Altar display and everyone for joining in and singing, something we have missed in lockdown.

Then after Mass into our hall for refreshments, beautifully set out and organised by our excellent team.  It was so good to get together at last and enjoy ourselves in the company of our fellow community members.  The adult tombola was well stocked and great fun.  The money taken went to funding the food.  The children’s tombola was great fun too, no profit was made as we had to pay for the prizes this time.  Thank you everyone who contributed in anyway to our wonderful happy and successful day.  Here’s to the next one, now we are up and running, still observing the COVID rules of course.

It was lovely to see so many returning parishioners and welcome new members to our community at St George’s on Sunday. We are almost back to normal but continue to tread with care in keeping everyone safe. So good to see Alan serving on the altar again and great to chat with everyone afterwards too. A thanksgiving and remembrance event is planned for September. Details to follow.

The following was written by Peter Riordan in 2008.

My life has been a good news story. I think of myself as having been extremely blessed. I grew up with the loving care and guidance of great parents and grandparents. My twin brother has always been my best friend, so there was always someone with whom to share the adventures of youth. The rest of my family are also precious to me and to one another. My parents sent me to great schools where I learned values and attitudes I cherish. I am married to a wonderful wife and have two terrific children, a son and a daughter who are also great friends to one another. I live in a prime location where my neighbours are also my friends. I count my blessings and thank God for them. My work is my chance to pay God back, to share the gift of God’s love. At work I enjoy the loyal friendship of staff and the company of students whom I treat with respect and with sensitivity for their feelings. I try to call each by name so that I know each as a person. My parents were both teachers. I guess that was part of the reason I also felt called to teach. But does this mean there has never been, or never will be, upsets, problems, or disappointments? Of course not. No matter how blessed our lives may be there will always be challenges along the way.

What do we do about them? It seems to me we have a very clear choice. Either brood about them, and be angry, bitter, and resentful, or get on with life. Sadly, I meet people who do not cope well with ‘knock-backs’, and who seem to accumulate the baggage of bitterness and lingering hurt. So my attitude is never to fret about what went wrong, what I missed out on, what could have been. I can do without carrying the burden of past disappointments. It is far better to face each problem and either turn it into an opportunity or to look for the next opportunity. Look forward, not back. It is much easier to progress if we face where we want to go.

Well how did it go?       You may ask “what go”?  We had our celebration marking our return to church after the part that the coronavirus has played in recent times.  It is good to say “very well indeed”, as is the human situation, a sense that of course it could have been better.  Certainly the heart of the event was in the right place.  The liturgy for the Feast of the Assumption could not have suited our situation better.  As Catholics, we have long memories of different events associated with this feast over the years.  For us, when we were children it had particularly great memories, being the high point of the year.  Again, even then the human element, it also marked thoughts of having to return to school, the passing year, bringing with it change.

This may be a key note for us, as we hold our post mortems.  The liturgy of the mass is at the heart of our future and gives us great confidence that we have got something good to build on.  The excellent work of Gary through the streaming of the pictures, gave us access to recall the “hearts of gold” that we have lost in recent times.  They have left us with a very special legacy and with their deaths comes real sadness and great loss.  The presentation ignited memories of these special people.  We are greatly blessed, by the legacy that they have left.

The children’s liturgy team gave us a special focus on what our lives as Catholics are all about.  The Scripture, the teachings, the tools, that if we use we can develop and strengthen our faith.  When I hear mention of the return of the word “obligation” to go to mass, I shudder.  How can we get it so wrong?  Of course I can hear of it as a mortal sin if you do not eat.  If you never eat you will die.  We need our food to nourish our bodies, and in the same way we need to nourish our spiritual lives.  I accept that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and through God’s providence He finds ways of looking after us in our own particular needs or circumstances.   Ultimately it is our faithfulness to His will His way for us to serve Him.

It is a great sadness that here in Europe, and I do accept the great scandals in the Christian Churches and Institutions that have caused people to turn their backs upon them.  The unfolding developments in our world, with Afghanistan at the moment, climate change, the danger that there will have to be large scale migration, turmoil, highlight our human existence.  We can allow ourselves to be overwhelmed and lose our sense of purpose, but against all of that, God’s great gift to us each Sunday – The promise that the Feast Day holds out for us, the resurrection of Our Lord and its promise for all of us.  Yes, to the treasured memories of those gone before us marked with the sign of faith, yes to the teaching of our children’s catechist, yes to our needs for help, especially for our music ministry, yes to the firm foundations to build upon as we go along.

Hard work that was done by a few, the hall was cleared, the seating beautifully prepared, and the food was second to none.  My sense that I should have supported and sold it better, could be re-echoed, and our way forward is in working with this, understanding and supporting.  A sense of thanks for the legacy that we have been left with, a sense of confidence that we can do better, and our two communities, but only with the reality of a new generation working for us.  This truly highlights the essential gifts of modern means of communication, and the will to live and to learn together, with God’s help, strength and protection.

Meal at the Treacle Mine:  We were down in numbers as many of our friends were child minding or on staycation, as it was the holiday month.  Something I had not realised at the time of booking.  ‘Oops’, nevertheless 12 of us came, plus Fr Rory of course and mostly our friends from St George’s.

It was lovely to catch up on various news items and gossip, as we had not been able to mix for so long, we all appreciated the freedom to see each other and chat.  We agreed to meet up each month for a lunch together.  The next date will be Thursday 9th September, we hope you can make it.

The manager at the Treacle Mine is very happy to accommodate us in our special space away from the other diners and we are treated very well.  This venue is between both parishes and so we will book our tables there again.  Watch this space for further details nearer the time.

Fake £5. Notes:  Please be aware there are fake £5 notes in circulation at the moment.