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Fr Rory’s Birthday celebrations and CAFOD Harvest Appeal:

We all want to wish Fr Rory a very happy birthday. Come and celebrate with us this Sunday afternoon from 4pm at St Wilfrid’s Hall for a birthday tea and musical entertainment.

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored Father Rory for his walk between our two churches. There is still time to sponsor him using the QR code below or the sponsor form at the back of church. Please share the link with your family and friends and help us to reach our target of £500 for the CAFOD Harvest Appeal.  All sponsor money to be returned by Sunday, 13th October please. The walk leaves St Georges car park at 3pm. Please join us if you are able.

CAFOD Harvest Appeal:  CAFOD Family Fast Day is on Friday 4th October: a day we can pray, give, and eat simply in solidarity with our global family. This year’s appeal is focusing on supporting people like Daniel, a 21-year-old, who lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Daniel’s family didn’t always have enough to eat, despite both of his parents working. There was no money to send him to school. Now Daniel is carving a better future for his family with carpentry skills he learned in a CAFOD-funded training centre. Use the envelope in church or give online at cafod.org.uk/envelope.  The envelopes can be    returned to church for the second collection on 6th October.
 

Recently Martin appealed to you all to come forward and offer to become a welcomer, a reader or a Minister of Holy Communion. This was a reminder that there are many roles in our parish that are helpful, possibly critical, for any parish to function properly. It serves as a reminder that a parish is not just a priest. It takes all kinds of roles, and all these roles make up our parish. St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians makes this quite clear to all of us. Everyone has a role but not the same role. We are not all called to be ordained priests. Neither are we all called to be prophets. But we do all have one thing in common. We have all been baptised into one Body, and because of this we each have a necessary and relevant role that contributes to the well being of the whole.

So I ask you all to consider volunteering to help our parish in at least one of the roles I mentioned at the beginning of this letter. If you have already volunteered then I thank you on behalf of the whole parish. If you have not volunteered yet then perhaps you will consider it anew. There is nothing to stop you carrying out more than one role for the parish. You would not be asked to do more than one role at any mass except in unavoidable exceptional circumstances. Thank you again for your help and support.

Well done St George’s parishioners on an excellent fire drill last Sunday.  Evacuation took 1.5 minutes  which is well within the guidelines of 2.30/3 minutes. Thank you everyone for following instructions. It will keep everyone safe going forward. A huge thank you to the fire stewards – a vital part of the evacuation procedure and to the Children’s Liturgy Leader for ensuring the children understood the drill and safely left the hall to join their parents at the evacuation point. During the coming months there will be a reminder during our parish notices of how and where to evacuate so it remains fresh in our minds.
 

Service of Healing with Anointing of the Sick

Sunday 13th October 3pm—St Wilfrid’s Hailsham

Everyone, especially those with responsibilities for sick and/or elderly Catholics, living within Polegate/Hailsham/Willingdon and surrounding areas, may wish to bring loved ones to our healing Service, with the Anointing of the Sick, so that they may be commended to the Lord and strengthened with the Sacraments. Please pass this notice on to all who should consider attending.

Christ the King and St Joachim parish is organising a Pantomime for January 2025 and would be happy if any of our parishioners wanted to join them as cast/crew. If you are interested there is a meeting Today, Sept 22nd at 3.00pm in the hall at CTK Langney. If you can not make the meeting but would like to be part of the show email Sandra [email protected]
 

First Holy Communion: Deadline for enrolment has now passed. Our programme begins this week with an introductory meeting for parents on Wednesday 25th September 6pm in St Wilfrid’s Church Hall.  For more information contact Teresa Palmer. 07951082592, [email protected] .
 

Charity Breakfast at St George’s – after Mass. Sun 29th Sept.   Bring your friends and family all are welcome.  This month we are raising money for “You Raise Me Up Café”. 
 

St Wilfrid’s Sun 29th September:  During the family mass we will be led by our children’s liturgy in celebrating the harvest and give thanks to God for our food, our farmers, and all who produce and supply it. Please bring your offerings of fresh harvest produce to the church, at the Friday mass or on the day of the harvest mass. We will sell fresh produce afterwards to raise further funds for CAFOD. Gifts of tins & packet foods are requested during the month for Foodbank, please leave them in the labelled box in the porch as soon as possible. These will form part of our display. Most needed item list is at the back of church. 

St Georges Sun 6th October:  Same format as above except fresh produce donations requested by 8.45am at Sunday mass.

Thank you for your generosity.

Fr Rory celebrates his 75th birthday on September 24th and what better way to   celebrate this than by joining us for a sponsored walk along the Cuckoo trail on Sun Sept 29th? You may recall that Fr Rory had hoped we would all walk with him along this trail that links our two churches together as part of his golden Jubilee celebrations.  Sadly, this event was postponed due to the closure of the Cuckoo trail for that weekend.  We will set off at 3pm from St George’s Car Park Polegate and walk via the Cuckoo Trail to St Wilfrid’s Hailsham (approx. 3miles). At St Wilfrid’s we will be greeted with warm hospitality and a delicious birthday tea.  Sponsor forms will be available soon at the back of church. Please gather as many sponsors as you can from friends and family.  We are raising funds for CAFOD. If you are unable to walk please come and celebrate the birthday tea with us at 4pm .