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2010 Pastoral Area DiaryAUGUST 2010
Walk the World! - Saturday 28th August
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NEW PARISH ANNOUNCEMENTThe 3Rivers Leadership Team has
confirmed that the four Parishes, which make up our Pastoral Area,
are to be joined together into one new parish. The parish will adopt
the name of our own Hampshire-born saint and will be known as the
Catholic Parish of St Swithun Wells. St Swithun Wells’ feast
day this year falls on Friday 10th December and it has decided that
we come together on this day. The background to this initiative goes back several months. There was a joint meeting of all the 3 Rivers Pastoral Councils on Saturday 6th March, where it was agreed that we should make a formal request to the Bishop that we may transform the Pastoral Area and its six churches into one new parish. Our formal request was placed before the Bishop, who consulted with his Council of Priests in late May. Our initiative was welcomed by the Diocese and permission has been granted. The next step is to prepare ourselves for the new parish and to develop a plan of action which will transform every aspect of our Vision into a reality. With this in mind, the 3 Rivers Pastoral Councils gathered together this week, on Tuesday 13th July, to discuss and agree, in outline, to a variety of projects. The projects are geared toward creating strong foundations upon which to share our talents, build stewardship and place our Faith in the centre of our lives. The Leadership Team promises to share the news of our progress with everyone and will be giving regular announcements between now and December. |
JUNE 2010
1st Holy Communion Joy at Bishop's Waltham
A Happy Month of June for two Meon Valley Families
The Nellist and Moritz families are good friends and both live in the Meon Valley. Emily and Grace are even in the same class at school. So it was tough luck they could not celebrate their First Holy Communion together and on the same day. Trying to get all their family and friends, several from overseas, on one Sunday proved impossible!
But they prepared for the important day together and were given kind guidance and gentle instruction by the best in the business - Luciana O'Neill - Head of Catechetics in Bishops Waltham.
Sunday 6th June. Emily Nellist at the alter with Luciana O'Neill and Fr John Buckley.
Sunday 20th June. Jonathan and Leonore Moritz with Fr John Buckley and their two daughters, Grace and Aoibhe.
St Edward's 1st Holy Communion Celebration
Celebration Mass for our Clergy and the completion of Year of the Priest
AD MULTOS ANNOS – MASS TO END YEAR FOR PRIESTS
The Pastoral Area came together on Wednesday 9 June to celebrate and pray for our priests and for vocations to the priesthood. St Edward the Confessor Church was full as our three active and three retired priests concelebrated the Mass accompanied by our three deacons and one ‘nearly’ deacon. The priests were invited to renew their commitment to service and at the end of Mass a slide show reminded everybody of what our priests take on at ordination through scenes from Fr Michael and Fr George’s ordination on the 20th anniversary of their ordination. The spontaneous applause for all the priests at the end was a real sign of the appreciation of everybody for their dedicated ministry and service.”
This is 243 years of priesthood and service.
The Year of the Priest
Reflections from Father George
ou may not be aware, but this year has been
dedicated as the Year of the Priest. Co-incidentally,
Father John is marking his 45th anniversary to the Priesthood and
Father Michael and I are also celebrating our 20th anniversary of
Ordination to the Priesthood. In total that is 85 years experience
of ministry.
When I reflect on the past 20 years I am still in awe and encouraged
by the people I meet who have to live with their own brokenness.
Maybe it is because I can empathise with them. I guess we are all
broken in our own individual way. Things do not always go the way we
plan. Not that we don’t try to make them work. Somehow, well made
plans make us feel better, more presentable, more acceptable. Bad
things happen, life turns left, plans, dreams, relationships break
and shatter. Hearts are broken. When this happens to me I want
it all to go away. Truth be told sometimes I deal with my own fear
of brokenness by trying my hardest to fix other people. I should
know better. I have two great teachers. Love and suffering.
If the Lord gives me another 20 years as his priest I pray he will
give me the courage to embrace life on life’s terms. Some years ago,
while visiting a hospital, a stroke patient told me “Father, this
isn’t where I expected to be. My vision of myself and my life didn’t
have this”. Can you relate to this insight? I can. No matter how
life is going for us we can always try to pray.
With this in mind it is proposed that we have 40 hours of continuous
prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament beginning on
Tuesday, 4 May, following the 10am Mass at St. Andrew’s Church,
North Baddesley, and concluding on Wednesday, 5 May, with Mass at
7pm. Each of the six churches in the Pastoral Area will be invited
to take responsibility for a given amount of hours. I can think of
no better way than to celebrate the Year of the Priest than by
praying for your priests before the Blessed Sacrament during this
time.
It is also hoped that we will have an art competition for the
children on the theme of “The Year of the Priest”. All other
realistic ideas will be most welcome. Please do not leave it to
others to show your support for the Year of the Priest.
Father George.
Do you have a vocation to the
priesthood
or becoming a
Deacon , Nun or other religious life?
Click here for more about vocations
6th June - First Holy Communion Joy and celebration at Holy Cross, Eastleigh
Here are the children with Father Michael, Deacon Paul and their Catechists.
ALSO ON THE SAME DAY
The children of St Joseph's, Romsey and St Andrew's, North Baddesley
On the 6th June, The Feast of Corpus Christi, eleven children from St Andrew's and St Joseph's churches received their First Holy Communion from Father George Lyons. This was an amazing moment which no words can express, let their souls rejoice and let the grace of the Lord be with them.
MAY 2010
Despite the weather, nearly 50 people attended the Parish Picnic for St Andrews and St Josephs. Considering the weather, this was a wonderful turnout and we all had a great time. Our thanks go to Hampshire Collegiate school for providing us with the facilities on the day.
We had lunch in the dining room which was nice and warm, and then people decamped to the Sports Hall for some football, basketball and a very competitive game of French cricket. The photos show some of us having our indoor picnic
Let’s pray for better weather next year
APRIL 2010
Fr Michael with our catechumen, Wayne and two of our four candidates
Thomas and Matthew, after they had been received into the Catholic
Church at the 2010 Easter Vigil at St Edward the Confessor Church
MARCH 2010
Baptismal Joy for the Blishen Family
The photos show the most recent member of our community at St. Andrew's, North Baddesley - little Agatha Blishen being baptised on Palm Sunday. Her proud Mother, Christine and her Father, Charles are delighted with their third child. Agatha has a brother Luke and a sister Felicity.
The Blishen family are devout Catholics and are a wonderful example
to us all. Their faith and love of the church is the hub in which
their family revolves. Christine and Charles take their commitment
to bring up the children in the practise of the faith very
seriously. May the Lord continue to bless this family and all our
families with His grace and protection.
Inter-church Lenten Meetings
As a Lenten exercise for 2010 the Association of Romsey Churches
invited parishioners from the various Churches in Romsey to meet in
groups to reflect on life and its pressures, to explore ways of
enriching our praying and living and reclaim the day as God’s gift.
The themes of the five weeks were inspired by the book “The Day is
Yours” by Ian Stackhouse (a Baptist minister).
They were:
- The squeeze of life – praying through the pressures of life
- The balance of life – rediscovering the Sabbath
- The rhythm of life – developing a pattern of prayer
- The songs of life – praying and living the Psalms
- The prayer of life – praying the Lord ’s Prayer
One group led by Rosemary Peacock consisted of about 14 people from various traditions and we shared our thoughts, ideas and experiences during the weekly meetings. At the end of each meeting we were given a small task to consider until the following week.
The meetings were a wonderful experience, enriching and thought provoking. We are sorry that they probably won’t continue after Easter – but we shall look forward to meeting again next Lent.
Father Michael with Bishop Crispian preparing for Holy
Mass at Holy Cross
> click here to
see Bishop Crispian's Sermon
>see our happy couples at their Marriage Preparation day
on 7th March at the 9.00pm mass at St. Edward's. Bishop Crispian presented Teresa Layzell with the Diocesan Medal for many years service running the excellent Repository in the church.
FEBRUARY 2010
On February 14th, our dear Bishop, Crispian to offer Mass with the parishioners to celebrate the refurbishment of St. Andrew's church. He talked about the move to create a Parish of all the churches in the pastoral area and hoped it would not be too long before a new church was built for the parishioners of Romsey and North Baddesley.
The Mass was introduced by the Youth who led the readings and Prayers of Intercession. The children who will make their First Holy Communion in June presented the Offerings and sang a hymn to the Bishop at the end of Mass.
The Bishop joined the parishioners after Mass for light refreshments
St Edward the Confessor's Community celebrate their new Crib
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