Our Lady of Lourdes,Newent
A Community of worship, love and service
Newsletter 11th July 2010
Catholic Parish of Our Lady of
and St Michael’s, Blaisdon
Priest in Charge: Fr Aidan Murray SDB,
Drumlanrig,
Phone/Fax: 01531 821647 aidansdb@newentbb.co.uk
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C 11th July 2010
In my justice I shall see your face, O Lord; when our glory appears, my joy will be full.
Diocesan Prayer Link: Holy Family Parish,
Sunday afternoon in the Park: 2.30pm Salvation Army Band
3.45pm Ecumenical Service
Bitesize: If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
Moshe Dayan Israeli general & politician (1915 - 1981)
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Neighbours From Hell?
On being told to ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself,’ a lawyer asks Jesus “Who is my neighbour?” It’s a testing question; it’s a question that tests our priorities, our perceptions and our prejudices. The Jewish lawyer was quite ready to love his Jewish neighbours, but as for the Samaritans! The Samaritans were hated by the Jews and the lawyer obviously couldn’t believe that Jesus would deem then worthy of any neighbourly love. Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly but tells a parable in which a Samaritan plays the hero. Of course, Jesus’ point is that regardless of class, culture race, age or enmity, everyone on the planet is our neighbour.
We might think that we understand and accept Jesus’ teaching, but have we really taken the teaching on board? Jesus sends along people every day of our lives for us to love. How often do we pass the test? How can we love people who don’t love us back or don’t even like us very much? How do we love those who don’t respect us or don’t share our values? How do we love those who aren’t interested in us, or worse, hate what we stand for? Anyone can love family and friends, but the real test is when we have to love our enemies. Love of course is the last thing we want to lavish on our enemies. Revenge, punishment and avoidance suit us far better.
Today’s strong message of course is that love does not discriminate. We might not think we are discriminating against others, yet we marginalize others every time we fail to get involved. Every time we turn a blind eye to the plight of others we are withholding our love and failing God’s test. Every time we decide that the beggar the addict or the criminals are unworthy of our help we fall short of God’s expectations.
Today’s challenge is not to focus on loving those who are easy to love but on those we normally have no time for. There’s a saying that goes, ‘Wanting only to meet people like oneself is like only wanting to know oneself.’ In endeavouring to love our enemies it’s helpful to look beyond our differences and remember that everyone on this planet needs the same things …. food, home comforts, safety and love.
Sea Sunday - 11th July
Who Needs Seafarers?
Take a closer look at the labels on individual items in your kitchen cupboard or wardrobe or at the many electrical goods which now have a place in our homes and you will see that just about every item has been manufactured or produced abroad. So who needs seafarers? The answer is, of course, that we all do; and as Christians we should be grateful for what they do for us and be concerned for their well-being especially in the next year which is actually ‘The Year of the Seafarer.’
Seafarers are a marginalized workforce, generally unseen by the general public, even when in port. They work in difficult and often dangerous conditions, to support their families (often extended families) back home, and in so doing make huge sacrifices by being away for up to twelve months at a time.
On this Sunday we are asked to give our support to agencies such as the Apostleship of the Sea and The Mission To Seafarers, who look after the welfare of seafarers whilst visiting our shores.
Change for Good - How to donate foreign coins
If you've ever returned from a trip overseas with a pocketful of foreign coins and left them in a jar on your dresser, there's a way to clean up your tabletop and donate to a worthy cause at the same time. American and
- Give leftover change to Unicef. You can do this on the plane during your trip home. The flight attendants collect the donated change and send it to Unicef. The organization then distributes the money to help children internationally through the Change for Good program.
- Stop by at your nearest currency exchange. Many agencies handling international money, like Thomas Cook, participate in charity programs. They usually collect the change right there via a coin jar or direct collection by the clerk.
Read more: How to Donate Foreign Coins | eHow.co.uk http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5907914_donate-foreign-coins.html#ixzz0rl6ZyVkM
NO GREATER LOVE (DVD)
This portrait of the nuns who live and pray at the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill is an unusual exploration of memory, history and community.
REVIEW: To call Michael Whyte’s No Greater Love ‘a coup’ is to risk sounding frivolous. But that’s exactly what this portrait of the nuns who live and pray at the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill is. It took ten years before the sisters gave the documentary-maker permission to bring his cameras into their sacred space. He has rewarded them with a thoughtful and respectful evocation of a mysterious nook of modern
The film portrays the sisters, whose monastery was established in 1878, as labourers. Prayer is work — a constant grappling with what they regard as the immensity of Christ’s love — but so are their other daily duties: cleaning the chapel floor, trimming hedges, preparing wafers for Communion.
They speak about themselves with clarity and eloquence. Silence? “It’s a discipline. It becomes a music, something that’s full of life, of expectancy.” Night prayer? It’s a “re-run of death. We say sorry to each other as if we were to die that night. We’re preparing for death.”
The nuns are witty and, though largely severed from the Notting Hill of carnivals and trustafarian privilege, by no means divorced from the modern world. They even shop online for tuna. Whyte humanizes them.
Still, hushed and contemplative, as unusual an exploration of memory, history and community, it deserves to be seen not just by cinema-goers but by television viewers.
This DVD has just come out and if you wish to borrow it please see Brian or Caroline ……But why not come and see it with the rest of us when we show it in Church, on Thurs 22nd …(Possibly to the Wed. Coffee Club?) watch this space.
6/7/2010 - Haiti – Life begins again (Our 2010 Away Charity)
(ANS – Port-au-Prince) – Almost six months after the devastating earthquake Haiti is taking the first tentative steps to new life. So says Fr Ducange Sylvain, SDB Superior of the “Blessed Philip Rinaldi” Vice Province of Haiti.
In what was once the pearl of the Caribbean the situation is still critical. With the older problems and those caused by the earthquake, progress towards any form of normality is slow and often meets the unexpected. Officially the state of emergency is supposed to be over; some humanitarian organisations have left the country and many people have gone back home. The shops are re-opening and are filled with customers; the churches, both Catholic and Protestant have begun their pastoral work again.
The “Rinaldi Foundation”, has the task of coordinating the activities for the rebuilding and the re-launching of the Salesian presence. In order to respond to the needs, some workers and volunteers from other organisations such as “Jovenes y Desarrollo” (JyD) and International Voluntary Service for Development (VIS) has become part of the Foundation.
Salesian centres are starting up their work again.
Port-au-Prince: at the “Ecole Nationale des Arts et Métiers” (ENAM) lessons are taking place in prefabricated buildings made available by the National Ministry for Education and Professional Formation. In spite of the precarious situation the Salesians are able to provide breakfast (a cup of milk and bread) for about 9000 middle school pupils. A new kitchen should be installed soon to provide food for the children from the schools in Cité Soleil and La Saline, the poorest districts in the area.
Over 300 children in Lakay (street children reception centre) are being cared for on a daily basis by various international organisations such as Misereor and Austrian Caritas. In Cité Soleil and Fleuriot-Tabarre lessons have started up again in tents while they wait to be able to use the prefabricated structures offered by VIS and “Jugendhilfe Lateinamerika” (JUHILA).
Thorland: is providing accommodation for 12,000 refugees. Here the Salesians are engaged in providing material and psychological help for the displaced people as they wait to be re-located. Work with youth groups which has never been interrupted continues with cultural, recreational and spiritual activities.
Gressier: academic work as well as providing hospitality at the Salesian studentate continue under canvas. The NGO “Jugend Dritte Welt” (JDW) and JyD have promised to cover the financial costs of the rebuilding of the study centre and a part of the elementary schools.
Pétion-ville: all activities have started up again. The boundary walls have been rebuilt thanks to the funds provided by VIS. Projects for the Provincial House, for the Centre for Higher Studies and the Postnovitiate are going well; approval for the projects from the National Department for studies in the area is awaited.
Cap-Haitien: part of the teachers’ salaries and the school meals are being covered by help from Salesian Missions and the JUHILA organisation has approved the plans for the refurbishment of the school facilities at Gonaives.
Fort-Liberté: activities have started again thanks also to the help from a Sister from Spain engaged in assisting and training the students in the school of nursing. As far as the agricultural activities there are concerned, the “Jugend Ein Welt” (JEW) are looking after them.
In general one can see a lot taking place. The Community of the Mission of Don Bosco (CMB), the 28th group in the Salesian Family, is committed to offering its own support, and tomorrow three volunteers are setting out with others taking their places in the months ahead.
The English Salesian Provincial office recently sent £51,315 to follow the £69,827 sent in February for Salesian relief and reconstruction work in
Saint Swithun’s Day - 15th July
St. Swithun was a Saxon Bishop of
This led to the old wives' tale that if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather. copied from projectbritain.com
However, according to the Met Office, this old wives' tale is nothing other than a myth. It has been put to the test on 55 occasions, when it has been wet on St Swithin's Day and 40 days of rain did not follow.
Shimmy Into Summer - With Fairtrade Cotton
Sundresses, T Shirts, shorts, beach ware, picnic blankets and beach towels. Whatever you're taking on holiday with you, look out for the 'Fairtrade' logo. Many of the high street shops including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Marks and Spencers and Laura Ashley are stocking Fairtrade cotton this summer so keep your options open.
The collection for weekend 27/6/10 was £359-69.
The collection for Peter's Pence was £173-54.
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LADIES DAY AT OUR LADY OF This is in full swing as we go to press….and in full voice. Next week we’ll have a full report. There are about 40 ladies, many from miles away (not nearly enough of our own parishioners!). Sadly, David Payne is having serious spinal problems and another operation this Tuesday, so his wife, one of our listed Speakers, was unable to come. Many thanks to all our generous organisers! |
This Week Psalter 3 Mon. 12th July 9.45am Rosary
10.00am Mass with Morning Prayer …Adoration till 11.00am
Followed by RCIA until 12.30pm
5.30pm Legion of Mary
7.30pm Liturgy Meeting
Tues. 13th July 9.40am Rosary
10.00am Mass ……Adoration till 11.00am
7.30pm Parish Pastoral Council
Parishes in Communion for
Wed. 14th July 9.45am Rosary
10.00am Mass with Morning Prayer
Coffee ‘n chat ….followed by DVD
Thurs 15th July Memorial of St Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church (also Saint Swithun’s Day !)
9.45am Rosary
10.00am Mass ……Adoration till 11.00am
Fri. 16th July 6.00pm Adoration/Reconciliation/Prayer
7.00pm Mass
7.30pm MUSIC OF THE NIGHT at St Mary’s (Stepout theatre)
Sat 17th July 4.30pm Adoration – Reconciliation – Benediction
5.30pm First Mass of Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Sun. 18th JULY: Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time year C.
To be held at St. Josephs, Lydney Saturday 24th July 11am - 2pm.
Just in case we are not lucky with the weather this year, plans have been made in case of poor weather that the fete will be moved in-doors to the Centre over the road from the Church.
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STOP PRESS ! PAPAL VISIT & PARISH ALLOCATIONS We have only a few days to make up our minds if we want to go and see Pope Benedict. We have 11 Tickets for the Hyde Park ‘Concert’ on Sat. 18th Sept ….but only 8 Tickets for the Mass in Further details….see separate sheet. |
Office Address:
"Drumlanrig",
Ross Road,
Newent,
Gloucestershire,
GL18 1BG