NEWSLETTER SUNDAY 17th Feb 2008

Please pray for all the sick in the hospital and in our parish including:

Kitty Stubbs, Bertha Appleton, Flo Mullen, Christopher Brown, Jimmy Carson, Christine McDonald, Dennis Lynch, Joe Donkin, Olive Atkinson, Nora Gallagher, Ethel Fagan, Denise Calvert, Ken Hutchinson, Andrea Saward, Paul Tulloch, Jan Buckley, Lucy Mole, James Chapman, Bishop Kevin and Metropolitan Mar Makarios.



 

Please remember in your prayers the following priests of the diocese whose anniversaries occur during the week:

THE CYCLE OF PRAYER– Lent

During Lent we are asked to pray for these intentions: Candidates for the Sacraments; Women; The Needy and Hungry of the World; Penitents and Wanderers.

LENT FAMILY FAST

This weekend there is a Retiring Collection  at both Masses for CAFOD'S Lent Family Fast.

WALK WITH ME

There are still some copies of “Walk with Me” available from the back of church.  They are free!

LENT

On Tuesday afternoons during Lent St Cuthbert’s Chapel will be open  from 1.30 p.m.  -  3.30 p.m. for private reflection and Stations of the Cross which start at 2pm.  Stations will also be celebrated at 3.00 p.m. every Friday afternoon.  On Sundays there will be a Lenten devotion at 4.00 p.m.  Today the Justice and Peace Group  will lead us in our celebration of the Stations of the Cross.  Next week there will be a Lenten Service at 4.00pm. .

FAIR TRADE

Since our last sale in December we have sold £390 worth of goods.  The next sale is on 8th and 9th March when the Spring Catalogue will be available from Traidcraft. 

For wine drinkers / lovers Traidcraft also have a range of new range of wines and they are also selling wine in half cases as well as full cases.  If you are interested in buying wine ,perhaps you might like to share half a case with someone else, please contact Diane English.

Parish Pastoral Council

There will be an Extraordinary meeting of the Parish Pastoral Council on Monday 25th February at 7.30 p.m.  All members, including a representative from each parish group please attend.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNIONS

Our First Communion children take a break this week for half term and will continue  their preparation on Wednesday 27th February at 6.30pm  in the Social Centre Quiet Room.  Please note the change of time and venue.  Please remember to pray for the children and their families.

LAURA MILBANKE FUND

The Laura Milbanke Fund offers assistance to Christians worshipping within the City of Sunderland who want to travel for the purposes to serve and/or explore their faith more, e.g. VSO, Tearfund, Spring Harvest, Taizé, a Pilgrimage, a Retreat.  People under the age of 30 are given preference.  For more information please contact Father Gordon.

CHRISTMAS DECORATION RECALL

If anyone purchased a wooden Nativity windmill, from St. Joseph’s Repository, in 2007, would they please return it for a full refund.  The windmill proved to be a fire risk.  Thank You.

SILOAM  -  GO AND EVANGELISE

The next stage of the Deanery Evangelisation Training Programme is being held at St. Cecilia’s on Friday 29th February from 7.00  - 9.00 p.m. and Saturday 1st March 10.00  -  4.00 p.m.  If you are attending on Saturday please bring a packed lunch. 

PASTORAL CARE OF IMMIGRANT PEOPLES IN THE N. E.

RESEARCH WORKER (3 MONTHS FULL TIME)

The Diocese is advertising for a Research Worker looking at the Pastoral Care of Immigrants in the North East.  The position will be based at St. Mary’s Sunderland and is for three months.  For more information please see the advert at the back of church.  Application forms, etc. are available from the Human Resource Officer at the Diocesan Offices in Newcastle.  The closing date is Friday 29th February. 

DONATION OR MASS INTENTION

Two weeks ago a plain envelope with a sum of money was found in the offertory basket.  If you know anything about this whether it was a donation to the parish or a Mass intention can you please contact us.

PASTORAL LETTER  FOR LENT

My Dear People,

Today, we are invited to set out on a journey to Easter, to renew our Baptismal promises to bring us into communion with the Lord Jesus, “who has died, is risen and will come again”.  We are invited as God’s pilgrim people to enter, like Jesus, into that desert where we too can take on the discipline of Lent.  On Ash Wednesday we received the ashes and the Gospel challenged us to take up the journey of prayer, fasting, almsgiving

We are not alone on this journey!  We walk in communion with each other, with our families, our friends and our fellow parishioners.  Most especially we walk in communion with the Lord, who leads us into the love of the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Lent, discover anew the Lord Jesus who is the hope of your lives.  Today, on this first Sunday of Lent, He is revealed to us as the new Adam, the one who overcomes sin and evil.  He is the one who serves, who is obedient to the Father, whose way is love, justice and peace.  But how do we discover anew Jesus in our lives?

I invite you this year, to look to Mary, the mother of Jesus as an example of one who follows Jesus faithfully.  She is “the” disciple, the one who says “yes”.  I invite you to join with Mary in pondering the scriptures and in saying yes to the prompting of the spirit in your own heart.  Seek the intercession of Mary this year as we celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of the Apparition of Mary to Bernadette in Lourdes.  Many parishes, individuals and families are preparing to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes during this anniversary year and indeed many parishes will be joining the Diocesan pilgrimage this summer.   The message of Lourdes can be a way of encountering anew Jesus in your lives.

My dear people, make this Lent a journey of faith.  Take the opportunity to renew your lives.  Make space for each other.  Invite others to join you on this journey to Easter.

I take this opportunity of asking you to pray for all the sick of our Diocese, for those who live alone, for the doctors, the nurses and all who care for the sick.

My prayer is that each person be touched by the grace and healing power of the Lord, that the hope by which we are saved will bring us to new life in the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I pray that you have a very happy and a very Holy Lent.

May God bless you all.

+ Bishop Kevin

Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle

POLISH MASS  

Mass in Polish will be celebrated at 4 pm on the 4th Sunday of every month in St. Benet’s Church Sunderland.  Confessions before at 3.30 pm.  Refreshments after Mass in the Parish Hall.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS



Today: 2nd Sunday of Lent:

4.00 p.m. Lenten Service

Tuesday:

1.30—3.30pm Stations of the Cross in Chapel

Wednesday:

6.30pm  Benediction & Stations  & Novena

Friday:

3.00 p.m. Stations of the Cross 

     7.00 p.m. Indian Prayer Group

Saturday:

1.00pm El Shaddai

5.00pm. Prayer Meeting

Sunday: 3rd Sunday of Lent:

4.00 p.m. Lenten Service

Rotas week ending 23rd/24th Feb 2008