MESSAGE ON THE 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT (YR C)
Friday 14th March 2025.
My dear people,
Many of you would be aware that Pope Francis has called a Jubilee Year for 2025. On Christmas Eve 2024, Pope Francis symbolically opened the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica, marking the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year. Jubilee years happen every 25 years and are times of reconciliation and renewal. The theme of this Jubilee is Pilgrims of Hope. This Year of Jubilee in the universal Church calls us to embrace, and be renewed in, the hope of Christ—a hope that does not disappoint. We have embarked on a particular time of pilgrimage, and as the Holy Father has reminded us, Jesus, ‘is the destination of our pilgrimage’. He is both the way, and the path to be travelled. The archdiocese has provided us with a banner which we have placed on the fence of the church. It has also provided us with the Jubilee Candle which we will place at the devotion area of the church together with the jubilee prayer.
As mentioned in my last fortnightly message, I had a meeting with Mr David Powick, Director of Development and Philanthropy Office of the Archdiocese to continue to try new, different and better ways to make our Offertory Giving Campaign this year as successful as possible. David will be here at the parish to speak to our volunteers on Thursday 20th March. It has also been decided to invite everyone who might be interested to come to the talk given by David. Those who are interested, please book here https://www.trybooking.com/CZSBF. A reminder that the Offertory Giving Campaign will run for four weeks starting on 22nd March.
A reminder that we will be starting a new ministry in the parish. I was contacted by one of our parishioners to start a Grief and Bereavement Support Ministry, the task of which will be a listening presence to people in the parish who are grieving and bereaved. We all know that there are many different reasons which cause grief and people often just need someone to talk to. Any one of you who may be interested is welcome to join and to let me know of your intention. I have been in touch with Catholicare and we are organising the best way to conduct training for those who are interested.
Another reminder is that a new initiative will begin soon in our parish and that will affect slightly our celebration of the Mass. As mentioned before, one of the important aspects of missionary renewal is that we are a welcoming parish. I can’t remember the number of times people who visit us or newcomers in the parish have told me that they feel welcome here. This indicates that we are doing very well in this area. What we have not done is to formally welcome visitors and newcomers at the start of Mass and we will start to do that very shortly. This welcoming will be done at the start of Mass and I am pleased to announce that we will start on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd March
The Holy Father has invited the whole church to dedicate some additional time to prayer on the fifth Sunday of Lent. In our archdiocese, an initiative was started, and it is called Fiat: A Weekend of Prayer over Friday 28 March to Sunday 30 March 2025. In our parish, we will have an additional hour of Adoration on Saturday 29th March immediately following the 6pm Mass. You are all warmly invited to spend an hour in prayer with Our Lord as we seek to hearken to the appeal of Pope Francis.
We continue turning to our patron saint and we ask for her intercession.
St Catherine of Siena, Pray for us.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Fr Richard Rosse PP