Parish of St Wilfrid, Widnes ` 16 th December 2018 Third Sunday of Advent (C) Listen! I am standing at the door knocking. Rev 3:20 Clergy: Fr Carl Mugan 0151 422 1774 Fr Bill Murphy 0151 495 1854 Fr Michael Fitzsimons 0151 424 2738 Fr Joe Bibby 0151 424 6641 Bishop John Rawsthorne 0151 424 4021 Confessions Each Saturday 10:30am -11:30am St Bede s (and upon request) Parish Office: St Bede s Presbytery Appleton Village Widnes, WA8 6EL Opening hours this week: Monday to Friday 9-5 0151 422 1772 stwilfridswidnes@gmail.com Parish Administrators: Susan Warburton & Shelagh Hindley Response to the Psalm Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Gospel Acclamation Alleluia, Alleluia! The spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor. Alleluia, Alleluia! Retiring Collection: SVP This Week s Reflection In our Gospel today, we are advised to share our resources with the poor - if we have two tunics and someone else has none, then clothe them, if we have excess food and someone is hungry, we are asked to share our food. In this time of preparation for Christmas it is often a sobering thought to remember those less fortunate than ourselves. One thing I know about this community is your amazing generosity. You never fail to respond so generously to the various appeals that are made throughout the year. Just in recent weeks and months you have provided a car for Fr Anthony to help him in his parish and mission work, sent in so many donations to the Seel Street and Foodbank requests and we had to contact the Medaille Trust to ask them to send us more present requests as their appeal trees were all bare after just a few Masses. If Christmas is a time for sharing then you truly live that out in your care and generosity for those struggling to feed their families, the homeless and victims of human trafficking. In my recent visit to Ethiopia it was truly humbling to see the projects and work that your Cafod donations make possible. When people there said thank you to me, I would try and explain that this was made possible by the kindness and generosity of so many people. continued over.
In our Advent prayers and acts of solidarity and charity we try to see the needs present in our world and do our best to respond and help if we can. We cannot always help everyone or solve the problems of inequality and injustice in our world, but our Advent efforts maybe help us to build a world more ready to greet Christ at Christmas. If our efforts also help us turn our hearts with even greater compassion and encourage us to act more deeply to combat injustice that can hardly be a bad thing either. Fr Michael Baptisms We pray for... Those who have recently died And for those who are sick Baptism Enquiries & Certificates Please phone the Parish Office on 422 1772. The suggested donation for certificates is 5. Christmas Offerings In the Archdiocese of Liverpool our practice is that Christmas Offerings and the Christmas Collection are used for the general running expenses of the parish, just like every Sunday collection. St Wilfrid s UCM Thank you to all who supported the Christmas Bingo which raised 300, bringing the total raised for the charity this year is 800, which has been given to local charities. Many thanks for your generosity Margaret Cain Paul Moss Brian McCann Melvin Castillo Val Rose Flo Reid Kath Woodward Penny McCormack Pat Lambert Helen Morgan Alison Moriarty Josie Conroy Nev Conroy Pat Sinnott Joan Williams Joan Wilcox If you know of someone who is sick & would appreciate their name being placed on the list, please contact the Parish Office on 422 1772. The name of the sick person will appear for 6 weeks, this can be renewed by contacting the Parish Office. We can only place names in the Newsletter with the consent of the sick person. ALTAR SERVERS MASS All altar servers and their families are invited to attend the annual Altar Servers Mass on the Feast of St Stephen, their patron saint, on Boxing Day, December 26 th. This year the Mass will take place at St John Fisher s church at 10.00 am followed by refreshments in the hall. Please remember to bring your albs. All Saints Church of England Information In the Parish of St Wilfrid, St Basil s RC & All Saints CE church is a shared place of worship for both communities. This is a living sign of our commitment to ecumenism. Contact Information Revd Peter Dawkin Email: allst_hg@hotmail.com Tel: 0151 420 4963 Anglican Baptism and Wedding Enquiries Please ring or come to the church any Tuesday evening between 6:45pm 7:15pm during vestry time Service Times Sunday: 9:45am - Family Eucharist Tuesday: 7:30pm - Holy Communion Ecumenical Morning Prayer 9:05 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday We are the Anglican part of the Shared Church of St Basil and All Saints and have been blessed by our ecumenical partnership with our Catholic brothers and sisters.
Co-ordinating Group Our Parish Co-ordinating Group (Fr Mike Fitzsimons, Pauline Rolt, Fr Joe Bibby, Fr Carl Mugan, Mary Rudder, Catherine Darby SND, Tony Rudder, Shelagh Hindley) meets each week to try to co-ordinate the overall development of the parish. The meeting started with shared reflections on the Gospel for this Sunday. Following last week s conversation/reflection around office reorganisation an away day has now been planned to enable Co-ordinating Group and Admin Team to spend time in conversation with Martin Miller (Chief Operating Office of the Archdiocese) focusing upon the workings and development of a large parish. As part of the preparation towards offering a Ministry of Consolation course, (scheduled to begin during the season of Lent), Sr Catherine shared an update and feedback on the following: Sr Catherine and Fr Carl will meet to put together an outline plan for the course which together they will facilitate Attendance at a recent 2-day Archdiocesan course on Lay Funeral Ministry enabled Sr Catherine to have a clear picture of what is offered by the Diocese in this regard Fr Mike shared feedback from the finance and resources group, including an update on the final total for Fr Anthony s car fund (see notice in this week s newsletter) Advance dates for your diary - Evenings with John Bell from the Iona Community. Early in January we are pleased to be hosting two evenings with John Bell from the Iona Community. John is a gifted and well-known musician and speaker. He will be leading two consecutive evenings on the theme of More than a Comma, encountering Jesus in the Scriptures, and other images. The evenings with John will be interactive and although these are not music evenings there will inevitably be some singing involved! We will be limiting attendance to 50 people each evening and although it will be possible to attend just one evening but more would be gained if you were able to attend both evenings. This is a great opportunity and interest can be registered at the parish office, so we can ensure you tickets. The evenings will be Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th January 7pm - 9.30pm at the Pastoral Centre More details will follow shortly but please register your interest ASAP. CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES Christmas Eve 5:00pm St Basil s 5:00pm St John Fisher 5:00pm St Bede s 5:00pm St Michael s 8:00pm St Michael s 11.30pm St Bede s- Service of Readings & Carols Midnight St Bede s Christmas Day 8:30am St Basil s 9:00am St Bede s 10:00am St John Fisher 10:30am St Michael s 11:15am St Bede s No 4:30 pm Mass
- Dates for your Diary Christmas Food Waste This next week many of us will be buying food for our family Christmas meal. This is a wonderful time of great celebration and spending time together as a family, but waste food is a major issue. 49,000 Miles to your Plate Christmas dinner ingredients travel a combined distance of around 49,000 miles. Turkeys from Europe, vegetables from Africa, wine from the southern hemisphere, cranberries from America, etc. Furthermore, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year approximately 1.3 billion tonnes gets wasted. Christmas can be a time of excessive food wastage. Try not to overbuy and overcook, and search for recipes which can make great use of any leftovers. Parish Choir of St. Wilfrid (Please note change of venue) Monday 17 th December St Michael s 7:00pm. Extended Confessions St Bede s Monday 17 th December 5:30pm 7:00pm Parish Carol Service Wednesday 19 th December 7:00pm St Michael s Service of Light (Memorial Candles) Friday 21 st December 7:00pm St Bede s Altar Servers Mass Wednesday 26 th December (Boxing Day) 10:00am St John Fisher Church Thank You from Gift of Life for Zambia Thank you to everyone who made the Christmas Sing-along such a memorable evening The Choir, the Guides, The Von Lane Family, the talented children, the storyteller and projectionist, the delightful compere, and all the wonderful people who have supported us over the years with the many events organised to assist our extended family in Livingstone. Sister Mary sends her thanks and praise, May you all have a wonderful Christmas with every happiness I will be remembering you in prayer during this holy season of love. Parish Choir of St. Wilfrid. The next gathering of the Parish Choir to practise for the Christmas Liturgies is on Monday 17 th December in St Michael s at 7:00pm. Everyone is very welcome even if you have not sung before or been part of this group previously or are only able to come along occasionally
An Early Christmas Present for Fr Anthony We have been able to send Fr Anthony an early Christmas present to help him buy a car that will help him so much in his ministry in Ghana. At the end of the collection we had raised a tremendous 8,840. We will be letting Fr Anthony know about your generous gift which reflects the great love we have for him and the high regard he is held in. Extended Confessions Extended Confessions will take place at St Bede s church on Monday, December 17th from 5.30 pm - 7.00pm. The priests of the parish will be available as well as two visiting priests. You are invited to come to Confession any time between 5.30 pm and 7.00pm and can leave once you have received the Sacrament. Volunteers Required Goodbye Alex After working in the parish office for the past 16 months Alex is moving on. Alex has particularly worked on helping us develop our website. We wish Alex all the best for his future and thank his for his work in support of our parish. Used Stamps There are boxes at the back of each of our churches for used stamps. Fr Bill will coordinate collection and send them to various charities. Readers & Eucharistic Ministers are required for all the Christmas Masses and the Carol Service. Please contact the Parish Office on 0151 422 1772 at your earliest opportunity with your preferred Mass if you would like to volunteer. Memorial Candles for Christmas Parish Carol Service As in previous years Memorial Candles will light up St Bede s church over the Christmas period, the candles will be lit on Friday 21st December. There will be a short Advent Service that evening at 7pm in St Bede s when the candles will be blessed. The candles will burn continuously for seven days throughout Christmas. The church is open each day (from 9am to 3pm) so that people can come in, pray and remember their loved ones. The Carol Service will take place in St Michael s Church on Wednesday 19 th December at 7.00pm. Festive refreshments will be served afterwards. Safeguarding is everyone s responsibility For safeguarding issues concerning children, young people or vulnerable adults within the Parish of St Wilfrid, please ring 422 1779. However, if there is an immediate risk of significant harm, contact the Police (999) without delay.
. THIS WEEKEND THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (C) Saturday 15 th Dec 5:00pm St Bede s Winnie Burns (B day Rem) 6:00pm St Basil s Fred Stephen Abbott (LD) Sunday 16 th Dec 8:30am St Michael s Elizabeth Jean Keouski (1 st A) 9:00am St Bede s Dick Lawlor (LD Australia) 10:00am St John Fisher People of the Parish 10:30am St Michael s Caroline Ann Edwards (A) 11:15am St Bede s James Goss (B day Rem) 4:30pm St Basil s Tony Fallon (A) WEEKDAY MASSES DIVINE OFFICE WEEK 3 Monday 17 th Dec 9:15am St Bede s John Kier (LD) 12 noon St Bede s Requiem Mass: Mary (Marie) Meaden Tuesday 18 th Dec 8:30am St Basil s EXPOSITION OF BLESSED SACRAMENT 9:15am St Basil s Mary Skilki (B day Rem) 11:15am Ss. Peter & Paul Thomas A. Smith (9 th A & 90 th B day Rem) Wednesday 19 th Dec 9:15am St John Fisher Angela Milloy (B day Rem) 7:00pm St Michael s Carol Service Thursday 20 th Dec 9:15am St Michael s Thomas Baker (A) 11:00am Woodend Court Florence Rogerson 11:00am St Basil s Funeral Service: Stephen Dundon Friday 21 st Dec 9:15am St Basil s Ben Stevens Moran 12 noon St Bede s Requiem Mass: Dennis White Saturday 22 nd Dec 10:00am St Bede s Thomas Burke (Tom) NEXT WEEKEND FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (C) Saturday 22 nd Dec 5:00pm St Bede s Vincent Hancock (A) 6:00pm St Basil s Rita Loftus (2 nd A) Sunday 23 rd Dec 8:30am St Michael s Charlie Thomson (4 th A) 9:00am St Bede s Norah Warren (1 st A) 10:00am St John Fisher Catherine Fisher (1 st A) 10:30am St Michael s People of the Parish 11:15am St Bede s Julie Corness (B day Rem) 4:30pm St Basil s Mary Tennant The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is committed to keeping your personal data secure. Please see our Privacy Notice on our website at liverpoolcatholic.org.uk/privacy notice