EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 1/2 AUGUST 2009

Catholic Church of St Mary Magdalen 6 Athenaeum Road N20 9AE

Tel: 8445 0838. email: [email protected] Confessions Saturday 10-11, 4.45 to 5.45pm.

Mass times Sat 6pm, Sun 9.30am, 11.30am Please note: No 7pm Mass on Sundays during August. Weekdays: Prayer 9.15am Mass 9.30am

Mass Intentions Sunday: 9.30am Perdoni Family Wednesday: Charmaine Love Readers & Special Ministers This weekend 1/2nd August 6pm. R: Denis Carey SM: Noella Ballantyne/ Margaret Nolan 9.30am. SM: Kieran Campbell/ Peter Aimufua 11.30am. R: Oleta Soyebo SM: Rita Sebastian/Paddy Lyons Next weekend, 8/9 August 6pm. R: Katherine Cunningham SM: SheilaCunningham/ Geraldine Ryan 9.30. SM: Ursula Campbell/ Margaret McHugh 11.30am. R: Maeve Scarry SM: Elsie Lyons/Barbara Oldham

Collections for 25/26 July These amounted to £863.92 envelopes, and £595.10 loose. Thank you for your generosity

Fairtrade Thank you for the great generosity you showed last weekend in buying Fairtrade goods. We raised £118 for Medaille Trust’s work with the victims of trafficking.

We pray for all those who are sick: Jean Walsh, Fr. Philip, Miriam Dempsey, John Dillon, Fr. Ennio, Olapeju Fereira, Noreen and Philip, Yvonne Garvey, Jim Holmes, Joan Lloyd, Christine Conway. Please pray for the housebound, those in residential care and in the Hospice.

Feasts of the Week Tuesday: St John Vianney, Thursday: Transfiguration of Our Lord, Saturday: St Dominic St Dominic (1170-1221), founder of the Order of Preachers, was born a Castilian in Spain. Still a young priest he was chosen by

www.stmarymagdalens.com

his bishop to accompany him to counter the heretical Albigenses in the Languedoc area of Southern France. A year into this peaceful mission Pope Innocent III launched a savage military campaign against the heretics, forcing Dominic to withdraw to Toulouse where he formed a fellowship of preachers. The order became a formative influence in the intellectual life of faith in mediaeval Europe. John-Baptist Vianney (17861859) is the patron saint of parish clergy. This is due most to his complete dedication over many years, in the tiny French village of Ars near Lyons, to the simple duties of the priesthood, especially to the sacrament of reconciliation. He ignored the basic needs of his body spending sometimes up to 18 hours in the confessional cold and hungry, yet he was the essence of sweetness to the soul in distress.

Prayer for Priests We pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around our priests and, through her intercession, strengthen them for their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide our priests to follow her own words, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May our priests be holy, filled with the fire of your love, seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. St John Vianney, pray for them.

Collection for Fr Philip The collection for a presentation to Fr Philip will remain open for a few weeks and a card is in the Church porch for those who wish to sign it. Donations in an envelope may be left at the presbytery. Please make cheques payable to St Mary Magdalen's.

Car Park Passes The tenant of the car park next to the church has provided 20 passes for each of the Masses on Saturday evening and Sunday. If

you wish to apply for one of the passes please complete an application form, available in the church porch, and return it to the presbytery together with the annual charge of £10 for the pass. The pass will entitle the holder to park free in the car park during the specified times to attend Mass.

Bingo in the parish centre on Sunday evenings from 8.15pm. Bar open. Enjoy!

Prayers for departed

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We remember Eric Woodhouse, Kathleen O’Reilly, Nora Costelloe, Maud Di Lieto, John Henry Childs, Gino Bragoli, Thomas Kiely, Luigi Orsi, David Philips, Irma Bazzini among those who have died recently. We also remember those whose anniversaries occur around this time: Mary Ann Smith, Margaret Costello, Michael Simpson, Monica Roberts, Elizabeth Feeley, Arthur Reynolds, Mike Reale, Minnie Gaul, Paul Reynolds

Wheelchair Have you a wheelchair you no longer require? If so, could you donate it for the use of parishioners attending the church. Please contact Liz or Pauline

Diocesan News: Lourdes pilgrimage, Swine flu and Suicide It’s useful to remember that news of everything that’s happening, has already happened or is likely to happen in our diocese is reported on our parish website www.stmarymagdslens.com Just go to Useful Links at the bottom of the menu on the left hand side and Westminster Diocese is at the top of the list. Here you will be able to read Archbishop Vincent’s addresses to the 800 pilgrims currently in Lourdes. You will also be able to read the latest guidelines issued to parishes on taking precautions against swine flu. No policies are currently in place in this or most

London parishes although normal practices of thorough hand washing before contact are just plain common sense. Also currently in the news, last Sunday’s Day for Life focused on suicide, the victims and their families. The purpose of this was to highlight why life is worth living even when a person has lost hope and is suicidal; it also aims to clarify the Church’s teaching on suicide and to help reduce the number of myths associated with mental illness, depression and suicide. “Suicide is a grave sin,” said Bishop Bernard Longley, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster. “but an individual must be mentally healthy to be fully aware that what they are doing is a sin. When a person commits suicide, they are generally so clouded by confusion and despair as to be no longer in full control of their mental faculties. God does not condemn anyone not fully aware of what they are doing; His mercy is without end.” It is necessary, as involved Catholics, to constantly inform ourselves as to where the Church stands on moral and political issues. Well, what about starting right here on our parish website.

Make life Greener In the bathroom Clean the bath without commercial cleaners, using four teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda, eight of white vinegar, half and lemon. And scrub.

Taken, Blessed and Broken (Extracts from Father Philip Law’s chapter in a new book: Priesthood – A life open to Christ edited by Daniel Cronin.) ‘I have often wondered during my life of sharing in His priesthood, having been called to love, to serve: why me? Perhaps it should be: why not me?’ ‘Today we bring the meagre loaves and fishes which He so willingly receives. Once He has taken, blessed and broken in His divine gentleness everyone is satisfied.’ ‘I still remember vividly my ordination day and being woken up with a cup of tea and my mother’s familiar tone, ”Why not go for a little walk. Oh, and you might like to take the dog with

you.” Off to Grovelands Park, into the woods, and I thought, Oh God, please help me! Deep inside I heard these words of consolation, “Do not be afraid, I am with you always.” Now, for me, there is a new intensity to this prayer. Contemplating the lakeside breakfast that first Easter, after Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me? Feed my sheep…” He continued, “When you were young you put on your own belt, but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.” I always thought that this passage was meant for someone else, but after my slight stroke last year in the Holy Land it began to dawn on me that though we spend our lives giving of our best in doing the Lord’s work, He is asking us, “Can you be there for me?” And it is in the ‘being’ rather than the ‘doing’ that I find the challenge. Together with our fellow brothers and sisters alike, we share this journey. They teach us repeatedly how the Lord takes, blesses and breaks: “This is my body, given for you…” “I am with you always. Do not be afraid.”

The Vocations Discernment Community is a project run for men in their 20s and 30s in Hammersmith enabling them to look seriously at the possibility of a vocation in the priesthood or religious life. It provides a residential year of personal and spiritual development whereby the participants can continue working or studying in the capital while receiving an impression of the different options within the Church through a variety of experiences and inputs. At the end of its first year, of the five men who attended, two opted for the priesthood, one for the religious life and the other two remain undecided. The new year intake starts on 27 September. The cost is £90 per week. You can contact the leader of the project, Fr Stefan Park, on 07789 872715 or [email protected] More details are available on www.vocationscommunity.org.uk

Yoga classes in the parish centre The new season will start on Monday, 7 September, 10.3011.30am, and Wednesday, 9 September, 7.30-8.30pm. Yoga promotes good health and fitness, and anyone can enjoy and benefit from Yoga. You can contact Maggie Treanor, who is a qualified Iyengar Yoga teacher, on 8446 4328.

The Body conditioning classes with Maria Loughlin on Wednesday and Friday mornings will recommence on 9 September. Please ring Maria on 07515 288702.

The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain (ICB) has produced an new interactive website at www.irishchaplaincy.org.uk Established in 1957 by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the ICB provides high quality services and support to excluded, vulnerable and isolated Irish emigrants in Britain. These include The Irish Travellers’ Project run by Fr Joe Browne, The Older Persons Outreach Project run by Paul Raymond and The Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) run by Conor McGinn. We’d love your support