All posts by 3 churches

3 churches newsletter, 27 August & 3 September 2017 (double edition)

newsletter

Download our double newsletter covering two weeks for the 21st and 22nd Sundays in Ordinary Time (issue 32/17).

3 churches newsletter – 27 August and 3 September 2017 (32/17)

Note also that there are a few adjustments to times and locations of weekday Masses. Please remember that there are several other churches within easy reach. Over the next few weeks we will welcome various visiting priests to cover first Fr Gareth’s holiday and then Fr Matthew’s. Fr Richard Aziati from Africa, Canon Reardon, the Rosminians from St Peter’s, Fr Ray O’Shea and the Archbishop will all help on weekends. Fr Alex from Nigeria may drop in just to visit (last year’s supply!)

Dear Mrs Fitzpatrick…

newsletter

These are the opening words of a letter to my great-great-grandmother sent 31 August 1917. Her first husband, and father of her three children, George Goodwin, had drowned in Cardiff’s East Dock back in 1881 when baby George was 2 and my grandmother not yet 1 year old, and she had remarried a Thomas Fitzpatrick. The letter continues…

“It is with deep sympathy that I write to tell you of your son’s death, G. Goodwin, 23232. A short time ago he gave up his three stripes at his own request. Just before he went into the Battle in which he was killed, he came to confession to me, and I gave him Holy Communion, so he went well prepared to meet Our Divine Lord, and I know this will be a great solace to you in your grief.

Always brave and regardless of danger when a stretcher was required to carry a wounded comrade, he immediately volunteered and started to cross to the Aid Post over the ground which was absolutely swept by machine gun bullets. Thus he was killed by a bullet, and so gave his life for a comrade. I shall offer Holy Mass for him the first time I have a chance.
 Yours in sincere sympathy
 M. Mac Kenna C.F. [Chaplain to the Forces]”

And so the body of great-uncle George was lost in the mud of Passchendaele, the 3rd Battle of Ypres on 27 August 1917 – 100 years ago today. You may have seen on TV a few weeks ago events to remember this appalling battle which claimed about 500,000 lives from both sides.

Some 35,000 bodies of British soldiers, including George, were never found, and are commemorated on a great wall monument at Tyne Cot Cemetery. These kind of numbers can be just that – figures that numb. George was just one – but he was my great -uncle, and like all those others he was not just 23232 but somebody, an individual with a loving mother and family back here in Cardiff. This Sunday I offer Mass for him, and remember all those lost in the mud of Flanders. If you have lost, family or friends in armed conflicts, stop to say a prayer for them now. World War I was hoped to be the last, yet 21 years later it all erupted again, and wars and conflicts continue. So let us pray for peace, justice and reconciliation in an increasingly fraught world.

Fr Matthew

Calling all Catechists

newsletter,

“Catechist” and “catechesis” are two of those buzz words in the Church of the last 40 or 50 years. There is a big difference between catechesis and religious education. They are close but should not be confused. RE is teaching and learning about religion – which means that neither teacher nor pupil actually needs to be a believer. But catechesis, such as preparation for the sacraments or children’s liturgy, is something very different. It is faith talking to faith. The faith of the catechist speaks to the faith of the catechist speaks to the faith of the other party.

We are and have been blessed with many excellent catechists here in our 3 Churches. They all deserve our hearty thanks, but they also deserve our support and that should mean ongoing support and formation. “Faith talking to faith” means that a catechist should be comfortable in sharing her or his own faith, as well as in talking about it following some programme or text-book. How has Christ worked in my life? How do we share our faith with those we are catechizing?
So Cardiff deanery is holding a Day for Catechists to offer such support and formation. It is called “Sharing our faith – an invitation to Catechists”, and will be a day of reflection and faith exploration led by Madeline Page, diocesan Evangelisation and Education Officer.
The day will begin with a reflection on our calling as Catechists, as part of Christ’s call to serve His overall mission for the Church. A practical session will follow on how we share our faith with others. In the afternoon we will reflect on our lives and where God has been present. How can we put our faith and experience into words for those that do not yet know him? The day will also, of course, provide a rare opportunity to share experiences and fellowship with Catechists from all over the city. It is set to be a great event backed by all the clergy of Cardiff.

I would expect and urge every one – baptism, first Communion, Confirmation, RCIA, children’s liturgy etc – to give up these hours just once, for the good of our 3 Churches. Not much to ask, surely, especially out of the Communion and Confirmation “season”?
The day will take place at St David’s College on Saturday 30 September. It will start at 10am with an optional Mass at 9.30am, and finish by 4pm. Lunch will be provided. Please contact madeline.page@rcadc.org or tel 2036 5965 to book your place.

Fr Matthew

Signs of the old times

newsletter

I remember a conversation a few years ago where someone commented how a recently deceased gentleman was always in the church in Llanishen. When someone else in the group expressed surprise at this revelation, the others roared out laughing. They had meant the Church Inn, not the venerable building opposite from which it took its name.

Old photos of Llanishen show church and pub together down through the decades, now surrounded by shops and houses of course. But keep your eyes open on your summer travels and you will see the same situation, church and pub together, repeated countless times across our countryside. An extraordinary example of just the two, with no other building for miles, is at Llanwonno, on the hills above Pontypridd and the Rhondda, where some of my ancestors are buried. I suspect they frequented both the buildings!

On the signs of old inns is one of the places where we can sometimes discover hidden history right in front of us, and in many cases it is old pre-Reformation Catholic history. Take, for example, one of the best-known hotels in Cardiff, the Angel. The current building is on a very old site going back many centuries. One of the oldest pub signs was the Salutation, the name for the Annunciation in the Middle Ages. In many places this “angel” would have been Gabriel, surviving from the original Salutation scene. The Reformers removed Our Lady as being too Papist, but left the more acceptable Angel. Keep an eye open on your travels for those old inn signs, and see if you can spot any others with Catholic roots, such as the Lamb and Flag – the Risen Jesus with his banner.

Fr Matthew