All posts by 3 churches

Big hearts through red boxes

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In our series on the caring side of our 3 Churches parish life we come to one of our most successful works, in fact so successful that we are 1st and 3rd out of the top 3 parishes in our diocese for the amount raised. In 2016 we gave the extraordinary amount of Christ the King £4,939.48 + St Brigid/St Paul £3,447.40 = Total £8,386.88. So what are the famous Red Boxes all about?
Since 1922, Missio has been the Catholic Church’s official charity for overseas mission, bringing the hope of the Gospel where there is turmoil, poverty and uncertainty in the world, and where the Church is new, young or poor. Missio empowers local people to form and sustain communities of faith and trains and nurtures future leaders so that the vital work of the Church in the world can take place.
Probably the best known wing of Missio is the Association for the Propagation of the Faith (APF). The APF assists all of the Catholic Church’s 1,069 mission dioceses to provide pastoral care and preach the Gospel effectively. It was founded in Lyon, France, in 1822 by a young French woman, Pauline-Marie Jaricot. She began by persuading local working people to support overseas mission by giving a farthing a week. A century later, when the organization was established in almost every country in the world, Pope Pius XI made it the official mission-funding society for the Catholic Church.
In England and Wales, funds for overseas mission are collected through the famous Red Boxes. These can be found in over 200,000 homes and they have helped raise millions of pounds for the missionary Church. The APF in England and Wales works collaboratively with the Mill Hill Missionary Society; the only major missionary society to have been formed in England. Mill Hill Missionaries are sent to the most remote places in the world to share the love of Christ with those who are in need, both spiritually and materially. Find out more at www.missio.org.uk
To all our box-holders, collectors and organizers – a huge thank you!

Fr Matthew

More fully human

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In today’s second reading St Paul celebrates the fact that God’s grace, which flows to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, is greater and more powerful than every expression of human sin and experience of death. And we celebrate that divine grace that is communicated to us through the sacraments. Ministering as a hospital chaplain for the past six years, I’ve come to increasingly appreciate the efficacy of the sacraments as we face difficulties of life and our broken human condition – whether we are a baby with only hours to live, a young person struggling with schizophrenia or an elderly person in the autumn of life.
I remember sharing the Blessed Sacrament with a man crippled by dementia who had grown up in a devout family and had been a choir boy in his youth. As he drew to the end of his life, the dementia meant that he struggled to comprehend where he was, who others were, and he couldn’t recall his memories of the life that he’d lived.
On one of my last visits to him before he died, the light of Christ seemed to penetrate the fog of his dementia. On receiving the Blessed Sacrament tears rolled down his drawn cheeks and he spontaneously began singing the ancient Eucharistic hymn ‘Let all mortal flesh keep silence.’ I sat in wonder as he worshiped God, then he turned to me and said ‘Thank you for making me feel human again.’
It wasn’t me who had made him feel human again – it was his encounter with our Lord, the Great Physician and the divine grace received through the holy sacrament. However, his words expressed the truth that our humanity is indeed only fully restored through receiving God’s grace and in responding to Him in worship. Just as the sacraments are central to the Church’s ministry to the sick, so they need to be central to our lives as we allow God to recreate us in the likeness of His Son.
It has been nearly two years since I left my ministry in the Anglican Communion and was received into the Catholic Church. Why did I leave the Protestant tradition? It was to draw closer to our Lord through the sacraments, teaching and fellowship entrusted to the Catholic Church. As we receive God’s grace this week through the sacraments of the Church, may our response be one of worship and in obedience to his will may he become more fully human.

Peter Davies, Chaplain at UHW

The sacred heart – open to all

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We are in the month of the Sacred Heart, and statues usually show Jesus with his arms open wide. This tells us of Our Lord’s love and care for all. Sadly our love and care does not always reflect this. Ten years ago, in chatting to some individuals, I became aware of one of the gaps in our caret, and here, ten years later, it’s a cause of great gladness to me that the group that came out of this is flourishing, and indeed is one of our biggest groups active among us – the Circle of Friends. Here, on the tenth anniversary of their beginnings, they tell us more about themselves, how they share the love of the Sacred Heart.

“The Circle of Friends was set up in the community of our 3 Churches in May 2007. Its purpose is to provide help and support to divorced, separated, widowed and single Catholics, and their friends. This it tries to do by:

  • promoting the spiritual well-being of those Catholics who are divorced separated, widowed or single
  • reaching out to those who are alone and providing support for one another in various and appropriate ways
  • encouraging the social involvement of members in a variety of activities and providing the opportunity to meet people in similar circumstances
  •  facilitating appropriate support outside the group for members
  • supporting various

The group meets once a month, and has an informal committee which includes a chairperson, treasurer, secretary and members. Members pay a small annual subscription to cover expenses so that the group is self-financing.
A full calendar of social events is organized by members: these include a Book Club, Walking Group, Cinema Group and Pub Quiz Team. The group is under the pastoral guidance of Father Matthew, and pastoral events have also been held and advertised in this newsletter. If you would like to learn more about the Circle of Friends then please contact Sue Peat (2076 2358) We look forward to hearing from you.”