All posts by 3 churches

Refugee crisis

newsletter,

Dear All

Various people have expressed the wish that as a church community we should do what we can to help address the refugee crisis.  Today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday 5/6 Sept)  in the notices at masses at Christ the King there will be information about prayer services on the next two Friday’s and of the opportunity to contribute items for a collection being organised by St David’s College.  The content of the announcements is given below.  Please pass on the information to anyone you think might be interested – maybe in particular those who go to St Brigid’s and St Paul’s could pass the word on to others in those congregations.

Thank you
Elizabeth Taylor

Refugee Crisis

You will be very aware from all the news reports of the current refugee crisis. There will be an opportunity to focus that concern in short prayer services at Christ the King this Friday and the following Friday at 5.45pm immediately before the half hour candle-lit prayer time at 6pm. If you can, please come along at 5.45 to join in prayer for the refugees and for resolution of the conflicts which have led them to flee their homes.

There are also practical ways to help. St David’s College is collecting items to send to the agencies helping the refugees. There are notices in the porch about what is needed. If you are able to donate any items please put them in the boxes in the porch before next Thursday evening  so that they can be taken to the College.

Finally the British Red Cross and Oxfam are accepting donations for the relief work. You can find details on line or in the media.

Items  requested  for the St David’s College collection are:

  • CLEAN men’s clothes – small to medium size and warm, clean & durable
  • Men’s trainers & wellies
  • Sleeping bags (preferably good quality & durable)
  • Tents
  • Space blankets/emergency foil blankets
  • Baby slings
  • Children’s clothes

European Migrant Crisis

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This morning Archbishop George has released a Statement on the diocesan website (https://rcadc2013.wordpress.com) regarding the current crisis surrounding the vast number of migrants trying to find a better life for themselves and their families in Western Europe. In the past 48 hours Caritas Internationalis have launched an Emergency Relief Fund specificially for this cause. You can donate online by simply visiting
https://www.ammado.com/community/159057

Our lady of tears

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After marrying, Antonina and Angelo Jannuso went to live with his family in Syracuse, Sicily. One of their wedding presents was a mass-produced plaster plaque of Our Blessed Lady. When Antonia discovered that she was pregnant, she developed toxemia and convulsions, leading to temporary blindness. Confined to bed, she found her refuge in prayer, for which her husband mocked her. On the 29th of August 1953 she was suffering from very bad cramps. Suddenly she became calm, but then suffered a seizure that left her blind. At about 8:30, her sight was restored. In Antonina’s own words:

“I opened my eyes and stared at the image of the Madonna above the bedhead. To my great amazement I saw that the effigy was weeping. I called my sister-in-law Grazie and my aunt, Antonina Sgarlata, who came to my side, showing them the tears. At first they thought it was a hallucination due to my illness, but when I insisted, they went close up to the plaque and could well see that tears were really falling from the eyes of the Madonna, and that some tears ran down her cheeks onto the bedhead.”

The family and neighbours were called and witnessed the miracle. Antonia stayed watching for several hours, wiping away the tears with a handkerchief and cotton wool, and the weeping occurred on many occasions from August 29 to September 1. When a priest notified the Bishop’s office, an investigative commission was formed of distinguished clergymen, four scientists and three reputable witnesses. They studied the phenomenon, and chemical analysis found that a sample of the tears were of the same composition as human tears.

From the time Antonina saw the tears, she recovered completely from her toxemia and gave birth to a healthy son. The weeping image of Our Lady of Syracuse was approved the next year by Pope Pius XII. The tears were collected in a precious reliquary now in the modern sanctuary that also houses the plaque. It was consecrated by Pope St John Paul II in 1994, and welcomes about one million pilgrims a year from around the world. Next Sunday the September Pilgrims will celebrate Mass at the Sanctuary and we will remember you all.

Fr Matthew

A great Gregory

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St Gregory the Great, was Pope from 590 to his death in 604. He was born in about 540 into a wealthy Rome family. His father served as a Senator and became Prefect, the highest civil office in the city, and his mother was Silvia, also honoured as a saint. It was a period of upheaval when the plague caused famine, panic, and rioting. In some parts, over 1/3 of the population was wiped out. Totila sacked Rome in 546, but an invasion of the Franks was defeated in 554. After that, there was peace, except that the central government now resided in Constantinople.

Gregory was well educated, and became a government official, advancing quickly to become, like his father, Prefect of Rome at 33 years old. Yet on his father’s death, Gregory converted his family villa into a monastery dedicated to St Andrew (but now rededicated to St Gregory himself). In 579 the Pope chose him as his unwilling ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople.

He was elected Pope in 590, and re-energized the Church’s missionary work, especially among the non- Christian peoples of northern Europe. He is famous for sending a mission, under Augustine of Canterbury, prior of Saint Andrew’s, to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons of England. He had never forgotten the English slaves whom he had once seen in the Roman Forum.

He made a revision of the liturgy of the Mass. For example, he established the nine “Lord have mercy” at the beginning of Mass, added material to the Eucharistic Prayer and moved the Our Father to its current position. Gregory is the only Pope between the fifth and the eleventh centuries to leave a large number of writings, including several books, many sermons and 854 letters. The main form of plainchant was attributed to him, so took the name of Gregorian chant, but was in fact only standardized in the late 9th century.

Gregory was the first to make use of the title “Servant of the Servants of God”. He is known for his charitable relief of the poor. He believed that the wealth belonged to the poor and the church was only its steward. These and other good deeds won the hearts and minds of the people, who started to look to the papacy for their government. Gregory is commonly credited with founding the medieval papacy, and many attribute the beginning of medieval spirituality to him. He was declared a saint immediately after his death by popular acclamation and we celebrate his feast on 3rd September.

Fr Matthew