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News

Sun, 17 May 2009

Category: General

Posted by: Father Pat

Lourdes Pilgrimage: Our Youth Group sets off this coming Thursday from St. Mary's College at 9 am. We're taking about 35 pupils from the College and 10 helpers, including some from Holy Cross. We arrive on Friday morning in time to welcome the Jumbulance which is carrying eight sick pilgrims including Fr. Clive Birch SM from St. Catherine's. We then meet the rest of the sick pilgrims (or VIPs) from the plane, get them into the hospital and bring them to their rooms and get them settled in. At that stage we're the only young people there so it's a busy time, but also great fun! Our group is 'on duty' all day Friday and Saturday, looking after the needs of the sick, wheeling them to the various services and generally being their eyes and limbs. We are back on duty several other times during the week and also have time to fit in some 'fun' things. We arrive back next Friday afternoon/evening.

A Lourdes Miracle: Abigail Witchalls was left paralysed after she was stabbed in the neck in a motiveless attack in 2005. A deeply religious woman, she found such strength in a pilgrimage to Lourdes that she decided to contribute to a book about the holy site. "I first visited Lourdes as a healthy, energetic 19-year-old on my day off from a demanding summer job. I was living and working as a helper in a nearby community for people with learning disabilities I had come to try to help those I considered to be needy and less fortunate than myself. Over the course of the summer I discovered that I was receiving far more than I was giving. The people I had come to help became my friends and my teachers, revealing to me my own weaknesses, and showing me how to live truthfully. I walked into the sanctuary of Lourdes seeking direction and peace. I found there an atmosphere of joy and was touched by the smiling faces of the pilgrims I passed, particularly those in wheelchairs. And yet I was sceptical and questioning. I wanted to understand their faith, to know the source of their joy; I wanted to experience Lourdes from the 'inside', as a pilgrim, not a spectator. Eight years later I returned (on the 2006 Arundel and Brighton Pilgrimage), now married with two healthy young children, and as a wheelchair user myself. I found myself living the mystery of Lourdes from the 'inside', but it was not as I had expected. Since my spinal injury the previous year, I had prayed for healing. And now in Lourdes I asked God to 'heal me in the way I need most, according to your will'. He did heal me – not physically – but He freed me to love life and to know daily the joy I had longed for. To my surprise, I find that I have more to give now that I'm paralysed than I did when I was able-bodied. This is one of God's miracles." Like a pilgrim in Lourdes, we can find ourselves challenged, moved and strengthened by the testimony of those we encounter. We learn most from the people who are weakest, and are changed by the people we were hoping to change. We find healing where we didn't even know we were wounded. Such is the surprising and transforming work of God. Such is the paradox of the Cross: 'For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.'

Rest in Peace: It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Roy Wardill last Sunday in Castle Hill Hospital It's about a year since he was first diagnosed with a type of cancer. Roy was one of the Elders of the Community Church here in Cottingham and a great supporter of Cottingham Churches Together. There will be a private family service at the Crematorium on Tuesday followed by a Celebration of his life at the Methodist Church at noon (Tuesday). Our thoughts are with his wife Dorothy and their two children Tony and Christine and their five grandchildren at this terribly sad time. Dorothy and Roy had been married for fifty years and had lived here in the village in the same house for thirty-eight years. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Vocations: A very big thank you to Rebecca and Daryl from Victoria in Canada for their most inspiring talk at Mass last Sunday morning. We wish them all the best as they head off on their great adventure in a couple of weeks.

"On Being Dominican." Saturday June 6^th. 10.30 – 4 pm at St. Bede's Pastoral Centre, York (Bar Convent). 'Preaching Through Art-the work of Fra Angelica OP' with Fr. Richard Conrad OP (Blackfriars, Oxford) and 'On Being Dominican-the perspective of a friar and a Lay Dominican.' With Fr. Richard and Patrick Doyle (Lay Provincial President). The programme includes Mass and Vespers, and is open to all, especially anyone interested in becoming a Lay Dominican. For more information-802020 or janandpatdoyle@yahoo.co.uk

Manna Decorating: I'll be there after the christening today to do what little I'm able to make the Coffee Shop more welcoming. Painters and cleaners are most welcome (no previous experience necessary!). Just turn up around noon. And thank you to those who did their bit last Sunday!

Diana writes: "King's Breakfast" – calling all Christians who work around Hull and who wish to pray for God's influence to spread in our city – Wednesday, May 20^th. from 7 am at the Portland Hotel, Paragon Street. "Global day of Prayer" – May 31^st. at Beverley Minster, 4.30-6 pm with cream teas from 6.30-8.30 pm. It's a celebration of prayer and worship, part of a worldwide experience.

Ignorance of the Bible: According to recent independent research, more than one in every ten American adults believes that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife; only half can name any one of the four Gospels; 60% cannot name five of the ten commandments; 50% of high school seniors believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple; and 49% feel they could not explain their faith to others.

"Power through Poverty." An unexpected entry among the powerbrokers and presidents who made up Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world was an American nun from Philadelphia who spends her time with homeless people. Sr Mary Scullion, a Sister of Mercy, was placed at number 49 in the list, ahead of Pope Benedict (79). The 55-year-old nun began helping the

homeless in 1976 and launched Project Home (Housing, Opportunities for employment, Medical Care and Education). Her motto is: 'None of us is home until all of us are home.' SR Mary is known for being down to earth. She was once described as "a nun who swears and spits", to which she replied, "I don't spit." [We at Holy Cross try to do our bit with HHARP, the Drop-in Centre and the Asylum Centre.]

A Prayer: "We did not want it easy God, but we did not contemplate that it would be quite this hard, this long, this lonely. So, if we are to be turned inside out, and upside down, with even our pockets shaken, just to check what's rattling and left behind, we pray that you, holding our hands as we weep, give us strength to continue, and showing us beacons along the way to becoming new."

Mary Kenny wrote in The Telegraph on Monday: "In the course of researching a book about the British monarchy and Ireland, I discovered that King Edward VII was a devotee of Lourdes, visiting it when he was taking his annual holiday in nearby Biarritz. Edward liked Marian shrines – his watering hole in Miranda, was, of course, 'Mary's Well' – and he adored all the ceremonial that went with processions and pilgrimages. A little more than a fortnight before he died, he paid a particularly thoughtful visit to the Grotto at Lourdes and was utterly sweet to the nuns tending it."

Donations: I have been given a gift of £100 in memory of Paddy Flabby which will be passed on to CAFOD at Mary's request. I also received a cheque for £500 from the estate or Peter Camping whose funeral I took last autumn. It will be put into the Holy Cross Twinning Fund (with Sierra Leone).

Diabetes UK Tea Party: In The Garden Room on Saturday May 23^rd. from 10 – 12.30 PM. Refreshments, Cake Stall, Book Stall and Crafts from Sierra Leone.

Holy Cross on YouTube: Hopefully better than Gordon Brown's attempt! See Steve Haswell strutting his stuff (and myself) as we celebrated St. George's Day. www.YouTube.com/thebishopsfinger.

Hero of the Week: Teresa Ulyatt who took over the mantle from Leo Murphy and did the Humber Cross last weekend (accompanied by daughter Rachel and grandchildren Joe (4), Leo (3), Sammy and Phoebe (1) who she pushed over and back (probably sent them to sleep!). "I found it hard because of the high winds!" Unfortunately for the first time in many years, Leo was away, but Teresa has kept up the tradition. She was raising funds for CAFOD which now shares the walk with Christian Aid. She hopes to raise around £350 if everyone who promised her pays up! There will be a Christian Aid Box in the porch if your street managed to 'escape' the door to door collection this week.

Parish and Diocesan Finances: Never good news! Holy Cross Parish Assessment for the coming year will be just over £20,000. It is assessed mainly on the offertory income. The Board of Trustees approved a Parish Assessment Levy for 2009 of £860,040 and this is apportioned across the parishes of the Diocese. Broadly speaking, the monies raised pay for the 'pastoral' services provided by the Diocese. The costs of the Curial Office including schools, buildings, administration and finance are met from the Curia's own investment and income sources and do not constitute a burden on the parishes. See how the other parishes fare around us: Beverley - £26,740; Hessle - £24,397; St. Charles - £18,535; Queen of Martyrs - £7,633; St. Vincent's - £12,367; Sacred Heart - £3,368; West Hull Parishes - £17,565; St. Bede's - £5,215; St. Francis - £3,348; St. Anthony's - £5,435; Marists - £15,239; (Some parishes strike me as having very 'good' accountants!). But thank you for your continued generosity throughout the year which helps us to reach out beyond our parish borders and help others.

CWL Cake Stall raised over £126 for CAFOD last weekend.

The Bible Outlet Shop on Wright St. in Hull is closing at the end of the month. There is a sale on at the moment and good bargains are to be had!

Congratulations to Leah Broc, Year 8 pupil at St. Mary's and Saturday evening Mass attender, who has been selected to represent Great Britain at Under 15 level in ice skating. Her latest 'cap' came in Paris a couple of weeks ago. And also to Caitlin Turpin , Yr. 7 and a Saturday evening parishioner, who got an award at the recent Awards Evening at St. Mary's for excellence in RE. Well done!

Some Quotes: "If I were two faced, would I be wearing this one?" (Abraham Lincoln). "I still say a church steeple with a lightening rod on top shows a lack of confidence." (Doug McLeod). "You want a good sermon? Then have a good beginning, a strong ending, and keep 'em close together." (George Burns). "For the first time in five years, street crime is up. Just on one street though – Wall Street." (Jay Leno)

Prayers for the sick: Please remember in your prayers Terry O'Shaughnessy. For the past three years Terry has been resident at Murrayfield Care Home on Beverley Rd. His wife Brenda lives in Cherry Garth. He's very, very ill at the moment. Remember also Steve Crossley, pastor at Christ Church who is still not fully recovered from his operation. Also Graham Leech, Ally Appleyard, Betty Swallow, Lilian Fowlston, Doris Thurston, Barbara's sister-in-law, Andrea Gardham, Maisie Cosgrove, Maureen Brown, Peter Wright and Terry Sellers.

Married Priests' Complaints: Many married priests clandestinely ordained in the former Czechoslovakia are bitter that they were not allowed to remain in the Roman Catholic Church after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, according to Bishop Vaclav Maly, an auxiliary in Prague. He said they were also bitter that they were not treated as generously as the married Anglican priests who became Catholics after Anglican began ordaining women in 1992. Bishops ordained married men, who were thought to be less conspicuous to the Soviet regime, with a mandate from Pope Paul VI. After 1989 the Vatican had ruled that married priests wanting to remain priests had to be reordained into the Greek Catholic Church, which ordains married men.

Food versus Fuel: It takes 450 pounds of corn to fill up a 25 gallon SUV with ethanol, which is the same number of calories needed to feed a human being for one year.

Anniversaries at this time: Saturday – Francis Ford. Sunday – Jason Wheatcroft, Vincent Bottery, Frank Cundy and Theresa Gallagher. Tuesday – Isa Fletcher. Thursday – William Wood, Mary Benson and John Callaghan. Friday – Thomas Gilson, Gladys Brennan and Paul Gibson. Saturday – Barry Britton. Sunday – Winifred Richardson.

Mass Intentions for the coming week:

Saturday – 6.30 – Mary Benson (A)

Sunday – 10.00 – Fred Knapp

Monday – 9.00 – Dick Hainsworth

Tuesday – 7.00 – Cynthia Smith (RIP)

Wednesday – 9.00 – Gladys Brennan (A)

Thursday/Friday/Saturday – 9.00 – Eucharistic Service

Saturday – 6.30 – Joan Bottery (RIP)

Sunday – 10.00 – Robert and Betty Carvlin

It's good to have Fr. Gerard Burns SM from down the road saying the Masses next weekend whilst I'm in Lourdes.

"Priests need to remember that they are messengers of a gospel of hope. When we lose hope, we scold. Spiritual leaders are dealers in hope, not in anger and pessimism."

"The world is not good or bad but ambiguous. It is not black or white but grey. So the good and bad should not be separated and the sinful world should be loved unconditionally. The God of Jesus Christ loves unconditionally the poor, the oppressed, those that nobody loves. God loves because he is good, not because we are good."

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