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SUNDAY JULY 12TH 2009   15TH WEEK OF THE YEAR SEA SUNDAY

Sun, 12 Jul 2009
Category: General
Posted by: Father Pat

THE FAMILY OF HOLY CROSS

3 CARRINGTON AVE, COTTINGHAM, EAST YORKSHIRE HU16 4DU

Twinned with Star of the Sea Parish Juba Freetown Sierra Leone

Tel: 01482 847763 Fax: 01482 845225
e-mail: Website: holycrosscottingham.org.uk

Parish Priest: Father Pat Day BA, BD

Masses: Vigil Mass Saturday 6.30 pm; Sunday 10 am; Mon to Sat 9 am, except Tues 7 pm

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day Saturday from after morning Mass until Benediction at 6 pm

The church is open all day from dawn till dusk. Tea and coffee are served after the Sunday 10 am Mass.

SUNDAY JULY 12TH. 2009 15TH. WEEK OF THE YEAR SEA SUNDAY

In 2008, Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) Chaplains visited over 10,000 ships, meeting about 210,000 seafarers and 217 Masses were celebrated on board ships by parish priests and our own ordained chaplains. So far this year we are on track to visit the same number of ships, even though there has been a 30 per cent reduction in traffic, but we have noticed the effects of the recession with a doubling in the number of serious welfare cases. The needs of seafarers visiting our shores are acute and our mission of hospitality and spiritual support for this large but hidden community. Turnaround times in port are very fast (often only a few hours) and pressure on the crews is very high, particularly as the recession bites at the profit margins of ship owners. A very large proportion of crew members is Catholic, from the Philippines or Eastern Europe. Seafarers are normally anxious to contact their families (only 3 per cent have access to communications on board), find out news from home or have a sympathetic ear. The AoS was founded in 1922, is a registered charity and an official Church agency. We are often known as "Stella Maris" after the name given to seafarers' hostels by AoS in ports around the world. Our patroness is Our Lady 'Stella Maris', translated as Our Lady Star of the Sea. Ninety-five per cent of all goods we use and consume are transported by sea. We provide drop-in centres within ports where seafarers can relax, pray, contact loved ones back home and talk over any problems with the AoS chaplains or volunteers. We recognise seafarers as our brother and sisters in need, and seek to bring the loving presence of Jesus into their midst. We stand alongside seafarers, seeking to promote their dignity as human beings within a modern globalised industry which often disregards their needs.


Parish Treasure Hunt and Strawberry Tea: Next Sunday afternoon beginning at 2 pm The Treasure Hunt round the village will begin at 2 pm and when you return there will be refreshments etc in The Garden Room. We will also have a Bouncy Castle for the younger ones. There will be prizes for the various winners. And it's all FREE! Do come along and make a great day of it.


Today's First Reading: God sends Amos, a shepherd and farmer living at Tekoa: 'Go, prophecy to my people Israel'. His prophetic works date between 780 and 740 BC. Obediently Amos set out for the northern kingdom. Amaziah, a high priest at Bethel, rejected Amos telling him to go back home. It was in stark contrast to God's message 'Go forward, be an agent of change'. Amos persevered and is one of the prophets of social justice.


Rest in Peace: Two funerals this coming Tuesday. Harriet Hardwick aged 97 of Saners Close will have her service here at 10.30 am and Edith Susan Sandars, 93, mother of David will be cremated at 3.30 pm. May they rest in peace. Amen.


SVP News: "Dear Holy Cross SVP, Please find enclosed a cheque for £32 for your SVP funds. It is a share of the profits from the Quiz Night. We thought it only fair that the proceeds should be shared amongst those conferences which attended the Quiz. With best wishes, Mike Garvey St. Vincent's)."


A Lesson for the Week: An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?' The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not?' So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it. Moral of the story - To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Recent Birthdays: Dorothy Hood, Bernie (50), Joe, Anne-Marie, Eric (6), and Anne Trynka ( a Big One last week!). Congratulations to all of you!


Bernie's recent Party raised £250 for Myeloma Research and £250 for the Alzheimers Society. Well done!


Cottingham Friends of Martin House Hospice for Children: We are having another Coffee Morning in Cottingham Methodist Church on Saturday July 18th. from 10 am to 11.30 am. Our Holy Cross representative is Sheila Cundy (845342).


CWL News: Our Cake Stall this weekend is for the charity "Make-

A-Wish" which does so much for very ill children.

Our next meeting is this Monday in The Garden Room at 7.30 when Charles Levitt will be speaking about Thwaite Gardens here in the village. This is open to all parishioners, male and female. Five ladies from the parish travelled to Westminster Cathedral in June for the National Pilgrimage where Bishop John was a co-celebrant at the Mass and he spent time afterwards chatting to the members of the Middlesbrough Branch.


"And who is my neighbour?" 'The body of an elderly woman lay undiscovered in her flat for up to five years. The badly decomposed body of Isabella Purves, who would have been 90 this year, was found in her flat in the Canonmills area of Edinburgh by police early last week. It is thought her pension was paid directly into a bank account and utility bills were paid by direct debit. Police are trying to trace her relatives.'


Calendar Priests: The Pope's injunction to 'pray for our priests' has been taken to heart by the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It has created a calendar with a different member of the clergy allocated a day so that everyone in the diocese can pray specifically for them during the 'Year for Priests'. "Providentially they add up to just about 364," said Fr Eddie Clare, the chairman of the National Office for Vocations. [Here in our own diocese we would only need two months to cover us all!]. Last week Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster returned to his old Archdiocese of Birmingham. There were plans to present him with a crosier – with the archbishop's favourite saints, St John Fisher and St Clare, in enamel – but it was not completed on time. Archbishop Nichols wrote a postgraduate thesis on John Fisher which used the phrase: "The Church doesn't need any more golden chalices, it needs golden priests." [Reminds me of something Bishop Terry said after his visitation here!].


Prayers for the Sick and Housebound: Pat Partington, Dan Wilbor (Francis Ramsden's son-in-law), Lilian Fowlston (no cancer diagnosed), Sallie Pinder (operation in CHH last Monday and awaiting results), Michael Atkin, Margaret Price, Betty Eagan, Flo Severs, Des McKeown, Moira Thomson, Andrea Gardham, Marie Toland, Collette O'Brien, Ann Gouldthorpe (CHH), Rosanna Grimsby, Bridget Prow, Dot Connaughton, and Irene Green back home in Snuff Mill Lane after several weeks in CHH.


Remember Darryl and Rebecca? Lilian's friends from Canada? Spoke at Mass a while ago? Well, Darryl has written to me with an update on how they are getting on in the Philippines. Darryl has his appointment and Rebecca is still awaiting her's. He will be working in 3 Gawad Kalinga communities, 2 in Bicol and 1 in Bacolod

looking at the potential for tourism there. This will be for 6 months from August onwards. If you would like to keep up to date with how they're getting on, they have a blog at www.offexploring.com/walkerwilson


Got this email during the week: "Hiya Fr Pat, I would just like to thank you for a wonderful experience attending Mass at Holy Cross. Neil and myself did not get the opportunity to speak to you after Mass as we had to hurry to a christening in Beverley Minster. In all the years that we have attended Mass we have never felt so welcome and as warmly greeted as we were on Sunday. Every church would be bursting at the seams if we had more like you (and the rest of your community). The way that you engaged the congregation was absolutely brilliant and we felt privileged to be part of it, if only for a day. Once again, thank you, we left the church feeling elated and more positive. May God bless you and keep you in his care. Best wished, Kim and Neil Taylor from Redcar."


The Golfer's 23rd. Psalm

The Lord is my playing partner, I shall not shank.

He makes my ball to lie down on the green.

He keeps me on the fairway, beyond water hazards.

He inspires my game.

He leads me in spots with neither slice nor hook.

Yea, though I land in the deepest of bunkers

Yet I will fear no ill, for thou wilt chip out for me,

Thy mashie and thy niblick, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a hole-in-one for me in the presence of my opponents

My hand thou dost anoint with a trophy

And my celebratory drink overflows.

Birdies and eagles all my life shall surely follow me

And in God's clubhouse for ever my dwelling place shall be. Amen.


Myeloma UK: Many thanks to all the parishioners of Holy Cross Church for your generous contributions to the Myeloma collection box last weekend. A total of £234.93 was collected. Myeloma UK is the only organisation in the UK dealing exclusively with myeloma and its related disorders and relies almost entirely on fundraising activities and voluntary donations like yours. Anne and Tony Tordoff write: "Dear Fr Pat, just to say thank you for allowing us to have the myeloma collection last weekend and also a very big thank you to the parishioners who gave so very generously. Altogether, with three days of collecting outside Somerfields and Tescos and with the proceeds of boxes which we leave in pubs and shops in the area, we have raised over £1500 so there is clearly a lot of generosity around with so many charities in need of support. Love, Anne and Tony." [Tony came home the other night to find a car up against his front wall. A learner driver got carried away, crashed through Tony's front fence, broke down lots of his shrubs etc. damaged his prize-winning lawn but thankfully no physical damage to anyone.]


'Cottingham Churches Together' have sponsored a Pupils' and Families' Support Worker for Cottingham High School. As a means of strengthening the links between the school, the churches in the village and the wider community, we have appointed an experienced Christian social worker, Mrs Merry Springate. As she comes to the end of her first year at the school, I have invited her to speak to us at both Masses next weekend. Initial funding has been provided by Cottingham Community Church. It is hoped that, as well as accessing government grants, other churches will wish to offer support to enable the pilot to be extended beyond the initial two years. The post is on a part-time (0.5 f.t.e.).


Cottingham Church Leaders: we are having a 'Fraternal' at Manna on Monday. We meet over a light lunch to look at the various issues that affect the various Churches here in the village. Keep us in your prayers. And the next meeting of the church representatives from the Cottingham Churches will be here at Holy Cross on Tuesday at 7 30 pm.


Society for the Protection of Unborn Children: They are having a meeting at St. Joseph's Church Hall, Pickering Rd. this Tuesday at 7.30 pm The speaker will be National Director John Smeaton.


Primary Schools Chaplaincy Job: Correction – Micki Coyle who was appointed last week will be earning around £12,000 per annum. He is closing his architecture business to take up this position (and married with four children!). Is he mad or is he following the gospel? It's up to you to decide!


Proms in the Garden: The rectory garden at St. Mary's will host another summer evening of music and merriment next Saturday evening at 7 pm to raise funds for St. Nicholas Children's Hospice in Bloemfontein in South Africa. Hallgate Camerata will be providing entertainment with the opportunity for some audience participation! Tickets are £5 each including refreshments. You can probably pay on the gate.


Parishioners of the Week: David Cook, Ann and Chris Abel: Why? For all the hard work they put into making Cottingham Day such a success last week. David and Ann are on the Cottingham Parish Council and do an awful lot to make Cottingham a place we all are happy to live in. The other parishioner of the week is Chris Bailey. For longer than I can remember Chris has done the 'altar linen' making sure that it is always spotlessly clean. She is retiring from the 'job' and maybe there is a successor out there waiting to take over? It's not very arduous or time consuming.


There is a story of an old man who carried a little can of oil with him everywhere he went, and if he passed a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges. If the gate was hard to open, he oiled the latch. And thus he passed through life, lubricating the hard places and making it easier for those who came after him. People called him eccentric, queer and cranky, but the man went steadily on, refilling his oil can when it became empty and oiling the hard places he found. There are many lives that creak and grate harshly as they live day by day. Nothing goes right with them. They need lubricating with the oil of gladness, gentleness or thoughtfulness. Have you your own oil can with you? Be ready with your oil of helpfulness in the early morning to the one nearest to you. It may lubricate the whole day for them. The oil of good cheer to the down-hearted - oh how much it may mean! The word of encouragement to the despairing – let's speak it!


Angels: What part do Angels play in the lives of Catholic Christians today? "Come and Experience" an evening of Recollection given by Fr Ailbe O'Reilly OCR from Brazil at St. Charles Church on Monday 20th. July at 7 pm.


Anniversaries this coming week:

Saturday – Gustav Reyes and Doris Buchan

Sunday – John McNicholas and Fiona McAloon

Monday – Stephen Browne and Norah Merivale

Tuesday – Hilda Parkhill

Wednesday – Paola Delfino

Thursday – Francisca Bezemer-Vorst, Frank Penna, Edith Truelove and Mary Kieran

Friday – Terence McLoughlin and Henry Avery

Saturday – Frank Hall, Joe Kieran and Noreen Clarkson

Sunday – Frank King, John Wood, Les Barber, Ethel Jackson and Jim Gardham OBE


Mass Intentions for the coming week:

Saturday – 6.30 – Irene Bell (RIP)

Sunday – 10.00 – Fiona McAloon

Monday – Dick Hainsworth

Tuesday – 7.00 – Alfred Ramsden

Wednesday – 9.00 – Paola Delfino

Thursday – 9.00 – Emily Fitzpatrick (ill)

Friday – 9.00 – James McMullan (RIP)

Saturday – 9.00 – The Parishioners

Saturday – 6.30 – Sharon Barwick (1st. Anniv)

Sunday – 10.00 – Jim Gardham OBE


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