Holy Cross

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News

Anniversaries: Sat 19^th: Molly (Muriel) Willoughby; Sun: William Ernest Wainwright, Hilda Cuss; Mon: Betty Jackson, Olive Ellen Parker-Kirton, Pearl Clarke, William Hall; Tues: Catherine Proctor, Stefan Francineck Skolic, Leonard Park, Marjorie Tindle; Wed: Billy Fletcher, William Robert Thurston, George Stephenson; Thurs: Winefride Elder;

Fri: Walter Patrick Richardson, Tess Houghton; Sat: Tom Durkin, John Stephenson, Charles Taylor; Sun: Annie Clery, Arthur Burton, Wilfred Britton.

Counters this weekend: Pat and John McNicholas; and next: John Gray and Chris Howlett

Congratulations to Helen Higgins (née Clarke) who was awarded her PhD from Nottingham University last week. She is working in the Wirral as the Educational Psychologist.

The Catholic Women's League wishes to thank all for their generosity to "Help the Heroes"; the total has now reached £1,129.41, of which £485 was gift-aided.

Cleaning the Church ready for Christmas If you can help, please come along at 10 am on Monday, the 21st.

We still need another counter for the collections after Sunday Mass. Two people count each week and a turn comes round every 9 weekends. If you can help, please contact Father Pat or Teresa (845355).

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ From Father Pat_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Mass Times this Christmas: On Thursday, Christmas Eve, there will be the usual morning Mass at 9 am. The First Mass of Christmas will be at Midnight, preceded by Carols at 11.30 pm. On Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day (Boxing Day) we will have Mass at 10 am. There will be the usual Saturday evening Mass at 6.30 pm. On Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family, Mass will be at 10 am. Services the following week will be at the normal times.

Parish Christmas Concert and Carol Service: this Wednesday, here in the church at 6.30 pm. We will begin with a selection of readings and carols and then the concert will begin! Joe has had plenty of offers from people to entertain us and it should be a wonderfully entertaining evening! If you haven't yet contacted Joe and you hope to perform, please, please ring him or speak to him today at Mass. He needs to put together a 'running order' for the night.

Be reconciled for Christmas! (before all the aggravation!). During our Tuesday evening Mass there will be the opportunity to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We're not allowed to offer a 'General Absolution' but it'll be as easy as we can make it! I can't say any more in case someone reports me!

Parishioners of the Week: Saskia, Annie, Elliot, Tom, Rachael, Luke, Alice and Ellie: And Ellie? What a testimony Ellie was to us at Mass last Saturday evening! Burying her and Russell's first child in the morning, then being received into the Church, baptised and making her First Communion in the evening, Ellie showed tremendous strength of faith which left me in the shade! Do continue to pray for them both as they continue their faith journey among us. The other 'Magnificent Seven' are the youngsters preparing for their First Holy Communions in the summer. Aren't we blessed to have such a vibrant group ready to take our places when we head off 'into the sunset'? The future of Holy Cross is in good hands. And of course we can't forget Pat, Marian and Chris for all their work in helping these young people on their journey, and their families too.

Christmas isn't Christmas: How much should the Church market Christmas to secular Britain? Aled Jones's BBC Radio 2 show last Sunday had a good idea. 'If you take Christ out of Christmas,' he said, 'all you are left with is M&S.'

Birthdays: Elliot and Oliver had their birthdays last week and in the coming week we will be celebrating Mike and Mary Davidson's birthdays, not big ones but still worth celebrating anyway!

Rest in Peace: We remember Ted Fullerton's sister Mary Thompson aged 92 and a former parishioner at Holy Name, who died last week. On Monday I have the funeral of Alan Jones (69), the son of former parishioner Marjorie Jones (of the golden shoes!) who died eight years ago. Alan leaves a sister, Mary Townhill, and two brothers Martin and Robin. May they both rest in peace. Amen.

'My Perfect Weekend': Oliver Peyton, whose restaurant is in the National Gallery, writes: 'On Sunday mornings we go to church in Chiswick. I'm not overly religious, even though I went to a Catholic boarding school. It's more to do with community and a sense of belonging.'

Third Wednesday Lunch Club: What a lunch we had last Wednesday! A full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and finishing off with a session of carol singing. Around fifty-five people sat down to the meal, prepared and served up by Michelle and Gwendoline Percival, Peter and Gwen O'Reilly, John Stephenson, Pat and John McNicholas, Elaine Coggin and her Mum and me. We shouldn't forget the drivers who make sure that everyone manages to get here and home each time. The meal was free but donations came to £200, the Raffle brought in another £60 and we sent £359 to Fr Peter at the Orphanage at Bo in Sierra Leone (the balance being made up of the profits from the lunch club during the year).

The Lost Christians: 'Only half of Britons consider themselves Christian, a sharp decline on 25 years ago (66%), an academic study suggests. However, most people still say religion helps bring happiness and comfort and regret its declining influence on modern society. The proportion who have 'no religion' has increased from 31% to 43%. Non-Christians, including Muslims and Jews, represent 7% of the population, up from 2% 25 years ago. The steepest fall was among those who say they worship in the Church of England, down from 40% of those who call themselves Christians to 23%. Official Church figures show that average Sunday attendance was 978,000 in 2007, compared with 1.2million in 1983. The proportion of Roman Catholics declined only slightly from 10% to 9%."

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Please pray for Leo Murphy, who is having an operation in Castle Hill this Monday; and for Michael Atkin, Polly Burton, Betty Eagan, Sheila Levett, Ken McKeown, Molly McNicholas, Paul Wiles, John Garbera, Dorothy Foy, Margaret Price, Pat Chafer, Pam Lawrence, Mary Johnson, Mr Moore, Norah Ledger, David Hoy, Anita Marshall and all others in the parish or relatives of parishioners who are not well.

Finally, a Christmas joke from Father Joe: A little girl went with her family to see the Christmas lights in the town. At one church, they stopped and looked more closely at a beautifully-done nativity scene. "Isn't that lovely?" said the little girl's grandmother. "Look at all the animals, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus." "Yes, Grandma," replied her grand-daughter. "It is really nice. But there is just one thing that bothers me. Isn't baby Jesus ever going to grow up? He's the same size he was last year."

Father Pat is very kindly giving me a holiday and will be doing next week's newsletter by himself! So any items for it should go to him () – by Wednesday, please. Items for the following weekend (Jan 2^nd/3^rd) to me (), also by Wed, the 30^th.