Newsletter for Week starting on the 25th August 2019 : 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CHURCH
208 Sangley Road, Catford, London SE6 2JS
Fr Antony Megalan Sellam [Parish Priest] – 02086983672
Website: www.holycross-catford.org.uk
24th/25th August 2019 [21st Sunday in Ordinary Time]
Parish Contacts
Parish Office: Lisa O’Hara , Josepha Flahive [02086983672]
Hartley Hall [Angela Allen]
Culverley Road, SE6 2LD
Email: [email protected]
Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Holy Cross Bookshop [02034418240]
4 Brownhill Road, Catford
www.holycrossbooks.co.uk
Holy Cross School [020 8698 2675]
Executive Headteacher: Miss Mary Collins
Head of School: Miss Giovanna Finaldi
www.holycross.lewisham.sch.uk
St Vincent De Paul 07835 188411
Safeguarding Line 07598 524024
Third Thursday Time TTT
Email [email protected]
Finance: Loose £565.10 SO: £483.00
From
Bishop Patrick’s Pastoral Visit Report:
…Parishioners at Holy Cross come from a wide variety of cultural and ethnic
backgrounds e.g. Britain and Ireland, Granada, St. Lucia and other islands in
the Carribean, Sri Lanka and India, Nigeria, Ghana and other parts of West
Africa, Italy and Spain and more recently from Eastern Europe particularly from
Poland. While this changing profile of
the parish is very noticeable in the school, the parish of Holy Cross is an
excellent example of how a parish community can reach out to, welcome, integrate
in a very practical way people of different social, cultural and ethnic
backgrounds in the life and mission of the Church. This ever-changing cultural diversity of
parishioners is a great gift to the parish of Holy Cross but is also a
continuous challenge. One of the
challenges identified during the parish meeting was to find ways through which
the spiritual traditions of the different cultural communities might be
celebrated and shared and thus create a greater mutual understanding and unity
in the parish…
First Holy
Communion 2020:
Application forms for preparation of the First Reconciliation and Holy
Communion are now available at the back of the church, or on the parish
website. Closing date 9th September 2019
Want to become a Catholic or to
find more about our faith?
The RCIA Programme (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults),
starts on 30th September at 7.30pm in Hartley Hall. Please come and see if this
is for you. If you are a parishioner, be brave, invite
friends, family members and acquaintances to take
the opportunity to look at their lives and maybe find some answers to
the big questions. Come and see!
If you are interested please speak to Fr Antony, look at the
parish website to find out more about the RCIA and download the
application form or contact [email protected]
Pray for the sick: Let us pray for the sick including Mariam
Philomin, Charlie Hyam, Rose
Calver, Agatha Lewis, Elizabeth Goba, Florence Nosgobie, Gala Lobo and Ann Whitington. To
include anyone’s name kindly contact Lesley Allen: [email protected]
If you
are sick at home and would like Holy Communion brought to you, please give your name,
address and telephone number to Fr. Antony or Lesley Allen and a Eucharistic
Minister will get in touch with you. Also, if you are aware of a parishioner
who is housebound or ill please let us know. If you are in the hospital and wish to speak to a priest, please
ask the staff to contact the Catholic Chaplain.
Family Fun Day: The final
Family Fun Day is on Thursday 29th August in Mountsfield Park between
11am and 3pm. It is open to all children and parents.
Either come for the whole session or drop-in for a
shorter time. Meet near the Bandstand, look out for a
Gazebo with a HOLY CROSS sign. Please bring your own sandwiches but
snacks will be provided.
Diocesan Day for
Catechists: At St George’s Cathedral Southwark on Saturday
28th September. This Day is for all the Catechists of the
diocese, including those involved in Children’s Liturgy of the Word
and the RCIA process. The Day runs from Coffee and arrival at 10.30
until the Commissioning Mass which starts at 4pm. If you have
never been to a Catechists Day take the opportunity to
be commissioned by his Grace
Archbishop
John Wilson, our newly installed archbishop. Sandwich lunch provided.
Please see Fr Antony or Ossie Folkes if you are interested.
Holy Cross Parish Feast Day: We celebrate our Parish Feast day, the Feast of the Triumph of the
Cross on Saturday 14th September
at the 6.30pm Mass. All parishioners are invited to celebrate our Feast Day and
join us afterwards in the School Hall for a shared celebration. Families and
individuals new to our parish are especially welcome. Please put your name on
the appropriate list at the back of the church if you are able to help, and
what items of food/drink you would like to bring on that day.
Parish Feast Day Choir: We
will be practising the music to celebrate the occasion on 29th August and 12th
September at 7.30pm, in the church. Please come and join us.
GCSE Exam Results: Lots of our young people will be
receiving their results now. Many congratulations to you all. Some of you will
be relieved and overjoyed, some of you might be feeling disappointed.
Notwithstanding the results, we wish you all the best and every happiness in your
future endeavours, and we will remember you in our prayers as you start your
new journey. May God bless you always.
Congregation
for Catholic Education: “Male and Female He Created Them:” In the
midst of ongoing debate about human gender identity, many Catholics are seeking
guidance from the Church in relation to the challenges that emerge within
modern society today. The Congregation for Catholic Education has produced a
document to help Catholics in their understanding of Catholic teaching, to
remain open to dialogue on gender, without embracing the secular ideology
surrounding it. For the online copy use the link below or order a 2019 copy
from www.ctsbooks.org/
http://www.educatio.va/content/dam/cec/Documenti/19_0997_INGLESE.pdf
Live Streaming: Our parish will routinely provide live
streaming of Mass, especially the 11.30am Mass on Sundays, from September. For
the time being, only the sanctuary will be seen in the streaming. This can be
zoomed out till the first pew when we celebrate weddings, Baptism, funerals and
so on. This will be a great help for those housebound, parishioners now living
in other parts of the world and fo those family members whose beloved ones’
sacraments are celebrated here in Holy Cross. To access this, kindly log on to
our parish website or click: http://www.holycross-catford.org.uk/livestreaming.php
R.I. P: Kindly pray for the peaceful repose of
the soul of Thomas Egan whose
funeral service will be at Hither Green
Crematorium on Tuesday 3 September at
1.45pm, and for Ellen Deborah Parsons whose funeral Mass will be on on Friday 11th
September at 1.45pm. May they rest in peace.
Want to receive
any certificate from the Parish Office? Kindly bring your proof of address: Our diocese
advises as follows: It would be required to have the person requesting the
certificates show a form of ID. This would demonstrate compliance with
preventing potential third party access to personal information and that we are
taking security measures seriously. Something like a driving licence or a
utility bill to ensure personal details match the ones on the ID shown would be
a good idea. Some form of ‘check’ needs to be undertaken prior to any personal
information being given out.