News and Events for the week beginning October 25th
This Sunday October 25th at our Parish Mass we investigate the challenging question of how we truly love God and love our neighbour. When Jesus was asked by the lawyer which was the greatest commandment of all, he began by quoting a crucial passage from the Jewish law. But then Jesus added a second commandment, even though he had been asked only which single commandment was the most important. “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Then, he goes on to say; “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” This was also a quotation from the Old Testament law. I wonder why, when Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, did he answer with two commandments? Wasn’t it enough to say that loving God is the most important commandment of all? Apparently not, from Jesus’ perspective. I expect that Jesus was all too aware of the human tendency to be “religious” but unkind. As a priest, I have seen people come faithfully to worship services, invest themselves in the liturgy and prayers, seeking truly to love God, only to return to their self-absorbed lives. They seem to think that all is well if they love God, no matter how they treat (or mistreat) others. Some of the most pious Christians in churches are often the meanest in their relationships, even with their closest friends and family members.
Jesus reminds us that loving God and loving others are intimately and inextricably intertwined. Yes, loving God is the most important thing of all. But, truly loving God will necessarily spill over into your other relationships. In fact, a good measure of how much you love God is to examine how much you love other people. You can’t have one without the other.
Sunday November 1st is All Saints Sunday when we recall all the saints of God, those whose names we know and the millions for whom we have no name! Parish Mass at 9:30am.
Monday November 2nd is All Souls Day and we offer a special Requiem Mass at 6:00pm for all our departed loved ones. Please add the names of your loved ones to the list of departed that will be read aloud and prayed for at this special Mass as we light candles in memory of our departed loved ones..
Remembrance Sunday November 8th We will offer a Special Mass of Remembrance at 9:30am with names read aloud from the War Memorials. Due to the fact that our Mass begins at 9:30am and there being no coffee, the time for the Act of Remembrance will be just before 11:00am.
SUNDAY SCHOOL IS ON HALF-TERM BREAK. It will return on Sunday 8th November.
The PCC will meet in Church after Mass on Sunday November 15th. Agenda items need to be sent to Colleen our PCC Secretary as soon as possible please.
Covid-19 Safe! Please, take all your Mass sheets and Newsletters home with you.
Change of time for the First Mass of Christmas. We are moving Mass on Christmas Eve from 11:30pm to the earlier time of 10:30pm. On Christmas Day our Family Mass will be at 10:00am.
Parish Finances – Update Despite coming through lockdown and the closure of the Church for public worship at the height of the pandemic, we have continued to see some amazing generosity and commitment to Holy Trinity, both in terms of regular attendance and financial commitment.
As you may know, our Parish Share to the Diocese of Canterbury is £58,338 per year. So, what is the Parish Share? Our Parish share is what each parish contributes to the wider Church to cover the stipend and housing of the parish priest along with pension contributions. We have 334 churches and over 100 church schools in the Diocese of Canterbury. Ministry is offered through 120 full-time parish clergy, 60 non-stipendiary clergy, 170 Readers, and thousands of volunteers – including churchwardens, Authorised Lay Ministers, youth group leaders, church officers and clergy with Permission to Officiate.
Around 16,000 people worship in our churches every week and many more thousands benefit from our mission and ministry through youth and children’s work, lunch clubs, drop-in centres, food banks, winter shelters, community banks and ministry to people in care homes, hospitals, prisons, schools and universities.
To help make this possible, every church contributes to the Parish Share. The Parish Share is a financial contribution made by every parish to the collective life of our diocese. It is an expression of our interdependence and mutual responsibility, enabling every community to share in life-changing mission and ministry.
The good news is that to date, even with all the restrictions that the Covid-19 virus has brought about, we have paid £35,000 of our Share, and are on course to pay another £5,000 very soon, thanks to Gift Aid recovered. Individuals have generously stepped up and paid directly for all altar requisites and sacristy supplies. Others have paid for the extra cleaning materials used during the deep cleans, and others have paid for the extra paper and photocopying needed to have disposable Mass sheets. All in all, we have done very well in what has been an exceedingly difficult year.
We raised £17,000 plus Gift Aid which totals over £20,000 for the organ repairs in only a matter of weeks, and now thanks to another very generous donation, we are preparing the faculty application for the installation of a new up to date public address and sound system that will include a Loop system for the hard of hearing (£7,000).
All in all, this has been a tough year so far, but what a year of generous and committed giving and support you have given to your Parish Church. However, our financial health is I believe only one indicator of our spiritual health, and it is good to report that numbers at Mass hold steady. So, as your parish priest I can only say a very sincere Thank you!
Live Streamed Mass As from the beginning of November we will be re-starting the “live stream” Sunday Mass for the benefit of all those who cannot yet be with us in Church week by week, but who miss worship.
