Parish News – 6 October

A day of prayer for peace on Monday, 7 October

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference, has affirmed Pope Francis’ and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem’s call for a day of prayer for peace to be held on Monday, 7 October, the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Israel, in response to an escalation of the conflict in the Holy Land. In response to the developing situation, Pope Francis and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, have invited us to mark 7 October, as a day of prayer, penance and fasting for peace in the Holy Land. He speaks of the ‘need to pray, to bring our pain and our desire for peace to God. We need to convert, to do penance, and to implore forgiveness.’”

CAFOD Harvest Family Fast Day Collection

Daniel, a young man in Democratic Republic of the Congo, is carving a better future for his family with carpentry skills he learned in a CAFOD-funded training centre. Give to CAFOD and you’ll fund training, tools, equipment and safe spaces so more people like Daniel can learn new skills and fulfil their God-given potential. Please be generous in giving to today’s retiring collection; give online or by scanning the QR code. If you can, please Gift Aid your donation. Thank you.

Fundraising and Stewardship Campaign

In June of this year we started a fundraising and stewardship campaign to look at the current and future needs of the parish, looking at both the financial needs of the parish and seeking to increase the number of volunteers who are able to give of their time and talents to help in the day-to-day running of the parish. In the coming months, a number of key people who have served the parish for many years in critical roles will retire, and it is urgent and critical that we find volunteers to replace them! Fr David will speak about this in the coming weeks, please listen and be generous in responding to this appeal.

Synod on Synodality – 2024

VATICAN CITY, Oct 2 – At a Mass in St. Peter’s Square Pope Francis opened the 2024 meeting of the Synod on Synodality which, continuing the process begun in 2021 with consultations among all the worldwide Catholic Church, aims to chart the future of the Church. Francis urged participants to enter the discussions with an open mind adding that the meeting was “not a parliamentary assembly, but rather a place of listening in communion”. The meeting includes 368 voting members, 60 of whom are women, and includes lay people, bishops and cardinals, from more than 110 countries. The discussions will continue until October 27. Francis has entrusted a number of the more contentious topics to 10 study groups that are working in parallel to the synod and will report in 2025. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit guide the synod’s deliberations.

Services

Sunday Masses are at 6:30pm (Saturday), 9:45am,  11:15am and 7pm.
Sunday Scripture readings
Notes on the Scripture readings
Normal Weekday Mass times (unless there is a funeral) are 9am Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday after Morning Prayer at 8:45am.
Rest in Peace: The Funeral Mass of Sister Pia Müller, Sister of Sion, be on 11 October at 10am in the church of St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, 2 Moorhouse Rd, London W2 5DJ.
Eucharistic Adoration: Wednesday and Friday after 9am Mass until 10:30am.
Rosary: Tuesday and Friday after 9am Mass.
Confession: The Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession is available on Saturday evening from 6-6:20pm.

Coming up

Padre Pio Group: meets this Sunday, 6 October in church after evening Mass.
Life Ascending Group: meets on Tuesday, 8 October at 10am in the parish rooms.
Thursdays Together: Thursday lunchtimes 11:30am – 1:30pm in the Groves Room, Holy Trinity Church Granville Road N4 4EL. Meet your neighbours and chat over light refreshments.
Prisoners’ Sunday: is on October 13. It marks the start of Prisons Week, and is a day to reflect on and pray for prisoners and their families. It is also an opportunity to consider how individuals, churches, and communities can serve those affected by imprisonment. The theme for Prisoners’ Sunday 2024 is “Today you will be with me in paradise”
World Mission Sunday: is on October 20, our opportunity to support the Church’s mission work in over 1,150 territories worldwide. Our prayers and contributions help build churches, train clergy, and provide essential services to those in need. If you have a Missio Red Box at home please bring it to the Sacristy (labelled with your name) to be emptied and added to the collection.

Secondary School Transfer Forms

Please see Fr David after mass for an appointment, bring along your school transfer forms, and any other forms you wish signed by the parish priest.
St. Anne’s Sixth Form will be holding their Open Evening on Thursday 10 October from 6 to 8pm at the Palmers Green Campus (N13 5TY) for current Year 11 students (boys and girls) and families.

2024-2025 Parish Sacramental Programmes

First Communion: Parents of children in Year 3 or above wishing to make their first Holy Communion next year please collect a First Communion Form and return it by October 1st.
Confirmation: Young people who are in Year 9 could they give Fr David their names and contact details after mass, so that he can make an initial assessment of the numbers who want to be confirmed this year.
Adult Faith Formation: Coming to Mass but not a Catholic? Thinking of becoming a Catholic? Catholic but not made your confirmation? Looking to know more about your faith? Please see Fr David after mass, or email him at the parish e mail, to learn about the upcoming program of faith formation for this year.

Other News:

October – Month of the Holy Rosary: By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates the month of October to the Rosary, one of the best known of all Catholic devotions. October includes the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7). The best way to celebrate the month is, of course, to pray the Rosary. At St Peter’s, the Rosary is prayed after morning Mass on Tuesday and Friday and everyone is welcome. But why is it that the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on that date? On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa. Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as “Our Lady of Victory.” Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed “Our Lady of the Rosary” and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716.

Scrapping the two-child benefit cap The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has renewed its call for the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap on Universal Credit payments and is asking Catholics to contact their local MPs to make their feelings known. The policy is currently under review by the Government’s Child Poverty Taskforce and the Bishops’ Conference has set up an e-Action online at https://www.cbcew.org.uk/contact-mp-two-child-cap/ – a simple form to help Catholics contact their MPs.

Looking forward to the Jubilee Year 2025: For the forthcoming Jubilee Year a series of model Holy Hours have been produced in PDF downloadable format to provide guided prayer and reflection, with moments of silence in the presence of the Lord. The themes are: Creation, Eucharist, Forgiveness, Jubilee, Justice, Marriage and Family, the Risen Jesus, and Vocation. These can be found at: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/category/cbcew/liturgy/mass/eucharist/holy-hour/

Soup Run: Grateful thanks to those who have come forward as drivers/distributors after our last appeal. It has helped to ease the pressure off our current volunteers. We would still always welcome help and also for our sandwich teams. Donations of instant coffee, tuna (no catering sizes please), sweetcorn and mayo always appreciated. For more info contact Kit Greveson on 07507138582 or kit.greveson@gmail.com.

A Day with Mary is taking place at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 12 October (9:45am to 5pm). Further information at https://www.adaywithmary.org/ or https://eventcatholic.com/

Procession in honour of Our Lady of Willesden: On Sunday 13th October at 7pm there will be the annual candlelit procession with the Statue of Our Lady of Willesden from the shrine church and through the streets of Willesden, praying for the protection of London and for the gift of vocations to the priesthood.

Young Catholic Adults and the Traditional English Association of Catholic History is organising a pilgrimage to Catholic York, on 26th and 27th October. It will be themed around St. Margaret Clitherow with visits to her Shrine, her relics at the Bar Convent and the place of her execution. There will also be other social and devotional activities/talks. Please come to as much or as little of the pilgrimage as you want. To book onto this FREE pilgrimage please visit:- https://bookwhen.com/youngcatholicadults-yorkpilgrimage2024

Food Bank donations: As more and more people need to access food banks, we would ask anyone who is able to donate, when they can, to one of our local food banks. Contributions can be made to Holy Trinity Foodbank on Sundays between 1pm and 3:30pm. Please come to the Church Hall on Stapleton Hall Road, next to St Aidan’s School, N4 4RR, near the Albany Road junction.

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Please pray for:

Those who are ill: Christian Overal, Antonio Neto, Zintra Sansom, Brenda Buzec, Amy Gordon, Annette Donivar, Caroline Hilton, Karin Summers, Graham Summers, Joan Summers, Helen Kozlowski, Don Brewis, Roman Cholij, Adeline Oyekoya, Mary Wallace, Margaret Whelan, Kitty Madden, Brendan Whelan, Claire Marchand, Mike Coombes, Gemma Francis, Richard Simon, Noah Purcell–Chandler, Nathalie Renford, Jackie Loivette, Michael Reid, Wendy Fairhurst, Ann Elizabeth Bennett, Joseph Lunn, Michael Hurley, Enid Samaru, Emilie Alcaraz, Ann Kozlowski-Hunt, Gabriel Brimacombe-Rand, Marie-Christine Polak, Frank Farrell, Peter Leung, Elizabeth Herbert, Mr Anthony Mark Selvarajah, Elaine Benjamin, Emma Gordon.

Those who have recently died: Sister Pia Müller, Mariia Karp RIP.