Fr Tony writes.....

We are at the start of Holy Week . The Church asks us to set aside other things and to make time to share in the Liturgy of Holy Week. During these days we relive the last days of Our Lord’s life on earth. On Palm Sunday we join him in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We acclaim him as our Lord and King. On Maundy Thursday we come to share in Jesus’ last supper.
We see him wash the feet of his disciples. After Mass we join him in the Garden of Gethsemane as we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament. On Good Friday afternoon we come for the Liturgy of the Passion. We come to kiss the feet of Christ on the Cross, and to receive him in Holy Communion.On Holy Saturday night the Church invites us to keep vigil and to celebrate the Lord’s Rising from the Dead.
These three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are three parts of one drama. I would especially encourage those of you who have never taken part in the Easter Vigil to do so this year. It is the most important Liturgy of the entire year. It is full of music and colour and rich symbolism.
It is the climax of the story and the source of our Christian hope.
I invite each of you to do as much as you can to enter into this Holy Week.

There has been a lot in the media recently about equality before the Law, and how this affects the rights of religious groups to live by the principles of their faith. The Equality Bill, now before Parliament, raises a number of contentious issues. The remarks of the Pope in his address to the Bishops of England and Wales provoked considerable coverage in the press and on radio and TV, much of it ill-informed. It is not about religious groups seeking to “impose” their views on everyone else. Rather, it is about our right as Christians to contribute to the public debate. It is fundamentally about building a society that allows for diversity of views, respects the dignity of each person, but also respects the rights of people to follow their conscience in serious moral issues.
As always in these matters, “the devil is in the detail”. The Church has always taught that it is the duty of our schools to cooperate with parents when it comes to teaching children and young people about questions to do with sex and human relations. At the moment the Government is trying to have it both ways, in allowing our schools to teach in accordance with our beliefs, but insisting that schools should teach what is decreed by the Government. It is surely impossible to speak about these various moral issues without betraying one’s own convictions. A Catholic school cannot be morally neutral. This is a very serious question, and will need to be on our agenda as the General Election approaches.

We are already two and a half weeks into Lent. Perhaps this is a good time to look at what we are doing to make Lent special. At the weekend before Ash Wednesday I wrote suggesting a number of ways of doing that. I want now to encourage you to keep going. Even if you have not managed to keep those Lenten resolutions as you hope, now is a good time to renew the effort.I am sure that there are many people who could come to a weekday Mass with just a little effort. There are many sick and housebound parishioners who would love to be able to come to Mass. There is really no better way to put Christ at the centre of our lives than by taking part in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
I would also want to encourage you to make time for Confession during Lent. The Church asks us to make use of this Sacrament especially during Lent. It is an excellent preparation for Easter when we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, which won for us the great grace of forgiveness. Do make use of the opportunities provided here in the coming weeks of Lent.

This weekend there are two things I want to mention. The first is to how grateful I am for the way you continue to support the parish in the collection week by week. In the present economic climate that can’t be easy. The collection was down a bit for a few weeks, but I was pleased to see last week that it was up again. Please do what you can to ensure that we can pay our bills and keep the show on the road. Your generosity is much appreciated. Thank you.
This is an advance notice that we will have a Day of Adoration on Saturday April 17th. There will be Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from after the Saturday Mass at 10.a.m until Benediction at 4.50 p.m. immediately before the Vigil Mass at 5.15 p.m. This is an opportunity to celebrate this” Year of the Priest”, and to pray for priests and for vocations to the priesthood. There will be more details later, but I am hoping to involve different groups in the Parish in taking responsibility for different parts of the day.