18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 31st 2016

DAY OUT SUCCESS FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

Saturday 23rd of July saw Our Lady of the Valley parishioners, people from other Clitheroe Churches, and members of the Clitheroe Mosque hosting a day out for 38 refugees and asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. The organizing team are grateful to everyone for their financial support, practical help, and goodwill.

The weather was kind, and everyone had a good time. At Edisford Bridge the children paddled and played games, learnt how to cook sausages and make bracelets.  A bagpiper turned up to entertain, and our guests were keen to have their pictures taken with him. Later they played diamond cricket on St. Michael and St. John’s school field. Father John led a walk along the River Ribble for a small group of adults, and the Mosque put on a delicious BBQ. Later in the afternoon, everyone headed to Sabden (by the Nick o’ Pendle to take in the views) for a delicious traditional cream tea, put on by Sabden parishioners. We learned that our love of cream cakes was something we all had in common! It was particularly moving to see the children having so much fun: one 8-year-old lad told me it was the best day since he had left home!

Manager for Revive, the Charity we have been working with in Manchester, has written to say:

I wish to thank you again for the great Day Out you organised for the refugee and asylum community at Revive.

Its a fantastic experience for all. The opportunity to see the beautiful country side of Clitheroe; the opportunity to experience the generosity/ hospitality and welcome of your Catholic Parishes and Muslim community were awesome and inspiring.

It was bold and courageous of you to lead and drive this amazing outreach project to the refugee and asylum community.

Everyone was gushing with praise and admiration for you and your team. Many declared the day out as one of the best days of their lives. And the question from everyone has been: Can we do this again, regularly?

I thought we could and should. It is a worthwhile event and a win for all, hence I wish we book it in again in our calendar for 2017 (22nd July). What do you think?

Warm regards to the Christian Parishes and the Muslim community at Clitheroe for making our day.

Thanks and God bless. Uchenna Odenigbo

Just over £1,000 was raised towards the day, and so there are sufficient funds left over in Revive’s account to kick-start a similar event next year. We should give it a go!

Tom Clay

Mark Paver ordained deacon

MARK PAVER  the seminarian who spent some time with us a couple of years ago has been ordained a Deacon in Rome—see the picture on the notice board at the back of church.

Parish/Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage 2016

Ten of our Parishioners left on the Diocesen Pilgrimage  on Friday morning.  Mass for our Diocese will be celebrated at the Grotto at 8.45am (BST) on Monday morning, and on Tuesday the Salford Pilgrims will pass through the Grotto with our petitions at 1.30pm (BST). Both events can be seen live on the ‘Lourdes TV’ website or may be on the  link available on our Parish website—OLOTV or Salford Diocese website. If you miss the live event you can view the video recording. You may spot one of our parishioners!

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 24th 2016

Dear Parishioners,

Not being the sort of bloke who walks into ladies’ toilets, I confess to never having checked the ladies’ facilities in our Clitheroe Parish Social Centre. So at the request of our women’s group I visited their toilets in the Centre and must admit to being surprised at just how dilapidated they are. So a further visit with the maintenance committee and Tony Hargan has resulted in a plan. The toilets will be completely refurbished with four cubicles instead of the present three, three wash basins instead of the present two, the walls and ceiling will be replastered, lighting improved, the flooring will be renewed and baby changing facilities will be introduced. Unfortunately, because of the number of events already booked into the centre and the lengthy holiday, work cannot begin until the end of October. However, to smarten up the place immediately new temporary hand basins will be installed. The development will cost around £12,000 but to help defer the cost, the Women’s group will raise some funds and have been promised assistance by the Knights. The proceeds of the Christmas Fayre also will be given to this project.

With the school closing for the holidays we shall commence to repair the church roof, repoint the west gable end of the church and attend to various parts of the presbytery where the rain managed to penetrate the walls last winter. In addition, the small perimeter wall that runs in front of the main church door will be demolished and rebuilt before it collapses.

You’ll be aware that for the past number of years a parish sponsored walk has been organised to raise funds for the Blackburn HCPT group. This group has now disbanded but the walk will continue and the money raised will be divided equally between a diocesan Caritas project to build a mother and baby welfare unit in Bolton and help fund the new toilets in our Social Centre. This year’s walk will be on Sunday, October 2nd.

Meanwhile, wherever you are or where ever you’re going I wish you a very happy holiday.

Fr John

 

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 17th 2016

The Knit and Knatterthon was a wonderful community event.  With an age range of 97 years, some stayed the full 12 hours and one woman brought her baby for just half an hour to cheer the knitters along.  Nearly all the local Christian denominations were represented.  The conversation flowed easily even amongst complete strangers and Clitheroe Ukulele Band entertained the evening knitters.

75 people put their names on the list of attendees.  This doesn’t include the 12 children from St Michael and St John’s who were an absolute delight, talking and laughing and looking around, all the time knitting away with their competent little fingers.

What was particularly good was the number of young people and the number of people who came to learn or refresh.   Men came too, some who could already knit and some who had never knitted before. The experienced knitters were kept busy teaching the newcomers.   The final number of squares was 135, albeit many of them brought along already knitted.

The event was for Syrian refugees in Turkey, some fleeing their war torn cities but hoping to return to Syria and some, despite advice and education, trying to get across the water to Lesbos.   When the winter comes these people will need the blankets made from the 8 inch squares knitted in Clitheroe.

With thoughts about how we can become a more welcoming community we can make a number of observations:

  • nearly all different Christian communities represented
  • school involvement
  • the number contributing who couldn’t make it on the day
  • young people attending
  • men coming with their wives and learning to knit
  • relaxing experience of chatting whilst knitting
  • learning about the refugee crisis and how people can help
  • people sharing their faith
  • people of faith and no faith working together to a common cause
  • the number of requests for similar events

Concern for refugees is good for community building, bringing together people of different Christian beliefs or none.  The next Knit and Knatter is July 27, but before that we have the Refugee Picnic and Walk on July 23, as mentioned in last week’s newsletter.  Come along.  You will enjoy it.  For details and how you can help, contact Tom Clay on 07962136749

http://fabcare.com/shop/finishing-equipments/dry-clean-press-automatic/ Anthony Brown

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 10th 2016

Dear Parishioners,

The Bishop’s proposal for the restructuring of parishes within the diocese is available at the back of the church. I have mentioned that the reorganisation will not affect our three communities; it is a road that we have already travelled! However, I do urge that you read the 16-page document which offers an overview of how we have come to where we are , and  to where both Pope and Bishop wish us to travel. In the near future I hope to announce a meeting to discuss these issues further.


Mark Paver, who was with us two years ago, has contacted me asking for our prayers. “I am writing to let you know that I am due to be ordained a deacon on July 13th at Palazzola. It is hard to believe that the two years I have been at the English College have passed so quickly. After getting the STB (Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology) done last year, I started a licence in biblical theology this year which has between one and a half to two years to go, so I will still be in Rome for a while yet.

As the ordination approaches I realise that many people and parish communities have been a great support on my journey so far and continue to be so. I am very grateful for the time I spent with you in Clitheroe and Sabden and I often reflect on my experiences there as a concrete context for all the stuff we are doing here. Hopefully it will bear fruit in the future. Please say a prayer for me on 13th. It was good to see some of your parishioners last summer in Lourdes, I don’t know if I will see any again this year?”

So, please do remember Mark in prayer on Wednesday and I propose that we offer the 9.30 Mass for him next Sunday.


A week on Saturday, 23rd July, we shall host a number of refugee families for the day. They should arrive at Edisford Bridge by 10.30am to enjoy games and a picnic by the river while the more energetic will join a walk along our eight-mile circuit of the River Ribble. I do encourage you and all families, children included, to join us if only for an hour, at Edisford, to  meet and mix with our visitors and help them feel welcome.  Bring a picnic!  The Mosque is to provide a Bar-B-Que.

Walkers should meet inside Brungerly park gates, also at 10.30am. The visit will end when they travel over the nick to our parish hall in Sabden for afternoon tea. Come join the fun!

Fr John

TEAM TAN-KEN 2016

From 4th – 7th August 2016 Mark Dixon and his son Sam (Son and Grandson of John & Pat Dixon) will with 4 other young men attempt to cycle 226 miles from Moshi in Tanzania to Dagoretti in Kenya in aid of two charities CAFOD and The Medaille Trust.  They aim to raise £4,400 (which is the distance between Manchester and Nairobi).  The bicycles are gifts from Liverpool Police (i.e. unclaimed stolen bikes) and supported by Clitheroe’s Cycle Recycle.  They will be left in Kenya for use by Youth and Charity workers.  More details are on a poster in the church porch.  Anyone wishing to sponsor them please click here…

 

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 3rd 2016 – Weld Day

Dear Parishioners,

Let me begin with some thoughts of Pope Francis:

“How important it is for our families to journey together towards a single goal! We know that we have a road to travel together; a road along which we encounter difficulties but also enjoy moments of joy and consolation. And on this pilgrimage of life we also share in moments of prayer. What can be more beautiful than for a father and mother to bless their children at the beginning and end of each day, to trace on their forehead the sign of the cross, as they did on the day of their baptism? Is this not the simplest prayer which parents can offer for their children? To bless them, that is, to entrust them to the Lord, so that he can be their protection and support throughout the day. In the same way, it is important for families to join in a brief prayer before meals, in order to thank the Lord for these gifts and to learn how to share what we have received with those in greater need. These are all little gestures, yet they point to the great formative role played by the family in the pilgrimage of everyday life.” Wise words!

I write this page with an eye on the weather forecast which promises Weld Day will be completely free of rain! I hope it remains so for Weld Day is the one day each year on which we celebrate as the parish family that we are.

In the beauty of the Ribble Valley we thank God for the generosity of Thomas Weld and his wife Mary for the gift of Dove Syke meadow on which our parish began. But the parish is more than stone buildings; it was built by living stones, past generations who remain members of our parish family, our heavenly members who look down on us still. Thomas Weld asked only one thing of us and that is that we remember him and his wife in prayer. We do so gladly as also we remember all who have gone before us.

Today also we celebrate with the families of our children from Dunsop, Sabden and Clitheroe who received their first Holy Communion this year. We pray that Jesus Christ will remain their travelling companion throughout life.

Enjoy the day,

Fr John

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 26th 2016

Dear Parishioners,

Congratulations to the parents and the children of our three communities who made their First Holy Communions last Sunday. We pray that this day will prove to be the beginning of a life-long relationship with Jesus Christ. Many in both the parish and the schools worked hard and generously to prepare and encourage the children, and both I and the children’s families are indebted to them.


I haven’t asked parishioners their opinions of the new confessional, reconciliation room. However, one parishioner gave me the following note along with a generous contribution to the cost of its construction: “Please accept this little gift towards the expense of the New Confessional. The peace and love of the forgiveness of Almighty God are truly there.”
If you haven’t yet visited the room, then please do. When entering to receive the sacrament you have the choice of either kneeling in the traditional manner or of sitting on this side of the grille but for those who wish to speak directly to the priest, they should walk through to the chair in the far corner.


Next Sunday, 3rd July is Weld Day, the day on which we remember the generosity of Thomas Weld who in 1798 gave the land on which St Michael & St John’s stands. Thomas asked for no payment other than our prayers for himself and his wife Mary. There will be only one Mass on the field for both Sabden and Clitheroe at 10.30am during which the school choir will lead the singing. During Mass our First Holy Communion children will receive their certificates and altar servers who have completed their introductory year will be invested in the Guild of St Stephen and become fully fledged servers. The Parish Picnic follows with the usual complimentary glass of wine, strawberries, cream and ice cream. Do come along, bring the family, your picnic and some sunshine!


The following Friday and Sunday Thorneyholme School on Dunsop is celebrating, as did St Hubert’s last year, their 150 birthday. Parishioners have contributed photographs and memories to its memorial exhibition which will be open to visitors on Friday 8th July from 1.30 to 3.30pm and on Sunday 10th beginning after the 10am Mass until 2pm.


On 17thth July, during Mass in both Sabden and Clitheroe, Head teachers Zoe Mabbott and Claire Halstead will symbolically entrust their year 6 pupils to the more robust care of St Augustine’s staff.

Fr John

 

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 19th 2016

Dear Parishioners,

This Sunday’s  Day for Life encourages us to reflect how precarious and precious  and interlinked all life is.

Paula has profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and she spends much of her time rocking gently, smiling and looking around her. She cannot talk but she clearly loves to sit outside in her wheelchair, in spontaneous appreciation, listening to the birds, feeling the warmth of the sun and the cool of the wind, taking in the scent of the flowers; just watching the world go by. Above all, she loves people to come and sit with her. As Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche says, people like Paula live by the heart.

Paula reminds us all, especially very busy people, to stop and see that God has given us so many gifts, and often the most wondrous gifts are the simple ones that we take for granted. It is also easy to overlook or ignore or indeed think less of people who rely on the heart, who do not seem to be ‘like us’ because of disability, age, vulnerability or frailty.

In Luke’s Gospel, the disciples come to a crucial turning point as Jesus asks them, “who do you say I am?” Peter’s reply, you are “the Christ” is inspired and spontaneous. It is from the heart. People like Paula ask simply by their presence, “who do you say I am?”. The response is also inspired: each human being, whatever his or her capacities, is wonderfully made in the image of God and as St Paul tells the Galatians, all the baptised are one in Christ. There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’.

In his encyclical on ecology, Laudato si, Pope Francis points out that we are deeply connected to the world around us. However, he adds that “a sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.” The Pope says that “we have only one heart” because ecology is also human ecology. An attitude of the heart allows us to see the world around us with wonder and as grace filled, so that all creation is alive to the glory of God. And the heart reminds us that every human being is a Christ for the other. Pia Matthews

We must arrange a Parish study of  Laudato si  after the summer.

Fr John