Category Archives: Sabden

26th Sunday in Ordinary time – 30th September 2018

The S.V.P. in Our Lady of the Valley

Annually, September is designated as an awareness month for the St. Vincent de Paul Society and you will have noticed posters on the church pillars showing aspects of our work. Each year we give parishioners information about our work and how we allocate our funds which parishioners have kindly donated through the quarterly collections.

At present we have 22 active members who meet weekly on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. The purpose of these meetings is to pray together and to plan our work.

The S.V.P. gives its members the opportunity to address the two great commandments: love of God and love of neighbour. Membership is a vocation, a calling to serve Christ in his poor. It enables us, with all our weaknesses and struggles to serve those most in need and in serving, to grow and become spiritually enriched. In this ever changing world, with poverty increasing in a multitude of different guises, the demands and opportunities for service are many and varied.

Since last March, members have put in 3500, hours visiting people in hospital, in residential homes and in their own homes. They have transported people to medical appointments, Sunday Mass and Masses of healing and have supported 30 or more families both financially and practically. Our total income for the financial year was £5,255 and we would like to thank again all who have contributed for your great generosity. A report on how this money has been distributed will be given out after Mass. We have also used funds from a legacy to send two families of five on a short holiday this summer, something which they would have been unable to do.

We would like you to let us know if you are aware of anyone who needs help or support. Our work is confidential and all members are DBS checked.

Please consider joining us to help put the words of Jesus into practise. “I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.” All you need is to be able to offer some time and love.

For more information please contact Peter on 01200 441081 or speak to any SVP member. Thank you for all your help and support.

SVP Conference Members

 

Dowry Tour of Our Lady of Walsingham

The Slipper Chapel statue of Our Lady of Walsingham will visit every English Catholic Diocese and Cathedral between 2018-2020.  The statue will come to Salford Cathedral on the weekend of 18-20 October.  Full details on flyers in porch or visit www.dioceseofsalford.org.uk

 

25th Sunday in Ordinary time – 23rd September 2018

Dear Parishioners,
An extract from Pope Francis speaking with recently married couples in Dublin.

Nowadays we are not used to anything that really lasts for the whole of our lives. If I feel hungry or thirsty, I can eat; but my feeling of being full does not last even a day. If I have a job, I know that I might lose it or I may have to choose a different career. It is even hard to keep track of the world as it changes all around us, as people come and go in our lives, as promises are made but often broken or left unfulfilled. Perhaps what you are really asking me is something even more basic: Is there anything precious that endures at all? Even love itself? We know how easy it is today to find ourselves caught up in “the culture of the provisional”, the ephemeral. That culture strikes at the very roots of our growth in hope and love. How can we experience “the truly lasting” in this culture of the ephemeral?

Here is what I would say to you. Of all the kinds of human fruitfulness, marriage is unique. It is about a love that gives rise to new life. It involves mutual responsibility for the transmission of God’s gift of life, and it provides a stable environment in which that new life can grow and flourish. Marriage in the Church, that is, the sacrament of matrimony, shares in a special way in the mystery of God’s eternal love. When a Christian man and a woman enter into the bond of marriage, the Lord’s grace enables them freely to promise one another an exclusive and enduring love. Their union thus becomes a sacramental sign of the new and eternal covenant between the Lord and his bride, the Church. Jesus is ever present in their midst. He sustains them throughout life in their mutual gift of self, in fidelity and in indissoluble unity. His love is a rock and a refuge in times of trial, but more importantly, a source of constant growth in pure and lasting love.

We know that love is God’s dream for us and for the whole human family. Please, never forget this! God has a dream for us and he asks us to make it our own. So do not be afraid of that dream! Cherish it and dream it together each day anew. In this way, you will be able to support one another with hope, strength, and forgiveness at those moments when the path grows rocky and it becomes hard to see the road ahead. God binds himself to remain faithful to his covenant, even when we grieve him or grow weak in our love. He tells us: “I will never fail you nor forsake you!” (Heb 13:5). As husband and wife, anoint one another with those words of promise, every day for the rest of your lives. And never stop dreaming!

Fr John

 

24th Sunday in Ordinary time – 16th September 2018 (Home Mission Sunday)

HOME MISSION SUNDAY

In today’s Gospel Jesus presents us, as disciples, with a challenging question, ‘Who do you say I am?
For some the most challenging element of this question is whether we talk about him at all.  Today on Home Mission Sunday we pray for the spread of the Gospel in our own towns and villages and country.

There is a second collection as you leave church which will be used to help Catholics in England and Wales become more confident in sharing their faith, particularly by training and supporting diocesan evangelisation personnel and programmes.

Father Callum

This weekend we welcome back to the parish newly ordained Fr Callum Brown.

We wish him well in his priesthoold and pray that he will have a long and fulfilled ministry.

Pastoral Ministry & Leadership – Diploma course

DIPLOMA IN PASTORAL MINISTRY & LEADERSHIP  In association with the Liverpool Archdiocese and this year Wrexham Diocese.  The course begins January 2019 and ends December 2021 Cost £2,600 payable over three instalments.  Information Evening at Salford Cathedral Centre Tuesday 9th October 7.30—9pm.  This will be discussed at our next Parish Forum on 19th September.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary time – 2nd September 2018

LAUDATO SI AND THE ST MARY’S (SABDEN) PROJECT

St Francis of Assisi shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.  This one sentence from Laudato Si’ sums up the interconnectedness of everything Catholic, and everything our Parish is trying to do under the banners of Hope in the Future and the CAFOD Live Simply Award.

As a key part of our CAFOD Live Simply Award we are planning a major environmental project building on the enormous amount of work already undertaken, over many years, by a few stalwart souls at St Mary’s church, Sabden. Our plan is to make the place not only somewhere to glorify God but an exemplar also of how we can live simply, sustainably with creation, and in solidarity with the poor.  This is the essence of everything Pope Francis is saying to us.

Few parishioners away from Sabden will be aware of just how much effort has gone into Sabden already.  Removing the AstroTurf and covering the hardcore below it necessitated shovelling 40 tons of topsoil and 10 tons of bark but in addition paths were laid, beds of wild flowers planted, weeds killed, hedges trimmed hedges and a rockery built.  Most recently we have seen a stone circle at the front of the church with pots and plants.   The first priority now is to remake the bed in front of the church before two weddings in September.  However, there is much more to be done and then regular maintenance.

An element in our Live Simply Award Plan is: Encourage parishioners to become involved with the work behind St Mary’s and at the cemetery, with a particular emphasis on the practical and educational aspects of preserving the environment.  On August 13 we met to discuss how we might take this forward and full details of that meeting can be found on the Parish website under Groups/Laudato Si at        http://www.olotv.org.uk/parish-groups/laudato-si

Please consider playing a part in what we hope will become a community and social venture for young and old.  We aim to encourage participation not only via the Parish but also the schools.  We hope that a lot of people doing a little, rather than a few doing a lot, will not only make the task less onerous but also a pleasant way to spend a Saturday.  The first date is Saturday, 8th September.

Laudato Si Group

21st Sunday in Ordinary time – 26th August 2018

Prayer from the World Meeting of Families

God, our Father,
We are brothers and sisters in Jesus your Son,
One family, in the Spirit of your love.
Bless us with the joy of love

Make us patient and kind,
gentle and generous,
welcoming to those in need.
Help us to live your forgiveness and peace.

Protect all families with your loving care,
Especially those for whom we now pray:

(Pause and remember family members and others)

Increase our faith,
Strengthen our hope,
Keep us safe in your love,
Make us always grateful for the gift of life that we share.

This we ask, through Christ our Lord,

Amen

Mary, mother and guide, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, father and protector, pray for us.
Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, pray for us.

Bank Holiday Monday – Cemetery Mass

This Monday at 11.00am, Mass will be celebrated in the old Catholic cemetery for all deceased parishioners and also deceased family and friends of those who attend.