Category Archives: Sabden

3rd Sunday of Lent – 8th March 2015

Dear Parishioners,

Pope Francis said last Sunday that Confession is meant to be a sincere moment of conversion, an occasion to demonstrate trust in God’s willingness to forgive his children and to help them back on the path of following Jesus. He then offered this examination of conscience:

  •  Do I turn to God only when I’m in need?
  •  Do I attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation?
  •  Do I begin and end the day with prayer?
  •  Am I embarrassed to show that I am a Christian?
  •  Do I rebel against God’s plan?
  •  Am I envious, hot-tempered, biased?
  •  Am I honest and fair with everyone, or do I fuel the “throwaway culture?”
  •  In my marital and family relations, do I uphold morality as taught in the Gospels?
  •  Do I honour and respect my parents?
  •  Have I refused newly conceived life? Have I snuffed out the gift of life? Have I helped do so?
  •  Do I respect the environment?
  •  Am I part worldly and part believer?
  •  Do I overdo it with eating, drinking, smoking, and amusements?
  •  Am I overly concerned about my physical well-being, my possessions?
  •  How do I use my time? Am I lazy?
  •  Do I want to be served?
  •  Do I dream of revenge, hold grudges?
  •  Am I meek, humble, and a builder of peace?

    He concluded “Whoever says he is without sin is a liar or is blind.”

Fr John

 

2nd Sunday of Lent – 1st March 2015

Dear Parishioners

Today you are invited to take two consultation papers.
The first is from Bishop John outlining a number of questions concerning the life and organization of the diocese. If you wish to respond to any of them, then please email the Bishop directly on consultation@dioceseofsalford.org.uk or write to him at Wardley Hall, Wardley Hall Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 2ND.
The second is from the Bishops Conference of England and Wales, seeking your thoughts on Marriage and Family life in 2015, as a part of the preparation for the Meeting (Synod) of Bishops in Rome in October. The parish has produced a questionnaire listing 6 questions posed by our Bishops. If you respond then do so as concisely as possible so that replies may easily be collated and forwarded to Bishop John. Responses must be returned within two weeks, by 15th March.

Now to another important matter. Did you know that according to the 2011 census around a quarter of the population of England and Wales reported that they have no religion? This represents some 14 million people, a number that has doubled since the 2001 census. Another sobering statistic is that over half the people who self-identify as Catholics have little or no contact with the Church. Surely something must be done to challenge this situation?
Pope Francis took the lead last year when he published Gaudium Evangelii (The joy of the Gospel). It is a wakeup call to the whole Church but particularly to the flagging Church in Western Europe. He proposes that we come together in prayer and in groups to examine how best we may share both the joy that the Gospel brings and our faith that gives meaning and purpose to life.
In response to this call our bishops have launched an initiative called Proclaim 15 which aims to inspire, support and encourage parishes to do just that.
We begin on Wednesday at 7.30pm in the Hall to look at what a relationship with Jesus means. Then on 18th March: what is a disciple of Jesus? and finally on 25thMarch: how do we share our story?

Come on: respond to Pope Francis and at the very least do it for Lent!

Fr John

The Baptism of the Lord – 11th January 2015

Dear Parishioners,

Bishop John has sent the following letter to the priests of the diocese:
“As part of the work of the Synod on the family, you may know that Pope Francis has asked us to take time to reflect on marriage and family life, and our own experience. It is all too evident that both marriage and family life have been challenged and, in our generation, they have seen unprecedented breakdown. Despite its many struggles, we know that without the gift of family our society would have lost something fundamentally important and good. Marriage is such a noble vocation and family life must be strengthened and assisted, especially in times of difficulty.
The Bishops of England and Wales have prepared some simple reflections on the Call, the Journey and the Mission of marriage and family life. I am asking that these reflections be made available to all parishes. I ask you to invite your congregations to read these reflections and to share your thoughts with one another, especially in your families. If you would like to share those reflections with me then I would be happy for you to write to me. I cannot promise to answer every reply but I will certainly consider what you write, and will use it as part of my submission to Cardinal Vincent Nichols and to Bishop Peter Doyle, who are to be the representatives from England and Wales at the second Synod on the family next October”.
That is Bishop John’s request but the question I have is: How do we implement this, how do we organize a parish wide consultation?
I propose to take the discussion papers to the Forum on Wednesday for you to discuss and suggest how best we may as a parish tackle this project and produce a report. This raises a slight problem: attendance at Forum isn’t great and when it is held at Sabden even fewer go. So, I appeal to all who are interested in the future of our church and country to share cars and make the short journey to St Mary’s parish hall and join the discussion and help us find a way of responding to the bishop’s request.
Secondly, Last November Pope Francis convened a conference in Rome to tackle the scourge of human trafficking, modern day slavery. It was attended by Ministers and Police Chiefs from many governments. Anthony Brown will tell us briefly of one charity that has heeded the Pope’s call for ordinary people to raise awareness of this problem.

Please do respond to both the Pope’s and our Bishop’s requests for action on these two different but important issues.

Fr John

 

RELIGIOUS LEADERS PLEDGE TO WORK TOGETHER TO END SLAVERY BY 2020

Pope Francis and leaders of other churches and religions signed a declaration pledging to work together to help end modern slavery in the world by 2020. He urged governments, businesses and all people of good will to join forces against this “crime against humanity.” Tens of millions of people are “in chains” because of human trafficking and forced labour, and it is leading to their “dehumanisation and humiliation,” the Pope said at the ceremony on 2 December, the U.N. Day for the Abolition of Slavery.  Every human person is born with the same dignity and freedom, and any form of discrimination that does not respect this truth “is a crime and very often an abhorrent crime,” the Pope said.

Inspired by their religious beliefs and a desire “to take practical action,” the Pope and 11 leaders representing the Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, Anglican, Buddhist and Hindu faiths made a united commitment to help eradicate slavery worldwide. The leaders signed the joint declaration at the headquarters of Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican Gardens. The signatories included: Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury; Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee; Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi, an influential Shiite scholar; and representatives signing on behalf of Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar University – a leading Sunni Muslim institution in Cairo – and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

The declaration recognised that any action that fails to respect every person’s freedom and dignity “is a crime against humanity.” “We pledge ourselves here today to do all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond, to work together for the freedom of all those who are enslaved and trafficked so that their future may be restored,” it said. “Today we have the opportunity, awareness, wisdom, innovation and technology to achieve this human and moral imperative,” said the joint declaration, which was read aloud in English by a man from Ghana and in Spanish a woman from Mexico, both of whom had been victims of human trafficking and forced labor.

The initiative was organized by the faith-based Global Freedom Network, which was launched in March after a joint agreement by  the Vatican, Al-Azhar University and the Anglican Communion. According to the 2014 Global Slavery Index, almost 36 million people are currently caught in some form of modern slavery; the International Labour Organisation estimates that organised crime networks reap about 150 billion dollars a year from trafficking in persons, about 80% of that from prostitution. http://ncronline.org/news/global/pope-religious-leaders-pledge-work-together-end-slavery-2020

Watch a short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnns_ct5c7c

Sign the declaration: http://www.globalfreedomnetwork.org/declaration/

Traffik Jam Concert A Resounding Success

The Parish Hall was full to capacity at the Traffik Jam concert at the Parish Centre on 31st October.  The event raised £2,222.50 for the Medaille Trust.  You may have noticed that the figure keeps going up.  It isn’t too late to add to it.  The Medaille Trust is a charity that provides safe houses for people rescued from human trafficking.  Starting with the Garage Band who played English and Irish music with a fine blend of lyrical ballads, comedy and banter, the concert moved onto Nyima Murry’s haunting folk/blues and some of her own compositions.  The evening finished with the hall echoing to the sounds of over two hundred voices singing popular songs along with Clitheroe Ukulele Orchestra.  It was an evening of fun in aid of a serious issue, the music ranging from light hearted sing alongs to the searing reality of human trafficking.  Nyima Murry sang a trafficking song specially composed for the occasion.

Speaking at the concert Anthony Brown said that the Medaille Trust has 6 safe houses, 3 for sex victims and 3 for men plus a family unit and an Albanian Unit.  Government figures for referrals of potential victims of trafficking  for 2013 in the UK were 1746, of which approximately two thirds were female and two thirds were sexual exploitation.  Nearly one third were minors.  These figures are known cases and represent the tip of an iceberg.  Locally, we are working with the Police via parishioner Detective Chief Inspector Sion Hall.  In East Lancashire there has only been one prosecution in recent years but there is no room for complacency.  The trafficking industry is massive world wide and growing and the Police need the public’s eyes and ears.

A large number of people and organisations have been very generous with their support and particular mention should be made of Sign Design, Burnley for their large outdoor posters and Jenny Press for their large free advert.   Donations and raffle prizes have been many but notably from the Lancaster Foundation, Manchester Football Museum, Ultraframe, Carter Leisure, Sitting Pretty, Byrnes Wine Shop, Townsend Records, Booths and Sainsburys.  Thanks to generous raffle prizes the raffle alone made £354 and sponsorship and donations amounted to £663.50.

 

 

 

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 12th October 2014

Dear Parishioners,

The response of the Church to Human Trafficking

Pope Francis has made the fight against human trafficking a priority in his papacy and recently attended a conference in Rome, co-ordinated by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales. He has met with victims and described trafficking as “an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ. It is a crime against humanity.”
The UK is prime destination country for trafficking. Some people are brought directly to the UK for sexual exploitation or slave labour, while others are exploited in transit countries before ultimately arriving in the UK. The majority of trafficked victims in the UK are from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. The Home Office estimates that between 4,000 and 10,000 women have been trafficked into the UK. You may think that human trafficking is confined to the major cities but it is on our doorstep. In recent years there have been instances of trafficking in Preston, Burnley and Rochdale and it is beyond doubt that the majority of trafficking crimes go undetected.
The Catholic Church in England and Wales is now developing a national response to the destructive practice of human trafficking and is increasingly playing an important role in raising awareness of the scale of human trafficking and developing ways to counter this crime. This is not only a job for the experts and we can all play a part through raising awareness and praying for an end to this most destructive of crimes against vulnerable people.
What we can do within parishes? Pray; raise awareness; volunteer; contact your MP; campaign for slave free labour; donate. For my own part, I aim to start a Parish Anti- Trafficking Group with a webpage on the Parish website. I am also working closely with the Medaille Trust, a charity working in Salford Diocese that provides safe houses for trafficked victims and with Mark Wiggin of Caritas Salford in developing ideas for awareness raising especially with young people.
There will a be a concert at St Michaels and St John’s Parish Centre on Friday 31 October, 7pm. Besides an entertaining evening, the concert is a fundraiser so please spread the word. For more information contact me on 01200 422811 or abrown.boggarts@gmail.com

Thankyou

Anthony Brown
Diocesan Representative (Salford) for the Medaille Trust

 

Coffee morning for seminarian

Coffee Morning raises £170

The Parish is sponsoring a seminarian in India during his four years of study before ordination. His name is Br. Pairdha Rathna Babu. We are looking to raise £500 a year.

 

The ‘Coffee and Cupcakes’, support a seminarian, morning was a runaway success.

Tom and Kathryn would like to thank all the wonderful guests who attended the event, bought tickets and raffle tickets. Everyone had a fabulous time, meeting new friends whilst enjoying the delicious cakes and pavlovas.  A terrific £170.66 was raised toward the Parish total.

 

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