Dear Parishioners,

On 3^rd September 1914, following the outbreak of World War One, Benedict XV was elected pope. He immediately embarked on a number of projects to stop the war that he condemned as “the suicide of civilized Europe.”
In November 1914, Benedict published the first of his 12 encyclical letters. The greatest and wealthiest nations, he wrote, were “well-provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has devised.” He went on: “There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter as day by day the earth is drenched with newly shed blood and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and the slain.” He reminded all of Christ’s words, “A new commandment I give you: that you love one another.”
On December 7th 1914 Benedict pleaded with all sides to hold a Christmas truce, asking “that the guns fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang,” to allow for negotiations for an honourable peace. His plea was ignored, but there were informal truces along parts of the Western front.
Benedict also believed in action. He opened a Vatican office to reunite prisoners of war with their families and he tried to persuade neutral Switzerland to take in any combatants who were suffering from tuberculosis. While the Vatican’s bank balance was not healthy, he spent 82 million lire on relief work.
In July 1915, Benedict published a letter “To the Peoples Now at War and to Their Rulers.” The diplomacy that followed culminated two years later in a seven-point plan, or a peace note, as it was modestly termed. The peace note contained many of the suggestions of the 1915 letter, proposing a cessation of hostilities, a reduction of armaments, a guaranteed freedom of the seas, international arbitration, and Belgium restored to a guaranteed independence. All sides should forgo claims of compensation (the ignoring of which was to prove so disastrous a part of the Versailles Treaty that lead to WWII). Only Britain did not oppose the note outright and was willing to explore the possibilities. Germany’s initial interest was lost when the collapse of Russia made an Allied victory less likely. French President Georges Clemenceau simply viewed the proposals as evidence that the Vatican was anti-French!
Benedict failed to stop or curtail the war but two years before his unexpected death from pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 67 his efforts were recognised by the Muslim Turks who erected a statue of him in Istanbul to commemorate “the benefactor of all people, irrespective of nationality or religion.”

Had Europe heeded Pope Benedict’s repeated pleas, millions of lives would have been saved and probably neither Stalin nor Hitler would have come to power.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners

Today we celebrate; Day for Life. First, an extract from Lord David Alton’s speech in the Lord’s debate a week ago followed by a most remarkable story.
‘How much autonomy is there in this Bill? I think that the word “assisted” in the title is the key. Who will be required to do the assisting? It will be doctors, of course, and very few want to do it. One of my sons is training to be a medic, and he tells me that he is deeply concerned about this Bill because of the proposals to change the nature of the healer and defender into the destroyer of life. That is why the British Medical Association, the Royal Colleges, the British Geriatric Society, the hospices and 95% of palliative medicine specialists oppose a change in the law. We had a reference earlier from my noble friend Lady Grey-Thompson to Professor Theo Boer from the Netherlands. He said that he now regrets that on the basis of the argument for greater autonomy and freedom he supported changes in the law there. He said: “I used to be a supporter of the Dutch law. But now, with 12 years of experience, I take a very different view.” Pressure on doctors to conform to patients’—or in some cases relatives’—wishes can be intense. Professor Boer admitted he was, “wrong—terribly wrong, in fact”, to have believed that regulated euthanasia would work. One reason why he has changed his mind is because of the inevitability of incrementalism. Euthanasia, he says, is, “on the way to becoming a default mode of dying for cancer patients”. Since 2008, assisted deaths in Holland have increased by about 15% every year, maybe reaching a record of 6,000 a year. What of incrementalism here? The 2011 commission of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, said that assisted dying should not be offered to disabled people who are not terminally ill, “at this point in time”. At what point in time will it be right to offer to end the lives of people with disabilities? How long will it be before it becomes expected? Only today the Secretary of State for Health, the right honourable Jeremy Hunt, said that changing the law would “devalue” the lives of people living with permanent disabilities.

Finally, in her autobiography Mother Courage, published last Friday in Portugal, Dolores Aveiro, wrote “At the time I was already 30 and had three children, and it seemed to me I couldn’t face a new birth and a bigger family so I turned to a doctor who, however, refused to operate on me.” Her husband was an unemployed alcoholic who later died in 2005. The doctor’s reluctance and his attempts to dissuade her from an abortion did not stop her from attempting to abort her child herself. She failed. Then little by little she relented and decided to welcome her fourth child. “If it’s God’s will that this child be born, so be it.”
On February 5, 1985 she delivered a healthy boy who grew to be one of the world’s most famous footballers: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners

The holiday season has begun and I wish all parishioners a restful break and safe travel.

Today the Church in the British Isles celebrates its annual ‘Day for Life’ dedicated to celebrating and upholding the dignity of human life while respecting all God’s creation.
Pope Francis tells us what being a protector of life is: “protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world… It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.” The pope speaks of “protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.” He emphasises the importance of the family, “husbands and wives first care for each other, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents.” He also stresses the need for us to care for society by “building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, all creation has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it.”
Today we pray that we may prove to be builders of a better world and protectors of life. There is a retiring collection at Mass to support this work and prayer cards are available for you to take.
I write this on the eve of the Falconer debate in the Lords. An international survey by The Economist in 2010 ranked Britain top among 40 nations, including the United States, for quality of end-of-life care. What is needed is to ensure that everyone has access to the best palliative care available. In contrast, assisted suicide is a counsel of despair. No one should ignore the fact that every organisation and lobby group representing the disabled in this country is totally opposed to this bill and we pray that it will be defeated.

When parishioners ask me for a character or a faith reference I’m happy to oblige, provided that I know the individual. However it may be many months before a school or whatever actually makes a request. So, to jog my memory and help me provide an honest and full reference I have produced a form for those seeking a reference. Needless to say, no one should give my name as a referee without consulting me first.

The 99 group (evangelisation) please meet on Thursday at 8pm in the Presbytery.                                                    

Fr John

Dear Parishioners
Come Weld Day the rain disappeared and although it wasn’t wall to wall sunshine it was a pleasantly warm day and after the Mass we enjoyed a wonderful parish get-together as picnics were opened and shared. Congratulations to our eight altar servers who received their guilds during the Mass and the school choir who led the singing. Our thanks go to Phil and Judith Byrne for the bubbly, Livesey’s for the strawberries, the school for the cream and Dave Warbrick with his vintage ice-cream van for the cornets and 99’s! Lastly, I mustn’t forget Alan Moon who did sterling work preparing the garden. If you have any suggestions as to how we may improve the Weld Day celebration next year, then please do let me know.

Does your church bench feel any different this weekend and more comfortable? Two benches have been removed from each side of the centre aisle to create better access and more space. The resulting loss in seating capacity which will affect only a few high days and holidays will be more than compensated for by the more comfortable benches.

On the initiative of Imam Ashraf and Lily Perrin the Clitheroe Interfaith Friendship group which used to meet on a regular basis until five years or so ago met again a week last Tuesday in the Clitheroe Mosque. Most of the Clitheroe and Sabden churches were represented and resolved that we should meet on a regular basis to learn about each other and build bridges between our communities. Future meetings will be hosted by the different churches beginning with the URC on Tuesday 2nd September at 7.30pm. In the radicalised world in which we live such gatherings are important and so do consider coming along even if only out of curiosity. Meetings will end at 9pm sharp!

Today is Sea Sunday. Even in the 21st century seafarers lead tough lives, facing danger not only from the elements but also heavy machinery in the least regulated industry in the world. Most are from developing countries, often live in basic and cramped conditions, and spend eleven months at sea cut off from their families. Shipping is a competitive industry and ships spend little time in ports. But when docked their crews value the hand of friendship and the practical, personal and spiritual help the chaplains of the Apostleship of the Sea offer to them regardless of their religion. Once a year on Sea Sunday we are asked to support this work by our prayer and financial support.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners
Last Tuesday Pope Francis met informally with a youth vocation group at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican gardens.

“Our Lady is so important in our life. She accompanies us in our life’s decisive choice, our vocation choice, because she accompanied her Son on his vocational path which was so hard, so painful. She accompanies us always.
When a Christian says to me, not that he doesn’t love Our Lady, but that it doesn’t occur to him to seek Our Lady or to pray to Our Lady, I feel sad. I remember once, almost 40 years ago, I was in Belgium at a congress, and there was a couple of catechists, both university professors with their children, a beautiful family, and they spoke of Jesus Christ so well. And, at a certain point, I said: “And devotion to Our Lady?” “But we have gone beyond that stage. We know Jesus Christ so well that we have no need of Our Lady.” And what came to my mind and heart was: “But … poor orphans!” It’s so, no? Because a Christian without Our Lady is an orphan. Also a Christian without the Church is an orphan. A Christian is in need of these two women, two Mothers: the Church and Our Lady. And to make a “test” of a correct Christian vocation, one must ask oneself: how is my relation with these two Mothers, with Mother Church and with Mother Mary. This is not a “pious” thought, no, it is pure theology. How is my relation with the Church, with my Mother Church? And how is my relation with Our Lady, who is my Mum, my Mother?
This does us good: we must never leave her and go on our own. I wish you a good journey of discernment. The Lord has his vocation for each one of us, the place where He wants us to live our life. But we must seek and find it, and then continue to go forward.
I would like to add something else – beyond that of the Church and Our Lady. We are living in a culture of the provisional: yes this, but for now only. Will you marry? Yes, yes, but only as long as love lasts, then each one to his own home again …!
A Bishop told me that a young man said to him: “I would like to become a priest, but only for ten years.” The provisional is like that. We are afraid of commitment. And to choose a vocation, any vocation, but especially those vocations of state: marriage, consecrated life, the priesthood, one must choose unconditionally and with commitment.
Very good. In this regard, I think that one who has his way securely marked out is the Pope! Because the Pope …. where will the Pope end up? There, in that tomb, no?”

A poor translation but an important message,

……Fr John

Dear Parishioners

Congratulations to the children of both churches who made their First Holy Communions last Sunday. We pray that they will grow in appreciation of God’s greatest gift to us.

Please remember in prayer the Christians of Iraq. Mass was not celebrated in Mosul last Sunday for the first time in 1,600 years!

Next Sunday, 7^th July is Weld Day, the day on which we remember the generosity of Thomas Weld who in 1798 gave the land on which our parish 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. The usual complimentary glass of wine, strawberries and ice cream will be on offer: you bring along the family, a picnic and some sunshine.

The following Sunday, 13^th July, in both churches Head teachers Zoe Mabbott and Claire Halstead will symbolically deliver their year 6 pupils from their tender care to the more robust hands of St Augustine’s Head teacher Mr Mike Wright.

New gates have been erected on the parish field at a cost of £2,000. After almost 6 years chasing dogs and their owners from the field (doggy business and little children don’t mix well!) as also teenagers holding secret drinks parties (and worse) I decided robust policing didn’t enhance my priestly image! Hopefully the gates will give the message: no trespassing!

Some years ago Parish Forum agreed that we would support a seminarian in the developing world. We are currently sponsoring a young man in India during the final four years of his training for the priesthood by paying £500 a year. Last year, fundraising didn’t get off the ground so the Knights paid the initial £500 instalment. I appeal to the parish as a whole to run small independent fundraising schemes along the lines of a coffee morning for friends with a small raffle to help raise this year’s £500. There is a letter from the seminarian with his picture on the notice board.

Hopefully this will generate a greater awareness of the need for vocations in our diocese. Worryingly, last year no new student entered training and there is no one this year. Please do not be tempted to think that there are Fr Frankie Mulgrews or Mark Pavers in every parish.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,

During his historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land Pope Francis said: “I am convinced that the progress which has been made in recent decades in the relationship between Jews and Catholics has been a genuine gift of God, one of those great works for which we are called to bless his holy name.”
He stated that progress would also not have come about “without the efforts of so many courageous and generous people, Jews and Christians alike”, and he paid tribute to the “growing importance” of the dialogue between the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.
“Inspired by the visit of Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land, this dialogue was inaugurated in 2002 and is already in its twelfth year. I would like to think that, in terms of the Jewish tradition of the Bar Mitzvah, it is just coming of age. I am confident that it will continue and have a bright future in years to come”.
But the Pope stressed that Jews and Catholics need to do “more than simply establish reciprocal and respectful relations on a human level.”
“We are also called, as Christians and Jews, to reflect deeply on the spiritual significance of the bond existing between us,” he said. “It is a bond whose origins are from on high, one which transcends our own plans and projects, and one which remains intact despite all the difficulties which, sadly, have marked our relationship in the past.”
“On the part of Catholics, there is a clear intention to reflect deeply on the significance of the Jewish roots of our own faith. I trust that, with your help, on the part of Jews too, there will be a continued and even growing interest in knowledge of Christianity, also in this holy land to which Christians trace their origins. This is especially to be hoped for among young people”.
“Mutual understanding of our spiritual heritage, appreciation for what we have in common and respect in matters on which we disagree: all these can help to guide us to a closer relationship, an intention which we put in God’s hands. Together, we can make a great contribution to the cause of peace; together, we can bear witness, in this rapidly changing world, to the perennial importance of the divine plan of creation; together, we can firmly oppose every form of anti-Semitism and all other forms of discrimination”, he concluded. “May the Lord help us to walk with confidence and strength in his ways. Shalom!”

Fr John

Dear Parishioners
How can we get teenagers to go to Mass, remain active in their faith and develop their commitment to Christ and the Church?
Here, I propose one effective answer: Youth 2000. Youth 2000 is a group run for and by young people. Their annual August prayer festival in Walsingham is the largest gathering of young Catholics in the country. They also run several other festivals around the country over the year. Each is a Eucharist centred weekend combining perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with daily Mass, Confession, healing services, praise and worship, prayer sessions including the Rosary, talks from internationally-renowned Catholic speakers, discussion groups, and – no less importantly – a chance to make new friends. It has proved to be a very successful recipe for getting young people excited about Jesus and the Church’s mission.
What do young people want? What are they looking for? Love is the answer. They are searching for something all-consuming. At Youth 2000 events young people have such an intimate experience of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament that real conversions happen. They are touched by his love in a transforming way. The teachings of the Church challenge them. They come into contact with other young people who have an active and lively faith, which inspires them.
There is justified worry that the number of Catholic baptisms, marriages and ordinations have fallen significantly over recent decades. What is the problem? A crisis in vocation? Not at Youth 2000. In its 25 year history, over 100 men ordained to the Catholic priesthood testify that Youth 2000 has played an important role in the discernment of their vocation. Father Frankie is one of those. I am aware of many Catholic married couples who met through Youth 2000. My husband and I are one of those.
This works. This really helps young people to take ownership of their faith and live it. If you care about my first questions, please help! Pray for Youth 2000, invite someone you know in the 16-35 age-group to attend a Youth 2000 event, and consider whether you might have something as small as £1 a month to donate regularly to Youth 2000. Youth 2000 is addressing the spiritual poverty which Mother Teresa regarded as even more serious than material poverty, here, at home in the UK, and it needs your support.

Thank you! Terrenia Morley
(I live in Hurst Green with my husband and two children. I am a part-time GP in Blackburn)

Dear fellow Parishioners

When a journalist asked Pope Francis, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” he replied, “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon”. While that may sound profound coming from Pope Francis, it perhaps sounds a bit pompous coming from a student for the priesthood and, though it may be equally true, I still have a large blank space to fill so I better say something more.
I grew up in Manchester and went to Catholic schools until going to study for a degree in law at the University of Sheffield. After graduating I started a career for a large accountancy firm in Manchester and eventually transferred within the firm to their New York office. New York was a great place live. I made some good friends and enjoyed the lifestyle, especially the sports – running, cycling and swimming mainly – although I did miss my football (the real kind, played with the feet). Work was going well but I had a sense that it wouldn’t satisfy me for the rest of my life. After 6 years in New York and some soul searching I decided to respond to what had been a persistent, gentle prodding for a number of years: that the priesthood might be where the Lord wanted me. There was no great lightning strike, no whispers in my ear while praying and no visions of the Virgin Mary involved; just a sense that I might find fulfilment in the priesthood in a way that I would not were I to follow one of several possible alternative ways of life.
I entered the seminary in the Archdiocese of New York and completed the first two years in their diocesan seminary. I was then invited to continue to study in Rome at the North American College where I started a degree in Theology at the Gregorian University and gradually picked up a version of Italian in the process. Having completed two years of that degree, I am now in the process of a year of practical pastoral experience before continuing with my studies.

It’s great to be here in Clitheroe and Sabden. Thank you for your kind welcome over the past week or so. I look forward to getting to know you all over the next couple of months.

Mark Paver

Dear Parishioners

Now that we are two priests, Confirmations in both churches will be next Sunday, the Feast of Pentecost at 11am in Sabden during the Sunday Mass and in Clitheroe at a special Confirmation service without Mass at 11.30am.
First Holy Communions will be on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 22^nd June, at 11am in Sabden during the Sunday mass and in Clitheroe during an additional Mass at 11.30am.

Over 100 people joined the Right to Life  sponsored walk on a beautiful Sunday afternoon last weekend. Visitors commented on how privileged we are to live in the Ribble Valley as also they commended the hospitality and generosity of parishioners. So again, I thank all the bakers and all who contributed confectionary and our Ladies who made the sandwiches, organised the catering and cleaned the hall after the invasion of muddy boots. Three years ago the first Right to Life walk attracted only around 40 people and its growth is due in no short measure to your generosity.

Visitors to St Michael and St John’s often comment on the beauty, cleanliness and prayerful atmosphere of our church. Despite its need of redecoration, the church is kept neat and tidy by a dedicated band of voluntary cleaners who generously offer an hour of their time with plenty of elbow grease from 9.30am on Monday mornings. Over the past eighteen months, age and eternal reward has thinned their ranks markedly. Please do consider whether you may offer an hour of you time on Monday mornings (or a little longer if you stay for tea, refreshments and good company!). And this appeal is not just directed to women: at least one man is required for some of the heaver work. Please do consider this request.

At last we have permission (it is a listed building) to renovate the Dower House. We have a budget of £20,000 which is just about sufficient to transform it into a desirable rentable, three bedroomed property in the centre of town with large back garden and parking. When this debt is cleared we shall further improve the property.

Finally, let us thank God for Pope Francis’ successful visit to the Holy Land during which he danced through national and religious minefields. The next event will be the prayer meeting in Rome on Sunday June 8th when he will pray with Presidents Perez of Israel and Abbas of Palestine. When President Perez bid farewell to the Pope he said: “You walked in pilgrimage to the Holy Land and you paved a road. May you be blessed.”

On another matter I recommend www.notdeadyetuk.org

Fr John