- Welcome to 3 Rivers Pastoral Area  

For first time visitors, we are a Roman Catholic Worshiping Community of over 1500 Catholics celebrating their faith in 6 churches in the centre of Hampshire and part of Portsmouth Diocese.

> click here to see a video of the 3 Rivers Pastoral Area open air Mass

28th June - The week of the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

FEAST of ST PETER & ST PAUL

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul this year brings to an end the Year of St. Paul that was announced by Pope Benedict on this feast last year. It has been a year to celebrate the life of the Apostle to the Gentiles on the 2000th anniversary of his birth. We hear from the letters of St. Paul throughout the
Church’s year. People sometimes say that they believe that they should have a relationship with Jesus but that they could easily do without the Church. This is not what we find when we read St. Paul. St. Paul and the early Christians could not think about Jesus except in terms of their relationship with the Church. “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts, of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” 1Cor 12:12
 

Our gathering as a Pastoral Area for Mass last Sunday emphasised the unity of our belonging to the Body of Christ in this area. Though we are made up of many parts, we are one. Our unity locally unifies us with members of the Body of Christ in our Diocese and throughout the world.
There are both privileges and responsibilities that accompany membership of the Body of Christ.
As the year of St. Paul comes to a close this Sunday we hear Paul speaking from prison, reflecting on his suffering and imminent death. He refers to his life as a “libation.” It suggests that he sees his death as sacrificial. There is no unity without sacrifice. We know this from our family life. The unity of the Body of Christ requires the members to be prepared to sacrifice themselves for the good of the body.

Father Michael.

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