St. John's Cathedral, Portsmouth saw a good turn out from 3Rivers
for the Rite of Ordination for Paul Hollingworth to the permanent
deaconate.
Mr Paul Hollingworth kneels before His Lordship Bishop Crispian for
the Laying-on of Hands
Bishop Crispian, Deacon Paul and his wife Mary
JUNE 2010
1st Holy Communion Joy at Bishop's Waltham
A Happy Month of June for two Meon Valley Families
The Nellist and Moritz families are good friends and both live in
the Meon Valley. Emily and Grace are even in the same class at
school. So it was tough luck they could not celebrate their First
Holy Communion together and on the same day. Trying to get all their
family and friends, several from overseas, on one Sunday proved
impossible!
But they prepared for the important day together and were given
kind guidance and gentle instruction by the best in the business -
Luciana O'Neill - Head of Catechetics in Bishops Waltham.
Sunday 6th June. Emily Nellist at the alter with
Luciana O'Neill and Fr John Buckley.
Sunday 20th June. Jonathan and Leonore Moritz
with Fr John Buckley and their two daughters, Grace and Aoibhe.
St Edward's 1st Holy Communion Celebration
Celebration Mass for our Clergy and the completion of Year of the
Priest
AD MULTOS ANNOS – MASS TO END YEAR FOR PRIESTS
The Pastoral Area came together on Wednesday 9 June to celebrate
and pray for our priests and for vocations to the priesthood. St
Edward the Confessor Church was full as our three active and three
retired priests concelebrated the Mass accompanied by our three
deacons and one ‘nearly’ deacon. The priests were invited to renew
their commitment to service and at the end of Mass a slide show
reminded everybody of what our priests take on at ordination through
scenes from Fr Michael and Fr George’s ordination on the 20th
anniversary of their ordination. The spontaneous applause for all
the priests at the end was a real sign of the appreciation of
everybody for their dedicated ministry and service.”
This is 243 years of priesthood and service.
The Year of the Priest
Reflections from Father George
ou may not be aware, but this year has been
dedicated as the Year of the Priest. Co-incidentally,
Father John is marking his 45th anniversary to the Priesthood and
Father Michael and I are also celebrating our 20th anniversary of
Ordination to the Priesthood. In total that is 85 years experience
of ministry.
When I reflect on the past 20 years I am still in awe and encouraged
by the people I meet who have to live with their own brokenness.
Maybe it is because I can empathise with them. I guess we are all
broken in our own individual way. Things do not always go the way we
plan. Not that we don’t try to make them work. Somehow, well made
plans make us feel better, more presentable, more acceptable. Bad
things happen, life turns left, plans, dreams, relationships break
and shatter. Hearts are broken. When this happens to me I want
it all to go away. Truth be told sometimes I deal with my own fear
of brokenness by trying my hardest to fix other people. I should
know better. I have two great teachers. Love and suffering.
If the Lord gives me another 20 years as his priest I pray he will
give me the courage to embrace life on life’s terms. Some years ago,
while visiting a hospital, a stroke patient told me “Father, this
isn’t where I expected to be. My vision of myself and my life didn’t
have this”. Can you relate to this insight? I can. No matter how
life is going for us we can always try to pray.
With this in mind it is proposed that we have 40 hours of continuous
prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament beginning on
Tuesday, 4 May, following the 10am Mass at St. Andrew’s Church,
North Baddesley, and concluding on Wednesday, 5 May, with Mass at
7pm. Each of the six churches in the Pastoral Area will be invited
to take responsibility for a given amount of hours. I can think of
no better way than to celebrate the Year of the Priest than by
praying for your priests before the Blessed Sacrament during this
time.
It is also hoped that we will have an art competition for the
children on the theme of “The Year of the Priest”. All other
realistic ideas will be most welcome. Please do not leave it to
others to show your support for the Year of the Priest.
Father George.
Do you have a vocation to the
priesthood or becoming a
Deacon , Nun or other religious life?
6th June - First Holy Communion Joy and
celebration at Holy Cross, Eastleigh
Here are the children with Father Michael, Deacon
Paul and their Catechists.
ALSO ON THE SAME DAY
The children of St Joseph's, Romsey and St Andrew's, North Baddesley
On the 6th June, The Feast of Corpus Christi, eleven children from
St Andrew's and St Joseph's churches received their First Holy
Communion from Father George Lyons. This was an amazing moment which
no words can express, let their souls rejoice and let the grace of
the Lord be with them.
MAY 2010
Despite the weather, nearly 50 people attended the Parish Picnic
for St Andrews and St Josephs. Considering the weather, this was a
wonderful turnout and we all had a great time. Our thanks go to
Hampshire Collegiate school for providing us with the facilities on
the day.
We had lunch in the dining room which was nice and warm, and then
people decamped to the Sports Hall for some football, basketball and
a very competitive game of French cricket. The photos show some of
us having our indoor picnic
Let’s pray for better weather next year
APRIL 2010
Fr Michael with our catechumen, Wayne and two of our four candidates
Thomas and Matthew, after they had been received into the Catholic
Church at the 2010 Easter Vigil at St Edward the Confessor Church
MARCH 2010
Baptismal Joy for the Blishen Family
The photos show the most recent member of our community at St.
Andrew's, North Baddesley - little Agatha Blishen being baptised on
Palm Sunday. Her proud Mother, Christine and her Father, Charles are
delighted with their third child. Agatha has a brother Luke and a
sister Felicity.
The Blishen family are devout Catholics and are a wonderful example
to us all. Their faith and love of the church is the hub in which
their family revolves. Christine and Charles take their commitment
to bring up the children in the practise of the faith very
seriously. May the Lord continue to bless this family and all our
families with His grace and protection.
Inter-church Lenten Meetings
As a Lenten exercise for 2010 the Association of Romsey Churches
invited parishioners from the various Churches in Romsey to meet in
groups to reflect on life and its pressures, to explore ways of
enriching our praying and living and reclaim the day as God’s gift.
The themes of the five weeks were inspired by the book “The Day is
Yours” by Ian Stackhouse (a Baptist minister).
They were:
The squeeze of life – praying through the pressures of life
The balance of life – rediscovering the Sabbath
The rhythm of life – developing a pattern of prayer
The songs of life – praying and living the Psalms
The prayer of life – praying the Lord ’s Prayer
One group led by Rosemary Peacock consisted of about 14 people from
various traditions and we shared our thoughts, ideas and experiences
during the weekly meetings. At the end of each meeting we were given
a small task to consider until the following week.
The meetings were a wonderful experience, enriching and thought
provoking. We are sorry that they probably won’t continue after
Easter – but we shall look forward to meeting again next Lent.
on 7th March at the 9.00pm mass at St. Edward's.
Bishop Crispian presented Teresa Layzell with the Diocesan Medal for
many years service running the excellent Repository in the church.
FEBRUARY 2010
On February 14th, our dear Bishop, Crispian
to offer Mass with the parishioners to celebrate the refurbishment
of St. Andrew's church. He talked about the move to create a Parish
of all the churches in the pastoral area and hoped it would not be
too long before a new church was built for the parishioners of
Romsey and North Baddesley.
The Mass was introduced by the Youth who led the
readings and Prayers of Intercession. The children who will make
their First Holy Communion in June presented the Offerings and sang
a hymn to the Bishop at the end of Mass.
The Bishop joined the parishioners after Mass for
light refreshments
St Edward the Confessor's Community celebrate
their new Crib
