21JUNE 2015 – TWELFTHSUNDAYINORDINARYTIME (Year B)

“I don’t come to your church because it’s full of hypocrites.”

“I don’t need to go to church to worship God.”

Rare is the month when I don’t hear at least one of the above statements. All too often such statements are given on sight of my clerical collar or on hearing that I am a Christian. It is not as if I go around actually demanding to know why a person is not in church – unlike the fabled priests of yesteryear who, it is claimed, would spend their Sunday afternoons banging on the doors of those whose absence they’d detected at Mass that morning. At an early age I realised that not everyone spent their Sunday like me, singing hymns and wondering whether there would be enough custard creams afterwards. It is true that my church has among its members a few hypocrites, although I wouldn’t say it’s full of them. Equally is it true in one sense that God can be worshipped anywhere.

In joining others at church I am all too aware of my own faults and failings. I don’t go to be told how perfect I am and what a good job I am doing. Indeed, if a priest did say this Sunday after Sunday I’m sure that eventually the only ones left would be those who turn off their hearing aids when the homily begins! I go to church because there I hear God telling me I am loved and I know how much and how often I need to hear this. It gives me comfort, inspiration and consolation. It encourages me to continue plodding on. Recently Pope Francis said that he sees the church as like a field hospital after battle, healing wounds and warming the hearts of the faithful. I know what he means. It made me think of the old saying that the Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. I come to church to be healed with the loving touch of the Eucharist and the love spoken in the word of the Lord. I come to be healed of what I’ve done and what I’ve failed to do, but I also come to offer healing to those who offer me a sign of peace whether I know them or not. I come seeking God and in so doing find I enter into a communion I acknowledge to be holy.

My reasons for coming to church are rarely asked for. I guess most people presume that because I am a priest I come because I have to. This is only partly true. The reasons I come to church today may not be those of tomorrow, just as they are not those of my childhood. I hope my reasons for coming will always keep me thinking. Lately I have been encouraged by two statements - neither of them new - as to why some of us say we go to church – the last of which should in my opinion be carved in stone above the door to every church:

“The sacraments exist to rescue character and bring out the best in us.”

“I did not come to call the virtuous, I came to call sinners.”

Canon Dominic Golding


K;k;k;l

RECONCILIATION
St John's Cathedral: Saturday 1100-–1145 & 1700–1745
St Swithun: Friday 1930–2000 Saturday 1030–1100
Our Lady of Lourdes: Saturday 1730–1755
Corpus Christi: Saturday 0930
St Joseph: Saturday (before 1800 Mass)
St Colman: Saturday1700 – 1730




SATURDAY 20 JUNE
Vigil Mass of 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time / 1800 / Our Lady of Lourdes / People of the Parish
St Joseph / Norman Jordan F
St John’s Cathedral / People of the Parish
St Colman / Patrick & Mary Mulhern & Josephine Casey RIP (FM)
SUNDAY 21 JUNE
TWELFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Job 38:1,8-11
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-41
Parish Mass Book p 98 / 0800 / St John’s Cathedral / Stella and Alec Bethune RIP
0830 / St Swithun / Repose of the soul of Pere Robert Gaborit RIP
0900 / St Joseph / Jeffery Heaword
0930 / St Colman / Chris Davies RIP (JD)
1000 / St John’s Cathedral / Michelle Reynolds RIP
1015 / St Swithun / Janice Johnson RIP
1100 / Corpus Christi / People of the Parish
1100 / St Paul / Mary Ann White RIP (CC)
1200 / St John’s Cathedral / Holy Souls
1600 / QA Hospital / John Joseph Cummings RIP (CC)
1800 / St Swithun / Mass in Polish
1800 / St John’s Cathedral / James Dobeson INT
MONDAY 22 JUNE
Ss JOHN FISHER, Bishop & THOMAS MORE, Martyrs, feast / 0915 / St Paul / Mick Woodgate RIP& All Family Members (MS)
1000 / St Swithun / Anne Sullivan's Intentions
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Terry Butler RIP
TUESDAY 23 JUNE
St Etheldreda, Abess, optional memorial or:Feria [12th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0915 / St Colman / Ellen Charlton RIP & All Members of the Charlton Family, Alive & Deceased (MS)
1000 / St Swithun / Jane McShane RIP P
1100 / St John’s Cathedral / Good Shepherd Mass celebrated by Bishop Philip
1900 / St Swithun
WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE
THE NATIVITY OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, solemnity / 0730 / St John’s Cathedral / Joseph Salerno RIP
0915 / St Colman / Bill & Joan Hudson RIP (MS)
0930 / Corpus Christi / School Mass
1000 / St Swithun
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Chapter Mass
THURSDAY 25 JUNE
Feria
[12th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0930 / St Joseph / Raymond & Dorothy Fisher F
0915 / St Colman
1000 / St Swithun / Edna Mary Bailey RIP F
1100 / St Paul's / For all deceased clergy & St Colman's congregation (MS)
1200 / Our Lady of Lourdes
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Deceased Members of the Coleman Family RIP
FRIDAY 26 JUNE
Feria [12th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0730 / St John’s Cathedral / Hilda Pearce RIP F
0900 / Corpus Christi / Mary Ellen Bryan F
1000 / St Swithun / Charles Gracias RIP F
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Priest’s Intention
1830 / St Colman / Paula Medd's Intentions (HW)
1900 / St Swithun
SATURDAY 27 JUNE
St Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop, Doctor of the Church, op meml or: Our Lady on Saturday or: Feria [12th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0900 / Corpus Christi / Thomas Dale P
1000 / St Swithun / Anne Sullivan's Intentions
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Holy Souls
SATURDAY 27 JUNE
Vigil Mass of Ss Peter & Paul, solemnity / 1800 / Our Lady of Lourdes / People of the Parish
St John’s Cathedral / People of the Parish
St Joseph / Herbert Alleyne RIP
St Colman / Eileen Goldsmith RIP (FM)
SUNDAY 28 JUNE
SS PETER & PAUL, solemnity
Acts 12:1-11
2 Timothy 4:6-8. 17-18
Matthew 16:13-19
Parish Mass Book p 172 / 0800 / St John’s Cathedral / Peggy Goodchild
0830 / St Swithun / Dennis Byron Foster RIP F
0900 / St Joseph / People of the Parish
0930 / St Colman / Ada & Joseph Standring RIP (V UD)
1000 / St John’s Cathedral / Alan Spiers RIP
1015 / St Swithun / First Holy Communion Children
1100 / Corpus Christi / Terry Butler RIP
1100 / St Paul / Holy Souls (CC)
1200 / St John’s Cathedral / Jonathan and Pauline May RIP
1600 / QA Hospital / Win & TOm Cummings RIP (CC)
1800 / St Swithun / Mass in Polish
1800 / St John’s Cathedral / Helen Tumba RIP

MASS TIMES AT THE ORDINARIATE CHURCH OF ST AGATHA’S, MARKET WAY
Sundays: 1100 Solemn Mass – Mondays and Fridays: 1100 Low Mass - Saturdays: 1100 Mass of Our Lady