St. Joseph’s Newsletter – 23rd July 2017
Bonus Ball Winner: 42 – Pat Illingworth, Jessie Whitfield
Offertory - £1833.88 (inc. standing orders)
CAFOD – (Next week)
Sanctuary Lamp
Jeanne Large (Sick)
Marian Candle
Dave Cawley
(Birthday & Anniversary Remembrance)
Lately Dead
Raffaele Cassella, Carmelo Vassallo
UCM
Line Dancing
Wednesday 26th July – Mary Casserly and Jane Ryan
July Bingo raised £111.70
Summer Day Out – Friday 28th July, East Lancs Railway. Coach leaves St. Joseph’s car park at 11.am.
St. Joseph’s Gardening Group will next meet up on Saturday 29th July; breakfast will be included as usual J
It’s that time of year again to give prior notice of:-
“The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning”
For Macmillan Cancer Care. All help gratefully accepted, whether it’s cakes, helpers, raffle prizes or donations. Date to be confirmed, either 29th or 30th September. Thank you in anticipation. Bernadette Doyle.
‘ACN Portraits of Faith: Syria’s Christina Search for Peace’
Our cathedral will be hosting an exhibition this weekend, organised by Aid to the Church in Need, to raise awareness of the plight of Christians in Syria. It will feature paintings by Syrian artist, Farid Georges, drawings from the Peace for the Children of Syrian campaign and needlework by women living in Aleppo. Venue: Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, L3 5TQ. Dates: 22-23 July. Times 10am-4pm Daily. Entrance is free.
The next series of support meetings for Divorced and Separated will start in mid-September. We welcome Catholics and other Christians who are divorced or separated (recently or in the past) or who are experiencing the breakdown of a marriage or a long term relationship. The small groups are informative, affirming, free and confidential. To book a place on the South Liverpool course please call Frances Trotman on 0151 727 2195. To book a place on the Aintree course, please call Maureen O’Brien on 07967 753371.
Congratulations to Elizabeth (Beth) Marshall and Mark Spreadbury who were married at St. Joseph’s on Saturday 22nd July. May the Lord Bless them with many years of happiness together.
Margaret’s Tea Party was a great success and raised £501.70 for St. Joseph’s Family Centre. Thank you for all your support and special thanks to the workers – bakers, stall holders, waitresses and tea ladies.
Dave & Trish Cooper and Gordon Moss would like to thank everyone for their generosity and prayers during their recent Wirral Coastal Walk. A grand total of £1230.00 was raised for CAFOD.
Centenary Players present “The Ladykillers” at the Brindley theatre. A 16 seater minibus has been arranged for Saturday 16th September. If you are interested, please see Bernie before or after the 10.30am Mass at St. Joseph’s (by the side of the organ). Tickets must be paid for in advance.
The sheets to sign up for Pontefract Races on Wednesday 9th August will be removed from church this weekend. The cost for the coach will be approximately £20 per person. More details to follow, watch this space!
Lost Property
A black changing bag has been left at the back of St. Joseph’s church. There was a small amount of money inside. If you think this is yours, please ring Christine on 01925 722105.
Gospel Reflection for the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Wheat and Weeds
Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a field in which the master has sown good seed. In the night, an enemy comes and plants weeds, so when the crop grows it is a mixture of wheat and weed. The servants’ instinct is to pull the weeds out, but the master demands that the bad grow alongside the good … he himself will sort the wheat from the weeds at the final harvest.
It’s a typical Palestinian problem, the darnel weed, which looks just like wheat in its early stages is a menace to the harvest. The roots of the darnel weed intertwine with the roots of the wheat. To pull the darnel out can jeopardise the harvest. Similarly just as it’s hard to tell the difference between wheat and darnel, so it’s not always easy for us to tell the difference between good and evil. A bad person can change and become good, and a seemingly good person might not be as virtuous as we imagine. It’s best if we refrain from judging; this job is best left to God.
In films and novels, the good guys always win and the bad guys always get their come-uppance. Happy endings satisfy our human sense of justice, but in reality justice seems strangely elusive. We come up against evil time and time again. Sometimes we get so angry that we want to take justice into our own hands. Sometimes we are incensed that God can allow evil to grow alongside good, but before we get too irate, maybe we need to stop and take a good long look in the mirror. What makes us so sure that we’re not weeds too? Where did we get that assurance that we are represented in the parable as the wheat?
Rarely is reality black and white. We all have good and bad inside us. We all need to change, and we all deserve the opportunity to make those changes. Perhaps this is the reason Jesus’ advises us to leave the evil to grow alongside the good. As Martin Luther King Jnr. once said, “God’s purpose is not wrathful judgement. God’s purpose is redemption, and the road to redemption is by way of reconciliation.”
The Plastic Tide
Care of Our Common Home
Our planet is becoming poisoned by plastic. The vast amount in our oceans has become an environmental emergency as a direct result of our throwaway society. Stop using plastic wherever possible, and when you are using it, use it responsibly.
Start this summer, collect up all the plastic wrappings and plastic bottles after your seaside picnics, put them in a bin bag (preferably a biodegradable bin bag) and take your litter home.
Summer Retreats 2017
‘Retreats 2017’ is the annual publication of the Retreat Association. With a lead article written by theologian Peter Tyler, this year’s guide gives information and programmes for over 230 Christian retreat centre in the UK and beyond. There are retreats with themes such as painting and walking individually guided retreats and quiet days. You can order a copy online at www.retreats.org.uk/retreatshandbook.php
Ss.Joachim and Anne - 26th July
By tradition Joachim and Anne are considered to be the names of the parents of Mary, the Mother of God. There is no evidence for this in the Bible. Any stories about Mary's father and mother come to us through legend and tradition. The legend goes that after years of childlessness, an angel appeared to tell Anne and Joachim that they would have a child. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God.
Saint Martha - 29th July
Jesus liked to stay at the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, his friends at Bethany, when he was in Judea. One of these visits has ever remained dear to Christian memory. On that occasion Martha, busily serving the Master, asked him to persuade Mary to help her. Without in any way reproaching Martha, Jesus explained to her that certain souls, called by God, should choose a better part still — the primary duty of listening to him and contemplating him.
Some of us are more like Martha - and some of us are more like Mary; but there is in all of us a built in need to combine the two within us, for without sitting and listening to God our work for God can only lead to anxiety and anger and angst, -and without doing the work our faith is clearly nothing.
Bitesize
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.
Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ,
Mass Intentions for week commencing 24th July 2017
Monday 24th 9.30am Peter Carragher
Tuesday 25th 9.30am Jackie Atkinson (B’day)
Wednesday 26th 9.30am Gordon Kerr
Thursday 27th 9.30am Martin & Emily Murphy
Friday 28th 9.30am Joan Little
Saturday 29th
Sunday 30th 8.30am Tommy Barnes 10.30am People of the Parish
4.00pm Eric Baker (B’day)
FUNERALS
There will be a Funeral Service at St. Joseph’s on Friday 28th July for Raffaele Cassella at 11.15am.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will take place at St. Joseph’s on Wednesday this week from 10.00am until 12 noon.