PARISH OF ST. BONIFACE, SOUTHAMPTON

MARCH 10th., 2013

FOURTH SUNDAY of LENT [C] (‘Laetare’)

“He was lost and is found”

Presbytery: St. Boniface House, 413 Shirley Road Southampton SO15 3JD Tel: 023 80771231

Parish Clergy: Father David Sillince [Parish Priest], Canon Terry Walsh [in retirement]

Safeguarding Officer: Anne Monaghan 023 80777691 Chair of Parish Pastoral Council: Mike Wood 023 80630396

Parish Secretary: Eileen B. Aylett Parish Office opening hours Monday Thursday and Friday 9.00am to 12.30pm

Newsletter deadline 9.00pm on Tuesday for inclusion on following Sunday, space permitting.

Parish Website: www.st-boniface.org.uk Parish Office e mail:

This Parish is within the Pastoral Area of Southampton Central & West. RC Diocese of Portsmouth Regd. Charity 246871

The Church is normally open on weekdays 8am-12noon, Saturdays 8am-11am & 5-7.45pm, Sundays 7.30am-12noon

CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK / We pray especially for:-
(Divine Office week 4)
Saturday / March 9 / ] / 6.30pm / Mass / Father Martin Rossman, RIP
Sunday / March 10 / ] FOURTH SUNDAY of LENT [C] (‘Laetare’) / 8.30am
10.30am / Mass
Mass / Rania Saadeh
Mentally disabled & their carers
Monday / March 11 / of Lent 4 Eighth Station / 10.00am / Mass / Jaime Neira & Evelia Arenas, RIP
Tuesday / March 12 / of Lent 4 Ninth Station / 10.00am / Mass / Eamonn & Nancy Keogh
Wednesday / March 13 / of Lent 4 Tenth Station / 10.00am / Mass / Christopher Spikesman
Thursday / March 14 / of Lent 4 Eleventh Station / 10.00am / Mass / Debby Jones / Fr. Golding family
Friday / March 15 / of Lent 4 Twelfth Station / 10.00am / Mass / Johannes de Groen, RIP
Saturday / March 16 / of Lent 4 Thirteenth Station
6.30pm Mass is of the 5th. Sunday of Lent / 10.00am / Mass / Priscilla Brown

Confessions Saturdays after 10am Mass and from 5.45pm to 6.15pm PARISH PRAYER GROUP: Fridays 11am-12noon in the Hall, all welcome.

REFRESHMENTS in the Hall every Sunday after 10.30am Mass, also Fridays after 10am Mass.

Please pray for those who are sick especially: Canon Terry Walsh, Colette Morfett, Mary Lewis, James Marsh, Edward Standley, Gordon Lyons, Sheila White, May Marsh-Collis, Owen family members, Margaret Gordon, Kathy White, Zena Smith, Aileen Lynn.

Please pray for the repose of the souls of Stephen Caraher and Mercedes Kiley who died recently, and for those with anniversaries at this time: Patrick Travers-Black, John Baxendale, Anna Argenti, Stefan Rydzynski, Breda Ellis, Kathleen Jastrzebski..

May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

COLLECTIONS: March 3: Loose £400.12, Envelopes £485.50. Apportionment: Bankers’ Orders £320.00, Gift Aid £180.00. Total £1385.62.

CAFOD Bangladesh £537.65 [£19661.04]. This includes £400 from proceeds of Friday morning coffees; many thanks.

Many thanks for your kind contributions.

This weekend: Clergy Assistance Fund.

Please continue to pray for Alison Hagan and Sarah Studzinski as they prepare for Baptism / Reception into the Church at Easter.

IRISH PARISHIONERS PLEASE BRACE YOURSELVES: Next Sunday is March 17 but it is the Mass of the Fourth Sunday of Lent and not of St. Patrick. The Masses of the Sundays of Lent take precedence over all saints’ celebrations, even the Blessed Virgin Mary. Please don’t blame Father David; it’s Jesus’ fault for fasting for forty days.

THE PARISH PENITENTIAL SERVICE FOR LENT draws closer: Tuesday week, March 19, evening of St. Joseph’s Day, at 8pm. His celebration will be woven into our service. As usual three priests: Father David, Father John Chandler from the City Centre and, in the absence of Canon Walsh, Father Anthony Azuwike who is a priest from Bamenda staying in the city while studying at Southampton University, Fuller details next week, but please note the date and time now.

COLLECTION ENVELOPES 2013-14 now available in the porch; please take yours without delay.

COPIES OF THE BISHOP’S PASTORAL LETTER for this Sunday also in the porch; help yourselves.

ROSARY: “Come and discover or re- discover the beauty of praying the Holy Rosary in this year of commemoration of the 50th. anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. It does not matter if you have never prayed the Rosary before. Come and join us next Saturday March 16 at 10.30am in the Hall, i.e. after 10am Mass.”

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION: This Wednesday March 13, in the church from 6pm, the children celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time.

CONFIRMATION session this Sunday March 10, 2-6pm in St. Edmund’s Hall. “The Church.”

LENTEN SOUP LUNCHES for our Kainmari, Bangladesh charity, every Thursday in Lent from 12noon in the Hall.

YOUTH CLUBS: The Junior club [‘Frogz’] for ages 8-10 normally meets on the first and third Fridays of the month during termtime, from 6-7.15pm; next: this Friday March 15. Senior [‘Fanning the Flame’] now meets weekly from 7.30-9pm. Both in the Hall. All are welcome. Please confirm with Angela Wood (023) 80630396.

ARE CATHOLICS WRONG? (23)

“Catholics don’t read the Bible”

When the 25th. and final session of the Council of Trent ended on December 4, 1563, the Fathers present passed decrees on a range of matters including Purgatory, nuns, the need for bishops to have “modest furniture and a frugal diet”. The Cardinal of Lorraine ended proceedings by calling out: “Anathema to all heretics!” to which all replied: “Anathema! Anathema!” and then they left presumably to have a frugal meal.

One of the decrees, which had a massive influence on the development of European art, encouraged the instruction of the faithful by “paintings and other representations”, provided always that the “figures shall not be painted with a beauty exciting to lust”. It was a reminder that in a generally illiterate age, art was the people’s Bible. In fact the Council had little to say about Scripture except to confirm what the Canon of Scripture was, and to insist that in Catholic understanding Scripture exists alongside Tradition, thereby denying the “Scripture alone” of the Protestant Reformation.

In the ages before printing (the first printed Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, dates from 1454, and was in Latin) only the nobility could afford devotional books, usually lavishly decorated; these were not Bibles, but Books of Hours, i.e. parts of the Divine Office, which includes portions of Scripture but is not the Bible.

The liturgy of the Mass included selections from the Scriptures (to our way of thinking rather modest selections) but these were of course read in Latin. There was much which went over the head of the person in the pew, notably the letters of St. Paul, which hardly lend themselves to reproduction as art. Thus St. Thérèse of Lisieux seems to have been unaware of St. Paul’s famous words on love [1 Corinthians 13] before she entered the Carmel. (In passing, it should be added that the authorised translation of the Bible into the vernacular long predates the Reformation, as we see with Saints Cyril & Methodius taking the Gospel to the Slavs (9th. cent.)

Well, that was then and this is now. We are now presented with a much wider selection from the vast library which is the Bible, and Scripture, in some form or others, lies behind every spiritual activity of the Church.

However, the text is one thing, the interpretation another. With the Reformation opening the floodgates to personal interpretation, it was not long before we find a proliferation of different Churches based on different understandings of the Scriptures, pulling away from the unity of the Body of Christ.

And if the Catholic Church stands accused of once trying to control people by denying them access to the Scriptures, then some fundamentalist interpretations of Scripture, brooking no dissent whatsoever, seem far more controlling and manipulative. The Bible is a vessel which, as the Church saw long ago, needs using with care.

Next: Catholics are always crossing themselves. Why?

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL meeting postponed from February 24 will take place next Sunday, March 17.

HOLY WEEK ROTAS: Mostly but not entirely filled; please check the board in the porch.

PRAYER INTENTIONS in the Diocese: Su: St. Edward the Confessor, Chandler’s Ford; M: Diocesan Stewardship Group; T: The “Beginning Experience” for the bereaved; W: St. Patrick, Samarès, Jersey; Th: St. Patrick, East Ilsley; F: St. Joseph, Gosport; S: St. Joseph, Bracknell.

HOLY FAMILY/St. VINCENT’s PARISHES seek part-time secretary, Mon. to Fri. 9am-12.30pm; starting salary £8000 p.a. Information/application by March 15:

“Significant Anniversaries Mass”: Held each year, with the Bishop, at St. Bede’s, Basingstoke, for those celebrating a 25th., 40th., 50th., 60th. or 60th.+ wedding anniversaries, and parishioners have attended each year, this year the event is on Saturday June 8, beginning 11am. This is by invitation only so apply direct without delay to 01329 835583 or .

APOSTLESHIP OF THE SEA: Easter Eggs: “At Easter time thousands of seafarers are away from home, unable to attend Holy Week or the Triduum. You can remember them by donating Easter Eggs through Deacon Roger Stone, Southampton Port Chaplain, who will ensure they are taken onto ships in Southampton & Fawley and given to seafarers. Any sizes will be good, and all will be gratefully received by those who are away from home for 9 months at a time. Thank you.” Box in porch.

St. SWITHUN WELLS SCHOOL, Chandlers Ford, seeks to appoint a Deputy Head from next September. Visitors welcome. Details: (023) 8026 6210.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

The morning after, in Castelgandolfo

“Dear Diary, I woke up at the usual time but for the first time in years I just lay in bed looking at the ceiling and got up very late. Didn’t feel guilty at all.

Said my Office and Mass and then breakfast. I spilt egg yoke on my cassock, and also marmalade off my toast, but there was nobody fussing about it.

Nobody brought me great piles of official papers to read, and my books are still in transit, so I went to the internet to look at a few blogs. I might start a blog myself. What can I call it? “Pope Emeritus” isn’t very snappy; might choose something with a cat connection. I might write it in German; I think I still remember my native language after all these years. Actually I might start learning a new language, possibly Arabic just to impress the Moslems. And maybe get a cat, or even a dog; no need to worry about muddy paw prints.

I’ve been thinking about a hobby. I need fresh air and exercise so what about gardening? My secretary suggested skate-boarding but I think he was being ironical. Possibly I’ll take up cooking; nothing grand of course, but then there won’t be any ambassadors or cardinals or heads of state. Scrambled egg with prosciutto would do very nicely, with a glass (or two) of Valpolicella, then a snooze, then maybe I’ll watch “Count Down”. I’ve been told I ought to watch this; lots of retired people do. Then a little chat with brother Georg on the phone; he can tell me how the microwave works. Then some Mozart, some hot chocolate and bed.

No need to think about the weekend. No sermon to prepare, no Angelus, quiet Mass in my chapel. And I can look forward to Holy Week without all that hassle, without being exhausted for a week after. No cameras, no being lugged in on that platform on wheels. In fact if I get a supply priest in, I could simply attend the services ‘in choir’.

A few minutes ago I had the strange experience of standing at an open window without any pilgrims waving or guards saluting. Tomorrow I might come down in my dressing gown, or even not shave, just for one day, to see what it’s like. I could grow a beard, not that I want to but only because it’s possible now without people thinking I’ve become Orthodox.

I’m really looking forward to my new home especially walking out of the sitting room into the garden, something I couldn’t do from the top floor of a palace. I could even take my shoes and socks off and sit in a deck chair. Georg says I’ll probably get lots of people ringing me up with energy-saving offers; I rather like the idea of that.

Should have thought of this earlier.”