PARISH OF ST. BONIFACE, SHIRLEY, SOUTHAMPTON
OCTOBER 16th., 2011
TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY of ORDINARY TIME [A]
“Give back to God what belongs to God”
Presbytery: St. Boniface House, 413 Shirley Road Southampton SO15 3JD Tel: 023 80771231 Fax: 023 80528236
Parish Clergy: Father David Sillince [Parish Priest], Canon Terry Walsh [in retirement]
Safeguarding Officer: Anne Monaghan 023 80777691 Chair of Parish Pastoral Council: Jane Willcox.
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: office @st-boniface.org.uk
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 1)
Saturday / October 15 / ] / 6.30pm / Mass / Joseph Rafferty & Pauline French, RIP
Sunday / October 16 / ] TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY of ORDINARY TIME [A] / 8.30am
10.30am / Mass
Mass / Holy Souls
Michael Nicholson, RIP
Monday / October 17 / St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop & Martyr (†Rome 107)
[St. Richard Gwyn, Martyr †Wrexham 1584] / 10.00am / Mass / Leontine & Andrew Shannon, RIP
Tuesday / October 18 / Feast of St. LUKE, Evangelist / 10.00am / Mass / Isabella Maynard
Wednesday / October 19 / [SS. John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues & Companions,
Jesuit Martyrs of North America †1642-9;
St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists
†Rome 1775;
St. Philip Howard, Martyr †London 1595] / 10.00am / Mass / Blaise & Celestine Shannon, RIP
Thursday / October 20 / Feria, week 29 / 10.00am / Mass / Eileen & Margaret de Groen, RIP
Friday / October 21 / Feria, week 29 / 10.00am / Mass / Holy Souls
Saturday / October 22 / Our Lady on Saturday
6.30pm Mass is of 30th. Sunday of Ordinary Time / 10.00am / Mass / Eileen & Margaret de Groen, RIP
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: Bishop Crispian, Colette Morfett, Mary Lewis, James Marsh, Patricia Cherry, Edward Standley, Gordon Lyons, Joe Quarrie, Sheila White, Beth Jeffery, Paul Braga, Priscilla Brown, Moira O’Connor.
Please pray for the repose of the souls of those with anniversaries at this time: Antoinette Baxter, Simon Kilgannon, Alfred Spiteri. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
COLLECTIONS:
Oct 9: Loose £401.94, Envelopes £457.30. Apportionment: Bankers’ Orders £320.00, Gift Aid £180.00. Total £1359.24. CAFOD Autumn Fast Day Collection £589.99. CAFOD ‘Connect2Bangladesh’ charity £115.18 [£6818.74].
Many thanks for your kind contributions.
Next weekend: Building & Maintenance Fund.
BISHOP CRISPIAN is still convalescing at Bishop’s House after his operation and progressing steadily and would be grateful for your continued prayers. He has learnt that he does not require chemotherapy, and has his next consultation this Tuesday.
FAURÉ’S REQUIEM in the liturgical context of a Requiem Mass for All Souls (with Cantores Michaelis of Southampton University music department). Thursday November 3, at 7.30pm.
CONFIRMATION 2012: This programme will run from January 8 to July 1, 2012 and is intended primarily for those in school year 9. Please apply to Father David who will arrange an appointment.
FIRST COMMUNION 2012: This programme will run from late January to late May, 2012, and is intended primarily for those who will be aged 8 by August 31, 2012. Please apply to Father David.
MASS WITH THE SACRAMENT OF THE SICK
Next Sunday October 23 at 3pm we will be offering a Mass with the Sacrament of the Sick in our church, with refreshments to follow.
This is open to all, not just to the parish housebound. Indeed those who are healthy are more than welcome to come and pray for and with those who will receive the Sacrament of the Sick.
Note that it is for you to decide whether you should receive the Sacrament of the Sick; it is not for the Church to tell you. At the same time, it is not a ‘blanket Sacrament’ on the grounds that “we are all ill”. No, we aren’t! But it is often a good idea to come and give thanks for one’s good health in the presence of those who need this particularly sacramental support.
Ministers of Communion are particularly encouraged, as far as they are able, to bring their home communicants to this Mass.
Want a lift? Can offer a lift? Please give us your contact details.
ANNUAL SHOEBOX APPEAL 2011:
This Sunday October 16 is the last day for handing in filled boxes, to the welcomers in the porch at Mass, to allow them to reach their destinations in time.
Please tape £1 coin to outside of box to help cover transport costs.
Please put an elastic band, shoelace etc. around box to keep it together – not tape.
Alternatively there is still just time to sponsor a box by making a donation, take an envelope marked “Sponsor a Shoebox” from the porch, and return it to St. Boniface House.
Many thanks to those who have already supported the sponsorship scheme; money given has been used for boxes as requested.
REVISED “SIMPLE PRAYER BOOKS”: are available at the Repository for purchase, price £2. Money in the “Repository” slot as usual, please.
NOVEMBER, MONTH OF THE HOLY SOULS: Please put names of those to be prayed for at weekday Masses, as usual, on a slip of paper in the ‘Holy Souls’ slot in the church porch. List closes October 27 – don’t delay.
VOCATIONS DISCERNMENT DAY for WOMEN at Wisdom House, Romsey, next Saturday Oct 22, 10am-4pm, with the Daughters of Wisdom; light lunch provided. An opportunity to take time out to reflect on whether God might be calling you to the religious life. 01794 830206/ for details & booking.
GREAT SOUTH RUN: Portsmouth October 30. Parishioners Mike Keogh and Mike Wood are running for “Mind” and CAFOD respectively and seek your sponsorship. Forms available in the church porch; money will be ‘claimed’ from November 7 – assuming they finish, of course ...
Gerry Coates song tour for CAFOD: at St. Edmund’s Sunday Oct 30, 7.45pm; admission free.
HCPT Group 170 [who take sick/disabled children from the Southampton area on pilgrimage holiday to Lourdes every year] fund-raising dinner with live entertainment from ‘Silhouette Musical Theatre Company’ Holy Family Hall Nov 12, evening. Details to follow.
QUIET DAY at Wisdom House, Romsey for anyone who has experienced significant loss or bereavement. Saturday November 12, 10.30am-3.30pm, includes lunch; suggested donation £20. Book: or 01794 830206.
CAFOD Portsmouth Office is seeking a telephone volunteer, and a volunteer campaigns coordinator. Full training provided. For details tel. 01252 329385 or e-mail:
VOCATIONS: Our diocesan promoter Father Mark Hogan is now joined by an assistant, Lakshmi Smithers. The newest initiative is a Diocesan Discernment Group which was launched in Basingstoke last Friday.
Rosary cards to pray for vocations are available in the church porch.
Boys of secondary school age who might wish to join the Don Bosco Summer Camp next year [July 29-Aug 4] are invited to give their names, tel; 01256 323595 or e-mail:
APF Boxholders: magazines available in the church porch this weekend.
STREET PASTORS’ Week of Prayer October 23-30; please see leaflets in porch.
QUIET DAY: PREPARING FOR ADVENT Tuesday November 22, 10am-4pm at Wisdom House Romsey. Booking details as in left-hand column < Suggested offering £20 includes simple lunch.
AUTUMN RETREAT at “Geo House” (formerly St. Joseph’s Ashurst) November 18-20, residential or non-residential. Details on notice board.
DIOCESAN PRAYER INTENTIONS: Su: St. Margaret Mary, Park Gate. M: Hospital Chaplains. T: Doctors, nurses, surgeons, healthcare staff; St. Luke, Theale. W: All in medical research; St. Philip Howard, Fareham. Th: Artists, architects, craftsmen, designers working for the Church. F: ‘Great Park’ Pastoral Area [Windsor/Maidenhead]. Sa: “Portsmouth People” editorial team.
St. GEORGE’S CATHOLIC COLLEGE: Ofsted inspection report on school website:
www.st-george.southampton.sch.uk/
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
I am uneasy with the parable told in Luke’s Gospel (11:5-8) where a man and his family are in bed at midnight, whereupon one of his friends starts banging on the door because he needs food for an unexpected visitor. “Even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, he will get up and give him what he wants simply because his friend keeps knocking and will not go away”.
I have been thinking of this parable in the context of the problem of junk advertising. Junk mail we are used to, but we can recognise it at once and bin it without difficulty. Junk phone calls (“cold calling”) are a different matter, as they nearly always occur when one is eating something and/or expecting another call.
Junk phone calls, as we probably all know, largely serve the double glazing industry. For me, they give themselves away by the fact that the ‘operative’ calls me Mr. rather than Fr. and usually makes a hash of pronouncing my surname. One is tempted to be abrupt with the caller; after all, they must know what they are letting themselves in for by ringing half the nation at tea time. I have occasionally just put the phone down. And once I claimed to be dead. But perhaps I am meant to set a better example. And so, on a recent evening, as I was just about eat a lamb chop (not on a Friday) the following dialogue occurred:
--- Mr. Sill … Sill … Sillin???
--- Yes. How can I help you?
--- Could you give me a few minutes of your time?
--- Well yes, but could I politely say I don’t want to buy anything at the moment and I don’t want to give personal information over the phone.
--- No, no. But could I just say that if you want to replace any of the doors and windows in your house …
--- Now I have already said I am not buying anything.
--- No, you’re not buying it.
--- But you’re trying to sell it.
--- No, I’m not selling it.
--- But you’re wanting to sell it.
--- But that’s not selling it.
--- Yes, but I’m using a synecdoche. [long pause]
--- A what?
--- A synecdoche. It’s an English figure of speech. It means “using part for the whole”. So I say “selling” to mean “trying to sell”. Just as one could say “England” to mean “the English football team”.
[silence, followed by disconnection]
So there you are; charity and a smiling manner, ‘offer it up’, and be informative. All good Gospel characteristics. And all likely to make people disengage with rapidity. And think one mad.