- This weekend we celebrate the FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, which marks the beginning of ‘Passiontide’ – the images and statues in the church are now veiled. The readings are on page 176 of the Parish Mass Books.
2. Details of the special services for Holy Week and Easter will be published soon – look out for emails and posters in the church porch
3. This weekend we welcome a priest from the Missionaries of St Paul, who will be making an appeal – the Missionaries of St Paul are visiting all the parishes of our diocese, at the invitation of the Archbishop.
4. Archbishop John Wilson has written a Pastoral Letter (see accompanying email) on the subject of Assisted Suicide. As he writes: ‘concerning this grave matter, as Catholics we maintain a principled objection to this change in law, because we recognise that every human life is sacred: a gift of God, bearing a God-given dignity. We are, therefore, clearly opposed to this Bill in principle, elevating, as it does, the autonomy of the individual above all other considerations’. We encourage you to read the Archbishops’s Letter prayerfully, and to contact your local MP as he suggests.
5. From this weekend, envelopes will be in the church porch for your Easter Offering – this is your personal gift to the clergy of the parish
6. Please note that during Lent the Stations of the Cross replace the Sunday afternoon Holy Hour. The Stations of the Cross begin at 5.15 pm
7. The fourth and final of our Lenten talks will be on Thursday 10th April, from 8.00 – 9.00 pm. It will be a scriptural reflection for Passiontide, and will be given by Fr John Hemer, Professor of Scripture at Allen Hall Seminary. PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER STARTING TIME OF 7.15 PM
8. During Lent, we also have an extra 12.30 Mass on Mondays and Fridays. PLEASE NOTE – THE LAST OF THESE MASSES IS ON MONDAY 7TH APRIL – there is no 12.30 Mass on Friday 11th April, due to the funeral Mass for Mr Frank Lwanga at 12.00 noon – and there are no 12.30 Masses during Holy Week
9.The Holy Ghost Baby and Toddler group meet on Thursdays during term time at 10am in the Parish Centre.
10. Holy Ghost Balham Girls Club will be meeting again this term – please see the poster in the church porch for details.
11. ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE CONTACTLESS DONATIONS. There are now posters in the church porch with a QR code which will take you to our ‘Dona’ portal – this will enable you to make a contactless donation to the parish without using the devices inside the church. This may be particularly useful if there is a queue for these devices, or they are not working properly. You can find the same QR code on the weekly newsletter. As always, we are very grateful for all your support. If you can gift aid the payment, please do – there’s just a (once per card) single screen to complete covering that and future donations. Gift aid adds 25% to your gift at no cost to you and is of great help to parish finances. For those who would like to make regular donations by standing order, forms are available from the parish gift aid coordinator ([email protected] or [email protected])
11. The film for our next Parish Film Night is Cabrini (2024). This is a biographical drama film depicting the life of Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini, an Italian nun with tuberculosis, as she encounters resistance to founding, with papal approval, a missionary order in New York City in the late 19th century – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini_(film) for further details. She was canonized in 1946, making her the first American saint, and named as the patron saint of immigrants in 1950. Today, the Order she founded, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, provides education, health care, and other services to the poor in 15 nations. The film is 2 hours 20 minutes long and will be shown onMonday 12th May in the Parish Centrestarting at the slightly earlier time of 7.00 pm. Please let Martin Galea ([email protected]) know if you wish to atten
12. Families who will be applying for places in a Catholic school – Primary, Secondary or Sixth Form – in the near future should make sure they fill in a ‘Mass attendance form’ every Sunday (or Saturday evening) during term time. Forms are available at the back of church and, once completed, should be left in the tray provided. These forms are used by the clergy to assist them in completing school reference forms when asked – most schools require evidence of 3 years weekly Mass attendance.
13. The East Hill Supper Club Food Bank would greatly appreciate it if any Holy Ghost Parishioners felt able to donate tins of food, dried foodstuffs, shower gel, biscuits etc. to this worthy cause. You can leave donations at the Parish Office during office hours (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9.30 – 12.30). You may also leave items for the food bank at the church on Sundays, BUT NOT DURING THE WEEK, PLEASE.
14. The Secular Clergy Common Fund is looking to appoint a new CEO. It makes grants to our sick and retired priests and looks after two Catholic cemeteries in London. The role is 0.6FTE and offers flexible working and a salary of £50k-£60k pro rata. For further details contact Angela Rowe [email protected] Closing date 28th April 2025.