St John the Baptist Parish Newsletter Parish Office: Sacred Heart Church, Silver Link Rd, Tamworth, B77 2EA Parish Office: 01827 769403 Parish Centre Bookings: 01827 288226 Priests: Fr Michael – michael@stjohnrctamworth.org.uk Fr Noel – noel@stjohnrctamworth.org.uk Centre Bookings: Rev Deacon Brian Cox and Mrs Nora Cox – brian.cox8@tiscali.co.uk Tel. 288226 Admin: Wendy Quinn – office@stjohnrctamworth.org.uk Gift Aid, HOT, database (Tues & Wed): Rob Breeden – robertjbreeden@googlemail.com www.stjohnrctamworth.org.uk St John’s Church in on St John St, Tamworth, B79 7EX Solemnity of Christ the King (A) – 23rd November 2014 Psalm Response: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want nd Saturday 22 November St Cecilia Solemnity of Christ the King Sunday 23rd November 10.30am (S.J.) Stanley Boyle 6.00pm (S.J.) Bill Smith – Chris Morris 9.00 am (S.H.) Sarah White Jean Bridges – Mike Bolger and Family Solemnity of Christ the King 10.30 am (S.J.) 12.00 noon (S.H.) Megan O’Connor – Sylvia Chinn Monday 24th Nov St Andrew Dung-Lac 10.00 am (S.J.) Communion Service th Tuesday 25 November Feria 11.00 am (S.J.) Special Intentions 7.00pm (S.H.) Communion Service th Wednesday 26 November Feria 10.00 am (S.J.) Geoffrey Wheeler Thursday 27th November Feria 10.00 am (S.J.) Vincent Hieu th Friday 28 November Feria 9.15am (S.E.) St Gabriel’s School – Ann Long 12.30pm (S.J.) Mass for the sick and housebound of the Parish 7.00pm (S.H.) Communion Service th Saturday 29 November Feria 10.30am (S.J.) Jean Bridges First Sunday of Advent 6.00pm (S.J.) Paddy Brown – Josie Serrage th Sunday 30 November 9.00 am (S.H.) St Gabriel’s School Mass Thank You – Jan Beck Parishioners Intentions – Elsie & John Towey First Sunday of Advent 10.30 am (S.J.) 12.00 noon (S.H.) Ann McCauley Confessions at St John’s: Sat 11.00 till 11.30 am and 5.15 – 5.45 pm.. Please pray for the sick: Mick Evans, Chad Williams, Steve Brindley, Finn Lynch, Teresa Woodcock, Gill Horsley, Margaret Thompson, Phil Crook, Keith Waterhouse, Mary Pullen, Nancy Lynch, Kit Liversidge, Patrick O’Hara, Maggie Gordan, Noreen Doherty, Christine Lavery, Michelle Mason, Julie Orme, Nikolas Atkins, Sheila Brown, Stephen Morley, Jaden Walker, Hughie Mc Kenny, Frank Ryan, Elsie Newbold, Gillian Solanky, Edna Mundin, John Barrass, June Beggan, Michael Fox, Betty Meehan, Mary Miller, Sarah Gillen, Conan Teyssou, Winnie Claridge. Reflection - National Youth Sunday: On the feast of Christ the King - this year on Sunday 23 November - the Catholic Church in England and Wales makes young people our particular focus as a sign of how much we value them. The theme for this year, ‘How happy are you?’ knocks on the door of our heart and challenges us to look at what really brings happiness. Using the beatitudes, as inspiration to our young people, to think about how their happiness is connected to the rest of the world. Be Humble Let God work through you. Be Sorrowful Grieving is ok, it shows our love. Be Gentle It will get us further than we think. Be Just The truth sets people free. Be Merciful We all need forgiveness. Be Pure Open our heart and we will see God. Be Peaceful Everybody is a child of God. Be Courageous Dare to do good so God can work through us. Na każdej niedzielnej mszy dostępne są polskie tłumaczenia czytań i Ewangelii. Można je znaleźć w przedsionku kościoła. Miłej i owocnej lektury! Please pray for those whose anniversaries occur around this time: John Forde, Helen Howells, Michael Cunningham, Albert Green, Catherine Titterton, Thomas Clifford, Michael Kelly, George Pizzuto, Bill Jarvis, John McAuley, Maria Levesley, John Malone, Kath Johnston, Velda Kizis, Owen McDermott, Thomas Heffernan, Victor & Frances Carroll, Ann Chapman, Peter Adams, William Welland, William Hughes, Roy Downes, Margaret Wallis, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, John Davy, Thomas Byrne, Denis Hinton, Ronald Court, Antoni Bielinski, Chris Morris, Bridget Overy, Michael Tooley, Kathleen Grazier, Mary Coogan, Jeff Higgins, Mildred Hall. Please pray for the Repose of the soul of Mark Brown, funeral Mass will take place in St John’s Church on Friday, 5th December at 11.15 (please note Mass time change) Please remember Mark’s grieving family at this time, may they find consolation and peace in Christ. Do you want your son or daughter to be Confirmed? If your child is not at a Catholic school we will be running a course at Church to prepare them for their Confirmation. If you are interested email michael@stjohnrctamworth.org.uk Our first meeting for parents and children will be on Thursday Jan 29th at 7.00 pm – at Sacred Heart. The Journey In Faith next meeting is on Tuesday 2nd December. If you or anyone you know are interested in learning more about the Catholic Faith please ring the parish office. Walk With Me - A Journey of Prayer through Advent are now available. Cost £1, buy one for yourself and one for a friend or neighbour. 2015 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land – Monday 31st August to Tuesday 8th September. A serene and prayerful tour of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth together with the opportunity for relaxing by the Sea of Galielee and the Dead Sea.Price will be £1250 For more details phone or email Geoff Dorrett – 0121 355 3064 iandgadorrett@hotmail.co.uk. Medjugorje Pilgrimage – 9th – 16th June 2015 or 13th – 20th October 2015 Birmingham – Dubrovnik Staying at the Hotel Sulic on a Full Board Basis. Cost of stay £260 per person sharing plus airfare. Book early to save on the air fares. Live Simply – Trying to buy organic produce is not always possible, especially on a tight budget. If you are able to support organic producers in this environmentally friendly way, the Soil Association has an organic directory: www.soilassocition.org. The Organic Box schemes is a great way to buy your produce. Two suppliers we have found are Riverford Organic Veg. www.riverford.co.uk and Abel and Cole www.abelandcole.co.uk. A local small farm who sells ethically grown veg is Woodhouse Farm, Fisherwick Wood, WS13 8QG is worth a visit, opening times are Tuesday and Saturday 2 – 6pm. Proteens - is for Year 7-11 students and we meet at Sacred Heart on Fridays at 7.30pm. Please join us to find out more about the group and see how much fun we have. YOSH (yrs 5 &6) meets each Thursday at 7.00 am, Sacred Heart. New members are really welcome. Sacred Heart Christmas Masses – 7.30pm Christmas Eve and 9.00am Christmas Day. If you are able to help with the singing at one (or both) of these Masses please come along to our rehearsals at the Sacred Heart Church from 7.30pm on Wednesday evening. Instrumentalists welcome too. BBC Songs of Praise is coming to Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Sutton Coldfield. The first recordings will take place on Wednesday evening, 26th November and a second recording on Thursday evening, 27th November. We have been asked to extend an invitation to parishioners and our church choirs. The filming and rehearsals will take place at Holy Trinity Church Roman Catholic Church. For more details contact Holy Trinity direct or the Parish office. Logs: Have you got any logs for burning that you don’t want? We need some at Sacred Heart please. Our Christmas Fayre is this Sunday at Sacred Heart. It starts at 10.00 am and continues until 2.00 pm. Please join us for an hour. Lots of great food and stalls and Santa, of course! St Elizabeth's RC Primary School invite you to their Christmas Fayre on Sunday 30th November 2-4pm. Visit Santa's Grotto, buy Christmas gifts and books, hand-made cards, games, tombola, raffle, mulled wine, cakes and much more. Admission 50p. All welcome. The St Gabriel’s School Christmas Fayre will take place on Friday 28th November from 3.30pm until 5pm and the Friends of St Gabriel’s extend a very warm welcome to the parish. Christmas fun will include a visit from Father Christmas, the Christmas Secret Room, tombola, adopt a teddy, homemade cakes, refreshments, raffle, face painting, games and much more. Visitors can also enjoy festive carols thanks to the beautiful voices of the St Gabriel’s School Choir. All proceeds raised will provide resources for the School and Pre-School. For more details about this event or the Friends of St Gabriel’s email friendsofstgabriels@gmail.com Thank you for your support! Haunton's Christmas Fayre - Saturday 29th November from 12 noon - 4.00pm. All are welcome. Foodbank - Your Foodbank donations continue to be very much appreciated and needed. Tamworth Boxing Club, Orchard Street Tamworth - Low impact sessions for Adult with Learning Difficulties. The sessions will provide an opportunity to take part in a low impact session from 10:30-11:30am and then join us for tea and biscuits from 11:30am-12:30pm. These sessions will be just £3 per person and will be held every Tues. Homestart continue to welcome volunteers for their befriending service of parents with young children. Thank-you to all who have already volunteered. ‘Light Up A Life’ will begin in Advent on the weekend of Nov 30th. It is an opportunity to pray for someone by placing their names on a star. At the same time, your donation will help bring light into someone’s life with much of the money raised going on hampers for people in need at Christmas. Multiple Sclerosis (M S) Society and Tai Chi – Meet on a Tuesday at 11.30am in the Modwen room. The Tai Chi class is open to anyone. The MS Society meets for their meeting after the class at 12.30pm Options For Life an organisation working with adults with learning difficulties. They are based at Sacred Heart and seeing what needs are and whether they can help meet those needs. Starfish: Our Starfish ‘breakfast club’ at the Sacred Heart is held every Saturday from 10am till 12.00 am. It is going really well. Thanks to all our volunteers – more are welcome. Asda Charities - Starfish and two other local charities have been nominated by the ASDA store in Tamworth to receive money from their charity fund. When you buy anything from store, you can pick up counters at the checkouts and put them in the relevant charity box. Can you please support Starfish by putting your counters in the Starfish box. The charity with the most counters will receive £200. 2nd Coton Green Rainbow and Brownie Guide Units meet at St Elizabeth’s School on Wednesday evenings. Contact details are: Rainbows, Steffi 07815087565. Brownies, Sharron 07500426682. Brownies also meet at Sacred Heart on a Wednesday night. Contact details are Tracey 07743306495 To join any of these units go to www.girlguiding.org.uk/joinus Stay and Play – ‘Stay and Play’ session are held in the upstairs room of Sacred Heart 1pm – 3pm, Children up to 1 are free then £2 for first child, £1.50 for second and £1 for third child. This is for babies up to school age children and parents to enjoy time together with play and interaction; refreshment will be served. Senior Citizens at Sacred Heart – Meet every Tuesday for social gatherings at 1.30am. welcome new people so please come along. The Bridge Club are also keen to recruit new members – come and play the King of card games on Monday evenings at 7.00 pm. Pilates Classes – A set of exercise performed in standing, seated and lying positions. Pilates exercise can be beneficial for everyone whatever their fitness. Thursday 7pm – 8pm. £5 per session - pay as you go. Irish Dancing Classes now run from the parish centre every Saturday. It is open to people of all ages. If you are interested then contact Katie Martin on kmartinacademy@aol.com or tel. 07932 359413 A.A. meeting at St John’s upper room on Mondays at 8.00 pm for people recovering from alcohol related problems. They do Money Matters Envelopes 230.44 Standing Order 650.00 Loose 420.71 Total: £1301.15 2nd Collection 255.74 Thank-you Gift Aid: Gift Aid increases giving by 25%. To sign up, contact Rob on 769403 or robertjbreeden@googlemail.com Date for your diary - Baby Massage class begins in Sacred Heart on Monday 19th January 10-11am. Learn to massage your baby I a fun and relaxed atmosphere. For more information please contact Victoria on 07922738783 or visit www.babytouchandtalk.co.uk Situation Vacant - St Gabriel’s School required from January 2015, a full time teacher to join a friendly, supportive and hardworking team. This is a fixed term contract to cover a maternity leave for a full time class teacher in Year 2. It will be for 2 full terms or may be extended to 3 terms. Please contact Mrs T Shaw, Support Services Manager at school for further details. "This Authority/school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment" This position is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure check under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Further details regarding this check are available from schools or by visiting www.crb.gov.uk New Look to the website – take a look at the website this weekend. With the skill of our new website manager Wojciech, some great changes have been made. We now hope that we will be able to update it more regularly with news too. Ideas welcome. It is on: www.stjohnrctamworth.org.uk Thank-you to Wojciech (pronounced Voycheck) for all his hard work. Catechists’ Course in Burton: Thanks to all those who have been going every Thursday to the Catechist’s course in Burton, learning more about the faith so that you can pass it on to children and adults. It is a real blessing to the parish to have such committed parishioners. Registered Charity 234216