Catholic South West June 23

CONTACTS & DETAILS

Catholic South West is a monthly newspaper for Catholics in the Plymouth, Clifton and Portsmouth Dioceses It is published by Bellcourt Ltd

AIMS

To build community in the South West by sharing stories relating to Catholic life around the South West

To encourage readers to get more involved in - or start - projects and initiatives in the local area

To provide thought-provoking articles to help readers deepen their Faith

GET INVOLVED

We need your help!

Articles: We need your local articleswe can only include what we get So if you have an article or just a photo with a short description - please send it in Ideas: We need your ideas for the paper and we need your ideas in the paper If you have any thoughts on what we should include - or if you are thinking about starting a new initiative - get in touch - we d love to support it!

Readers: If you can encourage other readers in your parish please do so

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SUBMITTING EDITORIAL

To send in editorial or to get in touch please contact us at:

CSW - Bellcourt Ltd

N2 Blois Meadow Business Centre Steeple Bumpstead

Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 7BN csw@cathcom org 01440 730399

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DATES

Catholic South West goes to parishes on the last full weekend of the month

It is printed around the middle of the month - so if you would like to advertise or send in editorial please do it as early as possible

FROM CSW

Dear Reader,

The Summer is almost here, and with that it is a great time to stop and focus on the Environment. Last week was Laudato Si Week, which is an opportunity to think about Pope Francis’ teaching on the planet as a gift

to us, and something to be cared for and protected.

There are articles in this edition on global issues such as governments’ attitudes to God. There are also stories covering many local issues with accounts of events and news of exciting

new projects and developments in parishes from around the South West.

Keep your news coming into us – it is always welcome!

Papal blessing for Roger and Esmee

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

1) Think of the readers: If you are writing about an event, think about the readers that don’t know anything about it Outline what happened, but focus on why people go, why it is important to them, or some teaching that was given Make sure readers learn something from your

article - they don’t just want to know who was there and what snacks were available!

2) Keep it brief: Make sure you make your point - but keep it brief and punchy

3) Pictures: Send pictures as they are - even if they are very big to email Don’t reduce them in size or put them inside a Word document

They look fine on the screen but terrible in the paper!

LEGAL INFORMATION

Please note that opinions expressed in this paper and on any linked sites or publications are not necessarily those of the Publishers, Editor, any Diocese or the wider Roman Catholic Church

Every reasonable effort is

made to ensure that due acknowledgement, when appropriate, is made to the originator of any image submitted for publication It is understood that those submitting material for publication in CSW either hold the copyright or have arranged for publication with the appropriate authority

CSW TEAM

The Holy Father Francis sent a Papal blessing to Roger and Esmee Nicholls on the occasion of their 60th Wedding anniversary. Presented by Fr Anthony in Weymouth

Christianity Is Integral To Our National Identity Coronation Message to Catholics

Christianity remains “integral” to the UK’s national identity, the Bishop of Portsmouth said in a message shared across the diocese.

In a pastoral reflection on the Coronation of King Charles III, which was read to all parishioners during Sunday Mass, Bishop Philip Egan gave thanks for the King’s Christian faith, while warning that there are secular forces which seek to eradicate Christianity from public life.

The letter reads: “The King took oaths and made promises not only about his role as Head of State, but also in relation to the

Church and to religion in general. Significantly, His Majesty has chosen to inaugurate his reign with the religious ceremony of coronation, in this way reminding us that the Christian faith is integral to our national identity. Let us thank him for doing this, because there are many secular and humanist forces at work in our society that would seek to remove Christianity from the public square, and indeed to eradicate it.

Bishop Egan’s message also highlights the many charitable causes which the King is committed to: “As Catholics, we rejoice that our new King shares the same

© Mazur/cbcew.org.uk

love for Jesus Christ that his mother Queen Elizabeth did, and that he too strives to put that love into practice in public service, not least through charitable endeavours at home and abroad towards the needy, the young and the environment.

“As we give thanks to God for his strength and conviction, let us pray for him. Indeed, may God give the King and the Queen the graces they need. May He sustain them in all their endeavours, and may He pour out His many blessings on the whole of this United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

God Save the King!”

Liskeard’s Outreach goes from Strength to Strength

On Holy Saturday at 10:00 in Our Lady & St Neot, Liskeard was held the Swieconka Blessing of Easter Baskets.

A good sized group of Polish families came to the church for a short service of blessing of their Easter baskets. The highly decorated baskets contained a section of traditional food stuffs. Each food, having a special meaning; All the baskets contained the following: Bread, symbolising the life and body of Christ and ensuring prosperity and good luck, eggs (most of which were decorated), symbolising fertility, birth and resurrection and salt to symbolise purification.

Some baskets also contained a model of a lamb, to symbolise Jesus Christ. There were portions of sausage and ham, to symbolise health and prosperity; horseradish sauce to symbolise strength and vigour and a portion of Easter cake. After the short service the baskets were taken back home.

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil was held at Sclerder Abbey at 20:00 and the Chapel was packed out with representatives from all four churches in the congregation, assisting Fr Gilmour was Fr Richard, Deacon Peter and representatives from the Chemin Neuf community at Sclerder Abbey. Outside the chapel a wonderful fire basket had been lit and despite the wind the paschal candle was eventually lit, and the congregation processed back into the chapel where the Easter Vigil continued accompanied by a choir of divine heavenly singing led by the organ. After the

beautiful service, the congregation was treated to a cup of ‘Hot Spicy Chocolate’ from a traditional recipe from Martinique. Easter Sunday Mass at Liskeard saw our largest congregation since before the Coronavirus with a great many visitors and representatives from all our four churches. The church was full with every seat taken, also the choir mezzanine filling the church with some wonderful hymn singing. After Mass a bag of small Easter Eggs was given to the children and visitors to the church. Refreshments was served in the St Neot Room consisting of tea, coffee, two homemade Easter cakes and Easter biscuits.

Our paschal candle this year was made by one of our parishioners from Liskeard recycling used candles from the church. Old wicks are removed along with motives which may be on them, and the wax is put into a wax ‘Melter’ along with new wax. Once the wax has melted white or cream colour is added along with some natural scent of Frankincense and Myrrh, after this process the melted wax is poured into moulds and left to set. Once taken out of the moulds all the candles are rubbed down with an alcohol rubbing solution removing any residue left from the moulds. Finally, the candles are painted with a suitable writing or motive. Other candles and tea light candles are also made for the church.

The decorations, flowers for the Holy Week liturgies in each of our four churches have been done with great skill and beauty this year by the small band of flower arrangers from each church.

At Liskeard our chief flower arranger has great skill and intuitiveness. Throughout Covid when the Church was closed, she would come in each week and leave an arrangement of fresh flowers in the church for the priest who would be celebrating mass. The intention behind it being the congregation may not see the flowers, but God would see them.

Some pictures of her arrangements are shown here like when retired priest Fr Mike Cain passed away, we wanted to remember his participation in the church

family of Liskeard. Fr Mike was a very enthusiastic gardener and had an allotment in Liskeard, so vegetables and flowers were incorporated in his floral tribute. A card and photo were sent to Fr Mike’s wife who wrote back thanking us for the card and the creation of a very beautiful and fitting tribute to Mike and she added ‘I’m sure he would have loved it’!

At the beginning of the year a young couple had a stillborn baby they wished to have a funeral for, our talented flower arranger produced a very tender loving floral tribute for them. Photos were taken and given to them to put in their memory box along with the little bear.

The other photos are of our tomb decorations and other floral arrangement for Easter along with our paschal candle. I think you will agree we have some resourceful talented ladies in our little congregation and among our four churches.

On Sunday 23rd April, St George’s Day at the 11:00am Mass in Liskeard, we welcomed our Mayor Mr Simon Cassidy and members of the Liskeard Town Council to our annual Mayor’s Mass. Afterwards, they joined us in the St Neot Room, for tea, coffee and homemade cakes.

Scripture Focus

By Fr Jeremy Corley

St Paul Meditates on Christ our Saviour

On 29th June we will celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Both these great apostles were martyred in Rome during Nero’s persecution in the mid-sixties of the first century. They gave their lives for Christ in the centre of the great empire that controlled more than half of Europe. Two and a half centuries later, the emperor Constantine, influenced by the faith of his mother St Helena, became Christian. Ultimately, the sacrifice of Saints Peter and Paul had not been in vain.

A decade before his martyrdom, St Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Rome, though he had never been there or met them. The early church in Rome had both Jewish and nonJewish converts. This letter seeks to explain how Christ saves both Jews and Gentiles.

One of the key words in this letter is justice or righteousness. Greek and Roman philosophers were very keen to uphold the need for justice in society.

St Paul begins the letter to the Romans by showing that despite this claim, the Roman world was full of injustice and unrighteousness. They needed a Saviour to lead them to righteousness.

The apostle then considers the Jewish people. They had been taught the way of righteousness in the law of Moses, but they had not always kept this law. They too needed a Saviour.

He then points to the example of Abraham, our father in faith. When God made him a marvellous promise of descendants, he believed God. His faith was enough to make him righteous, or to put him in a right relationship with God. We need similar faith, now that God has given us Christ as our Saviour.

In the second reading on 18th June (11th Sunday of the Year), St Paul announces the good news: “What proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” This is the unmerited gift that makes us righteous by putting us in a right relationship with God. All we have to do is to have faith.

Hence St Paul says: “We are filled with joyful trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, because through him we have gained our reconciliation.”

A week later, in the second reading on 25th June (12th Sunday of the Year), St Paul describes Christ as the second Adam. Whereas the first Adam sinned, bringing death into the world, the second Adam saves us. At St John Henry Newman says in one of his hymns: “When all was sin and shame, a second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came.”

St Paul marvels at God’s generous love: “If it is certain that through one man’s fall, so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift.”

Filled with a sense of wonder at God’s generosity, St Paul was keen to give his life in service of his Master, by proclaiming the Good News from Jerusalem as far as Rome. In the end, like St Peter, he offered up his life as a martyr in the persecution unleashed by the emperor Nero.

St Paul says that for the sake of someone really worthy, a person might be prepared to die. He himself was willing to die for the worthiest of all, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Inspired by his example, let us give our lives in his service, in whatever way we are called to do.

Caring for Creation

Laudato Si’ Week 21-28 May

21-28 May marks the eighth anniversary of Pope Francis’ Encyclical – Laudato Si’. We have a wonderful opportunity to deepen our understanding of this profound and inspiring spirituality through ‘The Letter’ – a film telling the story of a journey to Rome of young people and scientists who are frontline leaders in the struggles to protect God’s creation. In it they discuss the encyclical letter Laudato Si’ and meet with Pope Francis. The exclusive dialogue with the Pope, included in the film, offers a revealing insight into the personal history of Pope Francis.

During Laudato Si’ week 21-28 May 2023, we would like to encourage people to come together to watch the film, pray and reflect on how it calls us to action as individuals and communities. There is a wonderful website which provides a link to the film and offers resources for groups to use. On the website you are invited to register your screening; after which you will be sent some support materials and a link to download the film to use for your screening, if you are concerned about internet issues on the day of screening.

We are inspired as always by the Prayer For Our Earth (Laudato Si)

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

Picture courtesy of Tanya Trevena

Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303 – 1373)

In mediaeval days, pilgrimages were very popular. Bridget’s mother Ingeborg and father Birger Petersson travelled to Ireland to visit the shrine of Saint Brigid of Kildare and was rescued from a shipwreck. She had already conceived her baby so she called her Birgitta meaning ‘bright’ when she was born in 1303. Ingeborg died when Birgitta was young so she was brought up by a harsh stepmother. However, she was devoted to Our Lady Mary and started having visions. In 1516 at age 13 she was betrothed to Ulf a lawyer. They married and had four sons and four daughters.

They lived in a wooden castle of Ulfasa in Gotland. Birgitta was strong-minded and devout, living out her faith by running a soup kitchen at her back door, visiting the sick with her daughters and helping unmarried mothers. Being well born, she had to take a turn as lady in waiting in the court of King Magnus in Vadstena Castle, but she was appalled at the king’s corruption. Ulf and Birgitta made many pilgrimages to Trondheim then to Santiago de Compostela, passing through Germany, Cologne then over the Pyrenees mountains.

On returning to Flanders Ulf fell ill and St Birgitta saw a vision of St Dennis telling her he would protect them and that she would go to Rome then Jerusalem. Birgitta saw much wrong in the monasteries en route. She vowed to start a new monastery of a double Order of educated Sisters and Brothers who would be under an Abbess and sing Devotions to Our Lady, making a new ‘vineyard’. Ulf survived and he lived at Alvastra where Bridget took a house and lived there until he died. She took off her wedding ring as she wished to be a Bride of Christ.

She received many revelations over the next years which were transcribed into the Syon Breviary: seven Hours of devotional prayers to our Lady. In 1348, Birgitta set off across Europe with two priests to travel to Rome to apply to the Pope for permission to found her new Order. She encountered the awful results of the Black Death and so much poverty.

Reaching Rome, she was allowed to live in a fine house in Piazza Farnese, but the Pope was absent in France.

Birgitta suffered much hardship waiting 30 years until at last Pope Urban V gave authorisation in 1371 for her new Ordinis Sanctissimi Salvatoris (The Order of the Most Holy Saviour). They took the style of a great habit and white wimple, black veil and a white crown depicting the Five Wounds of Jesus, popular in this time, marked by five red dots. There could be up to 60 Sisters and 13 Brothers who were confessors and preachers living in separate enclosures, The sisters would make vows of humility, poverty and chastity under the Augustinian rule, spending time in silence but also working and relaxing with gardening, walking, reading or needlework.

Birgitta made a final pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1371 with three of her grown children. However, she fell ill and on return she died on 23 July 1373. In December she made her final journey back to Vadstena, being transported in a heavy oak coffin accompanied by her daughter Katherine and son Birger. A small part of her relics are in the fine

Blue Abbey church by the beautiful lake Vattern in Vadstena. The Rule of Our Holy Saviour was ratified by Urban V in 1391 and Saint Bridget was canonised later the same year on 7 October by Pope Boniface IX. On 1 October 1999 Pope Saint John Paul II proclaimed her as a patron Saint of Europe. Katherine, became the first Abbess at Vadstena in the Monastery of the building bequeathed to Birgitta by King Magnus in 1394.

Saint Birgitta was a woman of ‘remarkable virtues, of prayerfulness, persistence, patience and diplomacy’ and is still a mentor to us all 650 years later.

Joy Hanson 2023

The Facebook group, St Bridget’s Friends, will be commemorating the 650th anniversary of the death of their patron, St Bridget, with a special event and thanksgiving service on Sunday, 23rd July 2023. This ecumenical celebration will be held at St John’s Community Church, Bridgetown, Totnes from 3 –5pm. All are welcome. To attend, simply e-mail Joy Hanson, Secretary on joyhansonuk@gmail.com

Bridget and Katherine

St Bridget of Sweden

Syon Abbey

Rising Sun Nurseries, near Callington, Cornwall, has a complete range of garden care products, tools, pots, composts and accessories for all your gardening needs, and a wide range of plants, shrubs, trees, bulbs and seeds for every garden. We are open 7 days a week throughout the year. There is ample parking. Our friendly staff are always on hand to help you and to offer advice and recommendations.

• Bedding Plants

• Ceramic Pots and Troughs

• Hanging Baskets

• Composts

• Patio and Pot Plants

The Torbay Knights of St. Columba and the S.P.U.C.’s Rosary on the Coast, Torquay

• Gifts

• Bird Feeders

• Cut Flowers

• Annual Seeds

• Christmas Trees

The Latin Mass Society

www.lms.org.uk

020 7404 7284

Masses in the Extraordinary Form in Plymouth Diocese: Lanherne Convent, St. Mawgan, Cornwall TR8 4ER

Sundays 8.30am Low Mass10.00am Sung Mass

Monday – Saturday 8am Low Mass. Thursdays 8am Low Mass and 6.15pm Low Mass Confession: Saturdays at 3pm St. Edward the Confessor, Home Park Avenue, Peverell, Plymouth, Devon PL3 4PG

Sundays 8.30 am Low Mass. 1st Saturdays 11.30am Mass

Holy Angels, Shrine Church, Queensway, Chelston, Torquay, Devon TQ2 6BP

Sundays: 10.45am Sung/High Mass (Confession before and after Mass and every day if required). Vespers & Benediction. 8.30.am Low Mass Monday, Tuesday & Saturday 12 noon Low Mass Wednesday & Friday 12 noon Sung Mass Thursday 5.30pm Vespers, 6pm Adoration (Confessions), 7pm Compline.

Wednesday 12 noon Mass - Saturday 8.30am Mass.

St. Cyprian, Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh, Devon TQ13 0AD

No Mass at present

Blessed Sacrament, Fore St., Heavitree, Exeter, Devon EX1 2QJ

No Mass at present

Our Lady of Lourdes & St. Cecilia, White Cliff Mill St., Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11

On Saturday 13th May in glorious sunshine, the Torbay Knights of St. Columba and the S.P.U.C.’s Rosary on the Coast event took place on Torquay’s Corbyns Head overlooking the sea with over 30 participants including families with children. Gathered around the Home Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Abbe Aaron Zeilinski (Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest) led the Rosary as an act of reparation for all the babies killed since the Abortion Act was given Royal Assent and became law in 1968. The event also saw the launch of the K.S.C.’s Spiritual Outreach programme, whereby the K.S.C.s Home Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is loaned to families, thereby helping them pray the Rosary with their children. After the event, a number of those

present enjoyed a cream tea in the sunshine at the Livermead Cliff Hotel, socializing with old friends and making new ones. Many thanks to all who turned up to make the Rosary a success, and to those at home who could not make it. For more information about the local S.P.U.C. and/or would like to attend their monthly meetings in Totnes, please contact Mrs.Christina Beards on 07800758823 who will be pleased to answer your questions. Likewise, the Torbay Knights of St. Columba are in the process of recruiting more men interested in joining them in their unique apostolate, so, if interested, please contact the Grand Knight, Brother Maurice Quinn on 07555536579.

Ave Maria!

View from the Pew

By Dr Jay Kettle-Williams

Does Government Do God?

Long gone are those days when I sat in school reciting the Latin conjugations and declensions, not that I ever understood why ancient, toga-clad Romans would wander round the forum chanting ‘amo, amas, amat …’ and the like. Long gone too when ‘Do, dare, dedi, datum’ set our Latin tutors apart - one an Oxford grad, the other a Cambridge man – because of their contrastive pronunciation of the phoneme /a/ when conversing in Latin. I will bore you no longer, so I skip reference to the Ablative Absolute.

The terms Fidei Defensor and Fidei Defensatrix, masculine and feminine respectively, translate as ‘Defender of Faith’. What faith, or what faiths among the many, is not specified for want of a suitable descriptor.

Casting our minds back, 1507 was when King James IV of Scotland received the title ‘Protector and Defender of the Christian Faith’ from the papal legate Robert Bellenden representing Pope Julius II. In 1521 Pope Leo X then granted the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ to King Henry VIII. That title, which has remained a subsidiary title of the English and later British monarchs ever since, was also used by Henry’s wife Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), whose parentsthe Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel – had finally wrestled Spain from Muslim control in 1492.

That title ‘Defender of the Faith’ had been conferred on Henry in recognition of Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (Defence of [the] Seven Sacraments), alternatively referred to as the Henrician Affirmation, written by Henry in support of papal supremacy and the sacramental nature of marriage, penned largely in opposition to the nascent Protestant Reformation and Lutheranism of the day.

When Henry decided in 1530 to break with Rome and proclaim himself head of the Church of England, he was excommunicated by Pope Paul II, the title was revoked. Thirteen years

later, ‘The Bill for the Kinges Stile’ was passed by Parliament in England to confer on Henry and his successors the style ‘Henry the Eighth by the Grace of God King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and also of Ireland in Earth the Supreme Head’. The style ‘Defender of the Faith’, reintroduced after the restoration of the monarchy, remains in use to this day. Such is the banner now picked up by King Charles III.

In 1994, Charles sparked controversy saying that he would be ‘Defender of Faith’ rather than ‘Defender of the Faith’. The intention, amid suggestions or even concerns that the coronation oath might need to be amended, was to reflect not only Charles’ interest in theocracy, notably Islam and Judaism, but Britain’s religious diversity. As he later clarified: ‘I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faith and their freedom to worship in this country. And it’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.’

Seventy years ago, more than 80% of the population in England were Christian. Mass migration was only beginning. Nowadays that figure has dropped below 50% with Catholics representing the

Prayer by courtesy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

largest body within that sector. According to the latest figures available, 37% of the population claim to have no religion, 6.5% call themselves Muslim, 1.7% Hindu. No religion now holds an outright majority.

In recognition of Britain’s current multifaith society – as attested by the Census Data of 2021 – The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has finally released (April ’23) the longdelayed, long-awaited ‘Bloom Review’, commissioned three years ago. In the

light of recent debates in both Houses (The Commons and The Lords), the review is singularly and perhaps solely interesting for looking to record the relationship between the state and religion, focussing on the contribution religion makes or can make to public life. The paper, compiled by Colin Bloom, condemned by some for obfuscating obvious problems where they exist and inventing problems where they do not, basically poses the question for us and our King: ‘Does Government Do God?’. Hm!

Church and State by Nicolas Brulois (Unsplash)

Book Reviews

Birthing The Holy:Wisdom from Mary

By Christine Valters Paintner

£15.50

PRODUCT CODE: 11749

ISBN NO:9781932057270

www.rpbooks.co.uk

Christine Valters

Paintner invites you to better know Mary and her heart through thirty-one of her titles, and, along the way, you’ll nurture the new growth in your life.

The Blessed Mother is known by many beautiful titles, some of which are familiar—Virgin, Queen of Peace, and Star of the Sea—and some we may not be aware of—Vessel of Grace, Greenest Branch, and Our Lady of Silence.

Paintner offers a flexible format to reflect on Mary’s titles through a thirty-one-day personal retreat, a series of novenas, or with visio divina exercises using striking images by printmaker Kreg Yingst. As you reflect on Mary in her role as Mother of Good Counsel, Woman Clothed with the Sun, Mystical Rose, Mother of Sorrows, Queen of the Angels, and other titles, Paintner invites you to hear what God calls you to develop in your life, help that dream or vision grow, and then nourish it in the world.

Whether you’re meeting Mary for the first time in these magnificent titles or revisiting her as a beloved companion, Birthing the Holy invites you to see the exploration of Mary and your life as a spiritual and creative act, one that can help deepen your faith even as it sparks new growth within you.

I Belong Children’s Book - First Holy Communion

By Aileen Urquhart

£7.95

Product Code: 1051

ISBN No: 9780852313770

www.rpbooks.co.uk

An original First Holy Communion Programme that contains lively, colourful material in which illustrations and examples are used to reflect the world where today's children live and experience faith.

I Belong is a programme that contains lively, colourful material in which illustrations and examples are used to reflect the world where today’s children live and experience faith. It is hoped that the children using this book will create a personal momento of this special time in their relationship with God. At the end of each chapter is a “Family Time” page with suggestions for prayer and something to do together as a family. Small information boxes have been added throughout the book. These cover areas such as:search the church for particular items, explanation of Catholic practices, what to look out for while at Mass and new words associated with reconciliation, First Holy Communion and the Mass. There is also a symbol of a Bible to check out bible references at the end of scripture passages. A small candle features on the corner of each page which, when coloured, indicates progress through the book

Living The Word: Catholic Womens Bible

£51.95

Product Code 11743

ISBN NO:9781646801251

www,rpbooks.co.uk

Do you long to connect with a variety of women just like you who live the Word of God in the world each day?

Do you long to connect with a variety of women just like you who live the Word of God in the world each day?

That connection is what makes the Living the Word Catholic Women's Bible different from other Bibles for women: it includes almost four-hundred pages of special features created for women by women-more than forty scholars, teachers, religious, authors, ministers, and speakers--such as Leah Darrow, Sarah Christmyer, Johnnette Benkovic Williams, and Sr. Maria Kim-Ngân Bùi, FSP--who come from a variety of backgrounds and reflect the diversity of the Catholic faith. You can walk through scripture in community with other women who seek to become closer to God by reading his Word and living it in their daily lives.

The stunning beauty of the Living the Word Catholic Women's Bible also makes it stand out among its peers. The extraordinary and elegant design enhances your reading experience by connecting various features throughout the text including fifty profiles of women in the Bible, ninety-seven Living

in the Light of Faith essays, Take it to Heart questions for reflection and journaling, and quotations from saints and holy women. The tranquil colors and other design elements help you feel at home in the Bible.

Stations of the Cross – Inspired by the Work of SVP

Fr

Gerard Bogan

£3.50

CTS Product Code: D846

Please refer to this code when ordering over the phone

ISBN: 9781784697549 ctsbooks.org Walk alongside Jesus in his passion and Cross and be prepared to walk with compassion alongside our suffering brothers and sisters, with these meditations on the Way of the Cross in light of the work of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.

This meditation on the Via Crucis – the Way of the Cross – reflects on Jesus’ suffering through the inspiration of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam and the society he founded to help the poor and those in need: the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Walking alongside Jesus in his Passion and Cross prepares us to walk with compassion alongside our suffering brothers and sisters, to learn to love them as Christ loves them, and to enter more deeply into the mystery of God’s mercy revealed in his holy cross.

Peace of Heart –According to St Benedict

Fr Bernard Ducruet, OSB

£3.50

CTS Product Code: PA66

Please refer to this code when ordering over the phone

ISBN: 9781784697426 www.ctsbooks.org

Learn to welcome peace beyond trials and to see it as a limitless gift from God, through teaching marked by the Spirit of St Benedict.

Trials quickly take Peace away from us. Does this mean peace of heart is impossible? No, for Jesus

himself promised it to us. There is peace beyond our trials, but we do not receive it according to the way of the world. Fr Bernard Ducruet, through teaching marked by the Spirit of St Benedict, leads us to welcome the peace as a limitless gift of God and the fruit of struggle.

SYCAMORE: The Catholic Faith Explained

Fr

Stephen Wang

£16.95

CTS Product Code: DO944

Please refer to this code when ordering over the phone

ISBN: 9781784696160

In SYCAMORE you will find answers to the most common questions about life and faith, whether you want to deepen the faith you already have or are exploring the faith for the first time. Written in a conversational style with beautiful colour images.

Do you want to understand the Christian faith? Have you ever wondered about the meaning of life?

Whether you want to deepen the faith you already have, are exploring the faith for the first time, or are just curious, in SYCAMORE you will find answers to the most common questions about life and faith. What is happiness? How can we know that God exists? What do we really know about Jesus? Can we trust the Bible? What is faith? Does prayer make a difference? Is there such a thing as right and wrong? What is the meaning of love?

In addition to the essential questions about life, SYCAMORE explains simply the central beliefs and practices of Catholic Christianity. Understand the seven sacraments, the moral and social teaching of the Church, the Christian vocations, the Virgin Mary and the saints, life after death, and the hope of heaven.

This book can be read on its own or used by those who are following a SYCAMORE course in their parish or community.

Fr Stephen Wang is a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Westminster. He has worked in parishes, schools and university chaplaincies across London, and lectured in philosophy and theology. He has written a number of books including A Way of Life for Young Catholics, How to Discover your Vocation, The New Evangelisation and The Christian Faith. He is currently Rector of the Venerable English College in Rome.

Following Saint Francis of Assisi in our modern world

Terry Mortimer

building in which Francis heard the message. He set out about rebuilding that church. The Catholic Church at that time was falling into disrepute and Our Lord was really referring to the declining state of His Church.

Perhaps the most popular of Saints is Francis of Assisi. Known worldwide for his love of creation and God’s creatures, he is admired by Christians and non-Christians alike.

This remarkable man achieved so much in adult life; dying as he did at the age of 44, but there is so much more to Francis than his love of animals and creation.

The son of rich merchant, and in his youth a ‘bit of a lad!” he had a conversion experience at the age of 25 to 26yrs of age, when Our Lord spoke to him, saying “Francis repair my Church, which as you can see is falling into ruin.”

Francis naturally thought the Blessed Lord was talking about the physical

Initially having an experience where he set aside his former life and taking on the life of the way of the Lord, Francis began to live a life influenced by the Holy Gospel. He had no intention of forming a new Order, but what transpired was many hundreds and, in due course, thousands followed him in this new calling.

Married man and women, some of them in business came to him and said, “ We would love to follow you but we have family and work commitments. Francis then formed what was subsequently called the Third Order and enabled these people to follow the way Francis lived, but in the community Today that Third Order, renamed the Secular Franciscan Order, is the largest lay order in the world and 600.000 Catholics are members.

Their aims are to make our Lord known everywhere; to spread the spirit of love

and harmony, to live simply and go from Gospel to Life and Life to Gospel.

We are today inviting you to join us at our gatherings (Fraternities) where you will receive a warm loving welcome.

2-in-1 Crossword

by Axe

You can use both sets of clues to solve the puzzle: the solutions are the same.

CRYPTIC Across

7 Day before a period of abstinence upset the sad voyeurs (6,7)

8 Diverse views of two students in the group? (4)

9 Entirety: perhaps a long time coming? (8)

10 ‘Praise be to God': the French-American and English party embraced (4,3)

11 Lead of apostles appears to dwindle (5)

13 Oracle turned up, seen in company of lowly bishop (5)

15 Outmanoeuvre plan to get rid of dreadful Metro for something new in Paris (7)

18 Sorry Beth, an all-round tart prior to Lindisfarne (8)

19 One attends fires, getting up to no good (4)

20 Converted a Tao lifesaver and beatified one (6,2,5)

CRYPTIC Down

1 Contents of sermon by group Left ignored – it comes from the Parisian quarters (3,10)

2 Rights of Asian country put in a letter from Paul (6)

3 Ahab's wife's the first in jail: ever zealous, ever brazen, ever lustful (7)

4 French chap leaves during the season in Babylonia of old (5)

5 People of the Gold Coast, like before (6)

6 Book's antiquated cover is made for a Navy's Broad Church chap (7,6)

12 Quietly go on to Square assuming that the first of February will bring the Pope (7)

14 You ask how we enter heaven, initially in

Hebrew, Lord? (6)

16 Not obligatory in Church to elect four for admission (6)

17 Saul's daughter finds setter near pub, having fallen over (5)

QUICK Across

7 Time at the eve of Lent for confession and absolution of the faithful (6,7) 8 Title given to some bishops (4)

9 Time without end (8)

10 'Glory to God in the highest', or 'Praise (be) to God', in the Latin (4,3)

11 Leader of the Apostles, entrusted with the ‘keys of the Kingdom of Heaven' (5)

13 Female seer (5)

15 Beaujolais ------- or ------- Riche, for instance (7)

18 Saint, the apostle of Northumbria (c 635-687) (8)

19 Chinese mafia (4)

20 Saint whose feast day falls on 15 October (6,2,5)

QUICK Down

1 Christ's promise of coming blessings (3,10)

2 Paul's longest letter: a text of primary importance for the Christian theological tradition (6)

3 Wife of Ahab, often synonymous with a wicked, scheming woman (7)

4 Region in modern-day Iraq before it became Babylonia (5)

5 Ghanaian people, alternatively-named 'Ashanti' (6)

We hope you will wish to join us or know more, please contact our formation Minister, Terry Mortimer on 07434574606 or Mortimer968@uwclub.net

6 Poet, Oxford don and son of the founder of the Broad Church movement (7,6)

12 High Priest (7)

14 Popular derivation of the Hebrew proper name for God (6)

16 Given by vow (6)

17 Daughter of Saul, initially promised to David (5)

SOLUTION

Peter, 13 Sibyl, 15 Nouveau, 18 Cuthbert, 19 Tong, 20 Teresa of Avila. Down: 1 The Beatitudes, 2 Romans, 3 Jezebel, 4 Sumer, 5 Asante, 6 Matthew Arnold, 12 Pontiff, 14 Yahweh, 16 Votive, 17 Merab.

Francis repair my Church, which as you can see is falling into ruin