Llandudno -
Our Lady Star of
the Sea
Parish
Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546 [Email]
Sunday November
19th 2006
Dear Parishioner,
Today we welcome to our Parish Fr Jo Daly. He, as I am sure you
know, is the Parish Priest of Colwyn Bay. He is with us this
weekend to celebrate the Vigil Mass and the Sunday Morning Mass.
This is part of our Deanery scheme to move the priests around the
Deanery twice a year. Fr Andrew and I will be at Colwyn Bay for
the Masses there. The purpose of the exercise is to help the people of
the Deanery to get to know their priests and to help all of us to be
more aware of the Deanery as an important unit in the make-up of the
Diocese. So, be very nice to Fr Jo and make him very welcome!
Next Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King and the last Sunday of the
present Church’s Year, the 930am Mass will be a Children’s Mass.
At this Mass the children who will be making their First Holy Communion
next year will be presented individually to the Parish. They will
promise to do their best to attend the lessons which will begin in the
New Year and will receive a personal certificate.
I would be grateful if the parents of the children not attending the
Catholic School would please contact me in the course of the week to
confirm that their children will be present. I don’t want any
child to miss out on this occasion. Would grandparents and
relations please co-operate. We are talking about children in
Year 3.
I was dismayed to hear that for the second week running no children
from Year 7 attendeded the special lessons for them on Monday at 4pm at
Stella Maris. A whole class has graduated from the Catholic
School and not one of them is continuing their Catholic instructions;
nor have any of the Catholic children who have attended the state
schools. These children are at a critical point in their
spiritual and psychological development; they live in a society that
ignores its Christian heritage, and they need these instructions.
Parents really should be doing more to see to it that their children
are not missing out. And once again I call upon grandparents to
exert their influence.
Your response to Feed my Lambs and to Sr Jean is truly
magnificent. So also is your continuing support of the Poor Box
at the back of the church. This enables us to help people closer
to home and it provides invaluable help at times.
I was wondering whether you would like to give some of your Christmas
presents this year to the starving children in the Sudan. “How do
I go about that”, I hear you say. Well, what about saying to your
friends and family, “Instead of giving me a present this Christmas, put
the money into Feed my Lambs”. In that way, one present becomes two –
your friend’s present to you and your present to the children.
And, you never know, it might even get your friend to Mass!
The Parish Christmas Party this year is on 30 November at the
Queens. As usual, it will follow the midday Mass and will go on
into the afternoon with bingo and jokes (most of which you have heard
before!). This party started life as a party for the elderly who
don’t like coming out in the evenings. That is why it is a lunch
party rather than a dinner party. But it has happily developed
over the years into a general parish party, held at a time suitable to
everyone. It has always been very successful and this year looks
like being no exception – already we have sold more tickets than ever
before. I am so grateful to David and Pat Butler for their taking
full responsibility for this party, and further tickets can be obtained
from them.
God bless you,
Father Antony Jones