Llandudno -
Our Lady Star of
the Sea
Parish
Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546 [Email]
Sunday December
10th 2006
Dear Parishioner,
£566! That is how much we raised last week for Feed My Lambs. An absolutely
astonishing figure, feeding 843 children for a week.
£259 of this came from the Churn in the Church, the remaining
£307 came from the Christmas
Card/Gift Scheme. Congratulations and thank you for such
amazing generosity.
These figures reveal that the Card/Gift scheme has really taken off and
caught your imagination. To save you hanging around waiting for
me, especially after the Masses when I am saying Goodbye to people, I
have signed some of the cards in advance. This means that, if I
am not immediately available, Sr Jennifer can verify your gift and
provide you with the card. I remind you that you can get hold of
these cards at any time – from the Presbytery or the Sacristy.
Now, just think of this. For £36 you could feed one
starving Sudanese child for a whole year; or 52 children for a
week. I am sure there are many people you will spend £36
pounds on this Christmas. Surely at least one of them would
prefer to feed a child for a year than to receive a bottle of expensive
perfume or a new pair of slippers.
I am sure that the generosity this Parish is showing towards the Third
World will have untold benefits within the Parish family itself.
The Church, faithfully following Christ, has always insisted that the
poor should have priority. Forfeiting a Christmas present in
favour of the poor is doing precisely that. And it will bring
many graces and blessings upon us.
St Paul tells us that such generosity will “cover a multitude of
sins”. And I am sure it will. But that doesn’t get you out
of the need to go to Confession!
This week is our Advent Deanery
Penitential Week. You remember how it works. Each evening
at 7:30pm there will be a short Penitential Service in each of the
churches of the deanery in turn. The service will be very short,
certainly not lasting much more than half an hour. The priests of
the deanery will all be available and will remain after the service for
consultation with anyone who may so wish. The services are as
follows:
Monday, 7:30pm:
Llandudno Junction Fr Toole
leading.
Tuesday, 7:30pm:
Old Colwyn
Mgr Fealey leading
Wednesday, 7:30pm: Colwyn
Bay
Fr Jones leading
Thursday, 7:30pm:
Llandudno
Fr Daly leading
Friday, 7:30pm
Llanrwst
Fr Damien leading
The Diocesan Pastoral Council has been looking at the way we make
people feel welcome in our churches. I think we have a good
record, visitors often mention this enthusiastically. But we can
always improve. It was recently suggested to me that we could get
a list of volunteer families who would take it in turn to welcome
people as they come into Mass. It would simply involve smiling
(and most of you are good at that) and saying Good Morning/Evening and
Welcome. And, maybe, handing them a hymnbook. The Ushers
have been doing this faithfully for ages, but, if we can improve on the
service, so much the better. If you would like to be involved in
this scheme, please let Sr Jennifer know, or one of us priests.
We congratulate the UCM on presenting an enjoyable Advent Concert last
Friday evening. The Conwy Valley Singers were in very good voice
and form. I am sure everyone enjoyed it.
We congratulate Mrs Margaret Perkins on raising over £200 for the
British Lung Foundation at her table-top sale last week at Stella
Maris. Well done, Margaret.
God bless you,
Father Antony Jones