Llandudno -
Our Lady Star of
the Sea
Parish Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546
Sunday, July, 22nd 2007 - Sixteenth of Ordinary Time (C)
Parish Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546
Sunday, July, 22nd 2007 - Sixteenth of Ordinary Time (C)
Dear
Parishioner,
On the 9 July 2006, we began our Feed my Lambs campaign in the parish. From 9 July 2006 to 8 July 2007 you have contributed the grand total of £11,804. This hugely generous sum has fed and kept alive 338 babies for a whole year. What a credit this is to our Parish! How much relief you have brought to those hungry and stressed mothers! How much future illness you have prevented by giving these little ones the nourishment they need in their earliest years! Not just those mothers are pleased; not just I with my parish; but the Lord himself; and he is delighted with you.
It was good to see Sr Jean here with us last week. Such a frail little woman, but such a lion hearted defender of the poor. You gave her £901!
On top of this you gave £184 to Feed my Lambs last Sunday. And on the day when the counters totted all this up, I was given a cheque for £1,000 for Feed my Lambs! This gives the Feed my Lambs year, July 9, 2007 -2008, a racing start!
Today, in our Volunteer Focus Campaign we turn our attention to the Pro Life Group. While abortion is the greatest evil in our modern society, we have only one member in our parish of this group which seeks to bring the iniquity of abortion before the minds of us all.
Mrs Jackie-Horton Jones has been a member of this group for some years now. It meets in Colwyn Bay. I tried, unsuccessfully, to establish an independent group here in this parish, but it was not supported. Jackie reports that the Pro-Life group in Colwyn Bay is also declining for the same reasons: lack of support and shortage of numbers.
The Catholic Church is virtually the only body that stands up publicly and unconditionally for the value and the sacredness of human life. The Popes have spoken out on this subject with increasing frequency and urgency. Pope John Paul II coined the phrase culture of death to describe the attitude of our present society. As all life comes from God, and as Man was made in the image and likeness of God and given the assurance of a life that will reach beyond death, human life is seen to be utterly sacred and outside our authority to destroy. Abortion is a crime against God, the author and giver of life, and a crime against humanity, as we seek to destroy, for our own presumed benefit, our own species when it is at its most vulnerable.
The Pro-Life Movement seeks also to support pregnant women and offer real alternatives to abortion. Jackie writes: In Germany, mothers of unwanted babies may place their baby in a temporary home with no questions asked. If the mother has doubts about giving up her baby permanently, she is given time to make up her mind. If the baby is left in the home, the home routinely sees to its upbringing.
The Pro-Life Movement tries to care for mothers after abortion, mothers who often find themselves filled with remorse. Pro-Life seeks to assure them of God’s mercy; to remind them of the pressures they were under when the decision was taken, and therefore of their diminished responsibility; to gladden them by reminding them that while we can kill the body we cannot kill the soul, as Our Lord tells us, and that one day Mother and Baby will be reunited in the joy of their Father’s Home.
If you would like to be just a part of this great movement, contact Jackie on 875561 and, maybe, we will form a group of our own.
Mrs Elaine Dingsdale, our Parish Council Chairperson and Head Teacher of the School, has been spearheading our Volunteer Campaign for the duration, and has, as always, excelled herself. While listening to her at the Masses, it occurred to me that it would be very beneficial both to the Parish and to the School, were she to give us an update of what is happening in the School every term. I have asked her to do this and she has readily agreed. Next week she will be presenting her final focus, the work of the Parish’s Justice and Peace Committee. But as it is already the end of term, she is going to give us also the first of her updates on the School. We look forward to hearing her. She will speak at all the Masses.
On Wednesday, at 730pm over at Stella Maris and over a glass of wine and a wedge of cheese, we will be discussing the future of the choir, with the new choirmaster and with all you lovely parishioners who are about to join. We must make a go of our choir – we owe it to God, to our visitors and to ourselves. Please be generous with your time. If you can sing, come along.
God bless you,
Fr Antony Jones
On the 9 July 2006, we began our Feed my Lambs campaign in the parish. From 9 July 2006 to 8 July 2007 you have contributed the grand total of £11,804. This hugely generous sum has fed and kept alive 338 babies for a whole year. What a credit this is to our Parish! How much relief you have brought to those hungry and stressed mothers! How much future illness you have prevented by giving these little ones the nourishment they need in their earliest years! Not just those mothers are pleased; not just I with my parish; but the Lord himself; and he is delighted with you.
It was good to see Sr Jean here with us last week. Such a frail little woman, but such a lion hearted defender of the poor. You gave her £901!
On top of this you gave £184 to Feed my Lambs last Sunday. And on the day when the counters totted all this up, I was given a cheque for £1,000 for Feed my Lambs! This gives the Feed my Lambs year, July 9, 2007 -2008, a racing start!
Today, in our Volunteer Focus Campaign we turn our attention to the Pro Life Group. While abortion is the greatest evil in our modern society, we have only one member in our parish of this group which seeks to bring the iniquity of abortion before the minds of us all.
Mrs Jackie-Horton Jones has been a member of this group for some years now. It meets in Colwyn Bay. I tried, unsuccessfully, to establish an independent group here in this parish, but it was not supported. Jackie reports that the Pro-Life group in Colwyn Bay is also declining for the same reasons: lack of support and shortage of numbers.
The Catholic Church is virtually the only body that stands up publicly and unconditionally for the value and the sacredness of human life. The Popes have spoken out on this subject with increasing frequency and urgency. Pope John Paul II coined the phrase culture of death to describe the attitude of our present society. As all life comes from God, and as Man was made in the image and likeness of God and given the assurance of a life that will reach beyond death, human life is seen to be utterly sacred and outside our authority to destroy. Abortion is a crime against God, the author and giver of life, and a crime against humanity, as we seek to destroy, for our own presumed benefit, our own species when it is at its most vulnerable.
The Pro-Life Movement seeks also to support pregnant women and offer real alternatives to abortion. Jackie writes: In Germany, mothers of unwanted babies may place their baby in a temporary home with no questions asked. If the mother has doubts about giving up her baby permanently, she is given time to make up her mind. If the baby is left in the home, the home routinely sees to its upbringing.
The Pro-Life Movement tries to care for mothers after abortion, mothers who often find themselves filled with remorse. Pro-Life seeks to assure them of God’s mercy; to remind them of the pressures they were under when the decision was taken, and therefore of their diminished responsibility; to gladden them by reminding them that while we can kill the body we cannot kill the soul, as Our Lord tells us, and that one day Mother and Baby will be reunited in the joy of their Father’s Home.
If you would like to be just a part of this great movement, contact Jackie on 875561 and, maybe, we will form a group of our own.
Mrs Elaine Dingsdale, our Parish Council Chairperson and Head Teacher of the School, has been spearheading our Volunteer Campaign for the duration, and has, as always, excelled herself. While listening to her at the Masses, it occurred to me that it would be very beneficial both to the Parish and to the School, were she to give us an update of what is happening in the School every term. I have asked her to do this and she has readily agreed. Next week she will be presenting her final focus, the work of the Parish’s Justice and Peace Committee. But as it is already the end of term, she is going to give us also the first of her updates on the School. We look forward to hearing her. She will speak at all the Masses.
On Wednesday, at 730pm over at Stella Maris and over a glass of wine and a wedge of cheese, we will be discussing the future of the choir, with the new choirmaster and with all you lovely parishioners who are about to join. We must make a go of our choir – we owe it to God, to our visitors and to ourselves. Please be generous with your time. If you can sing, come along.
God bless you,
Fr Antony Jones