Llandudno -
Our Lady Star of
the Sea
Parish Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546
Sunday, July 29th 2007 - Seventeenth of Ordinary Time (C)
Parish Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546
Sunday, July 29th 2007 - Seventeenth of Ordinary Time (C)
Dear
Parishioner,
Mrs Elaine Dingsdale, our Parish Council Chairperson and the Head Teacher of the Catholic Primary School, will be speaking to us today about the School. Because the School is the other end of town, it is easy for parishioners to forget about it, especially those who go regularly to the Welsh Mass or to the Saturday evening Mass, which are never Children’s Masses. The School is very much part of our Parish Family and plays a vital part. Parishioners are always welcome to visit it and parents are strongly encouraged to send their children to it. As Elaine pointed out last Sunday, schools are funded by the Welsh Assembly in accordance with the number of children attending – for every child the authorities pay a standard sum. If few children attend, the funding is low, which means that the school suffers. The staff are the first to be reduced, for wages are the principal demand on the school’s finances. If our school is to survive for future generations, our parents must send their children there, where the standard of education is on a par with any other school in the town and where there is a uniquely Catholic atmosphere with the children being automatically prepared for the Sacraments. Over and above these demands on the school’s finances, there are areas where the school has to find all or a percentage of the cost, such as painting and decorating. This is what today’s second collection is for. I know you will be generous.
Today we come to the last of our Volunteer Focus days, and our attention now turns to our Justice and Peace Committee.
At the moment, this Committee is virtually non-existent. Brian Sweeney has been the sole member for a couple of years now, representing it too on the Pastoral Council.
Matters of Justice and Peace are becoming more pressing than ever. Only a day ago, I handed over to Brian a document I had received from David Alton calling on communities to rally to oppose the spate of bills about to go before Parliament in the autumn dealing with controversial aspects of human fertilisation. David Alton MP is concerned that we make our immediate feelings known to Betty Williams our own MP. Watch this space; we will no doubt be doing something.
This is the kind of thing members of the Justice and Peace Committee should be involved in, reaching out on behalf of the rest of us to issues which concern both ourselves and the wider community. Please consider joining; and if so, contact Brian on 581336. And while on this subject, Elaine Dingsdale mentioned the Pro-Life website (ProLife.com) in her talk last week. I visited it myself and now enthusiastically recommend it to you.
It was suggested by Toni Fossi that a flier be drawn up detailing all the volunteer groups in the Parish and giving the contact numbers. Mandy has seen to this and the leaflets are available in the porch, with a permanent poster on the notice board.
To round off this campaign, there will be a Party for all Parish Volunteers on Thursday. It is a drop-in party from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. All who work in any voluntary capacity of whatever kind in the parish are very welcome and warmly encouraged to attend. Just an opportunity to say Thank You.
Among these volunteers, I hope we will count many members of the choir, or Schola, as we now choose to call it. It has changed its name to emphasise its fresh start. The meeting held last Wednesday increased the membership by a third and tried to forge the way ahead. A weekly practice on Mondays at 7pm in the church was one of the many decisions that emerged. There was plenty of optimism on display and I hope that these weekly practices will turn out to be more than just training sessions but enjoyable social occasions too. Our first objective is to begin singing the psalm at the 9:30am Masses and to learn some of the many new hymns that have come onto the Catholic scene in recent years. Our choirmaster, Alex Williams, sees it as an enjoyable challenge. If you would like to join the Schola, all you need do now is to turn up at any one of the weekly practices on Monday evenings.
Another Thank You. I received a donation of £100 towards the turquoise glass which I proposed recently for the Chapel of Reconciliation and which the UCMW have taken up as their special project (while further donations are still warmly welcomed!). It has always been a genuine Christian tradition, since the very earliest times of the Faith, to beautify the churches to the very best of the ability and finances of the congregation. It was the very poor Irish who financed the building of our church for us; it was the poorest of the poor who contributed their farthings to the building of the great cathedrals in the Middle Ages. All done for the glory of God. We keep a balance between caring for the poor (and this you do most wonderfully generously – just look at the figures overleaf) and running our parish plant, which includes making our church as beautiful and we can. Something beautiful for God.
God bless you,
Fr Antony Jones
Mrs Elaine Dingsdale, our Parish Council Chairperson and the Head Teacher of the Catholic Primary School, will be speaking to us today about the School. Because the School is the other end of town, it is easy for parishioners to forget about it, especially those who go regularly to the Welsh Mass or to the Saturday evening Mass, which are never Children’s Masses. The School is very much part of our Parish Family and plays a vital part. Parishioners are always welcome to visit it and parents are strongly encouraged to send their children to it. As Elaine pointed out last Sunday, schools are funded by the Welsh Assembly in accordance with the number of children attending – for every child the authorities pay a standard sum. If few children attend, the funding is low, which means that the school suffers. The staff are the first to be reduced, for wages are the principal demand on the school’s finances. If our school is to survive for future generations, our parents must send their children there, where the standard of education is on a par with any other school in the town and where there is a uniquely Catholic atmosphere with the children being automatically prepared for the Sacraments. Over and above these demands on the school’s finances, there are areas where the school has to find all or a percentage of the cost, such as painting and decorating. This is what today’s second collection is for. I know you will be generous.
Today we come to the last of our Volunteer Focus days, and our attention now turns to our Justice and Peace Committee.
At the moment, this Committee is virtually non-existent. Brian Sweeney has been the sole member for a couple of years now, representing it too on the Pastoral Council.
Matters of Justice and Peace are becoming more pressing than ever. Only a day ago, I handed over to Brian a document I had received from David Alton calling on communities to rally to oppose the spate of bills about to go before Parliament in the autumn dealing with controversial aspects of human fertilisation. David Alton MP is concerned that we make our immediate feelings known to Betty Williams our own MP. Watch this space; we will no doubt be doing something.
This is the kind of thing members of the Justice and Peace Committee should be involved in, reaching out on behalf of the rest of us to issues which concern both ourselves and the wider community. Please consider joining; and if so, contact Brian on 581336. And while on this subject, Elaine Dingsdale mentioned the Pro-Life website (ProLife.com) in her talk last week. I visited it myself and now enthusiastically recommend it to you.
It was suggested by Toni Fossi that a flier be drawn up detailing all the volunteer groups in the Parish and giving the contact numbers. Mandy has seen to this and the leaflets are available in the porch, with a permanent poster on the notice board.
To round off this campaign, there will be a Party for all Parish Volunteers on Thursday. It is a drop-in party from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. All who work in any voluntary capacity of whatever kind in the parish are very welcome and warmly encouraged to attend. Just an opportunity to say Thank You.
Among these volunteers, I hope we will count many members of the choir, or Schola, as we now choose to call it. It has changed its name to emphasise its fresh start. The meeting held last Wednesday increased the membership by a third and tried to forge the way ahead. A weekly practice on Mondays at 7pm in the church was one of the many decisions that emerged. There was plenty of optimism on display and I hope that these weekly practices will turn out to be more than just training sessions but enjoyable social occasions too. Our first objective is to begin singing the psalm at the 9:30am Masses and to learn some of the many new hymns that have come onto the Catholic scene in recent years. Our choirmaster, Alex Williams, sees it as an enjoyable challenge. If you would like to join the Schola, all you need do now is to turn up at any one of the weekly practices on Monday evenings.
Another Thank You. I received a donation of £100 towards the turquoise glass which I proposed recently for the Chapel of Reconciliation and which the UCMW have taken up as their special project (while further donations are still warmly welcomed!). It has always been a genuine Christian tradition, since the very earliest times of the Faith, to beautify the churches to the very best of the ability and finances of the congregation. It was the very poor Irish who financed the building of our church for us; it was the poorest of the poor who contributed their farthings to the building of the great cathedrals in the Middle Ages. All done for the glory of God. We keep a balance between caring for the poor (and this you do most wonderfully generously – just look at the figures overleaf) and running our parish plant, which includes making our church as beautiful and we can. Something beautiful for God.
God bless you,
Fr Antony Jones