Easter 2014 - Belmont Abbey Parish

The Magazine for the people of Belmont and beyond
Easter
Issue No 51
2014
FREE
St Michael & All Angels
Contents
From the Editor
The Angel
Easter 2014
Issue No 51
Editorial Committee:
Fr Nicholas
Georgina McGurk
Jacqui Ramage-Smith
Advertising:
John Wallin
Shining Stars:
Chris Moore
Design, layout & typesetting:
Jacqui Ramage-Smith
Printing:
Ray Rose
Peter Jowitt
Frances Grant
Belmont Abbey Parish
Dear Readers
We apologise for a belated edition of the Angel magazine, due to the untimely death of our
former editor Noel Warde in August 2013.
The Parish magazine was privileged to have
Noel’s expert direction for many years and
therefore we hope that he would pass with
credit this Easter issue which includes contributions from Community and Parishioners of
Belmont Abbey.
The international scope of previous editions is
retained with vivid accounts of travel to Rome
, Vienna, Seville and the Holy Land, while
subjects of local interest include the Hereford
Catenian Society and the historical development of the Belmont Abbey parishes.
I thank everyone who has helped to produce
this magazine and on behalf of the editorial
team wish the Community and Parishioners of
Belmont Abbey a very happy Easter.
T
Parish Website: www.belmontparish.org.uk
Don’t forget: DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE
Copy date: Sunday 14th September 2014; Issue date Sunday 28th September 2014
20. Noel Warde
21. An Abbey and Two Churches on the
Rhine, Main & Danube
23. A Reflection, Safeguarding
24. Cooks Corner
25. Parish Fete
26. Baptisms, Deaths, Communions ,
Confirmations & HCHS
27. Retreats & Day Events
28. Parish Advisory Council
3. Fr. Nicholas writes
4. Cardinal Vincent’s Red Hat
6. Hereford Catenians
7. The Sion Catholic Community
8. Letters from Andalucia
9. Prayer request for Jamil
11. The Development of Belmont’s
Parochial Commitments
13. Shining Stars
18. Academic Trip to the Holy Land
2
A message from Fr Nicholas…..
I welcome all readers to this Easter edition
of our parish magazine.
Theirs, and our own life journeys will, we
hope and pray, lead to our own celebration
of new life and resurrection. This great
feast of Easter promises that we too will
blossom and grow in the Lord and share in
the victory of new life won for us through
the passion and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
Life does not stand still and as a parish
there is always something moving
forward. Our preparation sessions for the
sacraments of Marriage, Confirmation
and First Holy Communion to be celebrated this summer
are well under way,
as are preparations
for the Fete and other
events. Let us hope
and pray for a dry
and warm summer to
make up for the terrible rainy season we
have so recently endured!
I pray that this Easter
may be a joyful and
uplifting time for us
all, and may the true
message of God’s love
for us continue to live
in our hearts throughout the year. May we
truly embrace this joyful time and celebrate
the life won for us and may our lives reflect
this faith in everything we do.
Happy Easter!
Firstly, I would like to thank our new editors who have taken on the task of producing the Angel following the sad death of
Noel Warde last year. I would like to record
my thanks for his, and Brenda’s, contribution to the Angel and parish life generally
over many years. He will be much missed.
Collating information
and articles for the Angel is always a difficult
task and I do urge
parishioners to think
about contributing an
article or story that
may be of interest to
our parish readership
and help our editors in
their new task.
I’m sure we will all be
glad to pass from the
challenging season of
Lent to the celebration
of the Easter season.
We will also welcome
the move out of those
winter days into the
lighter, warmer days
of spring. The dead
and rather listless state
of our gardens have
already
begun
to
transform and flower
with new life. The Paschal Mystery reminds
us that new life emerges from the very
depths of death and this is truly what we
believe as Christians. It’s been a difficult
year with quite a few parishioners dying.
Their contribution to the life of the Church,
will I’m sure, be rewarded by the Lord.
3
Cardinal Vincent’s Red Hat
TPeter’s Basilica on Saturday, February 22nd at
11a.m. At 9a.m. the queue to enter was already
right round the piazza. Many of the people near
me were Italians from Perugia. The queue was
surprisingly orderly and had a very happy
atmosphere of anticipation. By 10.15 a.m. I had
passed through security and found a seat. There
was so much happening that an hour passed
quickly. Many Vatican officials and Swiss
Guards were scurrying to and fro and there was
an enormous sense of the Church worldwide. It
was noisy, cameras and iPads abounded and
unfortunately these also dominated during the
consistory. Officials were walking round telling
people to sit down..
A great cheer went up at the beginning. I
couldn’t see, but perhaps it was because as well
as Pope Francis, there was also Pope Benedict.
He sat with the Cardinals at the top of the
basilica, wearing a long white coat. Some of my
friends had entry tickets but were unable get in
as St Peter’s was full by the time they reached
security. They sat outside at the front of the
piazza and had a wonderful view on the large
screens there.
The new Cardinals made a profession of faith
and took the oath of fidelity. Then they went
up to Pope Francis one by one and knelt to
receive a blessing, their ring and their red hat.
They were told which church was assigned to
them, received a scroll and returned along the
line of Cardinals to exchange a greeting with
them. We all sang the Lord’s Prayer in Latin,
received a blessing then sang the Salve
Regina. The consistory booklet contained the
prayers in Latin, Italian and English, which
was extremely helpful. There are plenty of
excellent photographs on flikr.com – Catholic
Church England and Wales.
Rome is such an exciting city, full of history
and atmosphere. Many of you will have been
there and enjoyed a selection of all there is to
see and do. My first visit was a day trip with
my family many years ago and it is still a vivid
memory. It was 15th August, shops were
closed and we could not buy bus tickets so had
to walk everywhere. Those with very short
shorts were refused entry to the Vatican (3 out
of 6 of us). We ended up having an
unforgettable meal in a tiny trattoria in
Trastevere, steaming gently and recovering
from the heat of the day.
Travel to Rome for the consistory was easy as
my daughter lives in Bologna, a 2 hour train
journey from Rome on the Frecciarossa (Red
Arrow). If you have not already experienced
high speed train travel at 280 kmph, you
should try it, though there is not much
opportunity to enjoy the view!
The weekend celebrations began with Friday
evening Mass said by Cardinal Cormac
Murphy O’Connor (Emeritus Cardinal
Archbishop of Westminster) in his beautiful
13th century Gothic church of Santa Maria
Sopra Minerva. It contains a fresco cycle
painted in1489 by Filipino Lippi, the relics of
St Catherine of Siena, the tomb of Fra
Angelico and Michelangelo’s Risen Christ.
The Mass set the atmosphere for the weekend.
Large numbers of priests processed in,
followed by a substantial number of Bishops
from England and Wales, including our own
Bishop Mark Jabale. The congregation
consisted of excited British visitors who had
come for the consistory. Outside the church is
a 6th century Egyptian obelisk, placed in the
piazza by Bernini in 1667. The elephant looks
as if he is smilin
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Cardinal Vincent’s Red Hat
Cardinal Vincent was given the church of St
Alphonsus. It is a little known Redemptorist
church in Via Merulana but it contains a
famous 14th century Greek icon of Our Lady
of Perpetual Help (Succour).There were 19
new Cardinals, a few from Europe, but mostly
from developing countries such as Chile,
Korea, Argentina, Brazil, the Philippines etc.
At the end of the Consistory there was a
degree of chaos as people tried to see or speak
to their own Cardinal, so it took along time to
get out of the basilica (Catholic chaos?).
Afterwards there was a lunch party held at the
Venerable English College, Via di Monserrato.
The welcome and the meal were excellent – it
could even have been Benedictines hosting the
party! There was no shortage of Bishops and
Monsignors – purple abounded, but the bright
red of Cardinals Vincent and Cormac stood
out clearly. We were reminded by Cardinal
Vincent that it was the colour of blood,
signifying willingness to die for one’s faith.
Later that afternoon was the Visite di Cortesia
(an opportunity to greet the new Cardinals) in
the Apostolic Palace. Anyone could go to meet
the new Cardinals and a mini Belmont meeting
took place as Brother Jonathan, Bishop Mark
and I met by chance in the piazza as we went
to meet the Cardinals. I think they must have
been feeling rather tired by then!
On Sunday morning the Pope said the Mass
and the Westminster Cathedral Choir sang
beautifully. It felt a great honour that a British
choir was singing for the occasion. It was a
much more peaceful occasion and far fewer
cameras were used. Cleverly, the rosary was
said before Mass started and that prevented
any noisy chatter. Each reading was in a
different language and the bidding prayers
were in Philippino, Portugese, Spanish,
Chinese and Korean. Latin becomes a very
useful language on these occasions as we were
all able to join in the Creed and the Our Father
together. Those of us born pre-Vatican ll had
an added advantage as the old familiar prayers
learnt as a child are never forgotten. The
homily also had a Benedictine flavour, based
on the opening prayer, “May we listen
attentively to the voice of the Spirit”.
Communion was calmly and highly efficiently
distributed. There was no shortage of priests!
After Mass, it was time for the Angelus. The
hotel was in a perfect position, alongside the
Vatican and the loudspeakers were clear.
Bishop Mark translated the Italian spoken by
Pope Francis. “We are all children of God and
should place ourselves at the service of our
community. Bishops, priests, cardinals and
the pope should be servants in the name of
Christ. Pray for us, that we might be good
servants, not good masters!” Look at The
Pope App if you can and if you wish to read
the full text.
I noticed that within the Vatican, as a bishop
or archbishop walk past the Swiss Guards, the
guards click their heels, salute and say
“Eccellenza” (Excellency). It almost made me
want to dress up as a bishop and have the same
experience!
On Sunday evening there was a large party at
the English College. Again, we were really
well welcomed and looked after. The rector,
Monsignor Philip Whitmore had organised the
students and they were busy making sure all
the guests felt at home and had all they
needed. One student from Birmingham
organised a Birmingham group photo and was
amazed at how many “Brummies” were there.
Of course, as Cardinal Vincent was previously
Archbishop of Birmingham, he had made
many friends in Birmingham. There was a
huge cake with Cardinal Vincent’s motto on it.
His motto is “Fortis ut Mors dilectio” Love is
strong as Death. (Song of Songs 8:6). There
were so many people he had to go to different
places in the College to give the same short
speech. His main point was “Walk daily with
the Lord”. If you read the Walk with Me
booklets produced every Lent and Advent, you
will know the beautiful prayer at the beginning
of each booklet which was written by Cardinal
Vincent.
Please pray for him, he has said that he feels at
present “a lovely sense of peace and joy,
….supported and buoyed up by so many
people’s prayers” (taken from an interview in
Oremus, the Westminster Cathedral
Magazine). Let us keep up our prayers. He has
a huge responsibility.
Gabriel Stanley
5
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The Hereford Catenians are delighted to announce that their President from April 2014 will
be one of our own parishioners, Basil Nickerson.
We wish Basil and Clare a wonderful year in
office!
Jerry Cowdery ATT
For those who have never heard of the Catenians,
we are a group or circle of Catholic men who
meet once each month to pray together, organise
a social programme for our members and their
families and undertake fundraising for several
charities, including two of our own. One of these,
the Bursary Fund provides young Catholics aged
16-24 with financial support to assist them with
voluntary activities, often abroad in places like
Africa.
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This year our own Circle has been raising funds
for St Michael's Hospice and whilst fundraising is
not our primary objective our aims include helping each other to strengthen our faith and improve
our practice of it; fostering brotherly love among
our members; developing social bonds among our
members and their families and supporting the
clergy and encouraging and supporting vocations
to the religious life.
Flexible appointments to suit you
Please see my website for more
information at:
www.pbshfd.co.uk
Or contact me on:
Office: 01432 347 094
Mobile: 07896 170 307
Email: [email protected]
The Hereford Circle meets in Hedley Lodge and
has 27 members drawn from parishes across
Herefordshire. We often welcome visitors from
others Circles in our Province which comprises
South Wales,Herefordshire, Gloucestershire,
Wiltshire and North Somerset.
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If you are interested in finding out more, or know
a young person who may benefit from the support
of our Bursary Fund, please see the poster in the
Parish Centre or go online at:
www. thecatenians.co.uk.
Alternatively, you could speak to one of the
members belonging to Belmont Parish who include: Andrew and Liz Morawiecki and Chris
and Jacqui Moore.
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The Sion Catholic Community
An insight into the community and its work with young people by
Sion Community for Evangelism has been in
existence for nearly 30 years now, spreading the
Gospel message through 3 ministries of
Parish, High School and Primary School mission work. I began my personal journey with
Sion back in August when I joined the High
School mission team, known as Sion Youth.
mouth we had so many students queuing up to
spend time in adoration that we physically
couldn't get them all into the Chapel in the time
we had! Young people are searching for something to believe in and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the answer, but most of them haven't
been given the opportunity!
This is just one small example but I've had many
experiences of students being visibly moved by
the presence of God and it's an incredible privilege to be a part of it. As well as missions we
also run events; as an opportunity to disciple
young people and bring them to a deeper place
of faith we run D-Weekends (Discipleship
Weekends) for years 7-9 and a Summer Camp
for year 10+ which will be happening later in the
year. These are both great possibilities for young
people to meet Jesus and grow in relationship
with him. You can find out more about Mission
and the events we run by visiting our website at:
www.sionyouth.org.uk.
However, we couldn't do this without the support and help of many people. It would be very
much appreciated for your support by holding
us in prayer. We are also a charity and so if you
would like to support us financially then please
feel free to contact me to find out how to do so
at: [email protected].
Sion Youth exists to spread hope amongst the
whole Church by leading young people to
Christ. We do this by evangelising, discipline
and empowering young people. These areas are
reflected by the three branches of our ministry:
Sion Youth School Mission Team
Sion Youth Events
Sion Youth Foundation Year
Towards the end of my degree (almost a year
now!) I was unsure about my future and so one
morning in prayer I asked the Lord what he
wanted of me, at least for the next year. He responded almost immediately! About half an
hour later, a friend and member of the community suggested I apply to join the foundation
year. Since being accepted and joining the
Youth team I have been on 5 missions across
the country (including 2 weeks on the island of
Jersey) taking the message of Christ to around
5000 people.
We do this in a variety of ways including music,
drama, testimony and inputs, as well as workshops and times of prayer. One of the most effective times of prayer we run is something we
call "Lightfever".
Taken from the German initiative called Nightfever, where people are invited off the streets to
light a candle in church where Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament is exposed, we invite students into the Chapel to come and light a candle
in the real presence of Jesus, and the results are
amazing. On one of our recent missions in Ply-
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Letters from Andalucia
With just under a month to go preparations are
well underway for Seville`s much admired Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations. For
months, parishioners in parish churches all
over Seville have been working tirelessly,
cleaning and preparing the magnificent pasos
(floats) which will carry the treasured tallas
(statues) of Christ and the Virgin Mary, many
dating from the 16th century, through the narrow, winding streets of Seville´s Casco Viejo
or Old Quarter. The mournful strains of cornets and drums float across the Guadalquivir
as the bands rehearse their marches and the
smell of incense from the many street vendors
mingles with the intoxicating perfume of orange blossom which permeates every corner of
the city in these first days of Spring.
Seville has been holding its Easter week celebrations, Semana Santa, since the 16th century
and it is the most important annual event in the
city. Over the centuries it has established itself as the most important Holy Week celebration in Spain, and regularly attracts up to a
million visitors.
Semana Santa revolves around a series of long,
stately processions from parish churches
across the city to the Cathedral and back.
These magnificent processions are organized
by up to 70 hermandades and cofradias
(church brotherhoods, some dating from the
14th century). Each procession comprises a
paso featuring an opulently robed Dolorosa or
Virgin Mary and another with a Cristo ( Christ
portrayed in different stages of the Passion)
Some of the sculptures are of great
antiquity and are considered artistic masterpieces, as well as being culturally and spiritually important to the local Catholic population.
To the outsider the most riveting spectacle is
the seemingly endless lines of nazarenos
( penitents) who accompany the pasos. These
hooded, robed figures evoke a long distant age
with their conical hoods, floor length robes
and rope belts. Some carry a life size cross on
their shoulder whilst others carry cirios –
long, thick votive candles which shed their
wax over the streets. Local children take delight in creating balls of wax carefully poured
8
from the cirios of obliging penitents and tradition demands that these rather sinister looking
figures carry sweets for the younger onlookers.
The unsung heroes of the processions are the
costaleros, stocky young Sevillanos who
crowd under the paso and carry its immense
weight on the nape of their necks. It is a
source of immense pride to be a costalero and
requires huge reserves of strength and determination . They work in shifts and can be seen
emerging red faced and sweating from the underbelly of the paso and in desperate need of a
cold cerveza (or two!) Their devotion takes
its toll and it´s a common sight to see physiotherapists hard at work easing their aches and
pains. It’s worth bearing in mind that some of
these processions take up to 14 hours to complete their route so it is not for the faint
hearted.
The processions start on Palm Sunday and
continue throughout the week to Easter
Sunday morning. Every day between six and
nine cofradias leave their parish churches and
wind their way through their barrios towards
the vast and imposing Cathedral. Accompanied by marching bands who set the pace of
the procession they ease their way through the
narrow streets of the centre thronged with
thousands of people. As night falls the scene
becomes almost mystical. The swaying pasos
are lit by hundreds of candles in gorgeous, intricately shaped silver candelabras and the
light dances over the sumptuously embroidered and jewelled robes of the Virgin. Every so often the pasos halt and the crowd are
treated to the unforgettable sound of one of the
faithful singing a saeta – a haunting lament to
the Virgin Mary.
The climax of the week is La Madrugá (the
night of Holy Thursday), when the most popular processions set out to arrive at the Cathedral on the dawn of Good Friday. The early
hours of Good Friday constitute the most important time of the Seville Easter week celebrations, some of the most venerated statues
make their way through the streets, such
as Jesús del Gran Poder, la Macarena, la Esperanza de Triana and el Cristo de los
Letters from Andalucia
Pray Request for Jamil
Jamil Dababneh is a 19 year old Catholic from
Amman, Jordan, a JMJ Volunteer and he has been
committed to his church since the day he was
born. His parish is the Sacred Heart of Jesus in
Na’our, which is in the south west suburbs of
Amman and they had an amazing priest that Jamil
calls a saint. Sadly, this priest died in 2009 and
Jamil believes that from that moment, his church
began to struggle. Priests have come and gone,
none staying for more than a year and in the
summer of 2013 a temporary priest was
appointed who also has another parish to run.
Gitanos. The streets of the city teem with
hundreds of thousands of people and the devotion of the people is etched on their tired but
exultant faces. A few hours of snatched sleep
and the streets fill again on Good Friday we are
treated to the sight of thousands of women,
young and old, elegantly dressed in black and
wearing a black mantilla held in place by beautifully crafted tortoise shell combs.
For the majority of Sevillanos, Semana
Santa is the highlight of their
social/ecclesiastical calendar and the weather plays a pivotal role in its success or failure. The climate is very fickle during the
months of March and April and the last few
years have been marred by bad weather.
Any threat of rain means the cancellation of
the processions as the pasos and their statues are very delicate and very valuable.
Too often we have seen the tear stained faces of thousands of disappointed parishioners who see a whole years hard work come
to nothing as their hermandad reluctantly
cancel their procession.
Perhaps with the help of your prayers we
will be fortunate enough to enjoy Semana
Santa in all its glory.
Jamil says it is very hard to run a youth community
without the commitment of a permanent priest in
the parish. Theirs is not a big church, nor is it rich
but they have a very strong youth community that
is committed to linking with other Christian youth
communities in what is a mainly Muslim area.
On 24th May, Pope Francis will be visiting Jordan.
Jamil had hoped that he or one of the other young
people from his Church would be chosen to serve
at Mass, but sadly, no-one has been asked to
represent his community. Naturally he feels sad.
But Jamil is faithful; all he asks is that we pray for
his church. Please join him in doing so and pray for
Jamil and all the young people who are struggling
in his community.
, Seville
9
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The Development of Belmont’s Parochial Commitments – Part 1
by Father Luke
Before the Reformation there were Benedictine monasteries in every part of England. Herefordshire had two Benedictine
priories, Leominster and St Guthlac’s, in
Hereford itself, and several Benedictine
cells, such as Kilpeck and Ewyas Harold.
Nine of the English cathedrals were in the
hands of the Benedictines, something
unique to England. All Benedictine houses
were suppressed by Henry VIII. Under
Mary Tudor the royal abbey of Westminster
was restored to the Benedictines, only to be
suppressed again by Elizabeth I. Those who
wished to live the Religious life under the
Rule of St Benedict were forced to go
abroad, either to Italy, Spain or to the Spanish Netherlands. English monks in the Italian and Spanish monasteries got permission
from Rome to return to England to take part
in the mission launched by Cardinal Allen
with the help of the Jesuits.
Provinces, and as long as he was on the mission he
came under the authority of the Provincial. This
arrangement was not in strict accord with Benedictine principles, but served the exceptional situation
perfectly. In 1629 Pope Urban VIII, by his Bull
‘Plantata’ confirmed all his predecessors had done
to enable the English monks to do missionary
work, and further confirmed that they enjoyed all
the rights and privileges of their predecessors in
medieval England.
The first monk missionaries arrived in England in 1603, when they met the last survivor of the restored Westminster, the 90 year
old Dom Sigebert Buckley, who, after many
years in prison for his faith, was living
privately in London. The convert Welsh
Lawyer, Fr Augustine Baker of Abergavenny, realised that this aged confessor of the
Faith embodied the rights and privileges of
the medieval English Congregation. By arranging for two secular priest novices to
make their profession to him, he secured the
continuation of the English Benedictine
Congregation. By 1620 there were well over
100 English Benedictine monks, either
working in England on the mission, or living in one or other of the three houses that
had been founded on the Continent: St Gregory’s; Douai, St Laurence’s, Dieulouard;
or St Edmund’s, Paris. These three houses
were under Priors, appointed for four years
by the General Chapter of the Congregation.
England was divided into two Provinces,
Canterbury and York. The President of the
Congregation could assign a monk over the
head of the local Prior to one or other of the
When in 1852 the squire of Belmont, Francis Richard Wegg-Prosser, became a Catholic, there were
only four priests working in Herefordshire: a Jesuit
in Hereford, a Benedictine in Weobley and two
secular priests, the chaplain to the Vaughans of
Courtfield (who also served Ross-on-Wye) and the
chaplain to the Bodenhams of Rotherwas. On his
conversion to Catholicism Mr Wegg-Prosser almost immediately began building a school chapel,
which came under the care of Fr Lambe, a recently
ordained diocesan priest. Once the Benedictines
had accepted the fine church which Mr Wegg
Prosser was building at Belmont as a thank offering for the gift of Faith, the Jesuits handed over
Hereford to the EBC and in 1859 Fr Lambe withdrew from Belmont to make way for a Benedictine.
The monks on the missions were usually Chaplains
to Catholic families, and extended their pastoral
care to the Catholics in the vicinity. Gradually, in
the course of the 18th Century, missions were established independently of the Catholic families. By
the time Belmont was founded in 1859 there were
over sixty missions in the hands of the EBC, many
of them in the growing industrial towns of the north
and midlands, whose populations had been swollen
by Irish escaping the ravages of the potato famine.
In 1850 the restoration of the Hierarchy, replacing
the Vicars Apostolic, had indicated the end of the
Penal Days and the penal day structure of the
EBC began to appear more and more out of date.
In the 1870s and ‘80s there was a movement,
spearheaded by a group of Downside monks, to
restore a more traditional framework for the EBC.
The movement had the blessing of Pope Leo XIII
11
The Development of Belmont’s Parochial Commitments – Part 1
and in 1890 he abolished the Provincial system by his bull ‘Relgiosus Ordo’ and ordered
the seventy or so parishes served by the EBC
to be divided equitably between the three independent communities of Downside, Ampleforth and Douai. Belmont did not share in the
division as it was still dependent on the other
three, as the common novitiate and house of
studies of the Congragation. The parishes
were not assigned according to their proximity to one or other of the monasteries (difficult
because the Douai community was still, until
1903, in France). Rather, parishes in each area
were allotted to each community. This explains why Downside and Douai had parishes
in the far north of the country and Ampleforth
in South Wales. It is only when Belmont became an independent house that it began to
take over parishes of its own, as the other
houses were forced by considerations of manpower to withdraw from some of theirs. The
rest of this article will show how Belmont
gradually became responsible for the eleven
parishes it is currently running.
were later prominent in the Parish, such as the
Brays, the Crumps and the Pritchards. As well
as the number of converts, another sign o
f the vitality of the parish in the late 19th
Century is the fact that this small parish produced three vocations to the Religious Life:
Sisters Martina Holtom and Mildred Hogan,
who became lay sisters at Stanbrook, and Sister Maurus Hogan, who joined the Bartestree
community.
Soon after Belmont became independent in
1916 Fr Romuald Leonard was made parish
priest. In the late 1920s Fr John Owen was
especially active, even preaching at Madley
Cross, much to the annoyance of the Vicar. Fr
John extended Belmont’s pastoral work to the
Herefordshire/Monmouthshire border, where
there were several Catholic families who had
been without Mass since the closure of the
church at Coedangred near Skenfrith (all that
remains of it is an overgrown cemetery). Fr
John built the chapel at Broad Oak for these
families, which sadly had to be closed around
2010. He also served the chapel which had
been built by the Radclyffe family at Grosmont.
At the beginning of the 20th Century General
Chapter decided Belmont should eventually
become independent and in 1901 novices began to be accepted for the community. The first
one to persevere to Solemn Profession was
Brother Placid Smith, to be followed by Gregory Buissert, Wilfrid de Normanville, Cuthbert Formby and others. Most of these, when
they were ordained, were sent to work on EBC
parishes and when World War I broke out
several of them became chaplains.
Fr John was succeeded as parish Priest by Fr
Francis McLachlan, who ran a very successful
Scout Troop for the local boys. He was very
much a boy scout himself until the day he died,
at the age of 101!
After World War II there was a sudden surge
in the population of the Area. Ex-servicemen
and their families moved into the vacant
buildings of the former RAF station between
Madley and Kingstone. To enable them to get
to Mass, Fr Vincent Fogarty (parish Priest
1948 to 1950) arranged for a bus to go around
the villages of Clehonger, Eaton Bishop,
Madley and Kingstone to bring them to Belmont for Sunday Mass. The bus remained for
many years a much appreciated feature of the
parish. Fr Vincent also realised that there was
a sizeable number of Catholics in the
Pontrilas/Ewyas Harold area, most of whom
had no means of getting to Mass, so he started a monthly Mass at the Coffee Room in
Pontrilas, later becoming fortnightly then
The first parish to come under Belmont’s care
after it became an independent house in 1916
was, naturally enough, the local parish, served
by a priest resident in the monastery itself. In
the days of the Common House one of the
monks had cared for the local Catholics. The
first to do so was Fr Anselm Cockshoot, followed by Fr Wilfrid Raynall, who went on to
be cathedral Prior for almost thirty years. The
number of conditional baptisms they administered indicates a steady flow of converts. One
priest in the 1880s, Fr Alexius Eager, seems to
have been particularly zealous. Many of the
families of those he received into the Church
12
Welcome to the Children
and Young People of the
Belmont Parish
Saint Joanna
In the Gospel of Luke we read:
‘But very early on Sunday morning the women
went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled
away from the entrance. So they went in, but
they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As
they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
The women were terrified and bowed with their
faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for
someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he
told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of
sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb
to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. It was Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told
the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so
they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.’
13
Now we know quite a bit about Mary Magdalen but have you ever been curious about
whom Joanna was? Well you might remember the story earlier in Luke’s Gospel where
Herod beheaded John the Baptist. Herod was in charge of a part of the land of Judea and he had a servant called Chuza who must have been quite intelligent as he was
in charge of Herod’s money.
Joanna was the wife of Chuza (see Luke Chapter 8 verse 3) and it is thought that she
was one of the women cured by Jesus. She followed Jesus and became one of his disciples, supporting him and the Apostles from her own money. She was also one of the
first to discover the empty tomb and receive the message that Jesus had risen from
the dead! She did not keep that to herself and was one of the first to break the
‘Good News’ to the disciples.
14
Easter Word Search
in the Community
S
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Find these words in the puzzle:
Easter
Angel
Tomb
Earthquake
Stone
Spices
Women
Alive
15
Third Day
Mary
Peter
Empty
Serving God
Quite a long time ago, children at school used to learn questions and answers from a
little book called the Penny Catechism. The second question asks ‘Why did God make
me?’ The answer is, ‘God made me to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this
world and to be happy with Him forever in the next.’
St Joanna gives us a fantastic example of how to do this. She certainly heard about
Jesus and got to know him. She showed her love for Him by helping and serving Him
and disciples as they travelled. She tried to serve Him after he died by going to the
tomb to put spices on his body as was the custom at the time. What a surprise she
must have got when she found out he had risen from the dead!
So how do we get to know God? Well, we do that in the same way that we get to
know other people. We meet them, talk to them and we listen to them. We can meet
God anywhere because He is everywhere. We can meet him at special times such as
at Mass on Sunday and when we are old enough we can receive Him in the
Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Once we meet God we can talk to Him in
prayer and listen to Him by reading the stories in the Bible. It is also good to spend
a little time listening in silence.
As we do these things and get to know God then we can serve him in many different
ways. First, by just telling other people about God, re-telling those stories we have
heard from the Bible. Jesus also told us that anything we do for another person, we
also do for God. So, it might be helping out at home, being kind to someone who is
unhappy, and helping to raise money for the poor and so on. If we do all this, we are
well on the way to becoming saints – they are the people who are already living
happily with God in heaven.
Here is a picture of Mother
Teresa serving God by helping
the poor.
If you ever find these things
difficult, you can use the
simple prayer that Mother
Teresa said:
“Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a
mother to me now.”
16
The Development of Belmont’s Parochial Commitments – Part 1
In 1953 Abbot Alphege Gleeson appointed Fr
Luke Waring to look after he parish, largely because he was able and willing to go round the
parish by bicycle. By this time the parish covered
forty-three villages, some of them over ten miles
from the monastery. Fr Luke used to visit the
nearer villages in the afternoons between lunch
and Vespers, but to reach further afield, once a
week he had to go out for the whole day, taking
a packed lunch, which he ate more often than not
in one of the local pubs. He found a number of
Catholics in the Peterchurch area, who, after the
closure of the Polish agricultural camp there,
could not get to Mass. A suitable place was eventually found in a part of the former agricultural
camp, which had been bought by a local farmer.
Weekly Mass was celebrated there until the Vicar
kindly offered the use of the parish church. In the
1960s the Coffee room in Pontrilas was no longer
available for Mass, so a site was found in the
centre of Ewyas Harold and a temporary church
erected there with the help of voluntary labour
provided by the Hereford branch of the Knights
of St Columba.
by Fr Denis Mercer, who ran the parish for a
record eighteen years. He facilitated the administration of the parish by insisting on the
parish accounts being kept separate from the
monastery accounts, which eased planning
for future parish priests. . It was in Fr Denis’
time that the temporary chapel at Ewyas Harold was replaced with a permanent chapel,
made possible by the generosity of John and
Rosa Mills. Nigel Dees, a local Catholic architect, produced the design and local artists
contributed to the furnishings. The result was
the small, but dignified and prayerful, chapel
in the modern idiom which was opened in
1972.
In 1984 Fr Denis retired from the parish and
for the next twenty years parish priests followed each other in quick succession. Each
priest made his own contribution to meet the
needs of a growing number of parishioners,
many of whom came from the residential
estate nearby, while more and more Catholics from the city began to attend Mass at the
Abbey.
In 1966 Fr Luke was succeeded as Parish Priest
To be continued in the next issue.
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17
Academic Trip to the Holy Land
The final part of Dom Alex Echeandia’s Journey to the Holy Land
was lying on the sand, I contemplated the brilMasada is best known for the violence that ocliant stars.
curred in the first century AD, when one of the
final events of the First Jewish-Roman War, the Next morning at four o’clock we began our
way to Sinai. Thank God it was not very hot at
Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Emthat early hour of the day. Now the climbing
pire, led to the mass suicide of the Jewish
was not an impediment. The view was extraorrebels. We began to climb the mountain to the
dinary with round rocks on the hills on either
top. It was very exhausting, but I think that by
this time we were getting used to climbing high side of us. Once there, I experienced another
numinous moment. It was just being on the
mountains. The heat was very intense, but the
mountain where Moses had stood such a long
view was impressive from the top. We saw the
ruins of the fortress including cisterns that were time ago. After a few minutes, we started to
descend on a different path, easier and not so
refilled by rainwater, a synagogue, bathhouses
steep. Nearly at the bottom of the mountain, all
and storehouses, and the remains of the fortifiof us began to prepare to enter into the Monascations carried out by Herod the Great.
tery of St. Catherine, one of the oldest ChrisThen we descended to get ready for our next
tian monasteries in the world. No cameras are
stop: Egypt. On the way to the border, a proballowed inside the church; therefore it was easlem occurred on the minibus carrying the other
half of the group. The wheel and the front trans- ier to pray in that Orthodox Church surrounded by icons, very ancient ones. Then I went
mission broke on the road. Nothing could be
out to meet the others who were already lookdone, especially at the time when taxis were
ing at the bush from which God spoke to Mowaiting for us on the other side of the border in
Egypt. Eight of us carried on towards the border ses. The monastery possesses important
and the others waited for a little while until they historical documents from as early as the 4th
found a replacement bus. The damaged minibus Century, including the oldest almost completewas left closed ready for somebody from the
ly preserved manuscript of the Bible. . Also
agency to collect it. Finally we crossed the bor- the monastery library preserves the second
der, crossing through at least five control
largest collection of early codices and manupoints. We went to stay at a nice place by the
scripts in the world containing Greek, Arabic,
Red Sea in Egypt. It was very warm there. As I
Armenian, Hebrew, Georgian and Syriac texts.
18
Academic Trip to the Holy Land
. I was looking for the Icon of the Pantocrator
of the Sinai, depicting Christ holding the book
of the Gospels. This monastery has the best
collection of early icons in the world, many in
“encaustic” style ( hot beeswax painting, to
which coloured pigments are added). I asked
an Arab man where I may find the icon, and he
said he would be pleased to take me to the museum. Sadly I couldn’t accept the invitation
because our group was ready to leave. It was a
shame because I really wanted to go to the museum and see the icons I had only seen in
books before. Nevertheless, I was delighted
with what I had seen and experienced in that
wonderful place blessed by God.
Next morning all of us were ready to go to Jordan. It was incredible because I was in three
countries in one single day: Egypt, Israel and
Jordan. We arrived at Jordan, our destination
Petra, an historical and archaeological city.
Tradition says that it was here that Moses
struck the rock and drew water, mentioned in
Exodus 17. Anyway, this place was fascinating because of the shapes and colours of the
rocks which made for a dramatic entrance to
this ancient city. I was astonished by the things
I saw around me and consider this to be one of
the greatest wonders ever wrought by nature
and man. It is not permitted for motorised vehicles to enter the site although horse-drawn
carriages took some people inside Petra to visit
the main attractions and some tourists hired a
donkey or a camel. I personally was delighted
just being there. At the end of the road carved
out of the sheer dusky pink rock-face, “The
Treasury”, a massive façade some 30 metres
wide and 43 metres high, dwarfed everything
around it. It was carved in the early 1st century
as a tomb of an important king. Some of my
friends reminded me that this place was the
setting for the 1989 film ‘Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade’ starring Harrison Ford. We
then went to see other places such as the AdDeir Monastery (high above the site of Petra)
and the place of high sacrifice. Some archaeologists were excavating different sites in the
area and what we saw there was probably less
than half of what they will find in the future.
People were selling everything they could, no
matter what the currency: pounds, euros, dollars or their own dinar.
From Petra we went back to Jerusalem to prepare for our return to England. That night I went
to see the city of Jerusalem for the last time. Near
the place where I stayed there was a fight between two Arab families for territory. They were
throwing stones at each other and burning bushes. A local man came up to me and told me that
if the police arrived the two families would probably fight the police. Even in the Holy City there
are disputes among men and one can also see the
tension in the way Jews and Palestinians treat
each other. It still shows that the earthly Jerusalem has a long was to go before it mirrors the Jerusalem in Heaven.
The experience lived during these days in the Holy Land have made a tremendous impact on my
life as a Christian. It has renewed my faith to the
depth of my being and it has opened ways of understanding the Scriptures, as I read, meditate and
interact with God’s word. This experience will
also help me in my future ministry as a priest in
the service of God. I want to thank those who
have been with me on my journey, for their support and company, and those who made my pilgrimage possible.
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19
NOEL WARDE
The family, friends and parishioners of Belmont were shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of Noel Warde. This obituary is
taken in part from the eulogy given by his sons
Stephen and Paul.
Noel was born on Christmas Eve 1940
– between the mountains and gantries of Belfast: the eldest of six. He was educated at St
Malachy’s College and Queens University
Belfast. At school he was the star of the Gaelic
football team but he was banned when he was
found to be playing ‘English’ football. His
skill at football earned him a place on both the
British and Irish University teams and a cap
for the Northern Ireland Youth team. Noel
went on to play for Coleraine in the Northern
Ireland League and scouts from England came
knocking. The family recall one scout hiding
behind a hedge whilst another chatted to his
parents.
Injury curtailed his sporting career and
he turned to teaching ending his career as Deputy Head of St Mary’s High School at Lugwardine in Herefordshire.
At university, Noel met a fellow undergraduate, Brenda Owens and the two were
married in 1965. Their first son Stephen was
born in 1969. As the ‘troubles’ flared, Noel
and Brenda sought the middle way and were
founder members of the Alliance Party.
Eventually, for the sake of the family
they relocated to Hereford where Paul was
born in 1973.
Noel never lost his love of sport – nor
his ability, as those who played badminton
against him can testify. He took up golf and
was captain of the Herefordshire Club in 2000.
After retiring from teaching Noel continued to work at St Mary’s as bursar and the
local authority utilised his financial acumen by
appointing him as a ‘trouble shooter’. Wherever he went he always seemed to become a natural treasurer: the Catenian Circle, Hereford
Philatelic Society and a local educational charity, all benefitted from his numerical skills.
Noel was quiet and unassuming, often
working away in the background in the parish
where among other things he was editor of
The Angel Magazine and he spent many hours
researching, taking photographs and building
the Graveyard website. He also helped behind the
scenes for the Belmont Abbey Education Team.
The high regard in which he was held and his
deep and strongly held faith were evidenced in the
overflowing Requiem Mass in Belmont Abbey and
the many concelebrants who took part. Our deepest
sympathy goes out to Brenda, Stephen and Joy, Paul
and Jo and to the pride of his life: his grandchildren
Ella, Martha, Kirsty and Finn.
20
An Abbey & Two Churches on the Rhine, Main and Danube
the buildings and out of the back. Many of the
roads were also torn up. The Abbey was untouched, high on its hill. It is a very imposing
building with a wonderful museum, which is
housed in the imperial rooms of the Abbey that
were once used by Maria Theresa, Pope Pius VI
and Napoleon. There are wonderful views of the
river and surrounding countryside from the terraces, and a world famous library which once displayed a Gutenberg Bible (now sold to the Yale
Library in Boston USA). Now we come to the
church. It seemed to me to be covered in more
gold than the world contained, completely overpowering. It is closed to visitors during Mass, but
the whole place, church, museum and grounds are
so busy. Coaches full of people from all over the
world, all trying to get in, racing through the museum and church, then on to buying meals, beer
and ice cream in the grounds. I have been to St.
Peter’s in Rome which is also very busy but it is
also much larger, not having the shop ‘busyness’
that is at Melk. On reading the visitors book at
our own Belmont Abbey, the most frequently repeated words are, peaceful, a place of prayer,
tranquil. None of these words could ever be applied to Melk. It is worth seeing, but do not expect a great Spiritual experience. The monks were
just as hard to spot as they are at Belmont!
My second church was St. Stephan’s Church in
Mainz. Much of the city was devastated by
bombing in WWII but has now been re-built and
Last year Ray and I celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary. We decided to treat ourselves
to a river cruise along the Rivers Rhine, Main
and Danube from Cologne to Budapest. Unfortunately 2-3 weeks before we left home Germany
and Austria suffered very severe flooding, the
worst since 1642. This meant that we could not
travel all the way by ship due to the high water
levels and the lack of clearance under some of the
bridges. We had to leave the “Serenade II” at
Krems and use coaches in Vienna and Budapest.
We did this latter part of the cruise later in the
year when the water levels had gone down.
There are many wonderful memories. The comfortable cabin and the food, the glorious scenery
on the rivers, the lovely small German towns on
the river bank, the many walks we had to the
towns that looked just as they had in the middle
ages, but were mostly re-built after World War 2.
However three churches left very strong memories- they were very different from each other,
and very different to what we were used to in
England.
The first was Melk Abbey, a Benedictine Abbey,
perched on a steep hill overlooking the town of
Melk in Lower Austria, the Wachau valley and
the river Danube. This was one of the places that
suffered heavily in the floods. The town was very
badly damaged, with houses and shops wrecked
where the water had surged through the front of
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An Abbey & Two Churches on the Rhine, Main and Danube
is the home of the Gutenberg Museum, which
tells the story of printing. It was a beautiful
Sunday morning, blue sky and warm sun, not
many people about. We walked through the
city, up a hill to the church into a magical
experience. It has the most stunning stained
glass windows designed by Marc Chagall. They
are in shades of blue, lilac and mauve, giving
the effect of being under water. The sun streaming through these windows gives the most
calming, peaceful effect. There is also a new
organ whose stainless steel pipes reflect that
wonderful blue light. How a church can afford
windows by Chagall and a new organ is beyond
me, but it is well worth it. An International
Series of Organ Concerts was being held there
and Britain’s David Briggs was participating.
We had to leave as Mass was about to begin as
no visitors are allowed during Mass. We would
have loved to have stayed but our ship was
sailing and we had to walk back. This was most
definitely a peaceful, prayerful place.
My very special memory was in Vienna. This
was on the second cruise after the floods and we
stayed there for two days. I loved Vienna, a
beautiful city again largely re-built after the
war. I’m bound to be impressed by a City that
re-builds its Opera House as a priority. We
were taken around to see the sights by a city
guide finishing at the Hofburg Palace, which
was the winter residence of the ruling
Hapsburgs.. It contains the famous Spanische
Hofreitschule (Spanish Riding School) and the
white Lipizzaner Horses and Die Burgkapelle
(Royal Chapel) where the Die Wiener
Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys’ Choir) sing Sunday Mass. There is also, just across the square
my third church, the Augustinerkirche (St Augustin’s Church) which used to be the ‘private
chapel’ of the Hapsburgs where they worshipped and were married. This is now an ordinary parish church, although ‘ordinary’ is
perhaps not the right word as it is cathedral in
size and appointments.
ers, including children. The children were allowed to
walk around but not to make a noise. The music was
glorious, not a performance but an inclusive, uplifting
Mass with people giving praise and glory to God, using
the gifts which He had given them, to which we stayed
even joining in with the Gospel Acclamation. Ray had
all the readings on his phone so we were not lost,
although the Homily was hard going. My German is
almost non-existent. At the end of this long Mass
various people went up to the Altar and presented
flowers and other gifts to the Parish Priest. We later
discovered that it was the Parish Priest’s Silver Jubilee
and after the final blessing these wonderful musicians
burst into the Chorale ‘Now thank we all our God’
from Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang as a tribute to the
Parish Priest. It was spine tingling, and I was in tears.
God was truly present.
The Puccini Mass was not put on especially for this
occasion, for every Sunday Mass they sing one of the
great Mass settings, Mozart, Hayden, Schubert and
others. What impressed me most, apart from the quality
of the music, was the way everyone was happy to be
there for that length of time, no rush to be out in under
an hour! Presumably Vienna has all the resources
easily available to be able to provide this kind of
support for the parish, and the parishioners all seemed
to respond.
After this wonderful experience we had a tour round
the Opera House and saw the stage hands setting up for
the evening performance of Der Rosenkavalier. We
finally walked back to our hotel through one of the
many parks thronged with people all taking the sun and
along very posh avenues of shops and hotels. We were
very tired, but for me the best day of the trip. Vienna
has been described in many ways by Poets and Writers
over the years and it lives up to every description and
most certainly should be visited at least once.
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Our Lady’s School
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Volunteers to hear children read at
Our Lady’s School.
Someone who can spare a couple of hours
every week.
A Disclosure and Barring service check
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Whilst we were having Coffee and Sachertorte,
the guide told us that Mass was about to be
celebrated in the Augustinian Church and the
Parish Choir and orchestra would be performing a Puccini Mass. We could go if we wanted.
Ray and I shot off there, I took my three legged
walking stool and we stayed there for over 2
hours. It was wonderful, packed with parishion-
Please call 01432 274 814
Thanks
Lesley
22
Safeguarding
A Reflection
Let Your Lion Lie Down With
Your Lamb
There is within you a lamb and a
lion. Spiritual maturity is the ability to let the lamb and the lion lie
down together. Your lion is your
adult, aggressive self. It is your
initiative-taking and decision-making self. But there is also your fearful vulnerable lamb, the part of you
that needs affection, affirmation,
and nurturing.
When you heed only your lion you
will find yourself overextended
and exhausted. When you take notice only of your lamb, you will
easily become a victim of your
need for other people’s attention.
The art of spiritual living is to fully
claim both your lion and your
lamb. Then you can act assertively
without denying your own needs.
And you can ask for affection and
care without betraying your talent
to offer leadership.
Developing your identity as a
child of God in no way means giving up your responsibilities. Likewise, claiming your adult self in no
way means that you cannot become
increasingly a child of God. In fact,
the opposite is true. The more you
can feel safe as a child of God, the
freer you will be to claim your
mission in the world as a responsible human being. And the more
you claim that you have a unique
task to fulfil for God, the more
open you will be to letting your
deepest need be met.
The kingdom of peace that Jesus
came to establish begins when
your lion and your lamb can freely
and fearlessly lie down together.
The terminology for Child Protection has changed, in order to include vulnerable adults as well as children, Safeguarding is now
being used. The Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) has merged with
the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to form the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
The DBS system is accessible online. If you subscribe to the Update Service, you can keep your certificate up to date and employers or the Archdiocese will be able to check it to decide whether a
new certificate is required. You can register to update your DBS
certificate online and should do it as soon as you receive the certificate or within 14 days. It is free if the DBS is for a charity (e.g.
work in Belmont Parish) but costs £13 per year otherwise. Everyone is encouraged to keep their certificate updated. The system is
still new, so it remains to be seen if it is fully successful! The form
to complete to apply for a DBS check is not difficult and is similar
to the CRB form.
If you are volunteering for a role in the parish which involves
children or vulnerable adults and need help completing the forms
we can help , or if you prefer if there is sensitive and private information you can send this directly to the Diocesan Safeguarding
Office in Cardiff.
Gabrielle Stanley Safeguarding Officer
Extract from :
The Inner Voice of Love, A Journey Through Anguish To Freedom
Henri J M Nouwen
23
Cooks Corner
Hot Cross Buns
· 300ml full-fat milk, plus 2 tbsp more
· 50g butter
· 500g strong bread flour
· 1 tsp salt
· 75g caster sugar
· 1 tbsp sunflower oil
· 7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast
· 1 egg, beaten
· 75g sultanas
· 50g mixed peel
· zest 1 orange
· 1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
· 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Method
Bring milk to the boil, remove from
heat and add butter. Leave to cool until it
reaches hand temperature. Put the flour, salt,
sugar and yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the
centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, add the egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix
well, bring everything together with your
hands until you have a sticky dough.
Tip on to a lightly floured surface and
knead by holding the dough with one hand and
stretching it with the heal of the other hand,
folding it back on itself. Repeat until smooth
and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled
bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to
double in size.
With the dough in the bowl, add sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, apple and cinnamon. Knead into the dough. Leave to rise
until doubled in size, again covered by some
well-oiled cling film.
Divide the dough into 15 even pieces.
Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly
floured work surface. Arrange the buns on
baking trays lined with parchment, leaving
space for dough to expand. Cover with more
oiled cling film, set aside to prove for 1 hr.
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
Mix flour with about 5 tbsp water to make
paste for the cross – add the water 1 tbsp at a
time. Spoon into a piping bag with a small
nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns,
then repeat in the other direction to create
crosses. Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf
of the oven, until golden brown.
Gently heat the apricot jam to melt
brush over the top of the warm buns and leave
to cool.
Historically in Christian countries, buns are
traditionally eaten hot or toasted during lent,
beginning with the evening of Shrove Tuesday
to midday Good Friday, the cross on the top of
the buns standing as a symbol of the Crucifixion.
Mandy Cooper-Newman
DAWE BROTHERS
Funeral Directors
PRIVATE CHAPELS OF REST
24 hour Service
115 Westfaling Street, Hereford HR4 0JE
Tel : 01432 274066
“Quality without compromise”
www.dawebrothers.co.uk
24
.SUGAR FREE APPLESAUCE MUFFINS
▪ 1 egg
▪ 2 tbs vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
▪ 1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce
▪ 2 cups flour (you can mix white and wholemeal)
▪ ¾ tsp baking soda
▪ 2 tsp baking powder
▪ ½ tsp nutmeg
▪ ½ tsp cinnamon
▪ ¾ cups raisins (or dried blueberries, cranberries etc)
▪
Method
Beat together egg, oil and applesauce. Add
dry ingredients and beat well. Stir in your dried
fruit. Spoon batter into oiled muffin tins. Bake at
375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Optional: top with cream cheese
I make my own applesauce with no added sugar.
Just put a very small amount of water in a pot,
quarter the apples as they are. I don’t peel or core
them. Then put it all through a mouli when
cooked. If you want to change the flavour put an
orange in it as well. Yummy!!
Perhaps we may get the opportunity to taste
these at the Parish fete in June.
Look out your best autumn recipes for the
next edition of The Angel.
Don’t forget our most important fund-raising
event:
The Summer Fete
28th June 2014
All you gardeners don’t forget to take some
extra cuttings, plant extra seedling for our
plant stall.
We all look forward to the many parishioners
who have such wonderful talents in the
kitchen, providing us with sumptuous
treats in the tea tent and at the cake stall.
As usual we are also looking for books, children’s toys, any unwanted xmas presesnts,
clothes, knick knacks.
Most of all we need your prayers for a bright
sunny day that we can all enjoy.
Frances Grant
CATHEDRAL FUNERAL SERVICES
(HEREFORD) LTD
Independent and Privately Owned by
Patrick Walesby and Malcolm Scobie
55 ST OWEN STREET, HEREFORD
Tel (01432) 340777
[email protected]
Fax (01432) 351333
www.cfsh.co.uk
A Member of the Society
of Allied Independent
Funeral Directors
25
Baptisms
Deaths
Alan Weaver
William Griffin
Michael ‘Paddy’ Baker
Kerry Niblett
Margaret Heathcote
Noel Warde
Seb Wood
Yasuko Mori
Iain Gillies
Doris Corrigan
Edna Wilson
Simon Williams
Jim Smith
Catherine Williams
Jennifer Snell
Mary McGowan
4th May2013
Sebastian Oscar Zeniuk
15th June
Harry Thomas
16th June
Percival Chance Johnson
Amelia Catherine Elizabeth West 23rd June
10th August
Freya Rose Price
11th August
Louis Valentine Ashton
20th October
Dylan John James
26th October
Monty Cutter
First Holy Communion
Candidates
(Sunday 6th July)
Frederick Adamson
Lottie Batstone
Nancy Smallwood
James Upham
Rio Anselmo
Zara King
Esme Upham
James Wright
Confirmation
Candidates
5th April 2013
25th June
7th July
22nd July
4th August
24th August
3rd September
7th September
25th September
27th November
19th December
20th December
3rd January 2014
13th January
25th January
20th February
Receptions into the Church
(Sunday 13th July)
Chloe Corrigan
Lydia Freeman-Girvin
Aileen Moore
Chloe Ramage-Hill
Anthony William David Catlin
Malcolm John Clarke
Niamh Coyle
Josie Gwizdala
Nathan Morawiecki
29th August
24th November
Marriages
Marijan Hubert & Yasodhara Arawwawela
Roger Williams & Gemma Hopcroft
Charles Langford & Barbara Roden
Richard Perkins & Michelle Meagher
John Priebe & Mary Schiavon
Darren Kenny & Rosanne Moulding
Jack Hawkins & Coco Conway Keene
Michael Gundy & Nina Davies
Stephen Sullivan & Francesca Rodd
Kieran Walesby & Rebecca Davies
William Baxter & Kate Amor
Warren James & Sam Lyons
26
27th April 2013
22nd June
6th July
20th July
31st July
2nd August
17th August
24th August
31st August
7th September
13th December
22nd March 2014
Retreats
Benedict’s English Disciples
August 11-14 (3 days Reg Fee £28 + £15 transport)
How the saints, scholars and seekers of God
who lived and loved under Benedict’s Rule in
these Isles illumine our quest to be holy. With
day excursion.
Dom Brendan, Abbot Paul & Others
An Art History Retreat
Sept 1-4 (3 days Reg Fee £28 + £15 transport
The Belmont Easter Retreat
April 17-21 (Thurs pm to Mon am Fee £30)
From Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to
Easter we pray and live the Paschal Mystery
of Christ.
Dom Brendan Thomas & Dom Alex Echeandía
Temple or Table?
April 25-27 (2 days Reg Fee £28)
Where is Jesus at home? We watch him
leave sacred space and head for the hills,
the seashore, the towns and villages.
Fr. Denis McBride, CSsR.
Visit Herefordshire’s exquisite Romanesque
churches and explore how 12th century people
read their Bibles and folklore through stone
and carving.
Dom Simon McGurk
Stations of the Resurrection: An Easter
Journey
May 9-11 (2 days Reg Fee £26)
We see the drama of the Resurrection brought
to life by the great artists, and follow the reaction of the disciples in fear, awe, disbelief and
wonder.
Day Events
The May Procession
The Annual Torchlight Procession in
honour of Our Lady.
Begins at 9.00 pm.
All are welcome no need to book.
Wednesday 14th May
Dom Brendan Thomas
Salve Regina: Plainsong & Prayer
May 30-June 1 (2 days Reg Fee £26)
Praying, learning and singing the ancient melodies of Gregorian Chant in honour of the
Blessed Virgin.
Abbot Paul Stonham
Cradle of Christianity
We reflect on the spiritual legacy of Syria, the
‘Cradle of Christianity,’ the place where the followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians,’ a
land associated with Peter and Paul and Matthew’s
Gospel and many great saints. Aware of its present
troubles we explore its Christian roots
The Bible in Glass
June 9-12 (3 days Reg Fee £28 + £15 transport)
How the mediaeval Church illuminated its
faith in the glorious colour of stained glass.
Includes a day trip to local churches.
Dom Simon McGurk
Sat 17th May 10.00am-4.00pm
Led by Dom Brendan Thomas
The day will include Mass. For lunch, bring sandwiches.
Tea/coffee are provided. £8 offering
My Lord and My God
A day of recollection for Extraordinary Ministers of
Holy Communion. A chance for prayer, reflection,
fellowship and renewal.
Led by Abbot Paul Stonham
Sat 21st June 10..00am - 4.00pm
The day will include Mass. For lunch, bring
sandwiches. Tea/coffee are provided. £8 offering.
An Elgar Pilgrimage
July 11-13 (2 days Reg Fee £28)
Elgar’s great choral works express his own
journey of faith: passion, joy and struggle. We
pray with Gerontius and the soul drama of the
Concerti.
Euan Tait (see www.euantait.co.uk)
The Assumption
15th August 10 am - 4 pm
The Face of Christ
July 25-27 ( 2 days Reg Fee £26)
How do we imagine Jesus? We explore how
each age has expressed its faith through its
portrayals of Christ.
A day of prayer and reflection on the greatest feast
of the Virgin Mary, our ‘Easter in August’ that is
our promise of Resurrection and gives us hope.
Dom Andrew Berry
Cost: £15 includes Morning Coffee,
2 course Lunch, Afternoon Tea.
Booking Essential: Tel 01432 374724
Dom Brendan Thomas
27
Belmont Abbey Parish Advisory Council
Fr Nicholas Wetz
President
Belmont Abbey Parish Centre
HR2 9RZ
Ray Rose
Chairperson
9 Hartland Close
Abbotscroft, Belmont, HR2 7SL
Margaret Campbell
Treasurer
4 Farringdon Avenue
Belmont, HR2 7 ZH
Fran Grant
Secretary
235 Ross Road,
Hereford, HR2 7RS
Kathleen Parry
Lower House, Madley, HR2 9LU
Chris Moore
95 Lichfield Avenue
Hereford HR1 2RL
Fran Smallwood
Forest Lodge, Madley
Hereford HR2 9PH
Brenda Warde
Beech Grove, Tillington
Hereford HR4 8LG
Eddie Wyman
Deacon
1 Bridle Road, Kings Acre
Hereford HR4 0PP
Gabrielle Stanley
Safeguarding Officer
Finance Committee:
Fr Nicholas, Ray Rose, Margaret Campbell, Peter Jowitt,
Seamus Hayes
28