Newsletter

Parish Priest Fr John McElhone 0191 2623820
Resident Priest: Fr Pat O’Connell
Deacon: Frank Forde
email: [email protected]
www.wallsend-aidettes.co.uk
Our Lady and St Aidan
& St Bernadette’s
Parish Communities
15th February 2015
6th Week of the Year
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Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent.
The forty days of Lent (Sundays are not included in the count)
are set aside so that we may prepare for the great feast of
Easter by observing a period of prayer, fasting and attentiveness to the needs of the poor. During the Ash Wednesday
Mass, ashes will be placed upon our foreheads as a reminder
to us of the shortness of our lives and of the call of God to
love the Lord our God with the whole of our being and our
neighbour as ourselves. An exciting season or a season of
drudgery? It will all depend on our approach.
Water Aid and CAFOD will benefit from the Government's decision
to increase their charity’s fundraising efforts during Lent up to a
maximum of £5m. Let’s look firstly at WaterAid’s campaign. We are
invited to turn our small change into clean water so as to transform the future for families in villages like Ashalta who suffer diarrhoea and water related diseases because of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation. All that is required is a jam jar and a willingness on our part to help people around the world get clean water and somewhere safe to go to the toilet. Can you imagine what
life would be like for us if our homes lacked those basic facilities?
Interested? Ask me a for a jar sleeve for the inside of the jar.!
Fairtrade Fortnight presents us with the ideal opportunity to review
practice in our parishes. Over 7000 parishes from a range of denominations have worked to have their support of Fairtrade officially recognised by achieving Fairtrade Church status. What is
that we commit to? 1) Using Fairtrade tea and coffee after services
and in all meetings for which we have responsibility. 2) moving forward on using Fairtrade products such as sugar, biscuits and fruit,
3) promoting Fairtrade awareness throughout the year and encouraging parishioners to buy Fairtrade products whenever they
visit the supermarkets. So how do we score in each of these three
areas? The poorest in our world would love to know.
Now that the conversation has opened in relation to
the 150th anniversary of the formation of St Aidan’s
Parish in 1865 (1st meeting last Tuesday evening)
the hope is that all parishioners will join in and make
this an event to be remembered. The only thing that
has been placed on the calendar so far is a concelebrated Mass of Thanksgiving at which the Bishop will
preside and that will take place on Friday 2nd October.
Many other themed events are planned, so if you want
to be part of the planning group, please let me know.
w/c 16th
February
St Aidan’s
St Bernadette’s
Mon
10.30am
Funeral Mass for Hannah Forde
Tues
10.00am
Kwang Ying Wong
Wed
7.00pm
Michael Baitey
Thurs
10.00am
Fri
9.30am
Saturday
6.30pm
Sunday
10.00am
Mary Hutchinson
Mary Josephine Leonard
Special Intention (BF)
People of the Parish
9.30am
Winnie and John Kerrigan
11.15am
Eileen Henry
Please pray for those who are ill and/or housebound: Vera Brady, Ann
Marie Moon, Jim Glachan, Sheila McCashin, Winnie Shaw, Catherine
Smith, Rachel McGilligan, Martin Summerly, Kathleen Durie and diocesan priests who are ill.
The Season of Lent is
an ideal time to think
about those who are in
need. We thank those
who generously contribute to the Food Bank
each week and invite
ones like myself who
occasionally forget to
include additional items
for the bank to give
themselves a nudge and
start up the practice
again throughout the
coming season of self
denial.
The recent social
event held at St Bernadette’s Centre to benefit the Alzheimer's Society realised £290.
Rose Kearns who organised the night,
would like to thank all
who supported the
night.
Prominent during Pope Francis’ tour of the Philippines
was the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio
Tagle who will be visiting St Mary’s Cathedral on Monday 9th March. He will preside at the 12.05pm Mass
and will also speak at an evening celebration on the
same day at 7pm. Cardinal Tagle is an inspiring communicator and is well respected for his involvement in
many social issues and his work among the poor.
The Newman Association will be hosting a discussion
at the Immaculate Heart Church, West Monkseaton on
Wednesday 25th February at 2pm. The two topics for
discussion are as follows: “What will we do if we run out
of priests?” and secondly “Keeping faith in retirement—
coping with anarchy in old age.” All welcome.
It was great to meet a group of parishioners out walking
down the coast last Monday morning. They intend to keep
the group going and would welcome the company of anyone who loves being out in the fresh air and fresh it was
last Monday! If you would like to join them, please meet up
outside the Playhouse in Whitley Bay at around 11am. I
guess a mobile contact number would be useful in case
you can’t see others, so here goes: Ellen 07954434410
The money raised for CAFOD over the next three
months will attract matched funding from the government up to the sum of £5m. The constant call throughout the season of Lent will be to lead simpler lives and
be especially attentive to the cries of the neediest. Let’s
be both positive and generous in our response.