The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Once again quite a busy week around The Presbytery this week . . . . . On Saturday morning Fr D was with this year’s First Eucharist candidates as they discussed the Offertory/Presentation of the Gifts section of the Mass. The candidates looked at what it meant to be offering ourselves to God as well as the bread, wine, and collection! After our Sunday morning Masses Fr D was taken out to lunch by a parishioner from one of his former parishes. In the afternoon he celebrated Lenten Evening Prayer and Benediction with several parishioners, part of our ‘Lenten Devotions.’ On Monday morning Fr D was preparing for what he knew was likely to be a difficult interview at the Tribunal on Tuesday. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday Fr D went off to the diocesan offices at Crawley where he was due to meet with someone to hear their side of a marriage that ended in divorce. Although they had confirmed with the Tribunal Secretary on Monday they didn’t turn up (not that this was really surprising to Fr D). It did mean that he could work on one of his other cases that are coming up to the judgement phase. On Wednesday following Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D started to make a list of jobs/projects that need to be thought about concerning our Parish buildings; afterwards he began working out the components of the works and trying to put them into a list of priorities. Top of the list was the lighting in the church which he is already getting professional lighting experts to look at and quote for. The list, however, is quite long! After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday, Fr D started work on his parts of the newsletter, knowing that he would not have a lot of time at the end of the week. In the afternoon he was in Burgess Hill for a meeting of the Trustees of the BOSCO Catholic Education Trust. The government have brought out a ‘White Paper’ on education which is likely to have several effects on schools within the Trust (when he got back in the evening he was ‘brain-dead’ from all the discussions!).  On Friday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D quickly programmed the music into the system for the 18.00 and 09.00 Masses, and the Lenten Evening Prayer and Benediction service, before completing his work on the newsletter . . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Last weekend was the first of our Lenten Season - liturgical colour change, no flowers, no Gloria, Apostle’s Creed . . . . . . Also we began this year’s ‘Lenten Devotions,’ extra opportunities for prayer with Friday’s Way of the Cross (followed by a bread and soup lunch in aid of CAFOD) and Sunday Evening Prayer and Benediction. The opportunities to mark the Lenten Season within the Parish are many. Whilst on this Lenten journey towards the great Easter festival there are sign-up lists at the rear of the church looking for the various ministries we need covered over the Easter period, please have a look at what is needed and fill in your name if you are able to help (early sign-up is preferred to save Fr D’s stomach acid!). On Tuesday evening Fr D met with the parents of this year’s Eucharist candidates to take them through the next section of the preparation course, ready to pass this on to their children at their Saturday session. This time they were looking at that part of the Mass known as ‘the preparation of the gifts.’ Whilst the parents were meeting our singers and musicians were continuing with their practices for our Easter liturgies. After Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday Fr D was showing the church to members of the ‘Little Acorns Nursery.’ The pre-schoolers were fascinated by the size of the building and enjoyed being able to ‘strike the gong’ on the sanctuary! At midday the lighting engineers arrived in the church to conduct a full survey of the building and present lighting situation with a view to recommending a major updating of the system. As it turns out this is just in time - when Fr D went into the church in the morning and turned the lights on as he normally does they all came on but by the time he reached the sanctuary there was a popping sound and all the lights went out and the emergency lights came on. On looking in the electricity cupboard he discovered that a trip switch had activated and on re-setting it the lights came on again. Walking back up the church he noticed that one lamp was out and so assumed the bulb blowing had caused the trip, thinking no more of it. However, the engineers discovered that a module in the ‘brain’ of the lighting system under the stairs had died. The engineers stayed until 18.00 to complete their survey and show Fr D some possibilities for the upgrade. They will now ‘write-up’ the results and recommendations from their survey and get back to Fr D.  In the evening Fr D was meeting with our Confirmation candidates and looking at the role of Mary in the life of the church . . . . .

OUR PARISH SUPPORTS THE COBHAM AREA FOODBANK Please can you help local people in crisis by purchasing items on the list below and placing them in the Foodbank’s collection point in the narthex when to come to Mass at the weekend? 

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . So, it has begun; Fr D always says that there are Ten things to remember during Lent . . . 1. Remember the formula. The Church does a good job capturing certain truths with easy-to-remember lists and formulas: Ten Commandments, Seven Sacraments, Three Persons in the Trinity. For Lent, the Church gives us almost a slogan - Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving - as the three things we need to work on during the season. 2. It’s a time of prayer. Lent is essentially an act of prayer spread out over forty days. As we pray, we go on a journey, one that hopefully brings us closer to Christ and leaves us changed by our encounter with him. 3. It’s a time to fast. With the fasts of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meatless Fridays, and our personal disciplines interspersed, Lent is the only time many Catholics these days actually fast. And maybe that’s why it gets all the attention. “What are you giving up for Lent? Hot dogs? Beer? Jelly beans?” It’s almost a game for some, but fasting is actually a form of penance, which helps us turn away from sin and toward Christ. 4. It’s a time to work on discipline. The forty days of Lent are also a good, set time to work on personal discipline in general. Instead of giving something up, it can be taking something positive on. “I’m going to exercise more. I’m going to pray more. I’m going to be nicer to my family, friends, and co-workers.” 5. It’s about dying to yourself. The more serious side of Lenten discipline is that it’s about more than self-control - it’s about finding aspects of yourself that are less than Christ-like and letting them die. The suffering and death of Christ is foremost on our minds during Lent, and we join in these mysteries by suffering, dying with Christ and being resurrected in a purified form. 6. Don’t do too much. It’s tempting to make Lent some ambitious period of personal reinvention, but it’s best to keep it simple and focused. There’s a reason the Church works on these mysteries year after year. We spend our entire lives growing closer to God. Don’t try to cram it all in one Lent. That’s a definite recipe for failure.  7. Lent reminds us of our weakness. Of course, even when we set simple goals for ourselves during Lent, we still have trouble keeping them. When we fast, we realise we’re all just one meal away from hunger. In both cases, Lent shows us our weakness. This can be painful, but recognising how helpless we are makes us seek God’s help with renewed urgency and sincerity. 8. Be patient with yourself. When we’re confronted with our own weakness during Lent, the temptation is to get angry and frustrated. “What a bad person I am!” But that’s the wrong lesson. God is calling us to be patient and to see ourselves as he does, with unconditional love. 9. Reach out in charity. As we experience weakness and suffering during Lent, we should be renewed in our compassion for those who are hungry, suffering, or otherwise in need. The third part of the Lenten formula is almsgiving. It’s about more than throwing a few extra pounds in the collection plate; it’s about reaching out to others and helping them without question as a way of sharing the experience of God’s unconditional love. 10. Learn to love like Christ. Giving of ourselves in the midst of our suffering and self-denial brings us closer to loving like Christ, who suffered and poured himself out unconditionally on the Cross for all of us. Lent is a journey through the desert to the foot of the Cross on Good Friday, as we seek him out, ask his help, join in his suffering, and learn to love like him.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Once more a busy time at The Presbytery over the past week . . . . . Our Confirmation candidates for 2026 were all present at our Saturday evening Mass as they celebrated the ‘Rite of Enrolment’ for this year’s programme. The celebration of Confirmation this year (barring no changes due to not having a bishop) will take place on Saturday 9th May at St Joseph’s, Epsom. At all of our weekend Masses we were informed by Sr Patricia about the upcoming ‘Film Matinee’ that ODN’s are having on 21 st February (next Saturday). The showing of ‘The Mission’ will take place at the Montaigne Theatre, Notre Dame School, with interval, refreshment and raffle. All proceeds going to the various mission projects that ODN’s support. On Monday evening Fr D came back early from his day off to attend a meeting of the ‘shadow’ Epsom Parish Leadership Team (clergy and laity). Most of the meeting was spent looking at the raw data from the postcards that had come from every parish in the deanery in Advent. The vast majority of comments were very positive and up-beat in nature and will feed into shaping the new larger parish (should a new bishop wish to continue with the process) in the future. There was no Morning Prayer, Mass, or Exposition on Tuesday morning as Fr D had to be in the diocesan offices early, playing host to a joint training day for the Southwark and Arundel & Brighton Tribunals. In the evening Fr D was picked up by the Esher Catenians for their Clergy and Ladies evening. When he arrived home Fr D almost forgot that he had a male guest for three nights - an education specialist from the Company of our Lady, who the sisters ask Fr D to find a bed for. On Wednesday after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D was putting the finishing touches to the questions at next week’s Pancake Quiz Night. This year all the questions are ‘general knowledge’ with no specialist ‘Catholic’ questions; there are, however, several questions where having a younger parishioner on the team might well be advisable! At lunchtime Fr D went to meet Fr Ruslan (Walton-on-Thames) for their monthly lunch.  Following Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D went off down to the diocesan offices once more to continue with his marriage cases. In the evening when he returned he had a final session with the young family who will be celebrating the baptism of their child after our 11.00 Mass this Sunday . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . The Presbytery is now back to a steady rhythm or normal timetable as we enter the fifth week of the first section of Ordinary Time this year. However, Lent is fast creeping up on us (Fr D has noticed that Easter Eggs are ‘front and centre’ in the shops - ready for the shop keepers to make their money! At our 11.00 Mass last Sunday we again welcomed our First Eucharist candidates and learnt that they had been looking at that section of the Mass that we call the ‘Liturgy of the Word.’ To make this, during the Mass they were presented with their own copy of the Gospel that we are reading at Sunday Masses this year, the Gospel of Matthew. When they had met with Fr D on the Saturday morning they had been talking about how important it was to listen in life and at Mass; Fr D told them that it was no mistake on God’s part that we had two ears and only one mouth - so we should be listening twice as much as speaking! After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition Fr D was not having to rush off to the diocesan offices because his secretary was off with flu (too much fraternising with her grandson a nursery student!). This worked well as Fr D had received an email in the morning from the lighting engineers who visited the church last Friday containing the write up of what they had discussed. They will now come and complete a full survey of the lighting system (wiring, Lumières, switching and the ‘brain’ under the stairs). This will take about half a day and at the end of it (when it is darker outside) they will show some possible modern led replacements for our present halogen units. In the evening Fr D met with the Parish Finance Committee to review last years figures and look at what is happening now that we are losing our bishop and what this might mean for the work of the Finance Committee. On Wednesday evening Fr D met with our Confirmation candidates in the Parish Centre for the second of their sessions (the Holy Spirit and Confirmation). They also spoke about the possibility of taking on a confirmation name when they are confirmed in May and were encouraged to look in the school libraries for a Book of Saints Names or on the internet, to learn a little about what their chosen saint did to become a saint.  On Thursday afternoon Fr D was in Eastbourne for a meeting of the Bosco Catholic Education trustees, this was taking place at a school that was coming up to its first anniversary of joining the trust . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Quite a full week around The Presbytery this time as we finish the first month of the New Year (already!) . . . . Over last weekend Fr D met with someone in the process of being prepared to be received into the Church along with baptising her daughter; both have been working towards this for a few months now and we will hopefully accept them as members of our Parish community over Easter this year. Fr D also met with a young couple from the Parish who will be getting married in Sicily later in the year (fortunately both parties are Catholic so it requires the minimum of paperwork for Fr D to undertake!). At our 11.00 Mass on Sunday the Rite of Welcome was celebrated for a baby girl who will be baptised as a member of our community in a few weeks. Following Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday, Fr D went off to the diocesan offices in Crawley to continue his work at the Tribunal. In the evening he again met with the parents of this year’s First Eucharist candidates for their second session; this time they were looking at the first main section of the Mass the ‘Liturgy of the Word,’ ready to help their children on Saturday morning. On Wednesday, once he had celebrated Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D began work on his parts of the newsletter for this week. In the afternoon he had a meeting with the other priests from the Deanery in response to a request from the Apostolic Nuncio. In the evening Fr D met with our candidates for Confirmation in the Parish Centre, looking at God’s love for us individually shown in Baptism and the other sacraments of the Church. Straight after celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D, once more, went down to the Tribunal to continue his work on marriage cases. He, in fact, had several new applications to look at before deciding to accept them. He also had to inform someone that their annulment had failed to prove invalidity of their marriage. When he got home in the late afternoon Fr D managed to finalise and lodge his income tax (before the deadline!), as well as complete his parts for the newsletter.  Having celebrated Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday, Fr D had a church lighting engineer (just completed renewal of Worth Abbey) come to meet him in the church to look at possible solutions for replacing our obsolete halogen lighting and changing to more modern and cost effective LED lighting . . . . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . At our 09.00 Mass last Sunday this year’s First Eucharist families were present for the enrolment of this year’s candidates. The candidates renewed their baptismal promises (which were made for them by their parents at their baptisms), before their parents reaffirmed the promise to be ‘the first and best of teachers to their child in the ways of faith.’ The candidates were then presented with the workbook that they will be using over the next few months to prepare for First Eucharist (on 14th June). In the evening Fr D was delighted to see so many parishioners at the annual Christian Unity Week Service at the United Church in Stoke Road - Sacred Heart Parishioners outnumbered any other group! On Monday evening Fr D came home early from his day off in order to attend a meeting of the ‘Shadow Parish Finance Team.’ Although with Bishop Richard having been appointed to Westminster and, therefore, no changes being possible within the diocese, it is possible to carry on with preparatory work and sharing of good practice by this team (none of this will be wasted if the new Bishop does not wish to continue with the new arrangements for our Deanery parishes). After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday Fr D was off down to the diocesan offices in Crawley. He completed his judgement on one of his cases and started preparing the judgement for the next case. Once he has the two ready he will call a meeting of the judges to finalise the Sentence for both cases. When he returned from Crawley in the evening Fr D was meeting for the first time with the prospective candidates and parents for this year’s Confirmation (9th May). Having celebrated Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday morning Fr D spent some time gathering the details that he needs to complete his tax return for last year before starting work on his parts of the newsletter.  After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D was off down to Crawley again where he had a meeting with his opposite numbers in the Marriage Tribunal in Southwark, sharing with them how he deals with Penal Cases when they crop up. When he got back in the late afternoon Fr D was meeting with a young couple who are preparing for the baptism of their young daughter in a few weeks time . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Normal service is now resumed around The Presbytery and Parish . . . . . . With the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord last weekend Christmastide came to an end, the crib, wreath, tree, and decorations were removed and packed away until next year, and the Church entered into the first section of what is called Ordinary Time. During Ordinary Time green is the prevailing colour of the season up until Ash Wednesday which this year falls on 18th February - slightly earlier than last year. On Tuesday, having celebrated Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition, Fr D was off down to Crawley in the car ‘on a mission’ to prepare another judgement for next month. When he came back home in the late afternoon he was preparing for the launch meeting, with parents, of this year’s First Eucharist Programme. Having celebrated their First Reconciliation at the beginning of Advent our candidates and their parents are now embarking on preparations for the reception of the Eucharist (on June 14th this year). After Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday Fr D was dealing with some letters and then started work on this week’s newsletter before going off for lunch with Fr Ruslan (Walton-onThames). They do this once a month generally as a support to one another. When he got back in the afternoon Fr D was able to catch up on some reading that he has got behind on, before going upstairs for an early night. Thursday morning, after celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D was back down to the diocesan offices at Crawley once more where he had a few queries to answer before continuing to finish one of his judgements for next month and doing the reading before beginning another. On the way home Fr D stopped off at one of the nursing homes in the Parish where he was able to anoint a parishioner. In the evening he finished ‘his parts’ of the newsletter so that Sarah could have them in the Parish Office on Friday morning to complete ‘her parts!’  Getting up a little earlier on Friday Fr D started the Notices and Universal Prayers for the weekend Masses before he had his breakfast. After celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass he went back to these to finish them and hand them over to Sarah to complete and print off along with the newsletter . . . . .