Newsletter | OLHCFarnborough

SUNDAY 22nd MAY - 6th SUNDAY OF EASTER

PARISH FINANCES

Gift Aid Declaration Forms will again be available in the Narthex for any parishioners who have not completed a form. It you are a UK Taxpayer please ensure your donations are covered by a gift aid declaration. The preferred method of donations is online.

Account details are: Sort Code 30-93-04

Account Number: 00877868

Name: PRCDTR OL HELP OF CHRISTIANS

Envelopes will also be available for those of you who have subscribed to this method of giving. There are also some spares for use for those who are not subscribed, but our parish Accounts Administrator would still need you to put your name and address on the envelope manually and have completed the Gift Aid Declaration for her to reclaim the tax.

Any queries please email: accounts@olhcfarnborough.org.uk, copied to Helen Priestley as the Chair of the Finance Committee on helenm.priestley@ntlworld.com

SAVE THE DATE— PENTECOST CELEBRATION—SUNDAY 5th JUNE following the 9:30am mass

The whole parish community, family and friends are invited to celebrate The Great Feast of Pentecost The Birthday of the Church on Sunday 5th June following 9.30 Mass On The Lawn (weather permitting) or in the Hall

Bring a plate of food and some drink. And let us celebrate our Faith together!

SIGNIFICANT WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES MASSS 2022

Are you celebrating a 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th anniversary, or anniversary over 60 years? If so Bishop Philip would like to invite you to a Mass of celebration. This will take place at St Bede’s church in Basingstoke on Saturday 2nd July 2022 at 11am. It is a wonderful occasion to celebrate and witness to Marriage. If you would like to come, please email Liz Murphy at anniversaries@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk. Application Forms can be downloaded from the St. Bede's Basingstoke website at:

Significant Wedding Anniversaries Mass 2022 – St Bede's, Basingstoke (stbedesbasingstoke.org.uk)

If you do not have access to the internet, please contact the Parish Office at St Bede’s and they will provide you with the form.

To help celebrate the occasion please could you provide a COPY of your Wedding photograph, you can upload it when you complete the form online. Alternatively, scan and send via email to the above email address. If you have no access to the internet you can post a COPY along with the completed form by post to the following address: St Bede’s Parish Office, Popley Way, Basingstoke, RG24 9DX (Please mark the envelope Significant Wedding Mass).

May Rosary

The local Knights of St Columba are saying their monthly Rosary on Tuesday 24th May at 7.30pm at Our Lady's Fleet. There will also be Benediction, thanks to the good service of Dcn James Snyder. All are encouraged to come along.

ADoRE MONTHLY SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

ADoRE spiritual mini-retreat May 28th with Mass, Adoration, Reflection, Praise, Talk, Prayer and Discussion. Theme: "We are called to be a People of Praise.” Speaker: Alastair Emblem, ADoRE leader and Prayer Group/worship leader for 30 years. Guest worship group: Stay Awake.

Live all-day session 9.30-3.30 at St Bede’s Church, Basingstoke RG24 9DX. Please bring picnic lunch. No need to book or register for the live session or to watch morning session livestream online 9.30-12.30 at www.stbedesbasingstoke.org.uk/live N.B. Praise song lyrics will not be shown on screen – please download from www.altonrenewal.com/adore_live

ADoRE is also offering confidential prayer ministry by telephone – please phone (NOT text) 07579 824523 Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm and leave ONLY name and number. Experienced prayer ministers will pray with you confidentially for healing of physical,

emotional and spiritual problems and for Spirit and faith renewal.

LIVING ROSARY

During the month of May dedicated to Our Lady, let us continue to pray the one decade of the Rosary daily and for peace in Ukraine.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Please pray for our First Holy Communion children as they receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation at this time. As they are ready and fully aware of the blessing they are to receive, they will be receiving First Holy Communion over the coming weeks.

NEW TO THE PARISH

We offer a very warm welcome to any new parishioners or visitors to our Parish. You are all very welcome. Please join us for Coffee after the 9.30 Mass on Sunday. If you are a new Parishioner, please complete the form available in the Narthex to ensure that we have your contact details.

FAMILY RESOURCE FOR EASTER

New resource just out - Christ is Risen- CELEBRATE@Home for Eastertide. https://www.celebratetrust.org/celebrateathome This new resource is packed full of ideas of things to make and do, ways to pray, and books and movies to share with children and teens during Eastertide leading up to Pentecost.

SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE

Details of where you can donate to charities for Ukraine from last week’s newsletter are available on the Parish Website, together with any updates from the Salesians in and bordering Ukraine. Remember to pray daily for peace in Ukraine!

Thank to those who responded with ideas about supporting Ukraine. In addition to our prayers, the appeal seems to be for monetary donations—given the cost of transportation, it is often easier for the charity to buy what is needed more locally.

You can donate products and cash through Amazon: Amazon.co.uk: Disaster Relief

There are also various options for Ukraine related charities via the Just Giving website. See for example, Nineteen for Ukraine is fundraising for Disasters Emergency Committee (justgiving.com)

SALESIANS IN UKRAINE

Please pray in solidarity with the Salesians in Ukraine and in Poland and Slovakia who are supporting them. The Salesians are present in several major cities of the country: Kyiv, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Odessa, as well as in Korostyshiv, Peremyshlany, and Bibrka, and remain close to the population until the last moment, trying to be those who give hope to the disillusioned population.

You can sign up to Salesians newsletters and text a day and donate to support the Salesians in Ukraine via the Salesian UK website –

see Salesians UK – Salesians - Help for Ukraine See also: ANS - Agenzia Notizie Salesiana (infoans.org)

Fr. Kevin has also shared a message he has received about Ukraine— aid is coming but over everything the request is for daily prayer for peace: “More and more I experience how I need regular prayer at this time: the Eucharist, lectio divina, the Liturgy of the Hours. Without time to pray, I lose to fatigue, discouragement, or fear. We still pray every day at 21.00 with our community of neighbours from the "shelter". To many people who wrote "How to help you?” I proposed daily prayer for peace. Thank you very much. This is a really effective help.”

THE REDEMPTORISTS

The Redemptorist communities in Ukraine are giving shelter, food, medical treatment, spiritual guidance and support to the people who are fleeing from the Russian war. Please visit their website and donations page at:

Support Redemptorist Publications (donr.com)

ALL MUSICIANS Please let Maureen Panther or Deacon Paul if you have any musical ability or liturgical ideas to enrich our liturgy.

ALTAR SERVERS Please get in touch if you wish to service at mass. It can enrich your experience of the mass to be of service on the altar. Open to all those who have received their First Holy Communion. We are also looking for adults who can help manage this ministry and train our young servers.

Message from the Diocesan Interreligious Dialogue Team (from Mgr Vincent Harvey)

The Diocesan Interreligious Dialogue Team would like to draw your attention to the following resource from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) which is an aide to praying with others in a multi-faith context:

https://ctbi.org.uk/praying-together-in-multi-faith-contexts-some-ecumenical-reflections

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Our aim is to continue to keep everyone safe while trying to return, as much as possible, to a more normal way of living. If you have any concerns, please speak to David May or Deacon Paul. As restrictions are relaxed across the country, it is important that we remain sensitive to the needs of others. You may wish to continue to wear a face mask and it is still good practice to use the hand sanitisers. The heating in the Church is working (as we write!), but the Church building must be kept well ventilated, so please wrap up warm.

FORMATION FOR MISSION

After Easter, the Formation for Mission Team, will be offering a couple of courses for adults, to help them discover, understand and live their Baptism and confirmation.

What is baptism and what does it do?

If you have been baptised as a child, you have received then the most amazing gift: God's own divine life, without being able to understand it all at the time. After Easter, we are offering a 6 weeks course to revisit the sacrament of baptism. This course is open to everyone who wants to know more about the essence of Christianity, what it means to be baptised and how to understand and live God's gift of grace given to us in baptism.

This online course will take place on Tuesday evenings from 7.00 to 8.30 pm, from the 26th April to the 31st May.

Where is the Holy Spirit in my life?

In the midst of the various challenges of life, we can feel overwhelmed and alone, with a sense of isolation and lack of direction. Yet we are never alone! In a 6 sessions course, we are going to reflect together on the sacrament of confirmation and on the action of the Holy Spirit in our life. The Holy Spirit is our constant companion, the giver of all the gifts necessary to our life with God and with each other as we grow in holiness and charity each day. Join us to discover who He is and what He does for us.

This online course will take place on Thursday evenings from 7.00 to 8.30 pm, from the 28th April to the 2nd June.

Online Workshops for readers with 1:1 practice — Saturdays 18th and 25th JUNE 10am to 1pm

The Team is currently offering a couple of online workshops for parish readers.

Workshop 1 offers a general and brief introduction to the Liturgy of the Church and a more specific overview of the Liturgy of the Word at Mass, as well as an overview of the practical skills required for reading in church.

Workshop 2 offers a general introduction to the Bible and a group study of a specific reading, using the 4 senses of Scripture, to equip parish readers so as to prepare and understand the depth of the texts they read.

A diocesan certificate is awarded on completion of the two workshops and of a reading practice with a diocesan listener.

The workshops will take place on Saturdays 18th and 25th June, from 10am to 1pm.

Find out more details and register here: https://www.pffm.org.uk/readers

For further information, the FFM website is at: Formation for Mission | Diocese of Portsmouth (pffm.org.uk)

PARISH PRAYER TREE AND PARISH BOOK OF PRAYER INTENTIONS

Take a star and add your prayer requests to the branches or insert your intention in the Parish Prayer Intentions Book. Please pray for all who are sick, housebound, lonely, for those who have died and those who grieve for the loss of their company.

Please continue to keep Fr Peter and the Salesian Community at Farnborough in your prayers.

THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

Preparations for the Sacrament of Confirmation will begin with an introductory session this weekend after the 5.00 pm Mass. This will be a regular slot. We are using the ‘Transformed in Christ’ material. Our first Retreat Day last Saturday was a great success. We will also be running retreat days in the Sixth Form Centre at the Salesian College during the Easter break.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION AND RECONCILIATION PREPARATION

The first meeting for Holy Communion and Reconciliation preparation continues after the 9.30am mass. There will also be a session for the parents each week, following a series of video talks to support the ongoing parental discernment about their children’s readiness to receive these sacraments and to facilitate ongoing formation at home—the parents being the first educators!

CATECHISTS

We are still looking for parishioners to join the teams for First Holy Communion and Reconciliation and for Confirmation preparation. You do not have to commit for every session. All offers of help would be warmly appreciated. No matter your experience in catechesis, the experience of sharing your faith is richly rewarding. Please contact Deacon Paul as soon as possible.

CALLED AND GIFTED

Please contact Deacon Paul if you might be interested in learning about your individual gifts and wish to use them for the Lord’s work. Once we have collated numbers, there will be an initial information evening about the programme. The Called and Gifted team have offered to come to talk to us about what is involved and explain the benefits to our spiritual lives as individuals and as a community.

DIOCESAN PILGRIMAGE TO LOURDES: 18th -22nd JULY 2022.

You are invited to join Bishop Philip whether as pilgrim or as a youth helper. Leaving from Bournemouth Airport and staying at Hotel La Solitude. More information is available at lourdes@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk

YOUR PARISH NEWSLETTER NEEDS YOU!

We are looking for ways to improve the newsletter to make it more appealing to young and old. Any ideas or offers of help will be very gratefully received by Deacon Paul.