A Change of Statue

As part of the refurbishment at the Church of Christ the Eternal High Priest in Gidea Park Fr Adrian Graffy, parish priest, commissioned a bronze image of the mother and child.  The unique image was produced by the liturgical firm of Serpone in Naples. The artist is Dario Caruso. The image took months to complete, and was finally shipped to England, arriving at the parish in November 2019. It was hanging in the church during Advent 2019. Gratitude is due to Bob, Tom and Jack for fixing it firmly on the wall.

Meanwhile the wooden statue of the Virgin in prayer has now found a new home in a newly built shrine in Ss Peter and Paul Junior School in Ilford. Headteacher, Mrs Sue Johnson, who attends Gidea Park church, was delighted with the gift and went to great lengths, despite the pandemic, to have the new home ready for the travelling statue.

Fr Adrian said: ‘It is wonderful to have such a fine new image of Mother and Child in our lovely church, and I am delighted that the Virgin in prayer has found a new home where she will inspire so many young boys and girls as they grow in their life of faith in that wonderful school.’

A Special Birthday

Kath Sims enjoyed her 103rd birthday with her daughter and two friends. She hoped to see a few more people but on Monday 14th September small gatherings were the only things permitted. However, she had a lovely lunch party with a fantastic cake made by Mary and decorated by Karine. She would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes and Fr Adrian for the Mass said on her birthday.

CWL Afternoon Tea Reunion

Several members of our Catholic Women’s League met for the first time last week after an absence of several months owing to the pandemic.  We kept in touch on a regular basis via our group’s WhatsApp, where there was always an abundance of love, care, support and prayers for members and their families as we progressed through those dark days of lockdown and isolation.  Often the burden was lightened by the appearance of jokes and videos, shining a sliver of light into the gloom.  We also managed successfully to wrestle with technology and bring  Zoom to our group, finally seeing familiar smiling faces on the screen (isn’t it interesting, and often surprising, peeking at someone else’s décor?). 

But nothing can create such a ‘feel good’ atmosphere as seeing each other in person.  We decided we just had to meet.  One of our members opened her lovely garden and we gathered for tea, cake and a glass of bubbly in celebration. There was of course the obligatory raffle with prizes of bottles, smellies and a large selection of home grown vegetables freshly dug that morning.  All proceeds went to our local St Francis Hospice.

Kath Sims' Outing

Kath Sims ventures out for the first time since March. She enjoyed a walk down to Raphael’s park and helped her great-granddaughter to feed the ducks. Then had an ice cream to round off an exciting afternoon.

Lockdown Advice from our Parishioner, Ann Edunyah

Wellbeing

Wellbeing is the fundamental human experience of feeling healthy, happy and having a deep sense of meaning and purpose. It encompasses our physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual state. During this unprecedented period of health crisis we are facing, our general wellness is more important now than ever.

Here are some simple things we can all do to ensure we are keeping well during this period of great anxiety.

1.   Maintain a routine

• Whilst schools are closed and most of us are now working from home, it is a good idea to follow a structured daily flow of activities just as you would in your normal day/week. Try waking up at a reasonable time in the morning, take a shower, have some breakfast and prepare for work at home. Encourage school children to follow their school timetable.

• Ensure that you are working at a desk or table and not the couch or a bed; this helps to separate work from relaxation.

• Take short breaks from the computer and have healthy snacks and plenty of water in the day.

2.    Keep Active

• Keeping active in the current circumstances may not be easy, try to find a way to take some exercise at home, on a mat, in the garden or anywhere you can find a bit of space to kick about! There are lots of exercise routines you can follow on YouTube.

3.    Maintain a healthy diet

• Involve your children in planning healthy meals and get them to be part of the cooking.

• Remember, your focus is to strengthen your immune system, so lots of greens, vegetables fruits and water. Less of fatty foods you may not find easy burning off whilst stuck at home.

4.     Connect with friends and family

• Find time to interact with family near you or with those further away. A shared joke to laugh out loud, a telephone call to that friend who is on their own, a quick text message to check on someone, as well as making use of technology such as Skype, Facetime, etc to maintain closeness to people as much as possible. Show people that they are valued, thought of, and that they always have your support.

5.     Get good sleep

• We all know how we feel when we have not had a good night’s sleep. Our physical and mental wellbeing improves when we have good sleeping patterns. For more information and tips for a good night’s sleep visit sleepcouncil.org.uk

6.    Engage in fun activities

• Now is the time to do what we love to do but never seem to have the time for because we are so busy with our lives. Our interests vary from person to person, but perhaps we could try something new to us. Painting, reading, puzzle building/solving, singing or photography. Encourage your children to capture a lot at this time, whether it’s pictures, recording events, building a scrap book or keeping a diary. In about 50 years, they will have a story to tell.

7.     Be calm

• An effective way to be calm in the midst of anxiety is to change your focus. Control the amount of information you are receiving by watching the TV, listening to the radio or via social media. It is natural to try to fill our holes of anxiety and fear we have created by searching for more information, following the news and responding to what we see or hear from other media. While it is true that we may find the information we are so desperately looking for, the impact this has on our wellbeing is significant.

• We compromise our immune systems by worrying and getting overly anxious about situations we have little control over. Reflection, meditation on God’s word, and prayer could be our focus in times of fear and despair.

Keep Well, Keep Safe and remember, “he has given his angels orders about you, to guard you wherever you go” (Psalm 91 vs 11).

Church in lockdown

Fr Adrian Celebrates Alone

One of the rules which has had to be followed during the lock-down is that there should be no gathering of people for Mass. This is a cause of great sadness and upset to many. From the very start of the church people would gather for ‘the breaking of bread’, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the letters of St. Paul. We are a people who gather to receive ‘Word and Sacrament’ together. In these strange times we have had to adapt, perhaps by discovering how important it is to treasure the Scriptures, and how grateful we should be that there are so many ways to access the readings at Mass, or by receiving the Mass remotely by live-stream or by recordings, accompanied by a prayer for a ‘spiritual Communion’. We are grateful that our neighbour, Fr Britto, has quickly set up regular live-streaming of his Mass at English Martyrs, Hornchurch. The strangest part of this has been that the most important services of the year, the services of the Easter Triduum, had to be celebrated with an empty church. The picture shows Fr Adrian about to celebrate the Mass of Easter morning. Let us hope for a quick resumption of ‘normal services’.

Pastoral Letter for Easter

Bishop Alan’s Pastoral Letter is as follows:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The first Holy Week- almost two thousand years ago- saw world-changing events happen with bewildering speed. Jesus received a King’s welcome in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, by Friday he had been crucified to death but on Easter Sunday his disciples were proclaiming his Resurrection.

In any other year I would be encouraging you to take time out of your busy schedule and journey with Jesus in the Holy Week Liturgy and in personal prayer, but this year our churches are closed, many of us are confined to our homes and, as one NHS worker grimly remarked, many of us are now living a three day week- yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Yet our Catholic Christian Faith is very clear that whether in times of suffering or joy, light or darkness- ‘Fix your thoughts on Jesus the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess... Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith’ (Hebrews 3.1, 12.2).

In the annual rich liturgical and devotional life of the Church this is obvious and can become even routine, but now, in this time of the Covid-19 virus, our churches are closed, people are suffering and dying and we are all living in a radically different world.

In that first Holy Week, the last week of our Lord’s life on this earth, the first Christians made little sense of what was happening. The apostles fled from Gethsemane, Peter denied Jesus three times and the Lord died almost alone with just his Mother, St John and one or two others.

Easter Sunday changed everything. Mary Magdalen, filled with love for her friend Jesus, went to the tomb to anoint a body; hope and love had triumphed over paralysis and despair. Mary was the first witness to the empty tomb; much more she was, in the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Apostle of the Apostles (Apostolorum Apostola) and she shared her excitement and joy with the apostles. 

Every new generation of Christians discovers and proclaims the crucified and risen Lord - ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13.8). In these dark and difficult days of the pandemic Mary Magdalen’s longing for life and healing, even when others were plunged into loss and despair, invites all of us to trust God in Christ absolutely. At His Last Supper our Lord told His disciples, ‘I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you... Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (John 13.15,17). In these challenging days we need to support each other and, especially, look after and pray for the vulnerable and elderly. Our priests are continuing to celebrate Mass for their parishioners and, whenever possible, the Sacraments and other pastoral support are being offered to the people of God. Each and every act of kindness, in imitation of our Lord, reminds us that we are truly blessed by God. The Holy Father continues to be a source of strength and inspiration - ‘In the midst of isolation when we are suffering from a lack of tenderness and chances to meet up, and we experience the loss of so many things, let us once again listen to the proclamation that saves us: He is risen and is living by our side’ (Pope Francis in St Peter’s Basilica, 27 March 2020). I wish you many blessings this coming Easter and in the future,

Devotedly in Christ and Mary,

+Alan Williams, sm
Bishop of Brentwood

9 April 2020 

Sharing the Gospel

People are used to taking a vocal part whenever the story of Christ’s Passion is read in Holy Week.

At Gidea Park Parish on the Third Sunday of Lent the Gospel of the Woman at the Well from the Gospel of John Chapter 4 was read in a similar way. Pictured are Mr Malcolm Butterworth, who was the narrator, and Ms Jo Hill, who took the part of the Samaritan woman, at the 9am Mass on 15th March. The congregation spoke up when the disciples spoke, and when the villagers came to see Jesus at the end of the chapter. The Gospel was also shared at the two other Masses on that day.

The plan was to do the same on the subsequent Sundays, when the Gospel of the Man Born Blind (John 9) and the Raising of Lazarus (John 11) were due to be read, giving another opportunity for the congregation to join in the reading of the Gospel. Unfortunately, the coronavirus meant that we had to postpone this to another year!

Scriptural Stations of the Cross

At the beginning of Lent Fr Adrian published a new set of prayers to accompany the Stations of the Cross. The idea sprang from the recent purchase of a new set of Stations of the Cross sculptures for Gidea Park parish. Fr Adrian says: “While in Rome for the Pontifical Biblical Commission I visited Serpone, a liturgical shop previously unknown to me near the Vatican, and saw the work of Italian sculptor Nico Venzo.  The 15 Stations were excellent value and, after consultation in the parish, were purchased and dispatched by courier.”

Their arrival gave Fr Adrian the idea of publishing a new Stations of the Cross with a distinctive scriptural focus. These stations provide short passages of Scripture followed by prayer directed to the suffering Jesus and invitation to further prayer all interspersed with moments of silence. The Catholic Truth Society (CTS) has produced an attractive little booklet which contains photos of the Gidea Park stations and the accompanying texts. The booklet can be obtained from the Catholic Truth Society at:
https://www.ctsbooks.org/product

A Change of Stations

In 1975 Fr Kerrigan announced in the parish newsletter that original drawings of the Stations of the Cross by ‘a talented young artist’, by the name of Kevin Geary, had been installed in the church. Fr Kerrigan added that they ‘may seem unusual to many, but Kevin Geary has brought his faith as well as his highly individual style of art into them’.

With the refurbishment of our church it was decided that the stations should be replaced, and while in Rome last year for a regular meeting of the Pontifical Biblical Commission Fr Adrian visited the liturgical firm Serpone just outside the Vatican. He took photos of a new set of stations, the work of Italian sculptor Nico Venzo, which were approved by all the participants in a Friday coffee morning in early May. The fifteen stations (the fourteen usual ones, and one for the Resurrection) were subsequently dispatched by courier from Naples, and they now hang in our church.

What happened to the old stations? They are now to be found in the Merici Hall at St John Payne School in Chelmsford.

CWL Brentwood Branch Meeting

The Catholic Women’s League Brentwood Branch Meeting and Annual Review was held on Saturday 7th March at St Cedd’s Church Hall, Goodmayes.  It was well attended with most sections being well represented.

Hilary Wraight, who is chair of the Gidea Park Section of CWL, was appointed as President and replaces Esther Brown. For the past year, Hilary has served as Esther's Vice-President following a decision made while at a retreat last year, to allow her name to go forward.

Pauline Murray, also from Gidea Park, was appointed as Hilary's Vice-President.         

Live Simply

At the second meeting of the Live Simply group held on 14th January our Action Plan was drawn up and the team is working hard to set it in motion.  It will cover Living Simply, Living Sustainably with Creation and Living in Solidarity with the Poor.  We have a meeting planned on Tuesday 24th March at 7pm with Debbie Lee, a representative from Havering Council to discuss recycling locally. 

With this in mind, we are able to recycle plastic milk bottle tops which are re-used to make toys and equipment, and the money generated from this supports the Air Ambulance.  Only milk bottle tops are acceptable (and they must be washed).  These can be placed in the cylindrical bin in the hall, or in the marked tub on the windowsill in the church porch.

We now have two bins in the hall with one clearly marked for recycling (please use orange sacks). The black bin is for general rubbish.

Watch this space for further information.

Live Simply Action Plan

Afternoon Tea

Elegance came to Gidea Park on Saturday 7th December when the Catholic Women’s League hosted afternoon tea to raise money for Caritas Jerusalem. The event featured bone china tea sets, dainty sandwiches, home made savouries, cakes and scones. The fare was well received and supported by the parish and four CWL sections. Nearly £1000 was raised. Thank you to all who contributed by giving time, providing food, donating prizes and supporting the event.

Insight to Palestine

Insight to Palestine Tuesday 26th November 2019

 As part of our on-going support for Caritas Jerusalem the parish hosted an information evening to discover the reality of day-to-day life for the indigenous  population of  the West Bank and Gaza. Around sixty people attended from Gidea Park, surrounding parishes and some other Christian denominations. The talk included an historical context and a Christ-centred perspective. Guests were able to ask questions and enjoyed a light supper with Middle Eastern theme. There was a desire to learn more about the situation and to support the plight of Palestinians by raising the profile of the issues within our community.