Our Weekend Masses
For details see the section in this week's news and go to
our dedicated page.
Live streamed Masses here
Sisters and brothers,
In today's gospel, Jesus challenges us to take a step towards a more committed discipleship by giving our riches to the poor. How can I give of my love, time, skills, money to those who are in need of them?
Fr Alex
Prayer Resources:
28th Sunday B
Children's Resources:
28th Sunday B
Communion Services will resume at St Gregory's every Wednesday at 9.30 am. Details will be taken for Test & Protect.
Questions raised in our recent survey
Many thanks to all who took the time not only to complete our Lockdown Liturgy Survey but also to leave some very rich and helpful feedback and questions. Please go here to read our responses to the questions and concerns that were raised.
Cluster News takes a break
and is back on 23/24 October
There will be no online Cluster News next weekend 16/17 Oct while our webmaster Stuart takes a well-deserved holiday.
The Ladies Guild is back and will restart next Tuesday 5 October, 2021 7.15 till 8.45 pm.
Because of Covid restrictions we will have to keep a register of all attending. You will need to supply us with names, addresses and telephone numbers. The register will be filled in on a weekly basis. Masks will be required. Tea making guidelines are that only one person is allowed in the kitchen at any time. One person only should make the tea, one person collect crockery and one person to wash up. Dishes should be left to drip dry.
Hope to see you all next week.
Maureen Wallbanks
Our Playgroup is back again on Tuesdays at St Gregory's church hall at 10 - 11.30 am. Ages 0 - 5. It begins on Tues 21st Sept. For further details contact Lauren on 07789934818.
There is an information poster available here.
Prayer afternoon last Sunday
Sincere thanks to all those in the Prayer Foundation who led us in beautifully thoughtful prayers relating to the Season of Creation.
Over the course of the afternoon approximately 45 parishioners joined in.
Some fruits of creation were displayed on the altar as a sign of what wonders surround us but are also threatened by global warming.
George's auspicious 100th milestone-
Full Report here
God's Good Earth
The first SEECAT event will be on
Sunday 24th October in Liberton Northfield
Church at 3pm.
The service, ‘God’s Good Earth’, is in preparation for the COP26 Climate Change Conference in November.
Fr Mike has agreed to give the talk at this service. Everyone is most welcome to attend.
Online author event
Mon 11 Oct @ 7pm. An evening with Kathy Galloway & Katharine M Preston, authors of Living Faithfully in the Time of Creation, and with the Iona Community's Common Concern Network on the Environment. Zoom link here
Festival of Palestine
9th – 16th October 2021
11am till 4pm daily (Sunday 2pm to 4pm only). St. Columba’s-by-the-Castle,
14 Johnston Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2PW
A one-week festival of Palestinian artistry
celebrating the 4000 year history of Palestine in
beautiful tapestry, as well as traditional music, dancing, photography, films, talks and children’s activities
www.palestinianhistorytapestry.org
" 200 Club. The winning number for September was no
52. Thanks again to all who support this fundraising venture"
Morning of Reflection for Cluster Ministries
If you perform a service of any kind to others within our parish cluster you are warmly invited to an online Morning of Reflection entitled “Beyond the pandemic:What is church?”
Service covers a wide range of ministries e.g readers, cleaners, Bethany, passkeepers, musicians, children’s liturgy, comforting the bereaved-the list goes on. This is a chance for you to reflect on your ministry in light of the changes we are experiencing because of Covid. It is also an opportunity to take stock and consider possible future steps on our journey to becoming a missionary church.
The Morning of Reflection will be on Saturday 30th October, 9.30 -12 and will be a mixture of presentations, prayer and discussion with time for tea/coffee too.
If you would like to attend this event please email us at cluster.alpha@outlook.com
The Alpha Team
There are a group of 30 pilgrims walking to COP in Glasgow. One group set off from Sweden on the 18th July and the other group set off from Poland on the 14th August. They arrive in North Shields on 12th October by ferry, where CAFOD staff and volunteers will look after them. The pilgrims are due to enter Scotland on the 19th October at approximately 11.00am. SCIAF are also looking for local communities to help with accommodation in church or community halls. They will need help with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The route the pilgrims are taking and the planned accommodation can be found here. Can we as a cluster help with any of this?
For a synodal Church: Communion - Participation - Mission
The Synodal Journey 2021-23 has begun
The world-wide synodal journey was opened today 9 Oct at the Vatican, with a reflection by the Pope, The solemn Inauguration Mass of the Synod is on Sun 10 Oct in St. Peter’s Basilica. You can watch it live here at 9am UK time.
Next Sun 17 Oct our own Inaugural Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Cushley at 3pm in St Mary's Cathedral. This marks the start of the first, diocesan phase of synodal consultation across the world, giving everyone a voice, especially those who find themselves on the margins.
Our diocesan delegates Sr Anna Marie McGuan & Fr John Deighan explain the Synod basics in this short video.
Oberammergau Passion Play 2022
Agatha Kai-Kai, a parishioner of St Columba's, is organising a trip from Edinburgh to Oberammergau for the Passion Play 2022. The group will have an 8-day tour from 23-30 Sept 2022 going through Italy and visiting Venice and Verona. The professional planning and management are done by 'Tailored Travels'. The brochure with application form is here. Please send filled forms with deposit of £400 (cheques paid to 'Tailored Travels') to Agatha at address shown by end of Oct so the travel agency can start booking essential services such as hotels and tickets.
Learning to love....tax
The gospel may resonate with most of us who have more than enough to live on – Jesus loves us, as he loved the young man and tells us to give away what we have to the poor. The man’s face falls and it is easy to understand why! The party conference season is ending and our leaders and potential leaders have been discussing their vision for our future. Tax has been central and one message seems to be agreed by all conferences – keep it low! Perhaps the young man in the gospel would see tax as the equivalent of giving his wealth away. But tax needs a “makeover”. Could we see it as “neither a burden nor an evil, it is a positive contribution to the common good and it is a responsibility of citizenship” Taxation for the Common Good (2004):
See: Church Action for tax justice says that “if we see reducing economic inequalities as one of the key purposes of tax, the UK system is falling short. According to official figures, the poorest 10% of UK households now pay 42% of their income in tax, while the richest 10% pay just 34.3%.For many Christians this statistic is a sign that we need to be asking some hard questions about who should be paying most for the things we all share.”
We also see that many corporations do not pay a fair share of tax. The Fair Tax Foundation (2019) undertook a forensic analysis of the tax conduct of the Silicon Six (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft) and uncovered a $100 billion global tax gap over the decade to date (which was then, 2010-18/19). The gap is huge and this 3 minute video shows how such money could have been used.
Reflect: The readings today unsettle and that is uncomfortable. But if “The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword” then perhaps we need to be unsettled? How far does the prevalent view of taxation allow us to see ourselves purely as individuals rather than part of a community?
Act: It’s easy to turn off when tax is mentioned. We can unconsciously adopt a view of it as at best a “necessary evil” or at worst just evil! Try to watch this course of short videos that educate about tax in a humorous way. Tax is important for our future and as the Catholic bishops said it is a “positive contribution to the common good”. At the moment climate disruption challenges the common good and taxation has to be part of the solution. See how you can get involved locally or just read/listen to the links above.
Tricia Kaminski
You are held in prayer
Those who are unwell
and in need of our prayers:
Eammon McKelvey, Bridget Coyle,
David Smith, Mary McConville,
Nancy Barta, Alex McGinnity,
Belén Rodriguez, Patricia Simmons,
Elizabeth Napier, George Pringle,
John and Angela Mcintosh,
Jorge Rodriguez, Sr. Veronica,
Katharine, John,
Jennifer, Christopher Mackinnon,
Gilmour Forrest, Maureen Lawson,
Bailey Bruce McCann, Grettel Calvo Mendez,
Betty Dickinson, Annette,
Catherine Hart, Karen Devlin,
Vo Van Tu, Scott Fraser,
Thea Maung, Anne Doig,
Sr May Lewis, Jessie & George Ritchie,
John Skinner, Fr Eugen,
James Duffy, Ronan Boyle,
Hazel Martin, Mary Boyle,
Mary Dias, Catriona McAuley,
Elaine Hepburn, Marie,
Sophie, Roney Fernandes,
Christopher Browne, Xaverina Rodrigues,
Anne and Helen,
Sacred Heart sisters in Uganda
I am the Resurrection and the Life
We remember in love
Those who have died recently:
Jack Black,
Laurence Friel,
George Lewis.
Anniversaries:
St Gregory’s:
Richard Witte, Jualiann Roarty
St John Vianney's:
Rose Reynolds, Thomas Ferry,
Hugh Manderson, Maria Gillespie, Anthony Carr, Catherine McDonald,
Father John Ramsay, David Cheape,
Kevin Burns, James Dryden,
Ronnie Macauley, Susan Morrison,
Tommy Clark, Hugh Corr,
Terrence Davidson.
Our Remembrance Gallery is in memory of the loved ones we have lost during the pandemic. If you wish a loved one to be included, go here to find out how. You will also find information on what help our Cluster Bereavement Group offer for anyone who has been bereaved.
United in prayer:
Tues 2.45 & Weds 7pm
Our Prayer Foundation invite us all to join in 30 min of silent prayer. For an example of an opening prayer see
here.
For prayer requests email
The relevant food bank for the cluster is:
47 Southhouse Broadway EH17 8AS
Phone number 664 9353
Needed this week:
Are you struggling? We are here to help
If you, or anyone you know, is in need of financial support or a friendly telephone chat, call our SSVP in the Cluster:
St John Vianney's 07922 675196,
St Gregory's 07757 845673,
St Catherine's 07539 266411.
If you would like to make a donation go here
Entitlements Page
There are many benefits and grants to which people are entitled. Please check our entitlements page. Let us also know of others. Scottish Child Payment: £10 a week paid monthly for each child under 6.
5 Oct: World Smile Day & World Teacher Day
We decided to set the kids a challenge to combine both and see if they could do something to make their teachers smile. A smile, what a fantastic and contagious thing to do. When you smile or laugh, it is difficult for those around you to not do the same.
Recently, there have been a few less reasons to smile but as things start to look a bit rosier, hopefully the opportunity for a smile will become more and more often in our lives.
A smile is free and can make such a difference to so many. Next time you are heading to see someone you haven’t seen for a while or heading into a new situation, collect your free smile on the way in.
God Bless, Mr. Hunter
A busy week and Lego still wanted
Another busy week at school. Our P5 pupils have been swimming and working with Earth Calling out in the community. Our P6s have been skiing, next week we will be the end of their skiing block, they have been brilliant, challenging themselves and trying new things even though some have been apprehensive. It’s great to see them adopting a ‘Growth Mindset’ and not giving up.
Our House Captains and Pupil Leadership group representatives all received their badges this week. We are very much looking forward to having our first meetings with all the groups in the coming weeks. Our pupil RE group will be looking at ways we can build links with St Gregory’s and St John Vianney Parishes, any ideas are welcome.
This coming Sunday is World Mental Health Day, so next week pupils will be focusing on Kindness and Say No to Bullying, our Place 2 Be project manager Veronika will support us with that.
Just a reminder if anyone has any LEGO they are not using anymore we would really appreciate the donation at school.
Aisling Christie
The COP26 pilgrimage from Dunbar to Glasgow will reach Edinburgh on Wednesday 20th October-click for details of the route
A Way Station will then be set up in the capital with a programme of events some of which are listed below.
“The Edinburgh Way Station will have events on the Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun. Thurs will be based in Portobello with a workshop on reworlding and an evening of song on the beach, Fri will be based at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral with a focus on young climate activists followed by a ceilidh cabaret and food, Sat will be an interfaith walk with a focus on climate justice (from New College to Leith), Sun will focus on deep time, with a walk and workshop (close to Arthurs Seat)”
The pilgrimage sets off for South Queensferry on Mon 25 Oct."
COP26: What can I do?
Ask world leaders to act now
The countdown to COP has begun. This November, in Glasgow, world leaders have a fortnight to set us on track to solve the climate crisis. With climate change already having a devastating impact on the world’s poorest communities, time is running out.
Please watch the short video above then sign these two petitions.
The first is by
SCIAF to the UK Government and the second is to political leaders participating in COP15 and COP26, facilitated by the
Laudato Si' Movement.
