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,
Gaudete Sunday is an opportunity to look at what it means to joyfully prepare for the coming of Christ. John the Baptist when asked by the crowd how to prepare, tells them that they should give to the poor, exact only what is owed and exercise their authority justly – in essence - act with love. John is speaking to us today, as much as to that crowd two thousand years ago.
Fr Alex
Prayer Resources:
3rd Sunday of Advent C
Children's Resources:
3rd Sunday of Advent C
Communion Services will resume at St Gregory's every Wednesday at 9.30 am. Details will be taken for Test & Protect.
Christmas Weekend Masses
We want to do everything we can to ensure that as many people can come to Mass over the Christmas period. Therefore, those who wish to attend are invited to choose one of the Masses that will be celebrated over the three-day period, 24 to 26 December:
| Friday 24th Dec | Saturday 25th Dec | Sunday 26th Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|
| St John Vianney | (Carols at 5.30) 6pm | 9.30 am. | |
| St Catherine | (Carols at 7.30) 8pm | 11 am. | |
| St Gregory | 10 am. |
A dedicated online booking system for the Masses over these three days will close on Tuesday 14th December. Parishioners will be invited to indicate their first and second choice and, following the close of bookings, will be informed which Mass they have been allocated a place at. To book, use this link: booking form. Those who normally book for Mass by telephone will be contacted by one of the Team, you do not need to phone to book a place for Christmas Mass.
Christmas Raffle at St John Vianney's
St John Vianney’s are having a raffle with prizes of Christmas hampers. Tickets are £1 and will be on sale from this Sunday at the back of the church.
Due to the new Covid restrictions around parties/gatherings, it’s been decided that the draw will take place in church straight after Mass on Dec 12th. The planned teas etc in the hall will not now take place. All monies raised will go to the St John Vianney's Fabric fund.
Susanne Lackie
Fairtrade Stall
On 12th December there will be a FT stall after Mass, at St Catherine's. Please come and browse - as well as helping Fairtrade producers, you could well find a really good Christmas present!
Tricia Kaminnski
Craft Sale
During December there will be a craft table sale in each for the Cluster churches, all proceeds will be given to the charity `Pregnancy Counselling & Care (Scotland).
St Catherine`s on Sun 12th after Mass in the hall when there will also be the usual Fairtrade stall.
Come and buy some original gifts.
Anthea Donaghue
Christmas Raffle at St Gregory's
We have kindly been donated a hamper to raffle for Christmas to help us raise some funds for the parish. Any other donations of prizes would be most welcome.
We suggest you put a donation of what you can afford in an envelope marked St Gregory’s raffle, your name and contact number on it (you could be the winner). Envelopes can be dropped of either at Mass, through my letterbox at 59 Walter Scott Avenue just along the road from St Gregory’s or Fr Alex is happy to receive them also. The draw will take place Saturday 18th December after Mass. Thank you again for your support.
Jacinta Flockhart
SEECAT Carol Singing outside Morrison’s on Saturday 18th December from 12noon until 1pm. Please come and join us, wrap up warmly, and
bring the message of Christmas to the shoppers.
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.
Christmas Toys Appeal
Once again, we are calling on our generous parishioners to consider those families in the cluster who will be struggling financially to make Christmas special for their children in terms of presents. It has been a tradition for us to organise presents to be bought and wrapped for children (indicating whether for a boy or girl and suitable for what age).
The gifts can be delivered in a number of ways. Either bring them to one of the Churches at a Mass time, or take them to Mary Thomson (9 Mortonhall Park Drive EH17 8SS) or phone this number(07801 271 860) to arrange for them to be uplifted. In order for them to reach the children for Christmas the deadline for this appeal is Sunday 12th December.
If you would prefer to make a donation towards this, we suggest the easiest way would be to put money in an envelope marked “toys” and post it through the door of St Catherine’s Parish House or hand to Father Alex.
We appreciate that there are many calls on your generosity at this time of year and we know that you will give what you can to the various appeals. Your actions will help to bring some Christmas cheer to others and will not be forgotten by the God who wishes you “Peace and good will to all!”
Advent Sessions continue
Our Advent sessions from 7pm to 8pm every Monday evening on zoom.
There are readings including the gospel, a commentary on a suitable work of art, an Advent hymn and time to discuss all of this. Our chosen charity is Pregnancy Counselling and Care (Scotland). If you would like to make a donation or can help with knitting, the details are here.
If you would like to join us, please register on cluster.alpha@outlook.com.
The Cluster Alpha Team
Christmas Concert
is being held on Tuesday 14 December from 7.30 pm in St Catherine's Church and we would love it if you could come along a join us. We hope this will help make you feel a little Christmassey with a sing-a-long with friends. There will be refreshments in the hall afterwards.
The cost will be £5.00 and the proceeds will go to the Cluster fund. Please give your names and money to StG’s: Jacinta or Sr Jeannette, StJV’s: Suzanne L or Kathleen T, StC’s: Suzanne or Linda.
Please come along and enjoy some Christmas cheer and support our lovely singers. See you there
Catherine Homan
Justice matters: Shout out with Joy!
At times it may be difficult to see joy in our world. Perhaps that’s why many of us focus on things which give momentary distraction, be it the latest gizmo, alcohol, drugs or the perfect Christmas meal. Today’s readings tells us to shout out with joy and to be happy. John makes it clear that the way to joy is not paved with distraction but with our own behaviour – generosity, integrity and just dealings.
SEE: When we look at the world we can see generosity and integrity but we also see a reluctance to change our comfortable behaviour. Currently the Omicron variant is causing consternation and scientists tell us that without widespread vaccination such variants will continue to occur. However we are not vaccinating the world. One of the arguments about why this is happening is that we believe in “a trade system which rules that nothing should get in the way of “the market”. An unhindered market is all we need, so the dogma goes, to get food to the hungry and medicine to the sick.” Figures from the 6th Dec 2021 indicate a different truth. “55.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 8.24 billion Doses have been administered globally, and 33.99 million are now administered each day. Only 6.3% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.”
Reflect: When John the Baptist was asked what we had to do to prepare for Christ, he was very clear. Give away excess, be honest and act with justice. We need to reflect on what John did not say. John put no conditions around our action. We were not told to judge people. We were told to act justly. How often is our help conditional on whether we feel the person to be suitable or deserving? How is that attitude preventing us from acting justly as an individual?
Act: Global Justice is spearheading a campaign to increase the vaccination available to poorer countries. Read about it – everyone should be able to access vaccination if they want it. It should not depend on wealth. Having empathy for people is essential if we are not to judge and it is this idea behind the museum of empathy. Learn more about it.
Tricia Kaminski
You are held in prayer
Those who are unwell
and in need of our prayers:
Donna Buchan (Susanne Lackie’s sister)
Dawn Adams, Aileen Paulin,
Mrs Mulvenna (Gerry’s Mum), Helen Haddow,
Bill and Marlene Bonnar, Stevie Donald, Kathy Duffy, Mary, Verdiana and Donati Kweka (Tanzania),
Mary Thomson, Macy Whitehead, Eammon McKelvey, Nancy Barta, Alex McGinnity, Belén Rodriguez, Patricia Simmons, Elizabeth Napier, George Pringle, 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:
Sr. Patsy McMahon,
Baby Harry Ross, (born at 21 weeks),
Grettel Calvo Mendez,
Gilmour Forrest.
Anniversaries
St Gregory’s:
Margaret Harvey, Patsy McHugh,
Bridget Coyle.
St John Vianney's
Mary Devine, Nicole Finley, James Devers, Allan MacLean, John Manderson,
Matthew Milne, Herbert Cobb, Eddie Gardner, Jane Smith, Peter Archibald Glancy,
George Petrie Hay Wilson, Grace Ford, Michael Devitt, Helen Kay Bridget Calvey.
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.
The relevant food bank for the cluster
47 Southhouse Broadway EH17 8AS
Phone number 664 9353
Items requested this week:
New opening hours for the Food Bank are
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10am until 1.30pm
Thank you for the cash donations
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.
Keeping your data up to date in the Parish Register
Under the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we must do everything we can to ensure that the data held on our Parish Register is accurate and kept up to date.
If you have shared your details for the Parish Register, and have moved house, changed your telephone number, or got a new email address in the last 12-18 months, could you please let us know about these changes by emailing: southedclust@btinternet.com.
Registering If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to complete our Parish Registration Form, you can do so here. Having your details on the Parish Register allows us to keep you up-to-date with everything that is happening in our parishes.
Gerry Mulvenna
Click on the down arrow for more information
Advent Journey 2021
Mary of Nazareth:
Companion in our Journey
Evenings of Conversation – Reflection – Prayer
7.00 pm – 8.30 pm
Thursday 16th December
Advent ~ Hope and Promise
Alison Phipps and Omaid Sharifi
To register please complete Registration Form or Email slaitynetwork@gmail.com
Praying Together, Praying Alone: a 10 week module on Prayer of various kinds
“Let us pray”. We hear this a lot at Mass but what does it mean to pray? We can pray with others and we can pray alone. It can be very personal and it can be an expression of who we are as believers. We may have a shopping list of requests or we may still ourselves, sit quietly or reflect on scripture. One thing is certain-prayer is vital if we want to build up our relationship with God.
This New Year would you like to deepen your prayer life and try different ways of praying? We are offering a 10 week module called “Praying Together, Praying Alone”. It will run weekly from Saturday January 8th until Saturday January 29th from 10-11am. We will then meet on Saturday February 12th after which we break for Lent and Easter. Sessions will resume on Saturday 23rd April and will run fortnightly until June 18th. Ideally, it would be face to face and would rotate between the three cluster churches but this will be dependent on COVID restrictions. We will look at a variety of prayer e.g Lectio Divina, (praying through scripture), contemplation and praying with nature. If you would like to go on a journey of discovery and find out more about yourself while nurturing your relationship with God please contact us at either at cluster.alpha@outlook.com or call 07523 101776
Cluster Alpha team
St Catherine's Primary School News
In the last few weeks, we have talked a lot to the children about Saints and what it means to be a Saint. We recently had our celebration of St. Catherine, last week we looked at the story of St. Andrew and I previously talked in this bulletin about what qualities it takes to be a living Saint. Kindness, compassion, thinking of others.
As we approach Christmas, as well as the presents and the physical showing of love through these, it is important to think about the presents we can give that are free.
Taking time to check in on someone we haven’t seen for a while, picking up the phone for a chat, or just sitting and spending time with those closest to us. This can be difficult in busy working times, but Christmas can a be time for adopting the ‘let’s just chat’ mode.
In all the festivities and the expense that goes on, let’s think about what we can do that has no monetary expense but can be even more valuable than you can imagine, not just for the recipient but for the giver too.
God Bless, Mr Hunter
St John Vianney's Primary School News
Advent We are continuing to work hard on our Advent Promises here at school. Last week we had over 10 bags of donations for the food bank which is just amazing. Keep going everyone with your great efforts!
This week our kindness calendar has been smiling at others, tidying up, offering to help and making sure we include others. The pupils have been fabulous at doing these things.
P7 Residential Camp
We were absolutely delighted that our P7 pupils got to go to Lagganlia last Monday for their P7 Residential Camp Experience, even if it was a week later than planned! Reports are they are having an amazing time. Please see our Twitter page for what activities they have been doing.
All our other classes are continuing to work hard. P6 have been working on Bikeability with Mr Hibbert and Robert Ure, Active Schools Co-ordinator and P2 have been busy making Christmas cards for our Parishioners. Aisling Christie
