Live streamed Masses here
Dear parishioner,
Again our thoughts will inevitably turn to Gifts and giftedness as the week progresses. Charged with building a dwelling for the Lord, lets see if we can recognise the gifts and talents that we have been given for this task. Let’s reflect on how those gifts can change us and the communities to which we belong. May the hope of renewal sustain us all at this time.
I wish you all a very Happy Christmas!
Fr. Alex
Please note: Our Weekend Resources teams will take a break over the festive period and will be back with our next Cluster News and full resources on 9/10 January. Please note that there will be no Lockdown Liturgy or Children's Resources on 26/27 Dec and 2/3 Jan.
A slimmed down online liturgy will be available on 2/3 Jan.
Weekend Liturgy:
Fourth Sunday of Advent B
Children's Liturgy:
Fourth Sunday of Advent B
Mass available in our three parishes
We would encourage you to make use of the phone option only if you are unable to book online. This will make things easier for those who are managing the booking system. Special arrangements for Christmas Weekend bookings. See below.
On-line and telephone bookings can be made from Monday mornings through to Wednesday at 5pm. You must receive a notice of confirmation in order to attend that weekend. We have prepared some guidelines about this and they can be found here.
We would encourage you to share this information with anyone you know or suspect may not have internet access. Let's stay connected!
Christmas Weekend Masses
We are pleased to report that everybody (178 in total) who wanted to come to Mass has been offered a place at one of the six Masses over the Christmas weekend.
You may have heard the Scottish Government announcement this evening about moving to Level 4. One of the implications of this is that Mass numbers will be restricted to twenty with effect from Saturday 26 December. At present, this doesn’t impact Masses on 24 and 25 December.
This means the limit of twenty will apply to Mass at St Gregory’s on 26 December and St Catherine’s and St John Vianney’s on 27 December. We hope to still accommodate all those who had requested one of these Masses as their Christmas weekend choice.
We are considering how best to handle Mass bookings for 2/3 January onwards and will email as soon as possible to let you know.
| Thurs 24th Dec | Fri 25th Dec | Sat 26th Dec | Sun 27th Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Catherine's | 8 pm (full) | 11 am (20 people max) | ||
| St Gregory's | 10 am (full) | 6 pm (20 people max) | ||
| St John Vianney's | 6 pm (full) | 9.30 am (20 people max) |
Christmas Eve Service for All Ages (Zoom)
Listen to Susanne tell us more about the additional Service for all ages at 4.00 pm on Christmas Eve, by Zoom. There will be carols, the Christmas story told by our children, a homily by Fr Alex, time for prayer, and more... Continue to tell your family, friends, neighbours, colleagues. This is a family-friendly service for everyone, regardless of their faith background. Invite everyone you can find to the banquet! If you wish to display our poster in your window, the file is here.
We had hoped to be able to enable people to join in this service by telephone, but after investigating discovered it would be far too expensive for people to phone in to join this. We realise that this means that people who don’t have internet won’t be able to participate and we are very sorry.
Notwithstanding the vitally important guidance and regulations around Covid-19, if you are joining with family on Christmas Eve and they have internet access, and you would like to join in the service, please ask them to email us and we will let them know how to join.
Christmas Toys Appeal
A massive thank you to everyone who donated beautifully wrapped presents or cash for the children of families struggling financially this Christmas. The presents were handed over to the local Social Work Department who said that this year’s contribution has been far greater than any other year. In response to a request from the Headteacher of St Catherine's Primary School, Paul Hunter, the cash donations will support families in the community who are struggling financially. Thanks to your generosity many, many families will have a much happier Christmas.
St Catherine's Primary School
I just wanted to take some time to write an email with a humbled thank you for the amazing donations made to the school over the last week. I use the word ‘humbled’ because I am struggling for other words that will do this thanks enough justice!
These donations will literally make the difference between a child and family having a ‘Christmas’ or not.
The Cluster parishes never cease to amaze in their generosity, community heart and their commitment to showing love and compassion to those around us. Thanks to all those who helped in anyway to gathering this money.
May God Bless you all this festive period and know that the prayers of all of us here are with you in all you do now and onwards.
Paul Hunter (Headteacher)
St John Vianney's Primary School
This week at school we have been discussing how we can bring joy to people’s life representing the third Advent Candle.
Our P6 and P7B pupils made a great effort with their cards for the parishioners. We hope when you receive them that they bring you some joy.
P5 have been working hard preparing for our Mass on Thursday. All the other classes are going to watch on Microsoft Teams.
We also had our school Christmas lunch this week, different than usual but we still had great fun with crackers and hats.
We are all looking forward to our holidays next Tuesday and would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the Pupils and Staff.
Views from the pews
Lynne Doig writes:
My mum, Maureen Philips, would like to thank the cluster parishes for their prayers and also for the kind Christmas gift.
Anne Carruthers writes:
Thank You so much for the Christmas Bags from the Cluster and for all the hard work you do!! Merry Christmas from Anne Ronnie.
Ann Callaghan writes:
Please pass on my thanks to the people who organised the Christmas Bags for our senior citizens. Such thoughtfulness. My dad received one. He was thrilled; had great fun opening it; and was very proud that our Cluster continue to support the elderly of our parishes.
Monica Thompson writes:
Our Crib, Christmas tree and church in general are all looking wonderful and so much appreciated by us all. A huge THANK YOU must go to Catherine Homan and her helper ‘elves’. Great work. We had some seasonal carols too on our sound system.. very uplifting. It definitely is beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!
What gives me hope this Christmas?
Thank you for the many replies to our request for you to tell us "What gives me hope this Christmas?" We'll begin sharing them soon - starting at the Christmas Eve service.
Christmas Carols of the week
Our musicians and singers have really got into the Christmas spirit and produced so much material that we need to refer you to another page! Go
here.
Christmas Panna Cotta and
Whisky Sour
St Gregory’s traditional Christmas raffle
We have kindly been donated a hamper to raffle for Christmas to help us raise some funds for the parish. If you want to join in 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, my address 59 Walter Scott Avenue just along the road from St Gregory’s (just pop it through the letterbox) or Fr Alex is happy to receive them also which we thank him for!
Community has always been at the heart of what we do in St Gregory’s and we thank you in advance for any donations you can afford. Help us keep the parish financially viable. Draw will take place on the Saturday 26th December.
Jacinta - St Gregory’s
Thanking our children's catechists
Each and every week at Mass our children are used to going off and learning about their faith in a way and at a level which is best suited to their needs.
Since lockdown, this service has continued uninterrupted by means of a rota of catechists who take it in turns to provide resources for the children each week on our website.
We thank them most sincerely for the work they do in preparing the materials - sometimes with very little time to meet the Cluster News deadline! We hope they enjoy a little Christmas relaxation - before it all starts up again on 9/10th January!
The Annunciation by John Collier
Our Fourth Advent Session will take place on zoom this Monday 21st December at 7pm. Jeff Bagnall will give a short talk and we'll go into breakout rooms for discussion. As well as this there will be input from parishioners about their favourite Advent prayer/poem; a memorable piece of art (see above) and a favourite Advent hymn. Each session will last about an hour. If you would like to take part, please reply to cluster.alpha@outlook.com with the heading “Advent”.
If you have not been able to attend these sessions, you can still see them by means of these links: Session 1; Session 2; Session 3 and Session 4. To donate to the charity mentioned in the series (Pregnancy Counselling and Care, Scotland) go here.
Justice matters
This reflection is the last until after Christmas, so the nativity and Bethlehem are the focus. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was of around 100 miles, over several days. It is hard to imagine doing that as a heavily pregnant woman on a donkey… especially hard to imagine it for me, a mere man. Today an issue would be: where do you go through Israel’s Barrier and checkpoints that surround Bethlehem?
See: The first picture is of a crib I bought in Bethlehem, at a shop at the end of the row of buildings in my second picture. It used to be a busy street until the Barrier hemmed it in. The Crib includes the Barrier with a watchtower – with the Barrier blocking the approach of the three kings. The shopkeeper was delighted to show me that the Barrier could be removed – maybe an indication of hope for a better future.
A few hundred yards from the shop is the Aida refugee camp, one of several in Bethlehem set up 70 years ago when more than 700,000 Palestinians had been expelled from their towns and villages. In these camps, people have been born, lived all their lives and died as refugees in their own land, unable to return to their land and property. Aida camp is “the most teargassed place on earth,” I was told. In the camps there are raids into homes, carried out by the Israeli forces, in the middle of the night to maximise disruption and trauma. Social services in the camps are decimated by Trump’s cut in funding of UNRWA. The number of refugees is growing, at an increasing rate as Israel accelerates its demolitions of homes elsewhere in the West Bank – yes, in the midst of the rampant pandemic.
Reflect: On Christmas night even the star stopped in stillness over the stable: all of creation was in awe at the birth of a child. This Good News is for all: embracing those on the margins of society – the shepherds – and confounding the power-hungry (Herod). It is Good News for all creation – symbolised by the animals in crib scenes. We are invited by the Child, and in Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis, to recognise that we are in communion with all people and all Creation….whether we are isolated or not…. That communion calls us to heed the cries of the poor and the earth.
Act: Maybe you can think of situations and people for whom you hold particular concern. Perhaps place a symbol, something that for you represents them, in your crib - or place it near a candle and ask the Light of the world to shine in them.
You might pray for the Palestinians when hearing carols in the coming weeks, and they would ask that you also remember all others around the world who are also treated in a way that dehumanises both them and their oppressors.
To find out more about Palestine/Israel: for background; for news B’Tselem; and for news and comment from a Christian perspective, Sabeel-Kairos. Also see the videos on utube and, from a few years ago so pre-COVID.
You are held in prayer
Please remember in your prayers those who are sick:
Michael McGlone
James Duffy
Eileen Kelly
Ronan Boyle
John Boyle
Binne Vries.
Hazel Martin
Paul Brennan
Maureen Phillips
Mary Boyle
Mary Dias
Catriona McAuley
Elaine Hepburn
Lorraine
Roney Fernandes
Christopher Browne
Xaverina Rodrigues
Anne and Helen
Sacred Heart sisters
in Avigliana, Italy
I am the Resurrection and the Life
We remember in love:
Dermot Homan
Madge Halliday
Sr Barbara Farquharson
Kuriakose Joseph
Anniversaries
St Gregory's
John Bonner, Elsie Veitch,
Ruby Bird, Ina Boyle
St Catherine’s
Jan McDermid, Anne Forres,
John McGachie
St John Vianney's
James Barclay, P.J. Naughton,
Jimmy Gallagher, Gemma Strathie,
Tom Fagan, Margaret MacDonald,
Eddie Kerr, George Hastie,
Charles McCann, Tom Fagan,
James Murphy, Fiorinta (Flora) Ballack,
James Kelly, Annie Reynolds,
Michael Hopper, Annie Gardner,
Mary Ann Kelly, Avril Gillespie,
Bill Wood, Agnes Prior,
Anne Margaret Clark, Robert Smith Roy,
Harry Sinclair, Elizabeth Cockburn,
Isa Kane, James Ritchie,
Nicola Janette Robertson.
For those without internet access
If you know a parishioner without internet access please tell them about our podcast. For the cost of a local call, 0131 357 6463 they can hear our Lockdown Liturgy (available on Sunday) and how to phone to make a booking to attend Mass. Please note there will be no podcast on 26/27th December and 2/3 January.
United in prayer:
Tues 2.45 & Weds 7pm
Our Prayer Foundation invite us all to join in 30 min of silent prayer. For prayer requests email
clare.roller@icloud.com
The relevant food bank for the cluster is: 47 Southhouse Broadway EH17 8AS
Phone number 664 9353
Email
edinburghfoodbank@blythswood.org
Items needed this week
- Eggs, rice, corned beef, ham, fruit, jars of baby food,
pot noodles
- disposable nappies size 4,5*,6 .
- Tinned items: Fray Bentos pies, Tuna , veg. , peas , carrots , mince, fruit, custard*.
- Jars of
jam any flavour , jars of mayonnaise, packets of super noodles, packets of pasta sauce, Mac cheese, ravioli, tomato ketchup, diluting juice (1 litre
).
- Selection boxes , Chocolate spread*, Chocolate treats, crisps*, snacks, biscuits, hot chocolate .
- Women's and men's shampoo, toothpaste, shower gel
(Asterisk items are in very short supply)
Thanks to the five parishioners for their cash donations this week and to Anne Hood who helped Maureen Wallbanks with SJV's Primary School food donations last week.
Donation boxes at both
St Gregory's and St Catherine's
There will be a boxes in both churches for donations for the Food Bank in Southhouse.
If anyone would like to give a gift then there are three ways this can be done:
- Use Online Banking:
Account name - R.Arch of St A St Cath 2
Account Number - 00693806
Sort Code - 80 02 73
Reference - Father Fallon
- Use a special collection offertory envelope and leave in collection box - marked, Father Fallon
- Use any envelope and leave in collection box - marked, Father Fallon
- If none of these are suitable for you then please contact Fred McConnell - fredmcconnell@btinternet.com or 07901 964 100 for alternatives.
Please make sure that it is clearly marked,
Father Fallon.
Children's Winter Coats
If any parent or guardian is in need of a good winter coat for their child, could they get in touch with us through our email address: southedclust@btinternet.com. This request will be managed in the strictest confidence.
Double the love:
the government will match your donations!
From today until 31 Jan 2021 public donations made to our Double The Love appeal will be matched by the UK government, up to £2 million. A basket will be in the front porch or at the back of St Gregory's and St John Vianney's for this.
Sending Christmas cards this year? Here is the link to look at those from Mary's Meals.
To everyone in our Cluster ....
May the blessings of Christmas warm your heart and bring you deep peace and joy. With love from
Srs. Jeannette and Christine.
Hannah Rose Thomas
Last week advertised a talk by Hyab Yohannes is an Eritrean refugee and researcher at the University of Glasgow and Hannah Rose Thomas is an English artist and a UNESCO Scholar. Hannah gave a short but moving address to the Scottish Parliament in 2017 which you can watch here.
Message from Justice and Peace, Scotland
As you know, Bishop Nolan, our Bishop President writes to all parishes in Scotland for the Day of Prayer for Peace each year. This next falls on the Feast of the Epiphany, Sunday 3rd January 2021. Since there will be no News that weekend, we are providing the letter from Bishop Nolan here.
Cords that connect heaven and earth
The thought-provoking work by Jennifer Sturrock at Liberton Northfield Church seeks to illustrate the connections between people and their link to the divine. Read more
The Christmas Star
Tue 22 Dec @ 7.30 pm. Astronomer, Jesuit and Director of the Vatican Observatory
Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ returns to the Edinburgh Jesuit Centre to teach us about the Christmas Star. Zoom details
here
Prayer (suggested by Clare Roller)
O Christ Jesus,
When all is darkness
And we feel our weakness and helplessness,
Give us the sense of your presence,
Your love, and your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust in your protecting love
And strengthening power,
So that nothing may frighten or worry us,
For, living close to you,
We shall see your hand
Your purpose, your will through all things.
Amen.
(A prayer attributed to St Ignatius of Loyola)