Live streamed Masses here
Dear parishioner,
What better way to embrace our faith this week than exercise our love of God, through our care and love for our fellow human beings. After all this is the greatest commandment of them all. CAN WE ? DARE WE? Of course WE CAN and WE SHOULD.
The challenge for us this week and next is to make the physical presence of Christ a Reality in our communities and that starts in knowing we belong and are loved and cared for. It may be as easy as a phone call to see how someone is or how they are coping at this time. Whatever it is, the act should have Christ’s image all over it.
Have a great week and STAY SAFE.
Fr. Alex
Prayer resources for adults:
30th Sunday Year A
Children's resources:
30th Sunday Year A
Phase 3: Mass available in our three parishes
To be able to attend your respective Mass, 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.
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!
Hello to all our children and your mums, dads and guardians. It's been such a long time since we were able to come together for children's liturgy.We hope in the mean time you have been enjoying our weekly online liturgy.
We have decided to try and bring us together online and we are going to have a Zoom online Children's Liturgy. We wondered if you would like to join us?
It will be just like Children's Liturgy but from the comfort of your own home.
We will be doing this on Sunday 8th November at 11.30am.
If you would like to join, then ask mums/dads/guardians to e-mail to Fred below and she will guide them through the process. We are really looking forward to seeing you on the 8th.
Children's Liturgy Team
Email: fredmcconnell@btinternet.com
Hymn of the Week
This feature is having a short break and will be back at the beginning of Advent. It is organised and managed by Alisa Winters
- who suggested it in the first place!
Big THANK YOU Alisa!
Feast of All Souls Monday 2 November
5. Why and How do I pray?
Mondays 7pm on Zoom. Please pray for them as they seek to take the next steps on their faith journey. Send them a message of encouragment.
Email: Cluster.alpha@outlook.com
Mobile: 079 4766 0766
Twitter: @ClusterAlpha
Recipe for Cornflake Chicken
The Prayer Foundation
The Prayer Foundation has been receiving prayer requests and supporting those who are unwell and in need of prayer since March this year when our churches were asked to close at the beginning of Covid 19. The weekly PF email goes out to about 80 parishioners.
In this time of uncertainty many people on the PF email say that it helps them to feel connected
to be able to pray for those in our community who are in need of our prayers and to receive regular updates.
If you know of anyone who is in need of prayer support and/or if you yourself would like your name to be included on the PF email (to be part of the PF prayer support) please contact
clare.roller@icloud.com mobile 07762299633.
Your name would be blind copied so no one would be able to see your email address and you would not appear of the list of those who are sick unless you specifically requested it.
Clare Roller
Bethany Care Trust
The Lunchtime Care Van goes out on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays each week to provide sandwiches, snacks and hot drinks to those who are rough sleeping or housed in homeless accommodation by the Council.
Volunteers were needed more for weekends and we went out on Saturday 17 October for the first time with a driver from St John the Evangelist Parish. We arrived at Bethany’s Jane Street premises at 11.45am to load up the van before setting off. There are 5 or 6 stops around the city, mostly in the Old Town area. The van is very well organised and the customers kindly kept us right about how to do things! They were very appreciative of this much needed service provided by Bethany. At our last stop, one woman came to see how we were doing and to tell us how much she had been helped when she was homeless. The time passed really quickly and we had served the last of our 40 or so customers (plus the two dogs) and were back at Jane Street by 2.40pm. We felt that our contribution had been a small part of something really worthwhile.
Eileen and Paul Lewis
Justice matters - "I would rather die of Covid than hunger"
Covid 19 continues to wreak havoc and create all sorts of reactions and responses. Some years ago, I was lucky enough to go to Sudan; where over a few weeks I got to know a little of life there. I was very conscious I was seeing that life rather than experiencing it, but I have been able to maintain a link with some of the people I met during that short period. The Sudanese are also experiencing Covid 19 and a reaction from one of the people I met was that people have said they would rather “die of Covid than hunger”.
See – We make choices all the time. Hopefully never such a dreadful one. Sometimes choices are removed from people - Oxfam estimate that 20 million per year are forced to flee from their homes due to climate change. In this country the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (UK Poverty 2017) says that “poverty constrains choice” and states “that it can be three times more expensive to get the energy we need from healthy foods than unhealthy foods.” There are numerous examples of how it is more expensive to be poor e.g. prepaid electric meters mean energy can cost more
Reflect- The first reading tells us to treat the poor and marginalised fairly. The above are examples of unfairness. The second reading tells us about the power of example – are we being examples of a fairer, Christian community? The gospel tells us that love of God and love of neighbour are the most important part of Christian living.
Act – Love thy neighbour as thy self. To do that we need to be able to love ourselves – recognise and thank God for our strengths. Loving one’s neighbour can be done in very local ways – support (and question the existence of) food banks. On a more national level find out more about the food system - is it sustainable? Read the Edinburgh Poverty Commission report A Just Capital: Actions to End Poverty in Edinburgh.
P.Kaminski
You are held in prayer
Please remember in your prayers those who are sick:
Maureen Phillips
Colin Johnston
Dermot Homan
Liz Price
Mary Boyle
Chris Madden
Mary Love
Rachel Witte
Mary Dias
Catriona McAuley
Victor Julio Rodriguez
Iain Cusick
Elaine Hepburn
Annette Sibbald
Lorraine
Javier Molina Vasquez
Roney Fernandes
Christopher Browne
Xaverina Rodrigues
Anne and Helen
Colin Johnston
Dermot Homan
Liz Price
Mary Boyle
Chris Madden
Mary Love
Rachel Witte
Mary Dias
Catriona McAuley
Victor Julio Rodriguez
Iain Cusick
Elaine Hepburn
Annette Sibbald
Lorraine
Javier Molina Vasquez
Roney Fernandes
Christopher Browne
Xaverina Rodrigues
Anne and Helen
I am the Resurrection and the Life
We remember in love:
Derek Morgan
Danny Byrne
Fr Hugh Purcell
Nancy Murray
Mrs. Catriona McKinnon
Sr. M. Immaculata Murray
Barbara June Baker
Danny Byrne
Fr Hugh Purcell
Nancy Murray
Mrs. Catriona McKinnon
Sr. M. Immaculata Murray
Barbara June Baker
Anniversaries
St Gregory’s:
Paddy McKelvey, Tony Gallagher.
Helen Halliday Milligan, George Walker,
Ernest Lambert, Eddie McCauley,
Leonora Loftus, William B Marshall,
Julia Killoran, Ronnie Villacorta,
Patrick Gallagher, Hugh Mooney,
Hugh Burns, Dennis Patrick Gormley,
Harold Bull, Owen Prior,
Raphael Pelosi, Roger Hughes,
Patrick Malone, Denise Griffiths,
Jimmy Brown, Sister Mary McHardy,
Hugh White, Maureen Whoriskey,
Laura Quigley, Bill McKenzie,
Hilda Jamieson, Mr & Mrs McClafferty,
Daniel James O’Neill.
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.
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 9353Email edinburghfoodbank@blythswood.org
You can donate by online bank:
Name: Blythswood Care
Sort Code: 80-91-26
Account no: 10413664
Reference: S.E. Edinburgh Foodbank
Sort Code: 80-91-26
Account no: 10413664
Reference: S.E. Edinburgh Foodbank
Items needed this week
- Eggs, beans, rice, corned beef, fruit, jars of baby food.
- Tinned items: Tuna, potatoes, carrots, mince, fruit, custard.
- Jars of jam any flavour, jars of mayonnaise, packets of super noodles, packets of pasta sauce, tomato ketchup, diluting juice (1 litre).
- Chocolate, sweets, Mars/ Twix bars, crisps, snacks, biscuits, hot chocolate.
- Women's and men's shampoo, toothpaste, shower gel
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.
Fraternity & Social Friendship:
Exploring Pope Francis’ Latest Encyclical
Tue 27 Oct, 7.30pm. Cardinal Turkson was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009-17 and is now the first prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development. Zoom details here
SLN Open Conversations
LGBTI People in the Church
Thu 5 Nov, 7-8.30pm. An evening of informal discussion and theological exploration with
Fr James Alison about the experience of being a member of the LGBTI community in the Church today. For details email:
slaitynetwork@gmail.com
Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Service
Safeguarding in a pandemic: How virtual lives create more challenges for the Church
Sat 14 Nov, 11am - 1.30pm. The webinar will focus on safeguarding and online risks in the pandemic both internationally and locally here in Scotland. For details email Tina Campbell, National Safeguarding Coordinator
Poem
Dear Human: You’ve got it all wrong.
You didn’t come here to master unconditional love.
That is where you came from and where you’ll return.
You came here to learn personal love.
Universal love. Messy love. Sweaty love.
Crazy love. Broken love. Whole love.
Infused with divinity. Lived through the grace of stumbling.
Demonstrated through the beauty of… messing up. Often.
You didn’t come here to be perfect. You already are.
You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous.
And then to rise again into remembering.
But unconditional love? Stop telling that story.
Love, in truth, doesn’t need ANY other adjectives.
It doesn’t require modifiers.
It doesn’t require the condition of perfection.
It only asks that you show up. And do your best.
That you stay present and feel fully.
That you shine and fly and laugh and cry
and hurt and heal and fall and get back up
and play and work and live and die as YOU.
It’s enough. It’s Plenty.
Courtney Walsh