Our Weekend Masses
For details see the section in this week's news and go to
our dedicated page.
Live streamed Masses here
Brothers and sisters,
If Christmas is to have any meaning at all, then we really need to take Advent – this time of preparation – seriously, where we prepare in our own unique way to give birth to Christ as Mary did 2,000 years ago. So let’s pray for that grace, and let’s pray for the energy and the focus to do so in the next few weeks.
Fr Alex
Prayer Resources:
2nd Sunday of Advent C:
an Online Liturgy
Children's Resources:
2nd 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 as possible, given government restrictions, 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 open on Wednesday 8th December and 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.
Obligation to attend Sunday Mass reinstated for January
Scotland’s Catholic bishops have announced that with effect from Sunday 2 January 2022 the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holydays of obligation will be reinstated. In a pastoral letter, the bishops say: "Thanks to the effort and good sense of so many, our churches have proven to be safe places. So, saving any serious worsening of the situation, we believe that Christmastide provides an opportune moment to restore the obligation." Bishop Toal of Motherwell has issued his own pastoral letter agreeing with the obligation but stressing the importance of one's own conscience in making this personal decision in the light of ongoing restrictions.
Bereavement Service
Sat 11th December @ 9.30am in St Gregory’s
You need not book in advance but your details will be taken for Test & Protect purposes on arrival.
Candles are lit for family and friends of the cluster who have died in the last month or if there’s an anniversary of a loved one please say when you arrive. Teas and coffees will be available from now on after the service in the church hall. If you would like more information, email Jacinta or phone her on 664 5581.
On behalf of St John Vianney Parish I wish to offer our thanks to both St Gregory's and St Catherine's for their offer of support towards our fund raising efforts for building repairs. We recognise all three cluster parishes have faced financial difficulties over the last twenty months and the demands placed on everyone during these difficult and challenging times. Our grateful thanks for your thoughtfulness and kindness.
Susan Blaney PPC Chair,
St John Vianney Parish
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
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).
Come and buy some original gifts.
Anthea Donaghue
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
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.
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!”
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
Cluster Seniors' Christmas Party
We would love to provide our Seniors with a wee Christmas party and dinner on Sat 11 Dec, 12.30-4.30pm in St Catherine’s church hall. We can accommodate up to 60 parishioners. Won’t it be great to be together again. Laughing, catching up with friends, good food and fingers crossed, a little dancing and singing too. Please give your name and contact number to Janet Logan (StC), Carol Mulvenna or Susanne Lackie (SJV) and Jacinta Flockhart (StG). We will ask you nearer the time if you require transport or if you have any dietary requirements. We can’t wait to see you, Ho! Ho! Ho! 🎅🤶 Love from Santa’s Helpers xx
Cluster social team
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
Justice matters: Learning from birds
On several mornings last week I was in Holyrood Park to watch the sunrise. To do that seemed suited to the season of Advent – seeking my own new beginnings in each day and in the new Church year.
At 07:30 each day, with no apparent alarm clock, in an instant 3 flocks of crows, maybe 50 in each, rose from the trees around Duddingston Loch and for just a few minutes each flock flew in a murmuration very like this before settling in the trees again. It reminded me of a line in the hymn Laudato Si’ – "join the dance of all creation.”
See
Murmuration is a kind of “emergent behaviour” – something done when individuals, in this case birds, come together and then act socially. There are many ways in which humans come together and act socially – including communities, society, politics, commerce, cities, states, consumerism.
Reflect
If we express our calling as the people of God then our social, as well as our individual behaviour, will build on and express love. We will seek the common good, be alert to those in need, and live attentive to the whole world as called for in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si'.
If instead of love, a group’s fundamental orientation is to seek power or wealth or goods, or to pursue some other flawed vision of society, be this at local, national or international scale, then their relationships with others will be unjust. They can be willing to: take money from those living in poverty; profit from crises; oppress refugees in dire need; damage the planet; use religion to dominate; dispossess “the other” as in Tibet, Palestine, and elsewhere. Such ill-founded behaviours are social sin. It is impossible to avoid being part of this social sin all together: we damage people and the Earth by the way we live.
Act
Our Christian calling is to seek to heal these relationships between people, and with the Earth. We do that by living a counter-sign in which love is dominant. We also do it by struggling for justice when we see damage to lives or the planet – including by speaking truth to power, challenging politicians, commercial powers,…
A phrase that struck me during COP was, “environmentalism without struggle is gardening” – the “struggle” is to make systemic socio-political changes. Similarly, some say, “observing injustice without acting is collusion.” Although we cannot take on our own shoulders the weight of all injustice we can inform how we use our vote, voice and choice (in use of time and money for example).
Mike Mineter
You are held in prayer
Those who are unwell
and in need of our prayers:
Dawn Adams, Aileen Paulin, Helen Haddow,
Bill and Marlene Bonnar, Stevie Donald,
Mrs Mulvenna (Gerry’s Mum ) Mary,
Kathy Duffy, Mary Thomson, Macy Whitehead, Verdiana and Donati Kweka (Tanzania),
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, Maureen Lawson, Bailey Bruce McCann, 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:
Baby Harry Ross, (born at 21 weeks),
Grettel Calvo Mendez,
Gilmour Forrest.
Anniversaries
St Gregory’s:
James Coyle
St John Vianney's
Mary Dodds, Margaret Risi, Mary Brown, Annie McLaughlin, Michael Greaus,
Jessie Hope Carmoodie, John Monaghan, Rachel McMillan Browne,
Annie and Tommy Mann,
Veronica Donoghue, James Boyle,
Donna Welsh, Karen Findlay, Isa Cooper, Davina Westgarth, Bridget McCarron.
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 to the parishioner for the cash donation.
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.
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.
The Pope's December Prayer Intention
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
Advent Journey 2021
Mary of Nazareth:
Companion in our Journey
Evenings of Conversation – Reflection – Prayer
7.00 pm – 8.30 pm
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
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.
The draw will take place in the hall after Mass on Sunday 12 December at our Christmas coffee morning. In the meantime, donations of ladies and gents toiletries, small children’s toys and non-perishable food items would be much appreciated. All monies raised will go to the St John Vianney's Fabric fund.
Susanne Lackie
St Catherine's PS Lottery result for December
Hello from St John Vianney Primary School
Catholic Education Week
It was great to hear from our pupils their thoughts/ideas/views on how we Celebrate and Worship at St John Vianney Primary School.
Full-size pictures here.
Advent
For Advent, as a school community, we will be supporting the local foodbank again. Thank you to P5 and Maureen, Anne and Iain from St Gregory’s who are helping us with this. The RE pupil group also came up with the idea of following a ‘Kindness Calendar’. Each day there is a suggested activity to try and carry out. So far, the suggestions have been, hold a door open for someone, give another person a compliment and help a friend with their work. Perhaps you would like to try out some of these ideas too.
A Busy December
School life continues to be very busy with lots going on. It was great to see Sister Ninian in school last week for a quick visit and we hope to see her again soon.
Other things that have been happening are: P3 have been out planting trees in the community, P5 have had a workshop from Into University and P1 and P2 pupils are busy preparing a Nativity that will be recorded for all to watch. This is just to name a few things going on, more next week.
Synod 2021-23:
Cluster's Response
Since the period of consultation at diocesan level has been extended, we are not under the same time pressure as before. There is still a need to plan how our Cluster can be part of the synodal journey, "walking together on the same road".
This is a synodal consultation across the world, giving everyone a voice, especially those who find themselves on the margins. Keep up to date on the Archdiocesan website and social media. More about the Synod here.
