Our Weekend Masses
For details see the section in this week's news and go to
our dedicated page.
Sisters and brothers,
The readings today highlight that Jesus's message is not an easy one. It does not fit with putting ourselves first. Paul's letter confirms that Jesus came to set us free, but immediately tells us that the way to remain free is to serve others - perhaps not many people's first reaction on learning of their liberation. In the gospel, the disciples were met with hostility as they travelled to Jerusalem. They wanted to use their gifts to punish the population. They wanted to call down fire! Jesus rebuked them - his is the way of peace. He will not impose his word - we must want to accept it and understand the rewards are not often those society recognises.
Fr Alex
Prayer Resources:
13th Sunday C
Children's Resources:
13th Sunday C
Communion Service is at St Gregory's every Wednesday at 9.30 am.
This Sunday: Silver Jubilee Celebration!
Fr Alex's Jubilee Mass is on Sun 26 June at 2 pm at St John Vianney's. Everyone in the three Cluster parishes is warmly invited to come together in thanksgiving for Fr Alex's 25 (26) years of faithful service. Refreshments afterwards in the hall and garden (weather dependent!).
There will be no 9.30am Mass at SJV. Masses as normal for St Gregory's and St Catherine's but there will be no teas & coffees at St Catherine's.
Cluster Mass for SS Peter and Paul
This Wed 29 June is the Feast of St Peter and St Paul. There will be a Vigil Mass on Tuesday, 28 June @ 7pm at St John Vianney's and Mass on the day at 9.30am in St Catherine's.
Summer greetings from Jean Harvey
Out to lunch today with Monica! Jean will be 96 years young in September and would like the Cluster to know that she is well and enjoying life! She is a long long-standing active member of St Catherine's and now so much appreciates the parish outreach and her weekly visit by Brian as Eucharistic minister.
She is great company and still enjoys lunching out with friends and family. We had a delightful afternoon.
Cluster Administrator
Over the past two years we have been considering how we can organise our Cluster to help us to live out our Cluster Vision and continue to progress on our journey from maintenance to mission. We have also been looking at how we can best work alongside Fr Alex, especially with regard to freeing him from administrative burdens.
One dimension of this work has been exploring the role and appointment of a Cluster Administrator. The PPC Chairs, Parish Coordinators and Leadership Team have looked at all the administrative tasks that need done and pulled this together into a Job Description. A room in the parish house at St Catherine’s has been set up as a Cluster Office (with working and storage space for St John Vianney’s and St Gregory’s). We have also identified a parishioner, Carol Mulvenna, who is willing to take this role on, initially on a short-term basis. Over the next nine or so months Carol will set up processes to deal with all the administrative tasks in the Cluster and help us determine if the scope of the role needs to be added to or changed. All of this has now been approved by the PPCs in our parishes.
One further point for your awareness is that we continue to make good progress on establishing a model for governance in the cluster. Danny Friel has been leading on this, working with the PPCs and Leadership Team. We hope to have a further update available to share with you in the next few weeks.
Carol will start next week, and we wish her well in this role. Initially she will be available on Thursdays and Friday mornings can be contacted on 0131 563 8391 or at southedclust@btinternet.com.
St John Vianney's Primary School
Mini Saint Vinnies
We are so proud of our P4 classes who have been working on a Mini Saint Vinnies project over the past few weeks. They have been raising money for the charity by holding fundraising events at school. On Monday, they had a Funfair at school, which all the classes visited. They had darts, basketball shooting, golf, guess the staff member and many more fun activities. It was a fantastic day. They have also taken part in a sponsored Fun Run in their pyjamas and got some of their parents involved. They have done a fantastic job. Please see some photos attached and also on our twitter page @stjohnvianneyPS
Aisling Christie
Hover over the little pics and see them enlarged.
Then hover over them for even more detail.
St Catherine's Primary School News
First Communions
Saturday 18th June 2022 was a momentous day for the school community. This was the first ‘back to normal’ First Communion celebrations we have had for over three years. It was not only a great occasion for that reason but also for the way the Mass itself went. Our children played a full and active role in their own celebration and looked just fantastic too. I want to extend a huge gratitude to all those in our Parish who helped make the day such a memorable event. The Church was beautiful and the tea and cake in the hall afterwards just rounded off what could not have been a better day for the children themselves.
Thanks to SSVP
I also wanted to extend a thanks to the members of the SSVP group. We took delivery of some shopping vouchers from the group that have been distributed to some of our families to help out in these difficult times we are all in. You have no idea how much of a difference this gesture of help will bring to those in the most need in our school. Thank you to you from a very grateful school community. God Bless You Always.
Mr Hunter
Justice Matters:
The increase of COVID in Scotland has been a timely reminder of how vaccination has transformed our ability to cope with the disease. Recently there has been an appeal to sign a SCIAF petition asking the government to support and facilitate fair and equal access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world. So why does it matter?
SEE: The Independent reports that “the World Bank expects 198 million people to be pushed into poverty across the globe this year as a result of the pandemic.” Most agree that the vaccine is crucial in managing a country’s way out of the pandemic. Amnesty International report that in “October 2020, India and South Africa requested a temporary waiver (IP/C/W/669) to intellectual property protections that would allow countries to produce versions of Covid-19 products more easily. Despite receiving support from more than 100 countries, this draft has stalled due to opposition from a small number of wealthy states.” In Geneva last week an agreement was reached but has been condemned as “a sham deal” where the “original idea of an intellectual property waiver hasn’t just been watered down, it’s been washed away.” Max Lawson, Oxfam, said “This so-called compromise," he argued, "largely reiterates developing countries’ existing rights to override patents in certain circumstances. And it tries to restrict even that limited right to countries which do not already have capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines.”
REFLECT: “Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you.” Galatians 5:1,13-18.
ACTION: Sign the SCIAF petition.
Despite the result in Geneva, Global Justice report that “Analysis is ongoing, this deal may give South Africa more room to commercialise and export its reverse-engineered version of Moderna’s vaccine…. This project in Cape Town was set up not just to make medicines, but to share everything it learns with countries around the world. Its mission is the very opposite of the monopolising, profiteering Big Pharma model*
And if it succeeds, it could play a significant role in building the new pharmaceutical system we desperately need. ” Write to your MP to put pressure on the UK who have been accused of having been “ dragged to the table, even as it kicked, screamed and yelled Big Pharma’s talking points. ” (Tim Bierley Global Justice). Perhaps have a look at Global Justice website and read about how they are hoping to keep the pressure up to reform the Big Pharma model.*The Big Pharma model is one making "sky high returns to shareholders”. The main organisations are rich. “Judged by revenue, Johnson & Johnson is wealthier than even rich countries like New Zealand and Hungary. Pfizer’s revenues are bigger than oil-rich Kuwait or Malaysia.”
Tricia Kaminski
You are held in prayer
Those who are unwell
and in need of our prayers:
Shay Harvey (5 years old), Susie Hay (100 years young). Michael Martin, Anne McKain, Joe MacDonald, Rose Ross, Camilo Rodriguez, Edison Villabona, Gloria Camargo, Anne-Marie Davie, Joe McConnell, Carolyn Larter, Christine Knox, Patrick Phelan, Sheila Ross, Ellen Salvona, Nilsa de Rodriguez, Belén Rodriguez, Rudy Deras, Dawn Adams, Helen Haddow, Bill and Marlene Bonnar, Stevie Donald, Kathy Duffy, Mary, Verdiana and Donati Kweka (Tanzania), Mary Thomson, Eammon McKelvey, Nancy Barta, Alex McGinnity, Patricia Simmons, Elizabeth Napier, George Pringle, Sr. Veronica, Katharine, John, Jennifer, Maureen Lawson, Bailey Bruce McCann, Betty Dickinson, Annette, Catherine Hart, Karen Devlin, Scott Fraser, Anne Doig, Sr May Lewis, Jessie & George Ritchie, John Skinner, Fr Eugen, James Duffy, Ronan Boyle, Hazel Martin, Mary Boyle, Mary Dias, Catriona McAuley, Marie, 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:
Pat Mulvenna,
Ronnie Carruthers,
Jean Lowe,
Elaine Hepburn,
John Lynch,
Donald McAleavy.
Anniversaries
St Gregory's:
Helen Witte, Martin Cairney
St John Vianney's:
Kate Ferry, Kathleen (Kay) Lyall, Harry Daly, David Pryde, Cathy Moan, Willie de Luca, Johannes Wulff, John McIlhone, Thomas Bull, Mary Ewart, George Docherty, Joseph Polack, Annie MacKinnon, Danny Boyle, Grace Easton, Jean Reynolds, Martin Cairney,
Samuel McKeen, Georgine (Ina) Connelly.
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.
Please join us in Contemplative prayer
on Tuesday afternoons 2.40 to 3.45 at Liberton Northfield 280 Gilmerton Road EH16 5TT
Entrance through Red side door. Buses 3, 8, 29 stop right outside. The format is:
If you prefer you can join us on Zoom or just pray with us while you are at home. Contact
Clare Roller
Boxes for our local foodbank
Please bring items listed below to any of our church buildings or either of our Catholic Primary Schools for the foodbank - or take them to:
Items requested for this week:
Thank you for cash donation.
New opening hours for the Food Bank are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10am until 1.30pm
Teas and coffees next week
There will be refreshments after St Gregory's Vigil Mass next Saturday and after St Catherine's Mass next Sunday.
St John Vianney's will be resting up after hosting this week's Jubilee celebrations!
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 07455 306607
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.
Free benefits and money advice sessions
Starting in August, every last Friday of the month, 9.30-11.30am, hosted by St Catherine's Primary. Half hour appointments available to book through our school office on 664 4257 or by email admin@st-catherines.edin.sch.uk
You can get help and advice on money matters as well as help with applying for benefits, housing costs, council tax reduction, free school meals, clothing grants, Scottish Welfare Fund and Scottish Child Payments.
Dates are
Fridays 26 Aug, 30 Sept, 28 Oct, 25 Nov, 27 Jan, 24 Feb, 31 Mar, 28 Apr, 26 May.
Back on Track project at Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre.
Back on Track offers therapeutic support to children, young people and their families within the catchment areas of Gracemount and Liberton High Schools. This flyer gives more detail about what we do and how you can contact us.
Police Scotland - Edinburgh South East
Community Police Surgery
St. Catherine’s Primary are hosting a quarterly Local Community Police drop-in surgery on 29 Sept, 23 Feb, 25 May (all Thurs), 1.30-2.30pm.
If you have a local community issue you want raised or to talk about, this is an ideal opportunity for this to be heard, in private and in confidence. To book an appointment, please contact the school office on 664 4257 or email admin@st-catherines.edin.sch.uk
June Novena at St Catherine's
During the month of June there will be a further opportunity to pray the Novena on Mondays @ 2pm in St Catherine's. All warmly welcome.
