Margaret Ellison would like to thank the cluster parishioners for all the lovely cards and all the beautiful flowers she received for her 80th birthday. " I am overwhelmed Thank you so much."
Cluster News
7/8 May
Next deadline 11th May
Our Weekend Masses
For details see the section in this week's news and go to
our dedicated page.
Brothers and sisters,
We learn today that following Christ can’t be “business as usual”. The Pharisees couldn’t move beyond their wish to maintain their position and be in control. Paul and Barnabas are frustrated but pitying – “you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life”, they say, before leaving. Are we able to follow Jesus as he wished us to rather than follow a self -serving caricature of that message? Are we able to recognise the gentle call of our shepherd urging us to leave our comfort zones? Do we recognise Jesus, calling us to act in love?
Fr Alex
Prayer Resources:
4th Sunday of Easter C
Children's Resources:
4th Sunday of Easter C
Communion Services will resume at St Gregory's every Wednesday at 9.30 am. Details will be taken for Test & Protect.
Mary's Novena in the Cluster
During the month of May there will be two opportunities to pray the Novena: Mondays @ 2pm in St Catherine's and Tuesdays @ 7pm at St Gregory's. All warmly welcome.
Bereavement Service
Sat 14 May @ 9.30am @ St Gregory's.
Candles are lit for family & friends of the Cluster who have died in the last month. If there’s an anniversary of a loved one, please say when you arrive. Teas and coffees will be available after the service.
For more information, email Jacinta or phone her on 664 5581.
St Gregory's meets every Tuesday 7pm but for the month of May it's at 7 30 after the Novena at 7pm.
St John Vianney's meets the first Wednesday of the month at 7 pm in St Catherine’s Hall.
Next meeting is 1June.
Recognising You
Watch/listen to this poem, written and read by Amy Scott Robinson. It takes us on an Easter journey and invites us to recognise the Risen Christ in our lives.
Many thanks to Mary Morrison for suggesting it!
Cost of living crisis
Blythswood Care SE Edinburgh Foodbank
Miriam and the team write about their work at the foodbank
"In the year to the end of March 2022, our foodbank supported
2,697 people, of whom 1,148 were children. Some of these were people in emergency need we only saw once, others are people we sadly see time and time again. Our numbers increased hugely as the pandemic hit in 2020, and they haven't come back down.
We are already seeing an increase in clients who simply cannot afford to cover their rising bills, and who are having to choose between energy and food. Folk for whom life is precarious, and we work hard to give them some dignity in what is often an embarrassing experience. We have also started to see Ukrainian refugees asking for help, and we are keen to meet their needs as they settle into a strange new country.
Our foodbank couldn't function without the selfless support of our donors, including the St Gregory's RC church cluster. You have kept us going, and we are immensely grateful - especially for your willingness to find out exactly what we need and provide accordingly.
If we can ask for one more thing, it would be that you keep us and our clients in your prayers as well, as we're sure you already do.
We would love to welcome you into the foodbank for a visit and chat sometime. We are reaching the end of a programme of refurbishment after the fire damage in late 2021, and haven taken the opportunity to create a new welcome area for visitors and clients alike. Thank you!"
Miriam & the foodbank team x
The Big Plastic Count 16-22 May
Do you want to be part of the UK's biggest plastic investigation? Simply count your plastic for one week. Across the country, households, schools, community groups and businesses will gather new evidence. How much plastic are we really having to throw away, and what happens to it? Help push the government, brands and supermarkets to take bold action to tackle the plastic crisis. Watch this light-hearted video and find out more here.
Scottish Laity Network
Is a Circular economy the way forward?
Thu 12 May @ 7pm. Kim Pratt is the Circular Economy Campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland www.foe.scot focusing on reducing material consumption and waste through policy change. Third talk in the series Towards Pentecost 2022. Go here for the full programme. A recording will be available - email SLN.
Justice Matters: Travelling with Catholic social Teaching from Faslane to Nazareth
Usually in Justice Matters we look at one issue that affects our lives, and follow the Catholic Social Teaching (CST) pattern of:
• See – what is the issue to which we seek to respond?
• Reflect – how does this connect with (or contradict) our values and our faith? It involves our feelings and our minds, our experience and our understanding.
• Act – what action can we take? In Justice Matters we usually make suggestions, while assuming any reader will follow their own inspirations.
A disadvantage of Justice Matters is that we don’t do this see-reflect-act together in a cyclical process, in which a community responds to its own circumstances. When done in a cycle, “see” would also entail looking at how the previous actions worked out. Perhaps responding to the spiralling cost of living will cause us to come together in this way? Yet we hope that Justice Matters raises awareness of issues and of the see-reflect-act process, however imperfectly.
Last week Tricia gave an introduction to CST. This week I am briefly mentioning two issues.
1. Nuclear weapons
See Scotland is host to nuclear weapons, held at Faslane on Scotland’s west coast.
Reflect As you enter our churches this weekend, or certainly by next weekend, you will see posters speaking of the evil of these weapons, with quotes from Pope Francis, previous Popes and Bishop Nolan. I forget who said, “we rightly condemn the Nazis for throwing people into ovens in the Holocaust – but by holding nuclear weapons we are willing to throw ovens at people.” Please spend time to read and reflect on these posters.
Act Perhaps explore the Pax Christi Scotland website, or write to your MP, requesting he ask the Chancellor why we spend so many trillions on renewing Trident when it would be immoral to use it in any circumstance….. and people here are struggling to eat and to be warm?
2. Nakba day, 15 May
See The term Nakba (Arab for catastrophe) refers to the expulsion of Palestinians from what is now Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It began in 1947-48 and still continues. It is remembered especially on 15 May each year. Year on year the situation for Palestinians is made worse and the international community turns a blind eye, and so we collude in the injustice.
Reflect Each Wednesday the “Sabeel Wave of Prayer,” comprising specific items of news with a prayer response, is issued by the Sabeel Liberation Theology Center based in Jerusalem and Nazareth. As Nakba day approaches, you might wish to read, reflect on the news, and pray these prayers.
Act We (people from the cluster and friends) are marking Nakba Day with a zoom gathering for prayer and discussion, at 6:30 to 7:30pm on Sunday 15th May. Do join us! Further details here.
You could come on Saturday 14th May to talk for a few minutes with people from Edinburgh Action for Palestine, in between 11:00 and 12:30 on Princes St, near the corner with Castle St near the West End. (We are there on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month).
Mike Mineter
You are held in prayer
Those who are unwell
and in need of our prayers:
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, Christopher Mackinnon, 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,
Elaine Hepburn, 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:
Margaret Linforth
Fiona Scott
Eileen Donaldson.
Anniversaries
St John Vianney's:
Christina Spalding, Margaret Gallagher, John Kidd, James MacDonald, Mary Coyle, John Wood, Catherine Brennan, Angela Stewart,
James McQueenie, Thomas Harris,
Kennedy McCallum, James Malone, David Cheape, Isabella Ritchie, Anne Reilly, Kenneth Scott, Antonio De Marco, Margaret Ford, Rob Cowe.
St Gregory's:
Lawrence Fitzpatrick, Helen Stanton, Alec Spence.
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:
- short introduction followed by
- 30 minutes silent prayer
- then 10 minutes of intercessory prayer.
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:
- Tinned mince
- Multi-packets of Crisps
- Mayonnaise
- Diluting juice
- Sponge puddings
New opening hours for the Food Bank are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10am until 1.30pm
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
What help are you entitled to?
There are many benefits and grants to which people are entitled. Please check our entitlements page.
Let us also know of others.
Free community café launch
Thu 12 May @ 3-6pm. Drop in for a free cup of tea or coffee. The Inch Park Community Sports Club is offering a new service to the South Edinburgh community. The free café will operate for 5 hours each week for 48 weeks. We hope this will encourage you to come and socialise with friends, family and others in a relaxed setting within the community. 227 Gilmerton Road, Edinburgh EH16 5UD
Accommodation needed urgently
Nursery teacher Jan Spence is desperate to find a home - flat or room - to rent by first of May! She has spent hours trying to find a place without luck so far. It could be short-term so she can look for a long-term home. Jan comes to teach in Gracemount outdoor nursery. Her retired parents live in Kendal. ANY suggestions welcome. Please call 0131 332 6127 or contact fionajwh@googlemail.com or keithspence335@gmail.com
Volunteer Drivers Required
We currently have two people with special needs in the Moredun and Liberton area who attend SPRED in George Square Edinburgh. We need volunteer drivers to take each of them to George Square one evening every two weeks during school term times. If you feel you can help please call Maureen Quinn on 0775 272 2502 for more information
SEECAT MEETING
The Justice and Peace group warmly invite you to come and hear John Beatson Youth Service Manager at Goodtrees Community Centre in Moredun tell us about his work with young people. John's work includes leading groups to two beautiful centres for community building and personal growth: to Camas, a remote centre on the Isle of Mull run by the Iona Community, and to Corrymeela in Northern Island. The meeting will be held at The Hub, Gilmerton New Church, 6 Ravenscroft St, EH17 8QJ 7pm Wed 18 May
Donations to support John's work with young people..
Please stay on for refreshments and discussion.
©Bill Day@caglecartoons.com