More Confessions . . .

Having a had a super week in our parish primary school, I have today been privileged to assist with Confessions at The John Fisher School in Purley.

I received a very warm welcome from the school Chaplain, Fr James Clark and Mr Dan Cooper.

It was lovely to see so many of St Ann's boys in the school grounds as I walked through to the school chapel .

In past years, The John Fisher School has helped sow and nurture the seeds of many vocations, including several priests from our own diocese.

Let us all continue to pray for vocations.

St John Vianney, pray for us . . .

Shhhhhh . . .

Shhhhhh . . .

Silence is not only the absence of noise, it is essential in order to listen to God's word. Unless we are able to 'block out' the ever-increasing messages of social communication and mass-media, it is virtually impossible to hear the word of God or indeed reflect on it in a prayerful manner and therefore we are unable to act on it in our daily lives.

Silence is necessary for all of us in church. We need to preach the Gospel in word and action and so we must make room for silence in order to welcome God's word and discern what we are called to do as followers of Christ.

St Joseph is the Patron Saint of silence, foster-father of Jesus and husband of Mary. In the Gospels he does not utter a word. He listens . . . He reflects . . . He acts.

St Joseph welcomed the Word of God into his heart and mind. He welcomed Jesus, God's only Son, the Word made flesh into his family with fatherly care. The silence of St Joseph speaks louder than words.

If we wish to encourage vocations to the priesthood, the religious life, to marriage and the single state, we need to help men and women to find times and places where they can switch off the noise of today and tune in to the silence and peace of God.

'Be still and know that I am God.'

A Week in the Life of a Priest . . .

I saw this interesting video on the Our Sunday Visitor blog.

I don't think I need to add anything else, the video says it all.

Invocation 2010 . . .

I am delighted to be able to publicise this national vocations discernment weekend for young adults.

The weekend is aimed at young men and women aged between 16 and 35, who are looking to deepen their relationship with Christ, discern God's will for their lives and perhaps be open to the possibility of a vocation to the Priesthood or the Religious Life.

Invocation 2010 takes place in the grounds of St Mary's College, Oscott in the Diocese of Birmingham. The event begins at 4.30 pm on Friday 2nd July and ends on Sunday 5th July with Mass at 4 pm celebrated by Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

If anyone in our parish is interested, please have a word with me. The parish would be happy to help with expenses.

More information is available on the Invocation 2010 website here.

'Our Priests' . . .

I was alerted to this beautiful video via the news feed Zenit. It really is quite inspirational. It was made to accompany the anthem, 'Our Priests' which was written especially for this Year for Priests. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

You'll find it on Catholic TV here. The music is also available to download on iTunes.

Year for Priests . . .

At a recent meeting of our Deanery clergy and religious, various resources were distributed for use in our parishes regarding The Year for Priests, and Vocations.

I was very impressed with the material produced by our Diocesan Vocations Director, Fr Paul Turner, and his team at the Vocations Office. They also have an excellent Diocesan Vocations Website. Do have a look when you have a spare moment.

Prayer cards are now available for parishioners containing two beautiful prayers for priests. Here is a Prayer for Priests from St Thérèse of Lisieux:

O Jesus

I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;

for your unfaithful and tepid priests;

for your priests labouring at home or

abroad in distant mission fields.

For your tempted priests;

for your lonely and desolate priests;

For your young priests;

for your dying priests;

for the souls of your priests in Purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:

The priest who baptised me;

the priests who absolved me from my sins;

the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me

Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;

the priests who taught and instructed me;

all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way.

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,

and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

Amen

Please remember in your in prayers also all those in formation at St John's Seminary at this time.

Our Lady, Queen of Priests, pray for us.

Vocations Video - Part 2 . . .

Here, as promised is part 2 of the Vocations Video. Even more compelling than part 1, in my opinion.

I would be very interested to hear your reactions.

Quo Vadis? . . .

If you have teenagers in the family, you will know that this is not the easiest time for them - exam results loom! I hope that all our young people have achieved the exam results they were expecting, hoping for, or needed for the next stage in their education and indeed the next stage of their life.

I wonder how many young people when considering the future, have give even a few seconds' thought to the possibility that God may be calling them to quite a different future than most of their peers.

Perhaps the following excellent video might cause some people to allow themselves to at least consider the possibility. This is part 1 of 2 videos on vocations. Please watch this blog for part 2 in the next few days.

Talking of vocations, which I was (and hopefully many parents out there are too) there are several events coming up soon in our diocese organised by Fr Paul Turner, our Vocations Director.

Saturday 17th October at Christ the Prince of Peace, Weybridge.
'God's Plan 4 U' The day begins with Mass at 10.00am and finishes about 4.30pm.

Samuel Groups.
Monthly gatherings to support young adults (18-35) in discerning their vocation.

From October there will be Samuel Groups running on Tuesday evenings at The Friary Church in Crawley and on Thursday evenings at St Dunstan's Church in Woking. (7pm - 9.30pm)

For further information please contact Fr Paul Turner pdturner39@yahoo.com or via the website http://www.calledbyname.org.uk/

More School Confessions . . .

Today I was at the John Fisher School in Purley where I was assisting in hearing Confessions of some of the Sixth Form.

What a delight! I was reminded of priests of our diocese who are former pupils of the school; Fr Stephen Dingley, Lecturer at St John's Seminary, Wonersh; Fr Seán Finnegan, parish priest of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Adur Valley.

The school has produced many good priests in the past and it is encouraging to see that the good work is continuing.

St John Fisher, pray for us.

Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchizedek ...

Here's another great video from 'That Catholic Show'. I hope you enjoy it.

Even if the thought of Priesthood has only ever fleetingly crossed your mind you might like to go along to this Enquiry Evening in Redhill to find out more:

Tuesday 17th February at 7 pm

St Joseph's Church, Ladbroke Road, Redhill RH1 1LF


The evening begins with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and is followed by a talk, discussion and Night Prayer. Light refreshments will be available.

Further details from Fr Paul Turner, the Diocesan Vocations Director, on 01293 603 773 or vocations@dabnet.org

Another priest for our diocese - Deo Gratia!

Here's a picture of the newest priest in our diocese, Fr Aaron Spinelli, ordained at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne on Saturday. Thanks to Fr Ray Blake for this photo 'borrowed' from his blog.

We hope this will inspire more vocations to the priesthood, especially from our own parish of St Ann's. We pray that more men will respond generously to the call of Christ.

We ask God to bless Fr Aaron in his ministry.

St John Vianney, pray for us.

A response to a question ...

St John Vianney, pray for us.

I've finally got around to answering the question posed in the comments to my posting on meetings (see below, 16th May). Here are some of my thoughts on the things that I enjoy most about being a parish priest:

The celebration of the Sacraments (no surprises there then!)

The celebration of the the Mass is at the centre of a priest's life.

The Secretary of the Congregation for Clergy says, "The priest is not an employee, but rather a consecrated person, chosen by God to serve mankind!"

Archbishop Piacenza speaking to L'Osservatore Romano had the following to say which sums up the life and work of a Catholic priest:

"The priest does not belong to himself. He is at the service of the people of God without limits of schedule or calendar. The people are not for the priest, but the priest is for the people, in its totality, without ever restricting his service to a small group." Continuing he said, "The priest cannot choose the post he likes, the work methods he considers easiest, the people he considers most likeable, the schedule that is most comfortable, the diversions - even the most legitimate ones - when they take away time and energy from his own specific pastoral mission." He added, "The priest is above all a man of prayer, of adoration, of worship, of the celebration of the holy mysteries, before man in the name of Christ."

While celebrating Mass for Vocations to the Priesthood on Monday, I was reminded in the Post Communion Prayer, "May many of your people choose to serve you by devoting themselves to the service of their brothers and sisters." This is Number One and the greatest joy of being a priest..........days of joyful 'service' to the parish.

And thanks be to God for all the lay people who make up the various committees that help to run a parish so that the parish priest is free to continue with his primary role of service to the people he has been chosen to serve.

Seminarian visiting parish

We welcome back to the parish Karl Best, one of six Arundel & Brighton students currently in formation for the priesthood at St John's Seminary, Wonersh. I am sure he will receive a typically warm welcome from our parishioners in the short time he is with us.