St Mary’s Blackheath
Newsletter 5th February 2023
Sunday Masses: Saturday 6.30pm first Mass of Sunday
– Sunday 9.30 and 11am and 5pm.
Monday to Friday: Mass at 8am.
Saturday 10am and 6.30pm
Confessions: Saturday 12 to 1
Today is the Fifth Sunday of the Church’s year.
At one time it would have been known as Septuagesima Sunday – seventy days until Easter and purple vestments would appear – but nowadays the Sundays in ordinary time continue for another two weeks until the beginning of Lent.
First Communion classes have come round again – a class on Saturday at 10am and a preparatory meeting for the parents who will be arranging the class at 8pm on Monday evening in the house.
A busy week ahead including a meeting of the Governors of the Sixth Form College and a meeting at the Town Hall.
Friday is the feast of St. Scholastica, the sister of St. Benedict.
You will need a recipe for a fish pie for Lent. Here is my version. Gently steam some pieces of white fish in a mixture of milk and water. Make a white sauce with some flour, margarine and milk and add some cooked peas and some chopped hard boiled eggs. When the fish is ready, line a dish with the sauce and add the fish. Add a topping of mashed potato and cook in a hot oven until the top is crisp and slightly browned.
Lights outside the Church are a continuing problem – the present ones are not very good and fuse regularly. I have arranged a number of works for the coming months and these will include some lights on the outside of the Church. Also, the side door will be overhauled as the automatic closer does not seem to work easily.
A prayer for this week:
Lord, fill our hearts with the spirit of your charity, that we may please you by our thoughts, and love you in our brothers and sisters. Amen.
Here is Belloc on Peter Wanderwide:
Almighty God will surely cry,
St, Michael! Who is this that stands
With Ireland in his dubious eye,
And Perigord between his hands,
And on his arm the stirrup-thongs,
and in his gait the narrow seas,
and in his mouth Burgundian songs
but in his heart the Pyrenees.
Hannah Gilkes is running an on-line forum for Bible Study and prayer for Catholic Women. I have put out some leaflets giving details – if you would like to share in this.
A further request for possible Governors for Christ the King Sixth Form College. If you would be interested in this, please let me know.
There is a great deal of discontent about the current timetable for trains to London and a petition to bring back the direct Charing Cross service when the timetable is revised in May. A common experience is to cope with two lengthy escalators at London Bridge – and to arrive at Platform 8 as the Charing Cross train is just pulling out – with a ten minute wait for the next service.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon