Newsletter 7th September 2014
A word of thanks to everybody who helped make the Jubilee celebrations so special last Sunday. A very happy day and thank you for all your kindness in making it possible.
I hope that you had a chance to meet the great nephew, and his new sister, Anna. He is off to school soon, now that he is three, and his life is very busy.
Thank you also for the donations to the Myra Fund. I hope to be able to tell you the total amount of the fund in the next couple of weeks. The income from the investments will be used each year for the benefit of the young people of the parish.
This week, from Monday to Friday, to Venice again for a few days. There will not be a 7.30 Mass but I hope that the Bishop will be available at 10 on some of the days. What to see this year – I have been studying John Julius Norwich’s history and will want to spend some time in the Doge’s palace, trying to work out the complex system of government. The great question must be, why did the Republic fail: the answer must be the changes in trading patterns and government across the rest of Europe: it was not Napoleon alone.
Monday is the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Next Sunday is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Time now to put the pool away for another year: we had some very enjoyable days earlier in the summer but August was cold and wet. It takes the best part of two days to drain the pool and ten there is the back braking task of cleaning the floor. Roll on next May when we can fill it again.
The works at London Bridge Station carried out at the end of August were extensive. A new track lay-out was installed on the Brighton side to serve the new platforms. This means that the central platforms can be demolished so that the new through lines can be constructed. The piers are already in place for the spans to join up with the bridge across Borough High Street. Also some extensive works were undertaken at Rotherhithe with two enormous cranes. I must make a visit to see the new construction.
The Parish Council meets on 23rd September at 8pm. I hope to have the agendas for you in the next week or so.
Also a reminder that the meeting for the Parents in preparation for the First Holy Communion Classes will take place on 17th September.
A prayer for peace:
Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of justice, that they may reflect the peace and justice of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
A simple dish from Spain that you might have in the mid-morning: lightly toast some rounds of bread and rub each slice with some garlic Squeeze two or three plums tomatoes over each slice so that the juice and pips fall on the bread. Drizzle some olive oil over each slice and season well with salt and pepper and maybe some parsley. This goes very well with a glass of chilled fino.
The trip to Venice provides an opportunity for some Browning: do you know – The Bishop orders his tomb?
For as I lie here, hours of the dead night
Dying in state and by such slow degrees,
I fold my arms as if they clasped a crook
And stretch my feet forth straight as stone can point,
And let the bedclothes, for a mortcloth, drop
Into great leaps and folds of sculptor’s work.
It now looks as if we have eight for the trip to the College in Spain next month. The most difficult part is shepherding everyone round the vast airport at Madrid, but I have made this journey many times. We take the high speed train from Chamartin station: if all goes well it is a 50 minute journey. A chance to glance the College country house at Viana de Cega – when the new line was built we lost a slice of our land – we are still negotiating for the compensation ten years on.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon