St Anthony of Padua Anerley

Parish Monthly Newsletter (May 2021)

Welcome to St. Anthony’s Church

¨ Please wear a face covering in Church.

¨ Please remember to sanitise your hands on entering and leaving the Church.

¨ Please write down your name and contact details so that you can be contacted in the event of coronavirus cases at the Church.  This information is kept securely by Father Sunith.  Please do contact Father Sunith if you begin to feel unwell after attending Mass.

¨ Please follow the one way system in place in the Church.

¨ To maintain social distancing only every other pew is available with green markers to show the positions available.

¨ If you wish to receive Communion please stay in your pew and Father will come to you.

¨ To avoid cross contamination, please refrain from touching the statues.

¨ Please put your church donations into the donation boxes.

¨ The Church is cleaned after every Mass to avoid cross contamination.  Please do assist with the cleaning after Mass if you are fit and able (speak to the Marshall about the cleaning regime).

¨ Please remember to switch off your mobile phone when you enter the Church

Corpus Christi

Next Sunday is Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi comes as one of a series of major celebrations following the resurrection. We first have the Ascension which leads on to Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. Then there is Corpus Christi and St. Peter and St. Paul.

Corpus Christi was not a very early feast and was really established to re-emphasis the reality of the presence of Jesus in his body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine. This is, after all, a mystery. Neither the priest nor any member of the congregation can see any change or difference in the bred and the wine after the words of consecration. Each time priest says the words, he says them in faith. Each time he calls on the people to proclaim the mystery—it is the mystery OF Faith. So you and I are asked to be humbly present and to call on our personal faith and the faith of the Church to acknowledge what we can only believe by faith.

  The Corpus Christi celebration itself has led on to different ways of honouring and devoting ourselves to the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. There has been mush joyous institution of processions carrying the Blessed Sacrament inside and outside the Churches. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament through exposition on the altar, sometimes day and night particular Churches, has had a large popularity. Given such a tremendous gift, we should value it and treasure it in our prayer and devotion.

Mass Times and Intentions:

Mass is celebrated from Monday to Saturday at 9.30am. Sunday Masses are at 6pm (Saturday evening), 9.30am, 11.15am and 5.30pm.

The parish website www.stanthonyofpaduaanerley.com, has details of the weekly Mass Intentions.

Parishioners, please carefully consider your health, especially if you have any additional risk factors when thinking about attending Mass in person. Also consider the less popular times to try and reduce numbers in the Church.

Blessed Sacrament

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on Friday from 7:30pm on Friday, with Benediction at 8:30pm.

Deaths

Please pray for the soul of Tony de Silva who died recently and whose funeral took place on Thursday, May 27th.

Keeping in Touch:

There will be a sign-up sheet, close to the Mass signing-in sheets, for those who wish to leave their name and an email address. These will be used to email out (using blind copy) the Parish Newsletter.  We intend to produce a Newsletter about once per month.

Thank you

Those who continue to steward at Mass, clean the Church, read at Mass, arrange flowers, or help in  the background, are thanked for their generous help, especially in these difficult times.

Parish Consultation evening

Thank you to all the Parishioners who attended the Parish Consultation evening. We received some good feedback and ideas that the Parish Council will discuss.

First Holy Communion

Congratulations to Elizabeth, Luke, Dylan, Lilianna, Princess, Erica, Freida, Maya, Naomi, Robert, Oliver, Rosa, Nna and Laurence who all made their First Holy Communion on Saturday, May 15th.

Parish Feast day

The Feast of St Anthony is on Sunday June 13th.

Guidance on Covid

Following a letter from the Bishops’ conference it is once again possible to light candles in the Church. Also, the repository will be open before the Sunday Masses. Stewarding will no longer be required for weekday Masses, although the Church will still be cleaned after each Mass.

Local Food Bank

Please help support families in need by contributing to the food bank held at Christ Church, at the corner of Maple and Anerley Roads.  Food donations are collected on Fridays only.  If you would like to donate then please leave your donations at the back of the Church.

Newsletter Notices:

If you have a notice for the Parish Newsletter, please email it to the presbytery (anerley@rcaos.org.uk).

Financial Support:

We appreciate your continued care and support for our parish community, especially with the uncertainty and financial instability the pandemic has brought. Parishioners can contribute directly to the Parish bank account: Natwest Bank Beckenham Branch ,sort code 00 77 26 and account number 46000208. Tax payers, please join the Gift Aid programme allowing our parish to increase the value of every donation it receives from tax payers by 25%. We greatly value your assistance.

Gift Aid Boxes

The Gift Aid Boxes are available for collection from the back of the Church. Please pick up your box as soon as you can.

Helping Catholics to Return

Contact a team that offers a non-judgemental forum to help reconnect with their Catholic faith: landingsbeckenham@gmail.com

Please take this newsletter home with you.

If you know of someone who would like a copy of this newsletter then please take one and pop it through their letter box.

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