St Anthony of Padua Anerley

Parish Monthly Newsletter (December 2020)

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

Advent

Advent is a season of expectation. We are waiting and preparing for the coming of Our Lord; as if he had not already come to us over two thousand years ago. John the Baptist is our guide, and he says to us: Prepare the way for the Lord, straighten out his paths. We have to prepare for the coming of Our Lord into our lives by prayer and penance. In this way after each Christmas Day celebration we would be more committed to his service, and understand fully how he wants us to live.

It is odd that so much about Christmas in our society is about enjoying material things, food, drink and presents that make us richer. The riches which Our Lord wants to give us are quite different. The gifts which he brings will include a stronger faith in his Incarnation, that is, the truth that God became a man dwell among  us. Another gift is a greater knowledge and trust in God’s extraordinary love for each one of us, with the resulting joy and peace that this can bring. His gifts are given freely to us, but if we prepare for them we shall most certainly receive them abundance. We receive and accept all good things as God’s gifts given generously to us. We rejoice and say thank you to God. Christmas is a time to celebrate but we have to remember that  true Christmas riches are spiritual ones, an increase of faith, hope and charity.

Mass Times and Intentions:

From Thursday December 3rd onwards, Mass will be celebrated from Monday to Saturday at 9.30am. Sunday Masses are at 6pm (Saturday evening), 9.30am, 11.15am and 5.30pm.  Please visit the parish website (www.stanthonyofpaduaanerley.com) for details of the weekly Mass Intentions.

Christmas Masses will be on Thursday December 24th at 6pm and 9pm and on Christmas Day at 9:30 and 11:15am.

Note that the Church recognizes an Octave, where Liturgically every day from December  25th until January 1st is “Christmas Day”. This may help Parishioners avoid crowding around Christmas.

Recently Deceased:

Please pray for the souls of Josie Healey and Epiphany Fernandes who sadly died recently.  May they  rest in peace.

Keeping in Touch:

There will be a sign-up sheet close to the 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.

A Parish Befriending Service will also be put in place where Parishioners who wish to receive a regular telephone call, to receive news and have a chat, can supply their telephone number. They will then be called by a Parishioner nominated by Father Sunith.

Priest Training Fund Diocesan Second Collection:

The Priest Training Fund, known as the Ecclesiastical Education Fund, pays for men studying for the Priesthood and Diaconate here in Southwark.  It costs £30,000 a year, for six years, to sponsor each seminarian, so your generous support in this appeal makes a real difference in our ability to fund and support men saying ‘Yes’ to the vocation of Priesthood. We currently have 8 men in formation for the Priesthood for Southwark.

Priest Training Fund gift aid envelopes are available at the back of the Church, or please donate online via www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/donate.html (select Priest Training Fund).  Please be generous today and keep our seminarians, and priests, in your prayers.

Local Food Bank:

Please help support families in need by contributing to the food bank held at neighbouring 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.

2021 Calendars:

There is a limited stock of Italian Wooden Scroll Calendars and Church Art Calendars for sale at the back of the Church.  The Wooden Scroll Calendars are £3 and the Church Art Calendars are £2.  If you would like one then please put the money into one of the donation boxes.

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  both households and parish.

The Archdiocese is making available forms that will enable you to keep sustaining St Anthony’s parish financially, which can be found at the back of the Church.

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 value your assistance in maintaining our wonderful Parish community.

Parish groups:

The Knights of St Columba and the UCM continue to meet virtually (via zoom) whenever possible.

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.