St Anthony of Padua Anerley

Eleventh Sunday

First Reading: Ezekiel predicts God’s restoration of Judah, using the imagery of planting a cedar tree.  These Old Testament texts provide the background for Jesus’ words in the Gospel.

Psalm:  this psalm, which has been described as ‘the song of a happy man’, picks up the image of the cedar tree from the First Reading.

Second Reading:  for the next few Sundays we hear St Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.  It seems that the church in Corinth was beset by various problems, including disunity, and Paul had to write to them twice.  In today’s extract the contrast between our present, bodily desires and our future fulfilment in Christ is typical of St Paul.

Gospel:  Jesus speaks to the crowds about the kingdom of God in parables.  Parables are little stories, which reveal some aspect of God and his kingdom, and which invite us to reflect upon them and apply them to our own situation.  The parables of the seed growing of itself and of the mustard seed should give us hope and encouragement in our efforts at spreading the Good News.

By Fr David Gibbons, Centre for Catholic Formation

Sunday Teas:

This Sunday’s teas will be served by the UCM.

Next Sunday’s teas will be served by the French Speaking Prayer Group.

Thank you to all those who help out with the Sunday Teas.

Last Sunday’s collections: The 1st collection was £977.58p (including Gift Aided  £445.20p).     The 2nd collection for Parish Funds was £85.92p. Thank you for your generosity.   Today’s 2nd collection is for the Catholic Trust for England & Wales (CaTEW).

Recently Deceased: Please pray for the soul and family of Augustine Ohuche.   The date for the memorial Mass is to be confirmed.

Note for Gift-Aiders: New boxed sets of envelopes are required for use from June 2015. If you have not found or collected your new box, please give your name to one of the priests and we will check into it.

UCM: The next UCM meeting will be this Monday (Monday 15th June) at 7.30pm in the Parish Centre.  All are welcome.

Congratulations to the children who made their First Holy Communion this week-end: Andrea, Christopher, Daniel, David, Emmanuel, Ginevra, Lucy, Mike, Mirabel, Monique, Rui, Sarah and Zak. Please pray for them and their families as they give thanks at mass today for their special day.

Introduction for new readers: We would like to welcome new readers at all Masses at St Anthony’s. All ages are welcome from confirmation upwards. What you need to be a reader at Mass -Love of God’s word in the scriptures Ability to proclaim the word to the congregation. Willingness to serve the Church.  Please email or phone the presbytery to find out more.

Can you help?  We need volunteers to help with the church cleaning on Saturday mornings.  If you can spare half an hour from 10 to 10.30am on Saturday mornings it would be a great help.  The more volunteers we have the quicker the church can be cleaned.  Thank you.

Pilgrim and Magnificat: The Pilgrim for June is now available.  Please do take one home with you. The Magnificat for July is now available.

This Weekend – Penge Festival Concert: As part of our engagement with our wider community we will be hosting a free concert during the Penge Festival.  The concert will be given by the Norwood Wind Ensemble and will feature a programme of music from the shows, classical pieces and some other well known tunes.  During the interval there will be tea and cakes in the Parish garden (in the Parish Centre if the weather is bad).  The theme for this year’s festival is ‘heritage’ and the Festival Committee is raising money to go towards renovating our local heritage in Penge.  There will therefore be a collection outside Church at the end of the event for voluntary contributions.  The concert will be this Sunday at 2pm (Sunday 14th June).  Please do come along for what will be an entertaining and worthwhile event.

Youth Festival: The Youth Festival is taking place next Saturday (Saturday 20th June) and will focus on some of the themes around Oscar Romero in light of his beatification this year.

Children’s Summer Holiday Camp: If any one is interested in sending their child/children to the St John Bosco boys and girls holiday camps over the Summer holidays then please speak to Father Sunith or visit the website www.svpboscocamp.org.uk.  Enquiries and bookings can also be dealt with by emailing bookings@svpboscocampl.org.uk

Adviser for Disability, Catechesis & Adult Formation

Applications are invited for this vacant post from practising Catholics with suitable experience and qualifications in the fields of evangelization, lay formation, and adult faith formation as well as disability inclusion. Salary: £31,749.20 pa.  Closing date: Sunday 28^th June 2015.  Further details on the CCF website (www.ccftootingbec.org.uk).

Ten Ten Theatre: Ten Ten, the Catholic professional theatre company, is recruiting for a ‘Head of Sales and Marketing’ (fixed-term) and a team of ‘Education Resource Writers’ (freelance) to join its small, family-run team.  For more information, please visit: http://tententheatre.co.uk/recruitment.

CAFOD: Community Participation Co-ordinators– 1x permanent full time post and 1 x permanent post part time (14 hours per week) working with volunteers in parish and school communities helping to inspire and resource Catholics to participate in the Church’s mission to overcome poverty and injustice overseas in partnership with CAFOD. Closing date 10^th July 2015. http://www.cafod.org.uk/Work-with-us/UK-Jobs/CPC

If you wish to see a priest then please phone and make an appointment.

Notices for the newsletter need to be emailed/posted to the presbytery by 6pm on Thursdays.

MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS (14—21 June 2015) (Year B)