Father Paul Townsend

Prayers for the Deceased
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Philip Hurren of Paxton Road who died last week. Vigil Prayer of the Church will be said for the late Mr Philip Hurren in the Sacred Heart Church at 7.00pm on Sunday the 20th of May. Father Paul will celebrate the Requiem on Monday the 21st of May in the Sacred Heart Church at 11.00am. The 9.30am Mass on Monday the 21st of May will be celebrated as usual.

Question Time
Churches Together in Fareham has organised a meeting in Holy Trinity Church in West Street, Fareham, from 7.30 to 9.30pm on Sunday the 3rd of June. Local candidates for election to parliament will be present to answer your questions. All are most welcome to attend this meeting. If you have a question that you would like to be put to the candidates, please send it to the Holy Trinity Parish Office, West Street, Fareham PO16 0EL by Monday the 28th of May. If you have any queries, please call Joy Ellis on 01329 235568.

Churches Together in Fareham
Churches Together in Fareham is comprised of lay and clergy representatives of all member Churches in Fareham. The group meets approximately five times a year to promote better understanding, to support ecumenical initiatives and to improve communications between the Christian denominations and the wider community. The thanks of the parish go to David Tooke who has been our representative on Churches Together in Fareham. David is now standing down as our representative. Alison Ivison has kindly volunteered to take his place. The chairman of Churches Together in Fareham is Pastor Graham Bower of the Community Church.

First Holy Communion
A reminder that there will be four First Holy Communion Masses this year at St Philip Howard Church due to the large number of children who are to receive this Sacrament

Sunday 10 June 11.00am

Sunday 10 June 3.00pm

Sunday 17 June 11.00am

Sunday 17 June 3.00pm.

If you are still in possession of a red sash from a previous year, please return this now to Sheelagh Pickard (01329 318442).

The Ascension of the Lord
Ascension Day, which falls on Thursday the 24th of May, is a holy day of obligation. The Ascension celebrates the final act of Christ on earth as he returns to his Father to send the Spirit upon the world.

Thursday 24 May
7.00am Sacred Heart
9.30am Sacred Heart
10.30am Our Lady of Walsingham
11.00am St Philip Howard
7.00pm Our Lady of Walsingham
The 11.00am Mass will be a Mass for the school community at St Jude's.

Are You New?
Are you new to this parish? If you have recently moved to this area, please fill in our online form, or alternatively one of the "Are You New?" forms to be found at the entrance to the church and return this to Father Paul or Father Chris or to the parish office.

THE UNION

Thought for the Week
"I am going away, and shall return".
Jesus' disciples were "troubled" and "afraid" when they heard that Jesus was going to leave them for a while. They found it impossible to imagine life without Jesus at their side. How could any good come from Jesus' departure, especially after they had just committed their lives to him? Jesus said that he would not leave them without help, but would send the Holy Spirit to guide them. At Pentecost, as promised, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and helped them to do new and exciting things that they could never have done on their own.

There comes a time in all of our lives when Jesus seems to abandon us, when God seems to leave us to struggle alone. When this happens it is difficult to derive peace or satisfaction from our prayer, our faith or our good works. We feel that we have not the faith to move a molehill, let alone a mountain, and are fed up with doing what is right. We might wonder why God does this to us. The truth is that God never abandons us, but simply conceals His presence from us temporarily, in order to allow us to move to a new level of spiritual growth.

During this time of isolation God teaches us that when we pray and feel nothing at all, then we begin to pray with true faith. God teaches us that faith is not a feeling but rather, a commitment, a surrendering of ourselves to God. He also teaches us that our motive for doing good, is not self-satisfaction but obedience to Him. He wants us to grow in ways that we never suspected to be possible.

I, too, am going away and shall return in a couple of weeks. I'm off on a field trip to Derbyshire with some children from St. Jude's School and then to Malta for a week with St Edmund's School Choir. I'll return on Friday the 1st of June for the Confirmation Mass. Please pray for all of our youth, and remember that we need more adult volunteers to help run our Youth Club which was very successful last week ~ over thirty teenagers turned up.

Ordination
Deacon Mark Hogan is to be ordained to the priesthood at St John's Cathedral in Portsmouth on Saturday the 21st of July at 11.30am. There will be a reception afterwards at St Edmund's School. Two coaches have been booked to take parishioners to Portsmouth for this ordination. The cost of a seat on the coach will be £4.50. Pick up points will be 10.00am from the St Philip Howard car park and 10.15am from outside the Sacred Heart Church. Departure from St Edmund's School will be approximately 3.00 o'clock. If you would like to book a seat on the coach, please contact the parish office for a booking form.

St Martin's Group
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the Lenten Appeal. Cheques have now been sent to four local schools or units to be used to buy communication aids for children with special needs. A fifth cheque has been sent to the children's hospice, Naomi House, near Winchester, for this same purpose. They are all extremely grateful.

Thanksgiving Mass
On Sunday the 20th of May, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and Bishop Declan Lang will join our Bishop Crispian and members of the diocese and Cathedral community to celebrate a Mass in Thanksgiving for the restoration of our Cathedral.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Someone is needed to commit themselves for the hour from 2.00 to 3.00 o'clock each Monday at the Church of Our Lady of Walsingham. Please speak to Lena Meagher (02392 783834).

The Well

Jeremy Hicks writes, "Somebody told us recently that The Well is the cleanest café in Fareham! It must also be one of the happiest places to work. There is a really great atmosphere for staff and customers alike. The prayer box is being well used and every request is read and prayed for. Business continues to be unpredictable, with some days quiet and others busy. Money is extremely tight so we are always grateful for donations. We have some quite serious problems with staffing, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and on Saturdays. We are also short of numbers on the management team. One vacancy is for a volunteer baker, to make cakes. Now well into our second year of operation we still need and value your on-going commitment, support and prayers. If you would like to volunteer to help in any way, please call me on 01329 312895 or June Haye on 01329 318731 or Avril Cockshoot on 01329 283785." The Well stocks a large selection of Christian books, resources and gifts as well as Confirmation and First Communion items including veils, missals, rosaries and cards.

20 May 2001
6th Sunday of Easter
The Year of St Luke

Sunday Youth Club
Paul Tomlinson writes, "The Sunday Youth Club got off to a very successful start last Sunday with thirty-one young people attending. We hope that not only will those young people come again but that others will join them this Sunday. A few things to mention to the young ones: The age range is from Year 7 upwards (except that we will accept Year 6 in the summer term); one more free week to go; after that the weekly sub will be fifty pence; please bring CDs or cassettes so that the music is to your taste; those who went last week are reminded to bring the medical information forms back. Some pleas to adults: due to the large numbers we will have to increase the number of helpers each week. We need more volunteers. Please give your name and details to Father Chris or to Father Paul or call me on 01329 282453. We need a large lockable box or lockable filing cabinet to store some items. We need any unwanted games in good condition as extra activities."

The Grapevine
Since February last year, Roger Chadwick has been editing our parish magazine, The Grapevine. The thanks of the parish go to him for the enormous amount of time, skill and enthusiasm he has brought to this project. Following discussions with the Parish Pastoral Council, the project will take a new direction under the guidance of a parish Communication Group. If you are interested in becoming involved, please see the note from the Pastoral Council below.

A Message from the Parish Pastoral Council
"At our recent Spring Formation Meeting it was felt that communication in our parish offered room for development. To this end, it was decided to establish a small Communication Group, hopefully by July this year.
Are you

• good with people?
• a team worker?
• a good communicator?

Do you have

• word processing skills?
• typing skills?
• access to a computer?
• good organisational skills?

If so, this is your chance to help to develop communications in the parish by becoming part of this team. Depending on the response, we may have to adopt a selection process to ensure we have a workable group, but if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else (with their consent) please contact the parish office for a nomination form. The closing date for nominations is Sunday the 3rd of June 2001."

Meeting for "New Catholics"
The meeting for those received into the Church in the past few years will now take place in the Sacred Heart Hall on Tuesday the 22nd of May (and not in the presbytery on Wednesday the 23rd of May). If you have any queries, please call Veronica Roberts on 01489 600224.

Finance and Special Collections
Thank you for your generosity in giving last Sunday.
Fareham £1,509.53
Portchester £588.07

World Communications
A special collection will be taken after all Masses on Sunday the 27th of May for World Communications. The theme this year is "Preach from the Housetops". We are asked by the Church to pray for Christians in the media, to reflect on how we can use the media to promote Christian values and to contribute financially to the Church's activities in this field.

Pentecost
At Pentecost (Sunday the 3rd of June), a collection will be taken at the end of each Mass for the work of our parish Society of St Vincent de Paul.

Interested in Becoming a Catholic?
A series of meetings and talks takes place each year for those interested in becoming a member of our Church. If you would like to know more, please contact Father Paul, or complete the online form