It's back! Our first Quiz Night in 3 years!
Please see Jo or Petra at weekend Masses to buy your tickets - details in the poster.
All in aid of our 2 Parish Projects.
Fr Barnabas Page
Last Friday Fr Barnabas Page visited St Augustine's & said Mass for us, as a small introduction before he moves in soon. It was a lovely evening and we all had a cuppa together after to gently ease him into Parish life!
WE WILL HOLD A SPECIAL WELCOME MASS for him on Friday 14th Oct at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to the Mass & for light refreshments in the parish hall, to raise a glass to both Fr Barnabas & Fr Jim Williams as our 2 new Priests.
Please pray for them both as they soon begin the new Parishes in Communion together.
Clifton Diocese Vacancy - Parish Finance Support Officer
The Diocese is currently introducing a new online accounting system (OPAS) for all its 99 parishes and additional support is needed in the Finance team to help support parishes in moving to this system.
The role is full-time, although more flexible patterns will be considered, based within the Finance team which is part of the Curia (administrative office) of the Diocese.
The role is based at Alexander House, Bristol but there will be an occasional need to travel to parishes throughout the Diocese.
The closing date for applications is Friday 7th October 2022.
For further details and an application form, please visit the Working for Us page within the Clifton Diocese website: https://cliftondiocese.com/diocese/working-for-us/
Baby Loss Remembrance and support service
"Saying Goodbye, (part of the Mariposa Trust) are returning to Malmesbury in October with a Baby loss remembrance and support service (part of a Nationwide chain of events). We are so delighted to be able to return to a full program of events following the effects of Covid-19.
The Mariposa Trust’s core objective is to support people who have lost babies at any stage of pregnancy, at birth, or in infancy. It was founded in 2012, by Zoe and Andy Clark-Coates, who saw a critical lack of support for people like them, who had gone through baby loss. With over 258,000 babies being lost yearly in the UK alone, the charity needed to be able to offer not only a comprehensive package of befriending and support but also national baby loss remembrance services (called Saying Goodbye Services), for people to join together and remember the children they had lost. 6 years on, over 150 services have taken place at Cathedrals and Minsters across the UK, US, and France, and 2022 will see 20 services across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
*On the 8th October at 4.30 pm, in Malmesbury Abbey, we will be hosting one of our Saying Goodbye Services.*
So who is the service for?
Anyone who has either personally lost a baby at any stage of pregnancy, at birth, or in early years, or who has been affected by family members or friends' loss. Whether the loss was recent or 80 years ago, everyone is welcome to attend. We have also extended the services, and gladly welcome anyone who is grieving the fact that they haven't had children. This may be due to circumstance, infertility, or for other reasons - but all are welcome. Babies and children are also invited to come with their families, as the Saying Goodbye service is truly a family event for all.
1 in 4 women suffer miscarriage and baby loss, so we may all know people who have either personally suffered baby loss, or who have a partner or family member that has. Please help spread the word.
To read more on the charity, please see the Saying Goodbye website, which you can find at: www.sayinggoodbye.org "
Thank you, as ever, to Deacon Vincent for his Reflections - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
AND for leading us in a wonderful service last Sunday.
"1st Reading from the prophet Amos 6: 1, 4-7.
This episode from Amos is a little earlier than last week’s reading, but it is an even more devastating attack upon the rich. The rich stuffing themselves with finest food and “bawl to the sound of the harp”, what a wonderful description of licentious behaviour. “They drink wine by the bowlful”, a magnificent character assassination. Amos is giving a description of those who are only interested in self-indulgence. They have more money than sense and ignore the plight of the poor or the plight of the country. It is description that transcends the ages; substitute harp for disco and you would think it was written for today. The thing to notice is how this type of behaviour reaps a whirlwind of disaster for themselves and the community. “The sprawlers revelry is over.” This quote from Amos should make us all stop and take notice, and return to God’s teachings, this is the only way of life that leads to peace and justice, and care of the widows and orphans and the disadvantaged.
Psalm 145: 6-10.
This psalm underpins exactly what Amos is saying. God upholds the downtrodden and poor, he wants us to look after the less fortunate. This is the constant them of God’s message to us. We must never become complacent, we are required to assist the arrival of the kingdom of God to here on earth, and that call is urgent.
2nd Reading from the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy 6: 11-16.
Here we have Paul following in Amos footsteps, encouraging potential leaders or teachers in the faith, to always remember their commitment when they were received into the family of God. Despise riches, be patient, kind and saintly, filled with religious faith and love. “Fight the good fight of the faith and win for ourselves the eternal life to which we were called.” We must stand up for the truth as Jesus did before Pilate. Jesus, like Amos came from Bethlehem, they are both bold speakers who fear no one. They warn against relying on riches to save us. Only God’s way can save us and that requires an element of self-sacrifice, moderating our appetites in order to assist the less fortunate.
The Holy Gospel according to Luke 16: 19-31.
This passage of Luke’s gospel continues our warnings to be careful not to lose ourselves in relying on wealth and fine living to guide us to everlasting life with the Lord. Throughout his gospel Luke really worries about the wealthy members of his flock and their attitudes of looking down on inferiors who are struggling to make ends meet. Luke finds this parable that Jesus related to the Pharisees and puts it before his community and us. It is Jesus himself warning us against the folly of wealth and self-satisfaction. Jesus does not even give a name to the wealthy man; he only names the poor man at the gate. His name is Lazarus, which means, “God has helped.” Lazarus dies in destitution and is carried straight to Abraham’s bosom. The wealthy man dies and has a wonderful funeral but goes straight to hell. There follows a lively debate, whereupon we see that the wealthy man has still not learnt his lesson and is ordering Lazarus to give him a drop of water. Abraham intervenes and explains the facts of life. Then those fateful words, “between us and you there’s a huge chasm established which cannot be crossed by either side.” Then please let me warn my brothers says the rich man, and Jesus makes that prophetic statement, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone were to rise from the dead.” This is a timely warning for our age which seems to rely on riches to solve all our ills whilst ignoring the plight of the poor, or the state of the health of our planet. We must wake up!!
God Bless us and enlighten us All.
Deacon Vincent
A HUGE THANK YOU
from Daisy and Bella for the fantastic £250.62 raised at the weekend’s cake sale!
It was amazing to see so many people come in for a ‘cuppa & catch up’ after Mass and helping to raise so much for CAFOD's Ukraine appeal.
This weekend's Newsletter is attached to the NEWSLETTER tab of this website.
~Please note the 'Dates for your Diary' section has returned, as we start to bring back events to bring our community together after such a long time apart. Please write them in your diary or schedule them in your online calendars! 😁
~It was encouraging to see such high numbers of people at Mass last Sunday and to see so many in the hall for refreshments and cake sale after, including a few new faces.
~ Our lovely, friendly, and welcoming community is growing and we invite you all to come back to Mass if you haven't been for a while or to join us for the first time if you've not been before...
~If you have young children, during the Sunday morning Mass we hold a Children's Liturgy service where they are invited out at the start of Mass, with trained leaders, to learn about the Gospel in children's language before coming back in to join their families for the rest of the Mass. Please message us if you have any questions.
❤️
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