St Mary's Parish Council
St Mary's Parish Council
The Liturgy Committee
The Parish Magazine: The Blackheathan
The Greenwich Catholic Fellowship for the Disabled
The Liturgy Committee
The Parish Magazine
The Greenwich Catholic Fellowship for the Disabled
Justice and Peace
The World Community for Christian Meditation
The Zambia Link
First Holy Communion Programme
The members of the Parish Council represent the Roman Catholic community of St. Mary’s, Blackheath.
The Council aims to help the lay and clerical members of the parish contribute to the development of the community and the liturgy, work and mission of the parish.
Membership of the Council consists of nine parishioners, a representative of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus, and the Parish priest, Monsignor Rothon. The lay members of the Council are elected at an Annual General Meeting open to the whole parish for a term of three years, after which period they then retire from the Council, (unless they have a project in hand, which might require a longer term), and new members are elected to replace them. Members can also be co-opted as agreed by the Parish Council.
Regular meetings are held quarterly.
The Liturgy Committee meets regularly to prepare Liturgical celebrations in the Church. This includes the choice of music and hymns for the 9:30 and 11 Masses, Reflections on the Scripture readings and other practical details.
There are major tasks at Christmas and Easter, including the preparation of the Carol Service before the Christmas midnight Mass and the Easter ceremonies.
A choir, under the supervision of Tim Murray, provides music for the 11 am Mass on Sundays. New members are always welcome.
There is a Latin Sung Mass at 11 am on the first Sunday of each month with the exception of August.
The music at the 9:30 am Mass is chosen with children in mind and parts are accompanied by a piano or a guitar rather than the organ.
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The Parish Magazine "The Blackheathan" is published ten times a year on the last Sunday of each month.
It is distributed to all members of the parish but has a wide circulation outside the parish. There are five members of the editorial team who prepare and edit material for publication. The contents cover a wide range of subjects - travel, architecture, art, music, book reviews, lives of saints, poems as well as items concerning the life and work of the parish. Members of the parish are invited to submit items for publication.
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The Fellowship was started in the Greenwich borough over 25 years ago. The idea was to take some 40/45 disabled, at that time mostly children, to Lourdes. Parents and relatives of the disabled, together with a number of wonderful sponsors, have been involved in fundraising for the pilgrimages. For as long as we can we will pay the fare of the disabled guest. For the most part, those who offer to come as helpers pay their own way. We need to raise in the region of £9,000 - £10,000 each year.
The Fellowship provides, we believe, a balanced pilgrimage holiday for both our guests and helpers. Nowhere in the Good Book does it say that you have to be miserable on pilgrimage! The South of France is a very beautiful place. We try our best to provide a full, fun and reflective break. Our sick go with great hopes of Lourdes, and whilst we have not experienced anyone turning cartwheels at the end of the week, each pilgrim will tell tales of well-being at the end of their stay.
As we are sure you are aware from your own experiences in life, those people who organise fundraising events tend to be the types who are supportive in many other ways. The spin off, if you like, means that the Fellowship contains many very caring people. - so we don't stop after the one week in Lourdes - we care for one another throughout the year. We have regular get-togethers - our monthly Mass, dances and reunions, and usually there is someone with a listening ear. We have great companionship and each year we pick up extra people - some disabled, some able-bodied. There are those who drift in and out of the group, some never to be seen again and others who may not go to Lourdes at all, but are pleased to help.
We try to involve people of all ages and not necessarily just those who were born disabled - there are those who are struck with ailments during the course of their life.
We believe that there is something very special about the set up of the Fellowship and in the fullness of time we dream and strive for the situation where able-bodied people will be at ease with a profoundly disabled person being in their company - whether it is at church or a social function. For some people with no experience of the disabled, this can be a very awkward thing to do. Also it will be great when disabled people and their parents have the confidence to simply stroll into a social gathering and sit down. We have a long way to go, and we in the Fellowship will continue to embrace all people.
Click here to read our Noticeboard
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The World Community for Christian Meditation
The Zambia Link
What have we done? A variety of fund-raising events has taken place and such events have contributed a total sum in excess of £21 000. Currently there are three events each year. A Sister or Voluntary worker who has recently returned from Zambia speaks of their work at the Masses one weekend and there is a retiring collection. A 'bring and buy sale' at the convent realised £500 this year and then there is 'Opera for Africa' when singers from the Royal Opera House chorus give a concert (gratis) in the packed parish Hall.
First Holy Communion (and Reconciliation) Programme
These will start in the autumn - details to follow.
The World Community for Christian Meditation is the community that has grown out of the life's work of John Main OSB (1926 - 1982). John Main rediscovered a simple tradition of silent contemplative prayer in the writings of the early Christian monks, the Desert Fathers. In the work of St John Cassian in particular he found the centrality of the practice of the mantra. The World Community for Christian Meditation was formed at the 1991 John Main Seminar led by Bede Griffiths. It comprises meditators, meditation groups and more than 22 Christian Meditation Centres around the world. Through the International Centre in Clerkenwell, the Community supports Christian meditators through regular seminars and retreats and the publication of a quarterly magazine. Meditation groups continue to form throughout the world and there are many local groups throughout the UK. These groups meet weekly and support their members in their commitment to prayer and meditative practice. Our local group meets every Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm at the Sacred Heart Priory, Hyde Vale.
Continued......
Contact Don Boyle:
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Satellite television had made us aware of African poverty. The contrast with our lives, our facilities, and theirs was brought to our attention abruptly and in a way we could not escape. The embarrassment and shock demanded a response but what could we do?
When the suggestion was made at the 1994 Parish Annual Meeting that we should form a link with an African community it was readily adopted as a parish project, though it was not immediately obvious as to how it could be achieved.
It transpired that the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (to give them their full title) of the Convent at Belmont Hill had a mission in Zambia and had been working there since 1956.
They worked in the Northern Province and founded a hospital in Chilonga with a school of nursing and midwifery. Subsequently this was 'Zambianised' and taken over by the local Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Child.
In recent years their mission has responded to the AIDS epidemic sweeping through sub-Saharan Africa. 'Households in distress' provides a home care based system where they visit the sick at their homes providing symptom relief, nursing care and counselling. The death of so many young parents has left orphans; often the eldest child has to look after the others. They need to be taught childcare skills. Then there is the problem of education. To go to the state school costs about £40 a year - an impossible fee for many. The Sisters have started Open Community Schools for those who have no prospect of a place in a government school.
Our contribution is never going to solve the problems of Africa. However, we now know more about the lives of some of the people and they know that we care and remember them in our prayers.
Details Of Our Zambia Project
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