How can we as a parish community at our Sunday Mass be more reverential in approaching the altar to receive the Blessed Sacrament?. We all want to receive the Blessed Sacrament with reverence and solemnity and be least distracted in our thoughts at this most important part of our spiritual lives. We currently leave at both ends of the pews to process to the altar at the point when the priest and ministers of Holy Communion come down to the altar rail. The front two or three rows of pews leave the pews into the centre aisles in a sequentially orderly way and then the remainder of the faithful leave at each end of their pews simutaneously to queue in the aisles as best as we can. Approaching the altar rail from both the centre and side aisles and with the ministers of Holy Communion with the chalice at the ends of the rails there is occasional congestion and confusion which is exacerbated by communicants queueing in the side aisles to receive the chalice.

From observing practices in other parishes there are a number of ways in which we could improve the simple but important way we approach the altar. If we start to approach the altar rail from the front pews into the centre aisles when the special ministers are receiving Holy Communion we will be ready when the celibrant and special ministers come to the rail. Also if we leave a space along the rails of two metres or so from the walls it will enable access for communicants to approach the special ministers with the chalices. If we leave the pews sequentially and enter the centre aisles only when the people in the pew in front are all in the aisle we will reduce queueing in the pews. After receiving Communion we can then return to our pews along the side aisles with the minimum of distraction.

Another simple solution to avoid confusion and distractions would be for the celibrant and special minister with Holy Communion to stand between the altar rails and communicants process from the centre aisles to receive the Host. Those wishing to receive Communion under both kinds could then walk to the special ministers with the chalices and avoid further queueing and return to the pews via the side aisles. This is how we receive the Blessed Sacrament when Bishop Declan visits our parish and is normal in the majority of parish churches and cathedrals I visit in England and Wales.

Gordon Hodgson

BEWARE of decisions – they can be dodgy
Bernard asked if I would like to contribute to the  magazine. So here is my
contribution. It’s an account of unexpected happenings which for me have their
source in the loving kindness of God …

BEWARE of decisions – they can be dodgy

Seven years ago John and I were feeling trapped. We were caring for his dear old mum. So we made a decision to have a professional carer into our home for one evening a week. We wanted to do something to lift our spirits. This was duly arranged. Decision time again  … what could we do with the evening?????

……………..Two weeks later we were signed-up members of a choir!

And over the next three years we experienced the graft of learning our parts; keeping in time and holding our notes; giving shape and expression to the musical phrases  … then came the memorable uplift of singing beautiful music together for our families and friends.

During this time John’s mum went into a home as we could no longer cope. One day we thought it a good idea to get some songs together with a friend we’d met in the choir and sing them to the folk in mum’s home. It was a rewarding experience. So we did it again, and again. And as some people were hard of hearing we started to dress up in appropriate clothes for the theme of our songs.

Then our friend Alison, who’d had professional experience in the theatre, started to write stories to incorporate the songs. Beware we should have been. We hadn’t planned to be so active in our 60s. For three years we took our stories and songs into various Homes.

Developing as we were, another decision was looming. How could we improve the quality of our singing? With the confidence of the unaware, we arranged to have a singing lesson. This proved to be a shock. Fairly and squarely it dawned on us that none of us knew how to sing!

What could we do about THAT?

Well, we decided to have some more lessons and then signed up for a 15 monthsinging training course. With difficulty, great difficulty, we have just finished this training – 40 days of contact time and an unimaginable amount of studying and practice. What we learned was inconceivable before we started. As the training progressed we were being given many ‘tools’ to work on our music.
These ‘tools’ are already paying off. You know yourselves the pleasure you feel when you know you’ve done a good job.  We are experiencing that pleasure now.

Each one of the 40 days contact time, (grouped into 12 modules) waschallenging, rewarding and great fun.
The result: we do feel more equipped, we enjoy singing more now and it seems our audiences appreciate our ‘shows’ all the more.

For me, Jan, this has been a God-given opportunity at a time when I am again involved in caring full time and so rarely able to come to church. We never dreamed that we would be students again in our 60s learning new
skills.

So for anyone reaching the tender age of 60 – BEWARE.

Jan Moody

MUSICAL MUSINGS

‘If music be the food of faith: play on,’ to misquote the bard. Music and worship seem to have gone together from the beginning. King David and others were writing psalms, presumably for liturgical use, when statues (graven images) and other art forms were somewhat frowned upon. Not that I have anything against other art forms; as God created all our senses it seems only reasonable that we should use all of them to try
to get closer to him; but with music and faith there seems always to have been a special relationship.

The psalms are not the only evidence that music was important. If we move into the New Testament we find St Paul encouraging the Ephesians and Colossians to sing songs of praise to God. And even closer to the heart of our faith St Matthew records that there were hymns after Communion after that first Eucharist from
which all others are derived.

What is it about music that fosters this close relationship? I think that the most important point is that it can appeal to all irrespective of age or education. That is because it does not speak primarily to the intellectual part of the brain but to a deeper older part of the brain, that which we have traditionally called ‘the heart’. Jesus said ‘I thank you Father for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.’
Mere children can also appreciate music. I have it on good authority that an unborn child moved in time to the music when his mother was listening to a Brahms symphony at a concert. I have it on equally good authority that, at the other end of life, a retired music teacher suffering from dementia, so advanced
that he could not recognise family members, was still able to play the organ fluently if he were led to the instrument and helped on to the stool. Studies have shown that the behaviour of young children improves if they listen to the music of Mozart regularly. Singing is used therapeutically to preserve failing
intellectual activity and social interaction related to advancing age. We who are in between these two extremes do well to appreciate that, just as there is clear evidence of a strong musical sense in these people, there is strong spiritual life also.

Of course I am not arguing that we should not use what powers we have been given to appreciate music or to explore our faith. We are told we should love the Lord our God with all our mind. It is possible to appreciate music at many different levels. It is possible to enjoy, for example, a Bach fugue as an evocative succession of sounds with very little understanding of the rules which the composer used to put them together, but
deeper study will lead to even greater pleasure and wonder at how the music has been conceived. Similarly with our faith: we can take reassurance from the fact that it is ‘revealed to mere children’ but that should not encourage intellectual laziness because any effort to deepen our understanding is likely to be well rewarded.

Music needs the anonymous composer of the simple folksong as much as Bach and Beethoven; our church needs the likes of St Bernadette as much as the likes of Blessed John Henry Newman; we all need them and all those in between.

One more parallel strikes me. Music needs to be performed. No-one goes to a concert to look at musicians admiring the dots on the page, no matter how beautiful the music they represent; unless someone gets up and bangs, blows or strokes something there is no music. The pleasure lies in the performing and the hearing, and even an imperfect performance is better than silence. Similarly no-one is likely to take much notice of us just listening to the teaching of Jesus; there is no faith unless we play it out.

Let us, with God’s help, strive to bring more harmony, in every sense, to our little bit of the world as we
approach the holy season of Christmas.

Mervyn Amesbury                                         

We all like to express ourselves whether it’s to splash out and buy some colourful cloths or to take part in some sporting activity. Being expressive helps us to interact with other people, often improving our relationships with people and our won emotional wellbeing followed by a sense of fulfilment.

Our expressive natures more often than not can be very creative, we like to play on musical instruments or garden, write stories or paint pictures.

Our understanding of the world around us often can depend upon our creative natures. The beauty of the natural world and Universe also helps us to deepen our faith.

In our religious life it can help us if we exploit our creative natures to deepen faith and its meaning for us.

One of the important creative avenues is the reproduction of images and events through drawing, painting and sculpture. It’s a method of  expression which from the earliest Christians has been used to inform us with emotion, beauty and understanding which all helps to deepen our faith. It has, and is a tool of expression which allows us to ‘visualise our faith’ in all its glory.

These are qualities which the early artistic Christians were able to tell the Christian stories and its message through picture and symbols, sculpture and stained glass.

Over the last five hundred years or so we have seen countless artists expressing aspects of faith through great paintings. The expressive faces of the Apostles surrounding Christ in the painting of Bosch (c 1450) entitled ‘The Christ Crowned with Thorns’. Also consider the heightened reality of the painting entitled ‘The Supper at Emmaus’ by Michelangelo. Again, look at the paintings of Caravaggio: We see Christ surrounded by men who looked just like ordinary people of Naples. It makes us think how ordinary the disciples probably were, just like any man you might meet on the street in Bristol today. A more recent example is the painting by Salvador Dali of Christ of St John on the Cross’ c 1951.

This crucified Christ hanging over the world, suggesting the all abiding power and presence of the crucifixion dominating humanity, and sending us the great sense of our redemption through time and space. So the next time you have the opportunity to go to an Art Gallery, make a point of searching out the religious paintings and see how your faith can be enriched by the expressive works of great artists.

Michael Long  ACSD.

On a pleasant Wednesday evening in September of 2011 a number of us from St Bernadette’s travelled to Bath to see and listen to Ann Widdecombe one time Tory politician, dancer, novelist  and TV celebrity having appeared  on a documentary by Louis Theroux,  she  was also in ITV’S ‘ Celebrity Fit Club.

She was in Bath at St John’s to talk about the effect of Pope Benedict’s visit in 2010 one year on. As well as talking about this she was happy and brave to invite members of the audience to ask questions on anything.

Ann has become something of a national treasure these days and of course well known as a celebrity catholic convert well before Tony Blair took a similar path. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. She retired from politics at the 2010 general election.

Some of us from the St Bernadette contingent ‘bumped into’ our former Parish Priest,  Father Anthony Harding, before we entered St John’s Church, he was returning to his flat with what looked like a fish supper tucked under his arm. It was nice to see him and say hello.

Also greeting us at the entrance to the Church was none other than our  current parish Priest Father Christopher, who as well as watching out ready to greet Ann Widdecombe, acted as compère,  sound engineer and I also believe organised the event. There were people from all around the diocese who made the trip to see Ann speak that evening. However, one special mention should be made of one audience member.

Beryl Newport a distinguished member of our parish was there that night. Beryl had actually taught Ann when she was a schoolgirl in Bath. So prior to Ann getting on the stage to begin her talk she spent a little time no doubt reminiscing with Beryl on those school days. I understand that they have kept in touch over the years and exchange Christmas cards. I also believe there was something of a mini school reunion after the meeting had finished with other ex – staff and pupils to talk over times past and present. The first thing that we noticed   was that she no longer
dyed her hair blond. She is now as you may know proudly silver grey. The reason for giving up being a blonde she said was that people would speak very slowly to her and in simple syllables! In other words she was not taken seriously, perish the thought, can you believe that! Now she gets treated normally once more!

Ann covered a wide number of topics , here experience of seeing Pope Benedict , the difficulties in religious broadcasting, ways of reaching out, her brother and his work as a Vicar at the ‘Pip ‘n’ Jay’ church and on being in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

The floor was open for people to then ask questions from the floor most people were positive in their questions but of course others had some more challenging views and Ann dealt with all comers in her usual forthright manner. It was a very enjoyable evening and I was glad to be part of the audience, it left us all with much food for thought.

Bernard Price Editor

More on Ann Widdecombe

It was of course, a great pleasure to hear Ann Widdecombe’s very thoughtful talk recently at St John’s, Bath, on the year since Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK. I wonder if Ann felt a twinge of nostalgia, for she was educated in her early years at La Sainte Union Convent School in Bath.

Listening to her, I could not help remember another occasion when she was still an MP and organised a reunion dinner for former pupils and staff of Bath Convent Schools.

We felt very grand being driven up to the House of Commons and dining in one of the Members dining rooms. In happy mood we socialised with many of our former pupils who had grown up into such well-rounded personalities, friendly, elegant, self confident, each in her own particular way making a contribution to society and clearly imbued with the ethos of the school “Each for All from God”. Sister Bernard Xavier (the former Head of the School) and I stayed overnight at the Convent in London, and , the next day being Sunday, one of the sisters, who was a prison
visitor, took us to Mass at Holloway Women’s Prison. This proved, for me, an unforgettable experience. I felt a strange pang in my heart, for there we were amongst a group of young women to all intents and purposes, so like those with whom we had been socialising the evening before, similar in age, in looks, in manner even, in deportment, and yet who had, by some quirk of fate arrived at such unfortunate circumstances. Life had dealt them such a different hand. This was an experience the memory of which has stayed with me through all these years.

I had better stop reminiscing, and get back to concentrating on Ann’s excellent talk.

Coda

It may be worth adding that those of you who were at the Saturday evening Mass on November the 26^th may have had the opportunity of seeing Miss Widdecombe bein interviewed by Fern Britton on BBC1 on Sunday Morning (November 27 2011) at 10 a.m. She was brilliant, especially on the subject of abortion, stressing that there were two persons involved, not only just the Mother but the unborn child as well, both equally entitled to human civil rights.

Beryl Newport

Then it was always
evening, warm in the late sunshine.

Life was a love
affair,

Happenings were as
delicate

As the fluttering
of a butterfly’s wings,

As perfumed as a
rose petal.

We did not see the
grey cloud approaching,

Stealthily
lowering,

Descending, coming
closer,

The dark grey
advancing, growing darker.

And then it
happened wrapped itself around us, Enveloping in its blackness

But suddenly from
beyond the horizon

Came Hope,

Dispelling the
darkness,

Revising our
spirit.

And we are astonished
at the glory of the Dawn

B M Newport

But it wasn’t always so. For many years we sang hymns (andJohn played the piano); we listened to jazz and classical music mainly but with a growing family and working, leisure time was rather scarce.

We are still pretty busy, but we now take a day a week to sing. Every Tuesday, from 10 in the morning till 9 at night, you will find us singing … all three of us, our friend Alison, me, Jan, and my husband John who provides terrific piano accompaniment.

We call ourselves ‘Autumn Leaves’. And our starting point was getting a few songs together to entertain John’s mum and the other residents in the Home she was in. That was five years ago.

As we have progressed together, taking different shows into other Homes and Day Centres, our talents now include; creating scenery, acting, memorising scripts and dressing up in all sorts of appropriate costumes. Oh, and a few of our shows include a spot of dancing.

None of us, however, has ever thought we were talented.  But we’ve taken courage and dived in with ‘let’s-have-a-go’ bravado. Around us we’ve found good sources of encouragement and direction. Our biggest investment was a 15 month singing and musicianship course (run by ‘Tonalis’ based in Stroud); this has given us the tools to improve our singing. We have a friend who gives us dramatic direction whenever we launch a new show. Alison herself uses her theatre experience of yore to write and advise. And John, with the encouragement of Bristol Piano Club and a couple of Jazz workshops, has become a pianist you want to listen to.

So to summarise. The experience of making a difference to groups of people we have come to know and appreciate is keeping us going. And although it’s hard work, it’s great fun too.

What never occurred to me before was that the latent talents we all have can start to bloom when friends help each other. And for us, our passion for music has led us into doing what we never before imagined ourselves doing.

Music – it’s our passion. John and I just love it and it’s a real joy to be sharing it.

Jan Moody

This June, 20 children from our parish and from St Gerard Majella’s will be making their first Confession
and Communion at St Bernadette’s Church. We started preparing in January bylooking at our Church.  I liked getting
to go onto the sanctuary and seeing the relics hidden in the altar. None of us even knew they were there!

The next sessions –taken by Mrs Pattison, Fr Christopher and Mrs Payne – have all been held in the Bungalow at St
Bernadette’s Primary.  We looked at everything from our own Baptisms, the Liturgy and the Bible through to
Reconciliation and the Eucharist.  We learned about all these things through discussion, prayer, Bible stories, word
searches and drawing.

We started our sacramental journey when we were baptised.  Now we are going to begin
the next stage.  These two sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion are the ones that we will use again and again
throughout our lives, not just when we are children but as grown-ups too.  They are there to help us come closer to
God.  Confession helps us to say sorry to God, to gain forgiveness and sacramental grace to strengthen us to do better
next time.  Communion gives us the Body and Blood of Jesus, and we are completely gathered into His Body too.

I am really excited about making my First Holy Communion in a few weeks’ time.  Thank you from me and all the First Communion
children for your prayers for us while we have been preparing for these
sacraments.

By Jessica Critten, age 8.

The other Children
taking their first communion are:-

Rahul Vinoy,
Oliver Towe, James Fry, Chloe Jefferies, Fred Durow, Sophie Payne, George Cock,
Rosie Pattison,  Kara Richards, Rory
Jones, Millie Gould, Eva Albert, Rory O’Driscoll, Sophie Lowson, Harry McGovern,
Aldrich Virata, Achile Tom, Isobella Khan, and
Liam Monks

Notes from Abroad or the Land of Pies

Barry Humphries in his Ode to Pies wrote ” I think that I shall never spy, A poem as lovely as a pie, A banquet in one course, Embellished in tomato sauce”. He was possibly making a claim for Australia to be the land of pies. Whilst Oz may have some claim to the title, even having a chain of shops called ‘Pie Face’ it is New Zealand that is truly the land of pies. Breathtaking scenery, spectacular geological phenomena, abundant flora and quirky fauna impress the visitor but it the sheer quality and variety of pies that capture the imagination.

Every city centre and roadside cafe has a heated display cabinet full of pies. The litany of pies is endless starting with the familiar to the outright exotic. As well as steak and kidney, steak and onion, steak and cheese there is venison, lamb and sweet potato, seafood, mussel, the big breakfast pie, sweet potato and pesto to name but a few. These hand grenade heart attacks are all encased in buttery short crust pastry and have a rich gravy or sauce. Each one requires at least three serviettes to clean up afterwards. New Zealand is truly pie heaven.

The love of pies may be associated with the many Irish immigrants who came in the 19th century to make a better life for themselves. Evidence for this migration can be found in the number of Catholic churches, even in the smallest townships. Also, the Catholic Church is facing the same problems as we are having with the shortage of priests and the merging of parishes.

Gordon Hodgson

Advent 2011 begins the first new
liturgical year of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. As work
continues on the liturgical use of the Ordinariates, certain forms of service
have been permitted ad interim. Amongst these are Morning and Evening Prayer as
these have developed in the Anglican tradition. This Ordo provides an interim
Calendar and Lectionary for the celebration of these Offices. The Calendar is
in conformity with the General Roman Calendar as complemented by the Calendar
of a particular Church, in this case the interim Calendar of the Ordinariate of
Our Lady of Walsingham. It should be noted that, where the Ordo prescribes celebrations
not in the General Roman Calendar or in the National Calendar for England of
the Catholic Church in England and Wales, these celebrations have only interim
authority. It should also be noted that, at this point, no decision has been
taken – and indeed may never be taken – which would significantly modify the
provision of the General Roman Calendar nor of the National Calendar for
England.