FIRST COMMUNION PREPARATION: Preparation continues on Wednesday 9 March at 3.45pm in the school. Bishop Declan meets with the parents of this year’s group on Thursday 31 March at 7.00pm in the Church. This is always a wonderful opportunity for our bishop spend time with the parents encouraging them in all they do to hand on faith to their children.

ROOTED IN CHRIST: The talks have attracted many over the last couple of months and they are a simple way to begin to deepen our understanding of what we believe. The talks take place in Holy Family, Patchway, and are well worth going along to. The present series on the Sacraments focuses on those tremendous signs of Christ’s presence on our journey through life. Fr Gregory Grant is reflecting upon Reconciliation this week – Tuesday 15 March at 7.30pm. Find out more either on our diocesan website or else on our notice board in the narthex.

THE SEASON OF LENT – PREPARING FOR THE SACRAMENTS: Lent has always been the traditional time whereby we accompany those who are journeying towards the Sacraments on Initiation at Easter. It was, in the early Church, an intensive time of preparation as the catechumens walked ever nearer to the font. As a parish we are in a most fortunate position whereby (at the moment) we will have three adult Baptisms – Joe Alsop, David Fitzgerald and Rebecca Fitzgerald – as well as two celebrations of Confirmation – Nora O’Brien and John O’Brien.  This will mean that some of the Sunday’s in Lent (three, four and five) will be used to celebrate the Rites appropriate for those journeying towards Baptism and the Sacraments at Easter. We will also be celebrating the reception into the Church of four members of the Anglican Communion who are seeking entry into the Church through the Ordinariate – Pauline & Michael Long, and Bernard & Beryl Coombs. They are part of a wider community spread across Bristol. This is a most encouraging prospect for our parish community and should find us wanting to use their journey as one that encourages us in our faith, too.  Keep them and all those journeying towards the Sacraments this Easter in your prayers. They took part in the Rite of Election this weekend, welcomed by the Bishop, supported by the diocesan community. You’ll notice that the cover is over the font, inviting us to look forward to its ‘unsealing’ at the great Easter Vigil as we renew our baptismal promises in the presence of the newly baptised.

LENTEN SOUP LUNCHES: The series of Lenten Soup lunches taking place both here and at some of the other Churches round about will begin from the start of the Lenten Season. This is a great way of tapping into the spirit of Lenten fasting as well as supporting charitable causes through your giving. Friday 18 March  -  St Bernadette; Wednesday 23 March  - Christ Church, Petherton Road; Monday 28 March  -  United Reformed Church, Whitchurch Village; Saturday 9th April – St Nicholas, Whitchurch Village; Palm Sunday, 17 April – St Bernadette. All at 12 noon. Do go along and support this charitable initiative. The proceeds from our two lunches will go to support CAFOD.

CAFOD LENTEN FAST DAY: This important day focused on our charitable giving during Lent to some of the world’s hungriest people takes place on Friday 18 March. The CAFOD envelopes are attached to the newsletter and, of course, the Lenten soup lunch also takes place on that Fast Day. The retiring collection on 20 March will be our Lenten gift to CAFOD (please Gift Aid if you are a tax payer). We give up something (as part of our Lenten penance) so that we can be transformed in the image of God and his desire to love us. We show our love for our brothers and sisters by reaching out to them in very practical ways seeking to support them.

CAFOD BOXES: To accompany your Lenten journey, there are some CAFOD pyramids and boxes for your Lenten gifts (alms) which you are free to use across the six weeks. Just bring them back to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday where they will be taken up with the gifts and our offerings for the poor.

LENTEN BRUNCH: make a note in your diaries, a good hearty brunch as British Summer Time begins will take place on Sunday 27 March following the 10.30am Mass. All proceeds will go in support of our parish outreach projects. There is a poster for you to secure yourself a place on the notice board – do sign up!

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Each Sunday of Lent we will make that prayerful journey to the Cross and to the tomb following in the footsteps of Jesus. The Sundays of Lent at 4.00pm in the Church, ending with benediction (except this Sunday as Fr C is supplying at St Gerard’s for their 5.00pm Mass). Palm Sunday will find us celebrating Vespers at 4.00pm, and on Good Friday, the Stations for children and our young people will be celebrated at 11.00am. This gives the children a chance to enter into the story and the drama of Good Friday walking with Jesus to the Cross. This is also a chance for families to draw together on this important day in our lives of faith.

CHANGES TO THE PRAYERS OF THE MASS: One of the first changes in translation to our present missal comes with the I Confess. This prayer, asking God for mercy and seeking the help of the saints as we seek to return to the Lord, is reminding us of our utter dependence upon the Lord and acknowledging our need for his forgiveness. In the new translation, we will pray: I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

DIOCESAN FAMILY DAY: Bishop Declan is inviting us to join him at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College on 21 May (from 10.00am – 4.00pm) with our diocesan community, drawing us together to celebrate our faith. There is a poster in the narthex, and please put the date in your diary. There is something for everyone of all ages.

WELCOMERS: Our welcomers come together on Thursday 7 April in the Church for a short time together.

THIS SUNDAY: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” These are words we associate so clearly with the teaching of Jesus and the way of life the Gospel calls us to. But it may be a surprise to some people to hear that these words come first from the Old Testament, in the mouth of Moses himself. Moses was speaking the Lord God’s instruction for the community – the community of the people of Israel in flight from Egypt in their long sojourn in the wilderness. God’s instructions were about how that community had to work – without grudges, resentment or vengeance, but with love and forgiveness and tolerance. When Jesus comes with the message of the Kingdom of heaven, it is the same – instruction for a perfect, God-guided society, which depends on how each of us lives with others. The “wisdom of this world”, which Saint Paul mentions in the Second Reading, will not teach us this: the world will believe in vengeance, and friendship only for your friends. Each of us must ask how we can embrace the apparent folly of Jesus’ teaching: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

EDUCATION SUNDAY: This Sunday, Bishop Declan has sent us a Pastoral Letter which we will listen to as part of Education Sunday. This is a Sunday where we pray, most especially, for all those who work in the field of education – our schools, our colleges, our universities – and all those who work to hand on faith to others. The retiring collection next Sunday goes to support the Catholic Education Service which works so closely with our school and our bishops, advising them and representing them at national and governmental level, seeking to keep our Catholic schools on the agenda. In supporting them we are supporting the work of Catholic education and our Catholic schools. Our catholic schools and colleges are a vital part of the life of our church and the handing on of our faith to the younger generation. Please do give as generously as you can.

FIRST COMMUNION PREPARATION: Our youngsters take a break during this week’s half term break, and we resume preparation for First Communion on Wednesday 2 March at 3.45pm in the school. The youngsters join us
for Mass at 10.30am on Sunday 6 March for the Presentation of the Scriptures.

ROOTED IN CHRIST: The talks have attracted many over the last couple of months and they are a simple way to begin to deepen our understanding of what we believe. The talks take place in Holy Family, Patchway, and are well worth going along to. The forthcoming series on the Sacraments should be a really good couple of sessions focusing on those tremendous signs of Christ’s presence on our journey through life. These begin on Tuesday 1 March. Find out more either on our diocesan website or else on our notice board in the narthex. The full programme is on the board… and the details of the excellent speakers, too.

THE SEASON OF LENT – PREPARING FOR THE SACRAMENTS: Ash Wednesday – 9 March – marks the beginning of the season of preparation for Easter. It is also the traditional time whereby we accompany those who are journeying towards the Sacraments on Initiation at Easter. As a parish we are in a most fortunate position whereby (at the moment) we will have three adult Baptisms and a couple of receptions into full communion, as well as two celebrations of Confirmation.  We will also be celebrating the reception into the Church of members of the Anglican communion who are seeking entry into the Church through the Ordinariate. This is a most encouraging prospect for our parish community and should find us wanting to use their journey as one that encourages us in our faith, too. More on this later. There will also be plenty of opportunity for us to make the most of this prayerful, charitable, renewing season. Watch this space.

LENTEN SOUP LUNCHES: The series of Lenten Soup lunches taking place both here and at some of the other Churches round about will begin from the start of the Lenten Season. This is a great way of tapping into the spirit of Lenten fasting as well as supporting charitable causes through your giving. Friday 18 March  -  St Bernadette; Wednesday 23 March  – Christ Church, Petherton Road; Monday 28 March  -  United Reformed Church, Whitchurch Village; Saturday 9th April – St Nicholas, Whitchurch Village; Palm Sunday, 17 April – St Bernadette. All at 12 noon. Do go along and support this charitable initiative.

ASH WEDNESDAY and the beginning of Lent falls on Wednesday 9 March. Mass with the traditional imposition of ashes will be celebrated in Church at 10.00am (where we will be joined by KS2 children from school) and 7.00pm in the evening.

CAFOD LENTEN FAST DAY: This important day focused on our charitable giving during Lent to some of the world’s hungriest people takes place on Friday 18 March. The CAFOD envelopes will be attached to the newsletter in good time and, of course, the Lenten soup lunch also takes place on the Fast Day. The retiring collection on 20 March will be our Lenten gift to CAFOD.

LENTEN BRUNCH: make a note in your diaries, a good hearty lunch as British Summer Time begins will take place on Sunday 27 March. All proceeds will go in support of our parish outreach projects.

CHARITY NIGHT: The charity set up in memory of Joe Dymond Williams are hosting a charity night on Saturday 5 March. Tickets cost £5. Geraldine will be around after all Masses with further details.

‘CALLED TO NEW LIFE’: A day of prayer and reflection in peaceful surroundings has been arranged by the diocesan department for adult education and evangelisation seeking to accompany us on our journey through Lent. It takes place on Saturday 26 March at the Marist Centre, Nympsfield. Full details on the narthex notice board.

CHANGES TO THE PRAYERS OF THE MASS: As you know, some of the prayers of the Mass are undergoing a revision of translation. That means we will all have to get used to a new ‘language’ and a new translation. There is plenty of time for us to prepare for the new translation of the Missal which comes into effect at Advent 2011. During Lent we will use the new translation of the I confess and during Easter time, we can familiarise ourselves with the new translation to the Gloria. It will give us an opportunity to think about the prayers we can easily take for granted and maybe, even, think about why these prayers have been revised. Watch this space.

NATIONAL FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT ~ 12 – 26 February: Please support our Traidcraft Stall in the Narthex after Mass and other Fairtrade suppliers during this fortnight.  Our support will help poor farmers and growers to become self-sufficient and enable them to provide for their families and communities.

JOSIE O’KEEFFE RIP & MARY JOHNSON RIP: Both Josie and Mary have died in this last week. We keep their families very much in our prayers at this time. Mary’s funeral will take place at South Bristol Crematorium Chapel at 1.30pm on Tuesday of this week, and Josie’s funeral takes place on Tuesday 1 March at 11.00am here in St Bernadette’s. May they both rest in peace and come to their eternal reward in heaven.

However, if each family in our congregation made a pledge to buy one Traidcraft product each month, we would be making an even bigger difference.

The quarterly catalogues show the lovely variety of foodstuffs and many beautiful and unusual things which would be suitable as presents for every member of your family and friends and would save that dreaded shopping expedition to town.  Most of them are very reasonably priced, however, those that seem a little more expensive work out cheaper in the end because you don’t have to use your valuable time journing to town and paying parking/bus fares.

We could always do with more volunteers to ‘man the stall’ and are trying to get a rota drawn up. As from the beginning of December Marie Forrester will be taking over the co-ordinating and ordering of stock.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me for the last couple of years – I hope Fairtrade will continue to flourish in this parish.

Enid Dimambro

The many outreach activities in our parish include our involvement through Amplius the ecumenical group of local churches, support for the Julian Trust and the Ministry of the Door at St. Nicholas of Tolentino, our links with Cafod, Missio (formerly the APF), the HCPT, Traidcraft, Samaritans Purse shoebox presents from our youth club, our support for projects in Zambia and our prayer links.

Awareness of the needs of others has prompted action by many parishioners. We enjoy many social events, themed evenings and meals prepared by our Italian, Malaysian and Indian parishioners. Money raised from these events supports local and overseas projects.

Together with other local churches we hold weekly lunches during Lent, a Good Friday walk of witness and a Christmas concert.

Our links with Cafod are strengthened through our Family Fast days and our pyramid box donations during Lent. The Cafod national and diocesan organisers keep in regular contact informing us of events in the diocese and overseas.

Support for building and aid projects in Zambia is co-ordinated through the Papal Nuncio to Zambia, Monsignor Girasoli and local priests and religious.

Through the weekly prayer list of intercessions posted at St. Joseph’s statue in the church we remember the needs of those in our parish and the wider world. Parishioners are invited to add their special intentions to the list so that all the parish can support them in our prayers.

The work of the different groups in the parish is supported by representatives meeting together regularly. Our parish contacts are :

Zambia projects – Fr. Christopher and Maria Amesbury

Cafod – Linda and Gordon Hodgson

Missio – Judith Lavelle

HCPT – Maureen Case

Traidcraft – Marie Forester

Amplius – Gerry Panter and Mike Forde

Samaritans Purse – Youth Club

At present we are collecting groceries for the Julian Trust and gifts and donations for the Samaritans Purse appeal as well as meeting together with other local churches in a community choir to prepare for our Amplius Christmas concert.

Events during Advent include the Amplius Christmas concert in St. Bernadettes school hall on Friday December 4th and a quiz night with fish and chip supper in the parish hall on Saturday December 5th.

We are always looking for new ideas and our Outreach group would welcome suggestions from parish members in addition to the generosity, prayers and support we already receive.