CHRISTMAS EVE
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6pm at Vigil Mass St Augustine’s (Downend)
6pm Vigil Mass at St Paul’s (Yate)
9pm Carols & 9.30pm Night Mass at St Augustine’s
12.00 Midnight Mass at St Paul’s
CHRISTMAS DAY
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10.30am at Our Lady of Lourdes
9am at St Augustine’s
9am at St Lawrence (Chipping Sodbury)
11am at St Paul’s
Prepare for Christmas by celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation at one of the following services,
all at 7.30pm on:
Applications are now open forDr
Nasha’s mobile clinic gets her and her team where they’re needed – fast. When flooding hit Pakistan last year, the
team travelled hundreds of miles to treat people who needed medical help after
the disaster. That’s how they met Meera. Meera gave birth in hospital while her home
was destroyed by the floods.
Watch Meera's story
Completed forms should be returned to the Parish Office - please remember to include an email address which will be used for all communications.
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 31st OCT 2023
First Webinar: Bishop John Arnold - 21 September – Lumen Gentium.
Link to register - https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/156f5ee0-0e5d-4d4d-8d89-b3141ef8d4f1@f10b8f13-604e-4fa2-9e12-04a7fad22e94
Listen to Bishop Declan's Pastoral Letter for 2nd/3rd September here:
On Sunday 9th July we will have a special collection for Sea Sunday in support of all sea in need. Donations can also be made online at www.stellamaris.org.uk or text SEA to 70460 to donate £5. Please pray for the protection of all seafarers and fishers, who work hard on the perilous sea to bring us many of the goods we rely on in our daily lives. 
Fr Matt Anscombe of our diocese has written a book called 'Don't Forget the Holy Spirit'. He shares personal testimony and considers the difference the Holy Spirit makes in our lives of faith. Further details and recommendations and a link to buy the book can be found on his website www.dftholyspirit.com - it is also available on Amazon. Cost is £10 (+P&P).
on Friday 19th May
at St Patrick's Catholic Church, Netham Rd, Redfield, Bristol BS5 9PF at 6.00pm
Prayers, Music, Benediction, Communion, Dance
The Loyola University Certificate in Pastoral Ministry and the Clifton Ministry Skills Programme, two in-depth courses in support of the need of the desire by laity to be more involved and the need for solid formation to give people the confidence to respond. The Diocese are now actively seeking to recruit for the next course which begins in September 2023. Ideal for ANY parishioner who seeks to develop their capacity to serve the parish in anyway which they believe the Lord is calling them. If you are a catechist – this course is for you. If you are a minister in any form – this course if for you. If you are not involved in any way but would like to be – this course if for you! Interested? – then go to one of our information evenings taking place around the Diocese in June to hear in more detail about the courses, content of both, time commitment involved and costs including the role of parishes to support those who take on either of the courses. Both take place part-time over 2 years and include on-going support/guidance from a committed team. Find dates/locations of information session on the poster or at https://cliftondiocese.com/pastoral-ministry/
This Eastertide we continue in Clifton Diocese to pray for vocations to the priesthood for our own diocese. Please watch Fr Stephen Corrigan of St Peter's, Gloucester talk about vocation and his own call to priesthood, about being a seminarian and now being a priest in a parish, as well as the joy and fulfilment in his life and ministry as one of our newer priests: go to www.cliftondiocese.com/vocations.
Priesthood - Fr Stephen Corrigan.mp4 from Clifton Diocese on Vimeo.
Congratulations to the sixteen children who received their First Holy Communion on Sunday 7th May here at Our Lady of Lourdes & St Bernadette. Thank you to all who played a part in this joyous occasion, the catechist who led the children through their preparation and to all those who helped in any way to make it a special celebration for all the children and their families.
It began with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. At the Last Supper, when he knew the hour had come for him to depart from this world, he wasn’t focused on himself but on others. He assumed the role of a bondservant, who was considered the lowest of the low in the hierarchy of servants, and who was given the most menial of tasks, such as washing the dirty feet of their superiors. Thank you to all who volunteered for feet washing.
Good Friday began with Children’s Stations of the Cross at 11.00am and how great it was to see so many children there, and eagerly joining in, so thank you to all the parents for your support. Then followed ‘The Passion of the Lord’ at 3.00pm, which again was well attended, so thank you for your support. A special mention here to all the ‘Readers’ of the Passion who read so beautifully. From death came life, from defeat came victory, and from the darkness of Calvary burst forth the victory of the empty tomb.
The Easter Vigil Mass. On Palm Sunday when Father Jim was informing the congregation of the events of “Holy Week” he said, “Our Vigil Mass would be the best ever”. How right he was. It was simply fantastic.
It began outside in the car park with the blessing of the Easter fire and Paschal Candle. The Paschal Candle was then lit from the new fire while saying, “May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds”. Everyone then entered the darkened church receiving their own candle which was lit from the Paschal Candle. We then had our readings, followed by baptisms, confirmations, and parishioners being received into the church. It was amazing, one could go on and on. However, this could not happen without a lot of people putting in a lot of hard work. So here is our expression of thanks.
The priests, the deacons, the altar servers, readers, musicians, and choir, all the practice they put in certainly paid off. We also thank the Liturgy Group for all the work they put in which made the whole evening such a success. Finally, we would like to say a special thank you to two of our younger parishioners. Serena for her beautiful reading and singing, and Sophie, who week after week, prepares the readings and designs the projections for Mass and operates the projector.
At the end of the Mass there was a buffet laid on, which hopefully was enjoyed by those who stayed, so our sincere thanks go to the Social Committee. There was however, one minor problem - Someone purchased bottles of red wine which had corks rather than a screw top and as we didn’t have a corkscrew, some improvisation was required but it all worked out in the end.
Easter Sunday saw the church packed and what a delight it was seeing so many attending. Following Mass, all our younger children were invited the go to the altar and collect an Easter egg. The purchase of them was sponsored by the local dentist. (Father Jim’s joke, not ours)
Hopefully you have all enjoyed celebrating this most wonderful Easter Feast and thank you all for your support.
Lord Jesus, for the benefit of everyone you tasted death and went into the tomb,
but your body didn’t see corruption and you rose again on the third day.
You conquered death, and therefore we celebrate your victory with great joy.
The Vigil Mass was an example of “Our Churches in Communion for Mission”.
The Mission Prayer
Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us to reawaken in us a thirst and passion for mission.
Grant that your gifts of faith, hope and love will lead us in true discipleship,
so that the Good News of Jesus Christ will find a home in our hearts
and open us to the needs of all.
Then, trusting in your Almighty power, give us the desire and courage
to proclaim our faith in him to a broken world.
On Good Friday we welcomed a team of parishioners from St Joseph's in Fishponds on their Sponsored Cross Carry! Raising funds for our Centenary statue of St Joseph. They stopped for a little rest/refreshments and then continued on their journey.
Clifton
Diocese in partnership with ‘Light of Truth’ are offering a five-week
course on how we talk about our Catholic Faith with other adults, young people
and children – do join us if you can.
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Marriage Enrichment
Marriage Enrichment Retreat for married couples this coming May. Details at the following link and in the attached flier: https://christianheritagecentre.com/events/a-great-mystery-marriage-enrichment/ Please do consider promoting this, perhaps especially to couples who have married in recent years or are approaching a first significant anniversary. The retreat aims to give couples a clear sense of the beauty and dignity of the marital vocation as an icon of Christ and His Church, whilst implicitly providing a response to the secular reduction of human love and the family, in order to try and build up couples in their vocation. We also still have places left on the upcoming weekend marriage preparation course: https://christianheritagecentre.com/events/marriage-preparation/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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For more information, please call
Tel: 0117 973 3815
Family Fast Day Appeal will help families fighting the climate crisis and ensure that our Church network can quickly respond to emergencies, like the recent earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Give today using the envelope or at cafod.org.uk/give and please join us in praying for CAFOD’s development and emergency response work all over the world.
(Don't worry about the shortage of space in the porch, feel free to use the seating in church)
We would like this to be a truly celebratory day, so please play your part and support OUR FEAST DAY.
The Social Committee.
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