Saturday 9th December - Saturday 16th December 2023
- jonathonrouth
- Dec 9, 2023
- 3 min read
DECEMBER IS THE MONTH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Second Week of Advent.
Dear parishioners,
Thank you to all of you who have told me over the years that you have enjoyed my newsletter articles and to others who have openly questioned them and discussed them with me. They began in the lockdown as a form of outreach to parishioners forbidden to come to church. Since then we have covered many subjects including Saints days, our primary school, Catholic Tradition, Liturgy, news from Rome, charities, personal prayer, ethical issues, scripture commentary, thank you's, church history and Marian apparitions. However, a few other people have not contacted me in person, but sent complaints about them and against me, upset to read news of the church outside of our parish and offended by my perspective as a simple parish priest.
Consequently, I was asked to delete the last letter to my parishioners, and so for the time being any more comment from me on the church outside the parish is cancelled. Many devout Catholics have remained diplomatically quiet for a long time, including England’s long established Latin Mass Society. In the present climate of fear in the church, I will avoid comment until the situation changes. This may please some of you, but to all of you who follow Church news through various media, you will know that my perspective is in unity with many in the Church today, including Cardinals and Bishops who speak with the authority of office, experience and wisdom. From way down the line, I have only ever wanted to share their response to the crisis in your church with you.
Today I close with a letter, not my own words which some people think should not be spoken, but written last week from the Chairman of England’s Latin Mass Society. Please note, it says a lot about the current rule in Rome that such a letter should be released by the LMS which is an authorised, loyal and obedient society of the Church:
‘The decline of law in the Church is a historically deep-seated problem. The breakdown of law makes life completely unpredictable: every one of us becomes vulnerable to arbitrary and unjust treatment. It might be a pleasing thought that a pope who agrees with us about something could instantly punish those we don’t like, but future popes would do well to re-establish the expectation that things should happen according to established procedures, and for reasons we can understand, even if that can be embarrassing to some powerful people.”
It seems that Cardinal Raymond Burke is to be deprived of his flat in Rome, and the pension he is due from the Holy See. This follows swiftly the sacking of Bishop Strickland. They join Bishop Rey of Frejus in being punished for reasons which, it seems, will never be made quite clear.
These three prelates have all been accused of being too ‘conservative’, but Pope Francis has given the same abrupt treatment to people at the other end of the spectrum of opinion, such as Cardinal Giovanni Becciu. He is being given a public trial in the Vatican, but his defence team have pointed out that Pope Francis has changed the law governing this trial no fewer than four times, each time to assist the prosecution. Cardinal Becciu’s old opponent, the late Cardinal Pell, complained that the rule of law was not being observed.
When Pope Francis restricted the Traditional Mass in 2021, with Traditionis custodes, he justified this in terms of some rather puzzling accusations against those attached to it, in his accompanying Letter to Bishops. We have had no opportunity to test these accusations in dialogue, nor have we been shown any evidence for them. There have been multiple, mutually contradictory indications about to whom they really apply: to clergy, to laity, to Americans, to young people, and so on. The punishment we have collectively suffered is unlikely to be medicinal, as just punishment should be, since we don’t know what wrong has been done, or by whom.
We responded publicly as best we could to these accusations, but ultimately the best response of all is the good fruits that grow out of the ancient liturgy: the vocations, the families, the conversions of life, and the good of the liturgy itself. For those with eyes to see, this represents an answerable vindication of the Traditional Mass.’ (from the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society, 7th November 2023)
God bless
Fr Jonathon
UPCOMING EVENTS
DIVINE MERCY ADVENT REFLECTION 2023
The Divine Mercy Apostolate, London is holding a Divine Mercy Advent Reflection 2023 at the Church of Mary Mother of God, 192 Nags Head Road, Ponders End, Enfield, EN3 7AR on Saturday 16 December 2023 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm led by the Marian Fathers. The Retreat will include teachings on the Message of Mercy, Stations of the Cross, Holy Mass, Hour of Mercy with Adoration and Benediction and Veneration of the Image of Merciful Jesus. All Welcome. Please call Millie on 07957594646 for more information.
PARISH NOTICES
Liturgy of the Word for Children.
The Liturgy of the Word for our children will meet again this Sunday during the 9.00 a.m. mass.
BEXLEY CRISIS CAFÉ
Experiencing emotional or psychological distress? Access mental health support and advice after hours. Open every day from 6.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. including bank holidays. MIND IN BEXLEY at 2A Devonshire Road, Bexleyheath DA6 8DS
Lunch Club
There will be no lunch club until the New Year.
FOOD BANK.
You can make your donations at Sunday Mass in the crates in the Church Porch (narthex) and they are taken to Bexley Food Bank on a Monday morning.
Bexley Food Bank Requirements
Food
UHT Milk Tinned Meat (Hotdogs, Meatballs, etc.) Tinned Fish Tinned Fruit Sponge/Rice Puddings Coffee (small jars) Long-life Juice Pasta Sauce Spreads Tinned Meals (Spaghetti, Chicken or Veg Curry’s Chilli) Tinned Soup Jam and Spreads
Non-food Items
Shower Gel Shampoo Conditioner Deodorant Toilet rolls Washing Up Liquid Laundry Detergent Pods Shower Gel
Please follow the link below to view the food donations page of the Bexley food bank site. https://bexley.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/
NOTICES FROM MARRIAGE & FAMILY LIFE SOUTH EAST
Planning a catholic marriage? Marriage preparation courses are available by emailing mflse@rcaos.org.uk.
Macmillan Coffee Morning 2023
St. Thomas More Church Parishioners & Friends.
Thank you for your kind contribution of £605 to help support those affected by cancer.
Thank you.
Celine & the Coffee Morning Team.
DEATHS
For all our brothers and sisters who ate the Body of Christ, the bread of Life, that they may be raised up on the Last Day. (Drawn from the intercession of the Funeral Mass)
Please pray for the soul of:
Simon Francis Gorman ‘Frank’, aged 93, who died on Tuesday 31st October 2023. His funeral was on Tuesday 28th November at 11.00 a.m.
Ann Fanthome who died on Tuesday 14th November 2023, aged 83. Reception in the Church on Sunday 17th December at 4.00 p.m. and funeral on Monday 18th December at 11 o’clock followed by committal at Hillview.
May the divine assistance remain with her always, and may her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
DECEMBER PRAYER
MASSES AND INTENTIONS FOR THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Instaurare Omnia in Christo: "to restore all things in Christ."
Saturday 9th December Feria [TC].
9.00 a.m. Confessions
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary (in Latin & English)
+ 10.00 a.m. (Latin 1962) Mary Bowler R.I.P.
12.00 noon PARISH CHRISTMAS FAYRE (in Hall)
+ 6.30 p.m. SAID SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT Tracey D’Souza TG
Sunday 10th December
8.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 9.00 a.m. SUNG with Liturgy of the Word for children in Church Hall. Aadita Pinto TG on her birthday.
+11.00 a.m. SOLEMN LATIN MASS (in Latin with English Readings. Advent Setting] The people of the parish
7.00 p.m. Parish Social Evening in the Hall. All welcome.
Monday 11th December St Damasus I, pope & martyr
5.30 p.m. The Daily Rosary
+6.00 p.m. Deceased Relatives of Mrs Wright R.I.P.
Tuesday 12th December Our Lady of Guadaloupe
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+10.00 a.m. Ann Fanthome R.I.P.
Wednesday 13th December St. Lucy, virgin & martyr, memorial.
The Daily Rosary at home
NO PUBLIC MASS TODAY
Thursday 14th December St John of the Cross, priest & doctor of the church, memorial.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+10.00 a.m. Tonja Liesh Pashkut R.I.P.
From 12.00 noon No Lunch Club Today
Friday 15th December feria
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+10.00 a.m. Felix Munkonge R.I.P.
6.00 p.m. Choir Practice.
Saturday 16th December St Eusebius, bishop & martyr [TC]
9.00 a.m. Confessions
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary (in Latin & English)
+ 10.00 a.m. (Latin 1962) The people of the parish
+ 6.30 p.m. SAID THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT Joachim D’Souza (Bernie’s dad) R.I.P.
