Dear Friends

Time marches on and the long anticipated summer holidays will soon be upon us. Work continues in church, this week our builders arrived to refit the lower sacristy, our audio people came to move the church sound system amplifiers and to repair the loop which has been broken for some time. It’s amazing how one event triggers a chain reaction which enables so many long anticipated projects to be undertaken. The organ rebuilding continues slowly but surely,  having been involved in extensive discussions with our organ builders it has been decided to postpone this September’s Flower Festival and reschedule it for next Spring. The original intention of the Festival was always to celebrate the completion of the organ and ancillary facilities. Realising therefore that the organ would not now be fully operational in September called for a major rethink in our planning, we didn’t want to celebrate a half complete project. So watch this space, we will be announcing a new date very soon. Also – don’t forget your £10 talents, if you would like to join this year’s talents project, remember, you can let your imagination run wild – see Suzette.

With my prayers

Fr Simon

Dear Friends

On Monday of this week the Church celebrated the feast of Saint Thomas the apostle, often referred to somewhat misleadingly as Doubting Thomas.  In the risen figure of Christ, Thomas saw a human being, but his words ‘My Lord and my God’ acknowledged also his divinity. At Father Alan’s First Mass, our preacher thanked God for poets and reminded us of the way poetry can sustain our faith today. With this in mind I’d like to share with you the following poem about Thomas, published recently by that wonderful priest and poet Malcolm Guite.

‘We do not know…how can we know the way?’
Courageous master of the awkward question,
You spoke the words the others dared not say
And cut through their evasion and abstraction.
Oh doubting Thomas, father of my faith,
You put your finger on the nub of things
We cannot love some disembodied wraith,
But flesh and blood must be our king of kings.
Your teaching is to touch, embrace, anoint,
Feel after Him and find Him in the flesh.
Because he loved your awkward counter-point
The Word has heard and granted you your wish.
Oh place my hands with yours, help me divine
The wounded God whose wounds are healing mine.

With every blessing

Mother Eileen