Holy Mass for Sunday at St. Peter & St. Paul’s, Mawdesley – Saturday at 5.00pm, Sunday at 11.15am

PARISH  OFFERTORY COLLECTION:  £254.55                                  Standing Orders: (September) £458.97       Thank you                                             

CAFOD COLLECTION (6 October): £43

SPECIAL COLLECTION NEXT WEEK (20 October): World Mission Sunday.  Please collect a Gift Aid envelope from the porch and bring it along next week.  Thank you.

OFFERTORY COUNTERS: Please count those attending Masses this weekend.  Thank you

SYNOD SUNDAY TODAY: Please collect the information leaflet and prayer card after Mass.  The four themes will help us to formulate our proposals, ready for next year’s Synod.  Parishioners are invited to attend four meetings between October 2019 and March 2020, and find out more about these themes.  We really do need your thoughts and ideas!  The first of these meetings is on the theme of ‘All Gifted and Called by God’, and will be on Monday 11 November, at 7.45pm.   For further information, please visit the Synod 2020 website: www.synod2020.co.uk

APPLICATIONS FOR BISHOP RAWSTORNE ACADEMY: One of the entry requirements of C of E schools requires evidence of the commitment of one of the parents or guardians of the prospective pupil to the Christian faith, ie fortnightly worship for a period of at least one year. Please note that the Church is contacted to verify attendance for the year preceding entry.  For pupils hoping to enter in Sept. 2021, the period of assessment started on 1 Sept 2019.  Please pass this info on to parishioners who may not always manage to see the Newsletter.

CANONISATION OF CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN – 13 OCTOBER:  Pope Francis will declare John Henry Newman to be a Saint today. St John Henry Newman was one of the most prominent converts to Catholicism from Anglicanism of the 19^th century. He died in Birmingham in 1890, aged 89, after founding the Birmingham Oratory.  Two miracles of healing have been attributed to him and Pope Benedict XXIII beatified him in 2010, whilst on a visit to Birmingham.

PRISONERS’ SUNDAY:  Today is also national Prisoners’ Sunday – a day of prayer and action for prisoners and their dependents.  The theme this year is ‘Hope & Freedom’.  For more information, please visit www.prisonadvice.org.uk

REFLECTION: St. John Henry Newman (1801-90)

God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”

“I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: “Go down again –      I dwell among the people.”