ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
IMPORTANT PARISH OFFICE NOTICES
The Gift Aid boxes for this new tax year are at the back of the church for collection. Please don’t use any of your current envelopes for future collections, as a number of the box numbers have been changed. There are special, thinner, boxes of envelopes for those of you who normally donate by monthly standing order and only use envelopes for the second collections, and for Easter and Christmas. If you have any queries, please contact the Parish Office. Thank you for your generous support.
CAR PARKING RENEWALS Car parking Renewals for 2025-2026 are now due. This year’s parking subscriptions for 1st Nov 2025 – 31st October 2026 are: £135 Short Term Carpark – 3 Hours; £405 Long Term Carpark – All day. Renewals can be made using the following link https://www.stjohnshorsham.com/car-parking . We would encourage those that do not have access to the internet to get family or close friends to help with the renewals, as the Parish Office is not involved in this process. Once we have an idea of the number of renewals, any registered parishioner who is interested in obtaining a fob, may be put onto a waiting list, which will be held by the parish office.
The 2026 First Holy Communion programme is now closed and no new applications will be accepted, thank you.
Today is the 9th World Day of the Poor. In his message to commemorate the day, the Holy Father writes, "The poor can be witnesses to a strong and steadfast hope, precisely because they embody it in the midst of uncertainty, poverty, instability and marginalization. They cannot rely on the security of power and possessions; on the contrary, they are at their mercy and often victims of them. Their hope must necessarily be sought elsewhere. By recognizing that God is our first and only hope, we too pass from fleeting hopes to a lasting hope. Once we desire that God accompany us on the journey of life, material wealth becomes relativized, for we discover the real treasure that we need [...] Wealth often disappoints and can lead to tragic situations of poverty - above all the poverty born of the failure to recognize our need for God and of the attempt to live without him. A saying of Saint Augustine comes to mind: "Let all your hope be in God: feel your need for him, and let him fill that need. Without him, whatever you possess will only make you all the more empty". The word of God tells us that Christian hope is certainty at every step of life's journey, since it does not depend not on our human strength but upon the promise of God, who is always faithful. For this reason, from the beginning, Christians have identified hope with the symbol of the anchor, which provides stability and security. Christian hope is like an anchor that grounds our hearts in the promise of the Lord Jesus, who saved us by his death and resurrection and will come again among us. This hope continues to point us toward the "new heavens" and the "new earth" (2 Pet 3:13) as the true horizon of our existence, where every life will find its authentic meaning, for our real homeland is in heaven (cf. Phil 3:20).  The city of God, therefore, impels us to improve the cities of men and women. Our own cities must begin to resemble his. [...] The poor are not a distraction for the Church, but our beloved brothers and sisters, for by their lives, their words and their wisdom, they put us in contact with the truth of the Gospel. The celebration Pope Leo XIV writes...of the World Day of the Poor is meant to remind our communities that the poor are at the heart of all our pastoral activity. This is true not only of the Church's charitable work, but also of the message that she celebrates and proclaims. God took on their poverty in order to enrich us through their voices, their stories and their faces. Every form of poverty, without exception, calls us to experience the Gospel concretely and to offer effective signs of hope."
Pope Francis
"From the open heart of the Crucified one, God’s love reaches each one of us. Let us allow His gaze to rest on us. We will understand that we are not alone, but loved, for the Lord does not abandon us and He never, ever forgets us"