Fr. Aaron Writes :6th March 2022

Dear Friends,

Prayers and help are urgently needed for the people of Ukraine. What is happening before our eyes is heartbreaking and so worrying.

Parishioners have been asking what we can do as a parish, we can:

1) Pray – On Sunday evening at 6:30pm we shall hold a Holy Hour Prayer Vigil for Ukraine before the Blessed Sacrament. Do come

together to pray together in solidarity with our brothers and sisters. Also pray the Holy Rosary each day for the Consecration and

conversion of Russia and an end to war.

2) Fast – This is a powerful prayer made in union with the men, women and children of Ukraine and those forced into war and suffering.

3) Give aid – A way of giving goods to the refugee effort. Robert from the Polish Community has informed me that donations are being

collected in order to be brought to the Polish/Ukraine border (Medyka). This will take place in the car park of the New House Farm

Shop, Old Crawley Road, Faygate, RH12 4RU between 8:30am - 2pm on Monday 7th March.

No general clothes at the moment but the following :

Nappies, wet wipes, including nappies for the elderly.

Thermal clothing, gloves.

Batteries, torches and candles.

Food for children – long term life and dry.

Warm blankets and sleeping bags.

Tents.

Painkillers.

Dressing and bandages.

Face mask and gel.

I will also share further news at the weekend Masses.

4) Have an emergency second collection this weekend, where we shall ask for your generosity with CAFOD and Aid to the Church in

Need.

5) Directly donate to CAFOD which will help the sister charity CARITAS UKRAINE and the UK Disasters Emergency Committee to help

hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict in the country. You can donate to CAFOD’s Ukraine Humanitarian

Appeal here: https://cafod.org.uk/donations/picker?defaultuniversaltype=single&_Appeal=123770 . To find out more please visit

CAFOD’s website.

Lenten Devotions - The Holy Season of Lent has begun. There will be the usual Lent devotions such as Stations of the Cross on Fridays.

Confessions will be restored to 5:15pm before the Saturday evening Vigil Mass. All confessions from now on will be heard in the confessional.

First Holy Communion Children – At whichever Mass the children attend this weekend, they will be asked to come forward and prayed for

as they begin their preparations. Their first session takes place the same weekend on Saturday 5th March at 2pm.

First Holy Communion Parents – There will be a compulsory Parents’ meeting on Monday 14th March at 7pm. This will take place in church.

Pastoral Letter – This weekend we have a pastoral letter from Bishop Richard for the beginning of Lent.

Stewardship and Parish Renewal – I briefly spoke to the Parish Pastoral Council about the forthcoming Stewardship drive that we are to

embark upon in Lent, as the parish begins to return to normal. This is an opportune time to do this as we look to the future mission of the

parish and our part in the renewal of parish life. More details will be shared with you next week.

Synod of Bishops - Synod 2021-2023 - A webinar with Bishop Richard, Wednesday 9 March at 7.30pm. Join Bishop Richard for a webinar

highlighting the Synod feedback received from people and groups across our Diocese. To register your place, see the diocesan website.

Deanery Meeting – This week there is a Deanery meeting at St Wilfrid’s school on Wednesday 9th March. Holy Mass will be at 9:30am to

enable us to arrive in good time for 11am.

Children’s Liturgy – It is my hope and wish that this restarts in the next few weeks. We are just awaiting the completion of Safeguarding

training for the volunteers. Please see the notice elsewhere in the newsletter from Mariela.

Deanery Business – As many of you know, in addition to my duties in Horsham, I am also the Dean of Crawley. As part of this role, I have to make visitations of the neighbouring parishes and meet with the clergy in order to submit a report to the Bishop. This week I visit Henfield. Thank you for your understanding.

COVID regulations – With the end of COVID legal requirements, it is a personal choice whether to wear a face covering in Church. Please

respect the decision of those who continue to wear masks and those who do not.

In Memoriam – Please pray for the souls of Brenda Farley RIP, Denis Walton RIP and Josie Aguilar RIP, whose Requiems take place this week.

Please keep their families in your prayers as they mourn at this sad and testing time.

With my very best wishes and prayers for you all.

- Fr Aaron