If you have been following the readings for the past few days you will have noticed that the Scribes and Pharisees come in for a battering by St Matthew. It seems that they were concerned mainly with the externals of their religion and had forgotten about the core: justice, mercy and righteousness. It seems strange because all the prophets before them stress that God wanted mercy and not holocaust. Their religion became an outward show sitting in the best seats making sure people saw them giving their donations to the temple and following every law to the letter. Their worship of God became a matter of outward show. They gave God the service of their lips but not their hearts. This danger faces all of us - mere externalism.
Today we have come to our great act of worship, the Mass. Are we going to worship our Father with our hearts or with our lips only? People can be present in church in voice only. They can spend most of the time thinking about the rest of the day. How will the dinner go? Will we make the in-laws in time? Being here physically is not enough we have to engage the rest of our being. We have to take an active part so that we celebrate completely. Taking part shows our inner consent. What is the quality of my presence here today? How much of my heart is in what I say? And when I leave here, do I try to put the Word of God into practice in my life? No one can answer these questions but myself.
For the past four weeks we have been reading St. John's great discourse on the Eucharist. We have been trying to get to grips with the importance of the Eucharist in our lives and how God's great bounty is offered to each one of us. In the history of the church this was not always so. For a long time our attitude towards receiving communion was quite different. Many people received only once a year and it was an individual celebration. In the recent past we have again moved to being a Eucharistic community. For this we owe a great debt to the great theologians of the past and the great Vatican Council II. Pius X called for all Catholics to go to communion frequently. In 1215 the Lateran Council asked Catholics to go to communion once a year. Pius X said, "Why not every week?" Pius XII wrote a letter in which he pleaded with all Catholics to take an active part in the Eucharistic celebration. Vatican II echoed all the thinking that had gone before it. By stressing the theme of the church as community, as the People of God, the council brought the Church back to the insight of the New Testament days. This meant that worship was linked to everyday life and challenged us to bring our Sunday into the rest of the week searching for justice in the word. Often we can forget that the promise of Jesus to be with us always challenges us to live, as He would want us to. He has however given us a great Sacrament to aid us in our journey. The food we receive is the food we need to live our lives in the spirit of the Gospel.
We are now deep into the silly season of summer holidays when most families snatch a welcome break. There is very little in the way of parish activities except what we can describe as essential services: Masses, funerals and weddings.
This time gives us an opportunity to reflect on what has just passed and look forward. Clearly we will look back on the ordination weekend for a long time into the future with great satisfaction and joy. So many people have talked to me of how uplifting and enjoyable the whole weekend was.
I think that the ordination of Fr. David provided the perfect opportunity to gather the parish around one single project. Everyone knew Fr. David and maybe for the first time, had the chance to be actively involved in the ordination of a priest. As a parish we had to prepare the liturgy and in that preparation we came to understand a bit more, the theology of the priesthood. We had the very practical task of inviting guests to our parish, making them welcome and providing for their needs. This led us to organising church seating, car parking and of course the reception. When we thought about the reception we were faced with the cost that in turn led us down the road of fundraising. The target was set and the money was raised quickly and without fuss. For me, and I am sure for all who were there, the ordination liturgy was the highlight. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Lisa, her choir and musicians. My only sadness of the day was that we could not have a place in the church for everyone who wanted to come.
Again I would like to thank one and all that were involved to make it such a special weekend. It shows what can be achieved when we work together.
We will shortly be saying goodbye to Fr. David. He will be in our prayers as he starts his new ministry in Winchester. I am sure that he realises that he leaves many friends behind in St. Joseph's.
I have received the list of students for Portsmouth diocese who will be in major seminary from next September. We have ten students in all who will be studying in six different seminaries. The list is on the notice board and gives their full address. There is a long road from starting in the seminary and ordination, and many fall out along the way. Please keep them all in your prayers.
In comparison with other diocese's we are doing well with our numbers and for that we must be grateful. However, if we were to maintain the present number of priests in the diocese, we would need about thirty students in seminary so that we would have five or six ordinations every year. Therefore for the next number of years, there will be a continual decline in the number of priests. This will result in more parishes having to share a priest and smaller parishes combining. We will also have to employ more lay people to take on the role of running the day-to-day life of the parish. Many of our parishes already have parish administrators. Others have pastoral workers helping to care for the pastoral needs of the people.
Whichever way we go, we will all have to get used to a changed situation. In the middle of this change we will have to continually remember that we are a Eucharistic church. The life of the church is developed and sustained by the regular celebration of the Eucharist. So while there will be fewer Masses, every parish will need regular celebrations of Mass otherwise we will cease to be a catholic community. We need to accept that our diocese and our parish will need to change. In the years ahead we must move forward in faith, and trust in the Holy Spirit that God will always provide for His people.
At a recent meeting of European bishops where they were debating the decline of Christianity in Europe, they observed that as people become less involved as active members in the church they fairly quickly give up regular attendance at Sunday Mass. There are many reasons why people give up involvement in church activities. It may simply be lack of time because of the demands of work. It may be because of mobility, not knowing anyone in a new area. It may be that the church is no longer important enough to be invested with their time.
By and large there is a strong tradition in this country of members being involved in the life of the church. We know in fact that the church would not survive if there were not so many people involved at all sorts of levels.
If we look at our own parish we see so many people involved in so many different ways. In the celebration of the liturgy we have: servers, readers, special ministers, collectors and welcomers. In the upkeep of the church we have: cleaners, flower arrangers and maintenance people who look after the fabric of the buildings. The list could go on and on. I would like to express my appreciation to all who are involved and on behalf of us all, say "thank you" as we would have a very poor parish without so much involvement.
I say to those who are not involved - this is your parish too. We are the poorer because you are not involved so come forward and take ownership of the parish and let your gifts be of benefit to all the parish.
As we come to the end of the academic year, our various parish activities begin to slow down. However, we are already starting to make plans for September and the new sacramental programmes that will take place. To enable us to achieve this, we need three new teams of people to work with us as catechists and helpers to build these programmes.
Catechesis is a valuable and enriching ministry and as a catechist, you are not required to become a mini-theologian with a degree in church history! but to share your gift of faith. It is also a chance to become acquainted with new people, and feel more a part of your church.
We need helpers for the First Communion, Confirmation and Journey of Faith programmes. The First Communion Programme will need a team of active catechists to work with the children and parents through the programme. We usually have about 40 children, and we know from experience that preparation is best done in partnership with family, parish and school. If one of these elements is missing, then it is the children who lose out.
The Confirmation and Journey of Faith programmes will also need teams for both programmes. For Confirmation we are looking for a team of helpers again to work with the young people and their parents. Journey of Faith will require people to welcome and share faith with those who wish to enquire about our faith, and work with those who wish to join the Catholic Church.
There will be a open meeting on Friday 12th September at 8pm, in the Presbytery. This is a chance for everyone who is interested in catechesis, or simply helping with the sacramental programmes to come and have a drink and a chat, and see where you would like to help. I am hoping there will be lots of volunteers for each programme, but the preparation can all be done together, as the principles are the same, and working together will help us not only be together as a team, but also help to build community.
If you would like to help, please contact Maria, Sr. Eileen or the presbytery, or put your name on the list on the board. We will be contacting people who have already expressed an interest, and we look forward to welcoming many of you on the 12th September.
This weekend is a grace filled time for our parish. David's ordination is a special event that our parish is privileged to have hosted. It has meant a lot of hard work by so many of our people but for all of us it has been an opportunity of working together and discovering talents that we never knew we had. If we ever have the opportunity of organising another ordination, we will be able to do it very well because we will know what has to be done.
Today of behalf of St Joseph's, I extend a warm welcome to all the special visitors to our parish. A special welcome to David's mother and father, they have offered their son David who is now a priest of the Diocese of Portsmouth. I hope that all our visitors will feel at home among us and that you take away many happy memories of this special weekend.
I hope that you will all continue to support and pray for David as he starts his new life as a priest. The sacrament of ordination brings many blessings but one of them is not sainthood. The priest retains his humility with all the weakness that we as humans have - maybe as priests, these weaknesses are more highlighted and exposed because so much of our lives are lived in the public eye. The priest is in continual need of support so that he has the resources to minister to others.
I am sure that you will all join with me today in congratulating Fr. David and wishing him every blessing for the future. It is a great sadness to us in St Joseph's that David will be leaving us, all too quickly, to take us his new appointment in Winchester but he goes with our prayers, good wishes and hope that he will always know that there will be a welcome for him in St Joseph's whenever he can find the time to come back to visit us.
On Saturday 7th June, Fr Gervase Holdaway came to St Joseph's and spent the day with our Readers. It was a very useful day for all the Readers who were able to attend. We were given practical help in how to improve our reading. First of all we were reminded of the importance of the ministry of lector. "The lector is the one who proclaims God's word to the assembly". To this end we must be a living word ourselves; we cannot proclaim what we do not live. The word burns within the heart of the lector so that like St Paul, we can say, not I, but Christ in me. The lector always needs to prepare so as to understand what is being read. The reading should be prepared and read from the lectionary. We were reminded that like any ministry, training is very important and we should provide regular opportunities for training for all our lectors, especially new lectors.
We in St Joseph's are fortunate in having a large number of good committed lectors who take the ministry seriously. We were reminded that there are a number of areas where we could do better. For example, we should always try to have one reader per reading because every reading is different and requires a distinctive preparation and delivery.
In September we will draw up a new set of instructions to get more in line with the diocesan policy and give the ministry of lector the importance that it should have in our celebration of the liturgy.
A human temptation always with us is to fail to see God in the ordinary things in life and instead to seek him in the flamboyant, the unusual or exciting phenomenon. It happened in the time of Jesus, as we hear in today's gospel. His own townspeople could not accept that the boy who grew to manhood among them could have anything worthwhile to say, not to mind being a messenger from God and indeed, his own Son. They were blinded by familiarity.
It happens in all our lives. We fail to recognise true greatness or genuine needs in those with whom we live most closely. It is sometimes harder to give the travelling family, camped down the road, clean water than to send money to dig a well for the Sudanese. Yet, both are children of the one Father, our creator.
We may admire Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus to carry the cross and even envy his role while we are content to drive past the old lady on the roadside hitching a lift to visit her husband in hospital.
Often the longing to touch the presence of God sends us searching for visions and apparitions in faraway or nearby places while his guaranteed presence in the eucharist is ignored in local churches. The longing for excitement blinds us to the fundamental reality of the sacraments he has left us.
Where will we see God today? Where will we serve him? Will we recognise him living in those whose lives touch ours today? Will we be like the Nazarenes who would not accept one of their own as a gift from God?
Today we celebrate the feast of the two men, who more than any others, could be said to be the founders of the Christian Church. St Peter was chosen by Christ Himself as the first leader, or as we know by his title today, the Pope. He was an impulsive man, tending to rush in without thinking and then later regret what he had done. I think we all have a great love for Peter because he was so human in all that he did. He had his faults and failings but he was always capable of great generosity and he had a great love of Jesus for whom he was eventually to give his life.
Paul was from a very devout Jewish background, brought up on the law and living his life according to the law. He started out wanting to wipe out all Christians and the road to Damascus came as a great shock to him but he was humble enough to change his strongly held views. From hating the Christian church to being the first great missionary, he was the one who brought the faith to so many new places.
In so many ways Peter and Paul were very different. As far as we are aware, they only met a few times and that was to resolve disputes. They were united in their love of Jesus and they were prepared to spend their whole lives working for the cause of Jesus. They also shared the same death, both dying the death of martyrdom.
Today we give thanks for their lives and faith and try to follow their example.
Last year when David was ordained a Deacon, I told you that we would have more people coming from outside the parish for his ordination to the priesthood this year. This has proved to be the case as more of David's family and friends are coming in July. There will also be more people coming from the diocese. This means that we will have fewer places available for members of the parish. We promised an invitation to all of those who came last year and I am glad to say that we have been able to do this. However, I regret to say that we are unable to extend the invitation to anyone else. I hope parishioners who are not included in the above categories will understand that the Church will be full, so we are unable to extend an open invitation to the parish.
However, on Sunday 20th July, David will be celebrating the 10.45am Mass here in St Joseph's as his first Mass. I am very pleased to invite all of the parish to that Mass. At the end of Mass, Fr David (as he will then be) will give an individual first blessing to all who wish to receive it. After Mass there will be a buffet reception in the Parish Centre to which you are all invited.
For myself, I am very much looking forward to the whole ordination weekend. It will be a milestone in the life of the parish and should bring many blessings to our parish.
Finally, many of you have asked what you should give David as a gift. I think the most sensible way is to have a voluntary collection on Sunday 13th July. The parish can present him with a cheque at his first Mass so he can choose something that he will need in his new parish.
Bishop Crispian, in response to the recordation of the Deanery Pastoral Council of the old East Berks. has established two new Deaneries: South Berks. and Windsor and Maidenhead. Our new deanery consists of four parishes: St Joseph's and St Edmund Campion in Maidenhead, Thomas More, Twyford and St Edwards, Windsor. I have been appointed Dean.
Many people have asked, "What is a Deanery?" It is a local grouping of parishes that work together on local issues and relate through the Dean to the Bishop and the Diocese. The Deanery works best when it has its own Deanery Pastoral Council made up of priests, deacons and lay people. Usually under the chairmanship of a lay person.
One of the first tasks of the new deanery will be the establishment of a Deanery Pastoral Council. Clearly the first step is to gather together the local members of the old council in order to plan ahead for the new one. It will be important for the new council to be closely linked to our Parish Pastoral Councils.
The life of the Catholic Church is changing in many ways, one being that we have less priests than we had in the past, and in the future every parish may not have its own priest. It may be that a priest will have to be shared between two parishes therefore a different way to administer parishes would be needed. Whatever shape the future takes, it will mean that parishes will have to work closer together and what should be done together should not be done alone.
Tomorrow our parish pilgrimage leaves for Lourdes. Pilgrimages have always been part of the Christian life. In some way the journey of the pilgrimage is a reminder to us of our journey through life. We are called to conversion in our lives and maybe the pilgrimage is an urgent call to take that conversion seriously.
Our parish pilgrimage is not just for those who travel in the name of St Joseph's parish. Part of their task will be to pray for all the members of the parish. It will also be the task of those who stay at home to join in prayer for those who travel.
We will take petitions for anyone in the parish who would like any of their intentions prayed for and remembered in Lourdes. Please put your petitions into a sealed envelope and drop it into the Presbytery this Sunday evening. (Please do not put any money in the envelope).
Today we celebrate Pentecost day, the birthday of the Church. It is a day for us to rejoice that we are part of that now worldwide church, and we all resolve to be more active members of that church.
I was privileged to sit in on the final meeting of our guided prayer week. It was a very moving meeting with people sharing openly where their prayer had taken them during the week. I am always amazed at such time, the depths of people's prayer and the different ways that God speaks to them. I know that the week was very much a blessing on those who took part and from that a blessing on the whole parish.
The big question that was left in my mind was, why did only five people take part? Many different reasons were given to me; some people say that they know how to pray and don't need any help. All I can say is how lucky they are because my experience is that I need a lot of help and without that help, I would make little progress. I can understand those who say that they don't have time for prayer but my question is: When will there ever be time? Others tell me that they find the words guided prayer, off putting and that it would be better perhaps, if we talked about a parish retreat.
I am sure that there are many people in this parish who pray regularly. I would be surprised in some way, if they do not want to share prayer with others and welcome support in learning more about prayer and new ways of praying. For myself, I find it a great support to pray with others. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who wants to be involved in prayer, in sharing and learning new ways. Finally, I don't believe that we can really develop as a parish unless we have deep personal prayer lives.
In today's gospel, Jesus points out the truth to us that we cannot live and survive on our own. We are social creatures who are interdependent on other people. Sometimes in our lives we depend totally on others for our very survival as we had to as young babies. As we grow into adulthood, we need people in a different way, more for support and friendship. With the onset of old age we again become more dependent on others.
There are lessons here for us as a parish. We are a group of people gathered together through our common belief. Some of our members have much to offer while others need a lot of caring. Our parish works best when we acknowledge our need of each other and when together we can achieve so much more than working on our own.
At times, every community experiences certain tensions and disagreements. These should never be so great that we cannot support each other and work together; otherwise our community will fracture and fall apart.
From time to time, it is good for us to look at our blessings and acknowledge our strengths. Yes, we do need to be aware of our shortcomings and see where we can improve, but we should always be seen as builders rather than destroyers.
This Sunday, the focus on the liturgy is on the risen Christ as Good Shepherd. It is a continuous celebration of Easter but it brings the celebration up to the present day. The good shepherd gathers and cares for His flock, always looking out for the stray and the weak. Good Shepherd Sunday focuses on the Christian vocation. All Christians receive their vocation through their reception of baptism. Each one is called by name to be part of the community of the Church. In that community there are different ministries to help build up the life of the community but these ministries are not more important than the primary vocation from Baptism. Clearly we need to take the reception of Baptism very seriously. It should never be allowed to become a ritual just for the sake of family tradition. Baptism implies a decision to follow Christ and His way of life.
In order for the community to function effectively we need people to fulfil the various ministries that are necessary to build up the life of the community. We are a eucharistic community, our spiritual lives are built and supported by the celebration of the Eucharist and we will always need priests to celebrate the Eucharist. The last 50 years have seen a great decline in the number of priests in the Western world. I am sure that there are many reasons for this decline but one of the positive side effects is the opportunity that has been offered to so many other ministries in the life of the parish community.
This year as we celebrate Jesus as our Good Shepherd, we all need to pray that we will answer the call that we have received so that we can find and live our vocation in the life of the Church. The best parishes to supply new priests are those that are strong and active, where the gospel is seen to be lived. For our church to continue to grow, we will always need priests to continue to celebrate the Eucharist.
In 1972 a plane carrying a Uruguyan rugby team crashed into the Andes. Twenty eight men survived the crash. They faced the sub-zero weather conditions and injuries. They heard on the radio that after eight days they had stopped looking for them. Sadly an avalanche killed twelve more of them. Those that remained formed an orderly community working and praying together. None of them had been particularly religious before the ordeal but now they prayed with passion. When the weather broke months later they elected two men to go for help. Days later they were rescued. All were amazed that they were alive. Though they suffered greatly they believed that all would be well.
This story reveals the remarkable potential of faith even in a suffering. No one could believe that they were alive through all the suffering and loss. Thousands of people avoid the challenge of faith because they know the cost that goes with believing. For many people faith is not the problem but the implicit painful challenge that goes with it. Today's readings dwell on the supreme model of 'present cross' and 'future Easter'. The Emmaus story illustrates the transformation that faith brings. Depressed disciples come to know the love of God in the breaking of the bread. In our lives we all experience loss and pain but the message of Easter is that resurrection is not far behind. The lost rugby team never gave up hope in being found and they waited months for their Easter. It was well worth waiting for!
Contact Details
Parish Priest: Fr. Tom McGrath, Tel: 01628 783988
Parish Office: 01628 783988 Fax: 01628 776863 (Monday to Friday 9.am to 12 noon)
Parish Centre: 01628 636312 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 12.30pm)