Dear friends,
As we bask this week in the heat of the summer sun, so let us respond in faith to the Lord’s invitation to let the light of the Holy Eucharist fall afresh on us at Mass. This weekend, at 6pm on Saturday, and at 10.30am on Sunday morning, we will continue our exploration of the Gospel theme of Jesus as the bread of life, no one who comes to whom will be hungry, and no one who believes in whom will ever thirst.
Motivated by the warm weather, I have been tidying up the Vicarage garden – and would like to invite you here for drinks and light refreshments after the 6pm Mass for the Assumption on Thursday, 15 August.
Please note that next week on Tuesday and Thursday there will be no public Morning Prayer, as I will be in Walsingham with three of our young people for the Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage: please pray for Jade, Akeelah and Simon, and for all young people and pilgrims – from across the country – taking part. Thank you likewise for your generous gifts of financial support and food for our pilgrimage – of which we now have a sufficient supply: no further donations of food, thank you. (All other services next week will continue as usual.)
Please see me if you would like two complimentary tickets to The View from the Shard, kindly donated by a parishioner: we invite a contribution to parish funds for these tickets, noting that they usually retail at £28.50ea.
Please continue to sign up to contribute to our incoming pastoral assistant Ryan’s welcome box of household essentials, and for the bring-and-share parish lunch after Mass on his first Sunday with us, 1 September. Please sign up similarly for the parish’s return visit to All Saints, Margaret Street on Sunday, 11 August (at 6pm): those travelling together should meet on the platform at Harrow-on-the-Hill station at 4.50pm. Please see Cynthia to reserve a ticket on the coach to Bournemouth with St Andrew, Kingsbury, on Saturday, 17 August – and note that the reduced-price tickets for children are, on this outing, only for under-15s.
There are currently five spaces left on the coach to Walsingham for the Pilgrimage for Healing and Renewal, on Bank Holiday Monday, 26 August: please sign up in church as soon as possible, and – by this coming Sunday, 4 August at the latest – pay me for your coach ticket (£20/£5).
Thank you for your very positive response to this month’s appeal in support of Harrow StreetPastors, which raised an impressive £485. In August, we will be inviting donations in aid of Caritas Bakhita House, an apostolate of the Archdiocese of Westminster named after the patron saint of victims of modern slavery, which since 2015 has provided a place of refuge for women who have experienced violence, trafficking, sexual exploitation and/or modern slavery. Since opening, Caritas Bakhita House has been a home to almost 190 guests, including 14 newborn babies: it has also helped secure prison sentences of more than 188 years for those who traffic and exploit women. You can read more about the valuable work of Caritas Bakhita House by visiting their website, or by picking up a copy of their 2023 Annual Report in church, where you will also find a basket – and Gift Aid Declarations – for your donations.
Our Mass attendance figures for Jan – Jul are now available, and show that our Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) of 65 for the first seven months of the year represents a 20% increase on 2023; we are also now more accurately calculating Usual Sunday Attendance (USA), which stands currently at 58.5 (a 5% increase on 2023 ASA) – but 2 below our target USA of 60.5. Only you – by coming faithfully to Mass Sunday by Sunday, and by inviting and encouraging your fellow parishioners and friends – can help us achieve this target! (Average Weekly Attendance – which includes those who come not on Sunday but during the week, plus those who receive Holy Communion in their own homes, or in hospital – stands currently at 71.)
Please, finally, find attached an information leaflet regarding a performing arts summer school run by Unique Community at Harrow Arts Centre – which is free of charge to children at school in Harrow and in receipt of free school meals.
May the Lord who gives bread to the hungry give you bread from heaven to eat,
Fr Richard