Newsletter

Parish Priest Fr John McElhone 0191 2623820
Resident Priest: Fr Pat O’Connell
Deacon: Frank Forde
email: johnmcelhone@btconnect.com
www.wallsend-aidettes.co.uk
Our Lady and St Aidan
& St Bernadette’s
Parish Communities
22nd February 2015
First Week of Lent
It’s not as difficult as you
might think. Below you will
find some ideas. Tell us if
you can improve upon them
P
A
R
I
S
H
N
E
W
S
Could you go without
safe water for 40
days Take a jar and
add to it each day. Encourage the people you
work alongside to join
in.
Identify and read a
challenging book
throughout Lent that
will nourish and enrich
your spiritual life. Make
it a time when you both
read and reflect.
Come to our soup lunch
on Friday. A variety
will be on offer and all
we ask is a donation to
CAFOD.
Make a list of those
parts of your life that
don’t seem right just
now. Decide which need
God’s grace—and what you can
change yourself.
You can still enjoy
chocolate during Lent.
Ethically made chocolate tastes so much
better. Look for the
FairTrade
label
Dieting and fasting
are not the same. You
fast when you take
the focus off self and
reach out to others.
Make that call you
have been putting off.
Spend an
evening
slimming down your wardrobe and charity shop
what you no longer need
and could be used by
someone else.
w/c 23rd
February
St Aidan’s
St Bernadette’s
Mon
10.30am
Funeral Mass for Eileen Henry
at St Columba’s (10.30 am)
Wed
9.30am
Olive Murphy
Thurs
10.00am
Fri
9.30am
Saturday
6.30pm
Sunday
David Alexander Kippax
Laurence Wynne
People of the Parish
9.30am
Gerald Newton
11.15am
Rose Hui Chung
Please pray for those who are ill and/or housebound: Vera Brady, Ann
Marie Moon, Jim Glachan, Sheila McCashin, Winnie Shaw, Catherine
Smith, Rachel McGilligan, Martin Summerly, Kathleen Durie and diocesan priests who are ill.
The Season of Lent is
an ideal time to think
about those who are in
need. We thank those
who generously contribute to the Food Bank
each week. If you don't
regularly, contribute perhaps now is the time to
start?
Why not make each Friday a fast day and join us in St Aidan’s
Parish Room for a Soup Lunch. Donations will be taken towards our CAFOD Lenten collection. Soup will be served from
12 noon until 1.30pm—and you can be sure it will be homemade! First lunch on Friday 27th February. The money raised
for CAFOD over the next three months will attract matched
funding from the government up to the sum of £5m.
Each Tuesday morning at 11am, a small group meet in St
Aidan’s to reflect upon the Mass readings for the following
Sunday. They tell me that it helps them to better understand the Readings when they are at Mass. It’s not a discussion group. You won’t be expected to speak. You will
learn over a period of time to be comfortable with the silence built into the session. It’s really relaxing.
We are now entering Fairtrade Fortnight. Don’t forget
this year the focus is upon the basic goods such as
Tea,Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa. But no matter what you
buy that is Fairtrade it is helping our brothers and sisters across the world earn a fair living from their labour.
What would you want affluent (in comparison) European people to do if you were in their position? I would
want them to think Fairtrade.
Prominent during Pope Francis’ tour of the Philippines was
the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle who
will be visiting St Mary’s Cathedral on Monday 9th March.
He will preside at the 12.05pm Mass and will also speak at
an evening celebration on the same day at 7pm. Cardinal
Tagle is an inspiring communicator and is well respected
for his involvement in many social issues and his work
among the poor.