CARE IN THE MONASTERY:

We all know that in recent times much has changed in the way we understand our Christian vocation and interact with one another. When Andrew and I joined the Redemptorists in 1964, although our Congregation is an Active Religious Order in contradistinction to a Monastic Order, at home we lived a monastic life and were self-contained. There was a strict enclosure, which meant that women could not enter the house, and we had teams of brothers in all our communities who looked after the practicalities, including the cooking. Those days have long since passed.The only brothers here in recent times were Bro William, who died in 2023, and Bro Michael and he is now stationed in Birmingham.

Twenty-eight years ago the first of our present team of housekeepers, Lynne Butler, began working at Bishop Eton. A year later, Lynn Hitchmough joined her and a year after that, Cheryle Smith joined the team. To say that they have formed the most wonderfully loyal team is an understatement. We are deeply indebted to them for over eighty years of loving care and service. Redemptorists are sometimes called ‘Liguori’s Allsorts’ after our Founder, Saint Alphonus Liguori, and indeed we are. No matter that we come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and with all sorts of eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, they have faithfully seen us through those years, keeping the house immaculate and responding to all our needs. Lynne has known and lovingly supported twenty confrères who, hopefully, have gone to their eternal home and are now praying for her and for us. I am sharing all this with you because Lynne is due to retire on 28 February, and we are hoping to find someone who would like to join the team and continue the good work. If you may be that person or know someone who may be interested, please contact either Fr Andrew or me, and we can talk things over. The contract is for 20 hours per week and Lynne has been coming in at around 7.00am and working her four hours from Monday to Friday. However, we can be flexible regarding the hours and days, and nowadays, we do have the additional support of carers from ‘Different Care’ coming in four times a day for those confrères who need specialised support.

OCTAVE OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY:

This special time runs from this Saturday until next Saturday (25 January), the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. As you know, I truly believe the work of Christ’s saving presence among us is entirely explained in our openness to Christ’s presence, working through us to bring healing, reconciliation, unity and peace wherever we find division and brokenness. Hence, my utter commitment to the work of ecumenism, celebrated each year in a special way with this Octave of Prayer. Once again, we will have our special prayer at each Mass during the eight days.

Also, I urge you all to see whether it is possible for you and your families to join our brothers and sisters in the neighbouring Christian communities in Childwall and Woolton for our Service together on TUESDAY EVENING AT 7.00PM IN THE CHAPEL OF HOPE UNIVERSITY. The Service this year has been prepared by the Churches of Burkino Faso and the theme is simply: “Go and Do Likewise”.(https://ctbi.org.uk/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity/)

We will conclude the week with an extra Mass to celebrate the Conversion of Saint Paul in Bishop Eton on Saturday at  12 noon.

WEATHER PERMITTING

The forecast for the next few days is somewhat alarming and may disrupt all our lives. The schools are due to reassemble next week, so as I welcome everyone back for the new term, may I especially welcome our newly appointed Head Teacher at Bishop Eton, Mrs Rachel Davidson. We wish her every happiness and once again thank Mr Paul Loughran for his support over the past year. I am also happy to assure you that Mr Neil Metcalf wishes us well as he continues quietly to rebuild his life. The Redemptorist Province Meeting is due to take place in Perth from Monday to Friday of this coming week. Fr Andrew and I are hoping to be able to take Frs Jim Casey and Michael Henesy to Scotland and Fr Tony Cassidy has happily offered to hold the fort and celebrate the noon Masses in both parishes throughout the week. Obviously, we will have to monitor the situation and if the advice is strongly against travelling on certain days, then we will have to weigh up the options and adjust our plans accordingly. We will not take any risks. 

DEACON BERNARD

Firstly, I must apologise to Deacon Bernard Rigby for getting my numbers mixed up on my recorded message this week. He was ordained to the diaconate in July 2008 and first served with Mgr John Butchard in Holy Rosary, Aintree, before moving to Woolton, but he joined St Mary’s on 1 October 2012 and has served our community with love and utter devotedness for the past twelve years. At the age of 80, he is now retiring and will preach his last homily at the 11.00am Mass on the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). We will mark the occasion with a celebration that day.

THE NEW YEAR – A JUBILEE YEAR

Having completed his commitments in the Diocese of Hallam, Bishop Ralph joined us, as usual, for our Christmas celebrations. We were all able to relax as we looked back with joy and satisfaction on how blessed the Christmas programme in the churches had been. Once again, I want to thank all of you who went to so much trouble to ensure that the churches looked resplendent, and the liturgies were fitting celebrations for the great Feast. Bishop Ralph, in keeping with all our bishops, has had to return to Sheffield this weekend to launch the Year of Jubilee, called by Pope Francis and which Archbishop Malcolm explained in his recent Pastoral Letter.

It is the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament which introduces the idea of the Jubilee every 25 years, and for the past 700 years Jubilee Years have become part of the calendars in the Catholic Church, with Pope Boniface VIII declaring the year 1300 a Jubilee Year. Certainly, our world needs a year of forgiveness and reconciliation and if we can contribute to that process in any way, we will surely be blessed accordingly. We will look for ways in which we may be able to encourage one another in celebrating this special year as ‘pilgrims of hope’. For now, may I simply wish you all every blessing as we enter 2025. You will be pleased to know that Fr Tom Molloy was discharged from hospital on Christmas Eve and is back in the community. However, he remains confined to his room and would appreciate your prayers that he can regain his strength.

 WITH FR ANDREW AND THE WHOLE REDEMPTORIST COMMUNITY I WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND GRACE FILLED NEW YEAR

A CHRISTMAS GREETING FROM ALL THE REDEMPTORISTS

On behalf of Fr Andrew Burns (Rector) and all the Redemptorists at Bishop Eton, once again I wish you and your families every blessing with the peace and joy of CHRISTMAS.

Each year, at this time, you shower us with gifts and messages of good-will and we want you to know that we are immensely grateful. It is a great privilege for us to be able to continue to serve the two parishes of Bishop Eton and St Mary’s and we promise to continue to do all we can to be there for you in the months and years ahead.

It may be that as I grow older, I am getting more and more nostalgic, but speaking to the children this year, I recalled an event in my childhood, when Bro Rogation, one of the De la Salle Brothers who taught me, asked a group of us to make an ecumenical gesture and request that the Anglican Ministers in our area put up a poster, which simply read: PUT CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS! In the last days leading up to Christmas, on my way to school, proudly I would pass these posters on their church notice boards and feel that I had done my little bit for Christmas that year! Of course, the message holds good nearly 70 years later. Certainly, our children got the message and were able to tell me that the word shortens the phrase CHRIST’S MASS. It then becomes obvious that the best way we can celebrate the Feast is by responding to the invitation and celebrating Mass together. We are keeping the now established Mass timetable of NINE MASSES through Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning in the two churches.

GIFT AID FOR THE REDEMPTORISTS:

As taxpayers, many of you are good enough to ensure that your regular contributions to the parishes are supported by the Gift Aid supplement, which means that your contributions increase by 25%: money we are able to claim back from the Government. This is not something that we have pursued when it comes to contributions to the Redemptorist family and clearly, in these straightened times, it would make a considerable difference to us: for example, on Christmas Day the collection is for the Redemptorist family.

Read more: Fr Tim - Gift Aid for the Redemptorists

GAUDETE SUNDAY:

When Andrew and I were students, the priest in charge of the seminary at Hawkstone was a Fr Patrick Meehan. As well as trying to teach us some philosophy, every Sunday, he gave us a conference. I must confess that I do not recall a huge amount of the wisdom he imparted, but I do recall that each year on Gaudete Sunday in Advent and on Laetare Sunday in Lent, he would remind us that the Church was a great psychologist because midway through these seasons of reflection and penance, we are invited to take a breather. In St Mary’s we are able to demonstrate the mood visibly with the wonderful rose vestments, which you may remember I used for the recorded Masses during the lockdown days of Covid. I sincerely hope that your Advent is going well and that this weekend you can calmly take stock and enjoy the run-in to Christmas. For myself, I am surprised at how smooth everything seems to be this year. I have not tried to do everything that I did in the past, not least because I cannot be in two places at once, but also because I have listened to the many people who have suggested that I need to get a better balance to the workload. At the same time, I want to say another big ‘thank you’ to the staff in our schools. The Christmas Story provides us with the great opportunity to teach our children that our belief is not in a God who is far away in the clouds, but who loves us so much that he entered quietly into our world as one of us. We can never fully grasp the mystery, yet if we can begin to treasure the wonder of it all, even at an early age, it shapes the whole of our lives.

Accordingly, I encourage everyone to ensure that amidst all the other Christmas decorations, you find a quiet corner in your home where the crib becomes the focus for some family prayer throughout the Christmas season. I recall with gratitude how many of you took up the invitation to find a sacred space in the home, where we would try to gather for prayer at 7.00pm throughout the pandemic. Certainly, the Redemptorist community was very conscious of that sense of unity with you all at that time. Enjoy the rest of Advent and please take note of all the remaining events as we prepare for the Great Feast, including the fact that the Christmas Mass timetable is the same as it has been for the past few years.

WAITING IN EXPECTATION

I have shared with you before my conviction that the Advent Season perfectly reflects the human condition. We spend our lives striving to understand the mystery of ourselves and the world in which we live, conscious that we can never fully fathom the depths of the mystery. For those of us blessed with the gift of faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world, there is the richness of all that comes to us through the Scriptures and the history of God’s people. His coming two thousand years ago is the cause of our rejoicing as we prepare to celebrate his birth in Bethlehem. That was the first ‘Advent’ or ‘Coming’, but, of course, the story continues to be written, and we now await the second ‘Coming’: then the promise is that Christ will come in glory. You will notice how often this is referred to in the liturgy at this time of the year. Jesus was clear that only his Father in Heaven knows when everything will be resolved and “God will be all in all.” We do live our lives waiting and wondering, hoping and trusting, and it comes home to me every time I celebrate a funeral with you. St Paul assured us that what awaits us is beyond our imagination and yet we hear those prophetic voices in the Scriptures imagining for us, most notably in the Book of Revelation.

Read more: Fr Tim - Waiting in anticipation

PRAYERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED:

We have had news of many who have died in recent days: please pray for the repose of their souls and for their grieving families:

Fr Tom Molloy’s brother, Daniel, died in Ireland last Sunday: his funeral is today, 29 November. Daniel McCaughley died on 18 November: by a remarkable coincidence, he happened to have attended school with Fr Molloy in Belfast. His funeral is next Wednesday (4 December). Joyce McArdle, Nancy O’Hare and Desmond Keogh have also died this week. Nancy’s funeral will be at 11.00am on 13 December, Joyce’s funeral will be on 18 December and Desmond’s is still to be arranged. We also received news of the death of Harry Minahan on 20 November. Many will remember him carrying his bags with him: sadly, he was involved in a traffic accident and will be buried from Christ the King.