Welcome to The Parish of the Nativity of the Lord

Willkommen! Vítejte! Bienvenido! Bienvenue! Dobrodošli! Benvenuti! üdvözöljük! Welkom! Witamy Serdecznie! Bom Dia!

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 29th August 2010

The New Clergy Team

Earlier this summer the departure of Fr. Kevin in September to a new appointment as Parish Priest of The Sacred Heart, Hove was announced. For various reasons we were unable at that time to announce who his successor would be.

Now, we are pleased to say that Fr. Andrew Moss, recently ordained priest of our diocese, has been appointed to our parish and will be with us for the beginning of 2011. A brief biography of Fr. Andrew can be read below.

For the remainder of 2010, Fr. Laurence, Fr. Charles and Deacon Tim will be the clergy team. It is a good moment perhaps to reflect that as a result of all our efforts of the past few years we can accommodate this situation without triggering a parish crisis. We will however ease the burden a little by making use of some supply help for the weekends, and Fr. Andrew’s advance assistance with the Christmas Masses.

Next weekend will be Fr. Kevin’s last with us, but he will return for a farewell evening Mass on the Feast of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Friday 1st October at 7pm in St. Teresa’s Church, Merstham.

A Note about Weekday Masses and Mass Intentions

With only Fr. Laurence and Fr. Charles available, the reduced ‘summer’ schedule of weekday Masses will need now to continue until the end of the year. Mass will be available somewhere in the parish every day (with rare exceptions). This will also impact on our ability to accommodate requests for Mass intentions. Dates and locations may have to be changed. More details about the arrangements for Mass intentions will follow shortly.

Fr. Andrew Moss picture

New Member of Parish Clergy Team

We are very pleased to be able to announce that Fr Andrew Moss is to be appointed to the parish clergy team. He is currently completing further studies in Canon Law in Ottawa (Canada) and will be joining the parish in December in time for the Christmas liturgies.

Fr Andrew hails originally from Nottingham, moving to the south coast as part of his teaching career. Baptised a Catholic as an infant, he subsequently enjoyed a somewhat eclectic faith journey, at various times being an atheist, Baptist and Anglican, before finally completing his sacraments of initiation in 2001 at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Brighton.

Discerning a call to the priesthood, Fr Andrew trained at the English College in Rome and was ordained priest in January 2010. He is no stranger to the area, having once worked as a music teacher at the RNIB school in Redhill. He brings many years experience as a liturgical musician, including a stint as resident musician at Iona Abbey in the late 90's, and looks forward to explaining the reasons why a musician would ever wish to study Canon Law!

VOTING FOR PARISH JUSTICE & PEACE PROJECTS

Even though, as a Parish, we support many charities through the year we felt that it would be good to link ourselves with some projects in a more direct and personal way. Some months ago the Parish J & P Group invited parishioners to indicate any local or oversees social action projects that they feel are particularly worthy of our support. From this we have 6 projects, 3 local and 3 overseas.

We would like to now invite you all to vote on which of these we should support in the coming 2 year period. Support will be given via occasional fundraising social events and through any personal contributions people wish to make. As far as possible updates will be given back to the parish from the projects supported. At the back of each church is a display outlining the 6 projects [also on the Parish Website]. Please use the blue voting slips (one per person) and place in the accompanying boxes at back of church before the end of September. Many Thanks. Parish J & P Group

SVP AWARENESS MONTH 2010

SVP Poster 1

The St Vincent de Paul Society in England and Wales has approx 10,000 members who, last year made over 550.000 visits to those in need. September is SVP Awareness Month and the theme this year is “Holding their hopes in our hands”. Finding loving and serving God in our communities is fundamental to the Society’s work.

The SVP is always in need of new members to carry out this work so if you would like to find out more, please contact: PAMELA SCHWENK: 01737 789697; RAY HUSSEY: 01737 761839; SVP National Office on 0207 407 4644 or email info@svp.org.uk

The historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI is fast approaching. We are delighted that 181 parishioners will be joining the crowds gathering for the 2 main events, London and Birmingham. The total number of pilgrims from our Diocese will be 2500 to London and 1700 to Birmingham.

Let us all pray in the coming weeks for the success of the visit and the preparations underway - that it will be for our Church and for the whole country a time of blessing and a Spirit led opportunity for healing of hurts and renewal of faith, hope and charity for us all. Colour booklets and prayer cards are available at the back of church to use in the family and in the parish.

We welcome young and not so young to explore the Catholic faith and seek to find out whether they should become members of the Catholic community. We are called upon to bring the Good News to all we meet, so if you know someone who might be interested in becoming a Catholic or at least finding out more about the Catholic Church, then do suggest to them that they consider such an exploration and suggest that they speak to any of the clergy. Our formal RCIA programme, designed to meet the needs of such people, re-starts in September, so now is a really good time to look think about this - click here to find out more

Welcome to the Parish of the Nativity of the Lord, a community of over 2000 Roman Catholics across three Churches in Reigate, Merstham and Redhill in Surrey.

Sunday Mass is celebrated in all three Churches - St Joseph’s in Redhill, The Holy Family in Reigate, and St Teresa’s of the Child Jesus in Merstham. Together the Parish is committed to celebrating the Catholic faith as part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, in communion with the Bishop Kieran Conry.

Whether you are new to the parish or an existing church member, please explore our individual Church websites to join in our faith celebration and to find out how you can get the most out of the Parish community.