Parish of the Sacred Heart and Saint Margaret Mary, Aston Parish Priest: Fr. Stephen Pimlott Telephone (0121) 327 0235 [email protected] website www.sacredheartaston.com

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of - Registered Charity No. 234216

32nd SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME 5th/6th November Day Aston Nechells Intention Saturday 12.30 am Martin Goulding 6.00 pm Jim O’Grady Sunday 10.00 am People of Parish Monday 9.30 am Daphne Hall Tuesday No Mass Wednesday (school) 9.30 am Luke Murray Mass in St. Joseph’s school Thursday (school) 9.30 am Sr. Immaculata Ozuzumba Mass in Sacred heart school

6.30 pm Mass at St. Vincent’s Friday 9.30 am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Day of abstinence 10.00 am John Joyce 11.45 am Eucharistic Service

33rd SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME 12th/13th November Day Aston Nechells Intention Saturday 12.30 pm Marion Levell’s intentions 6.00 pm People of Parish SUNDAY 10.00 am Andrew Dobb

Please Pray for the sick; Anne Stapleton, Bridie Murphy, Frances Goulding, Sheila O’Reilly, Elsie Levell, Marion Levell, Peter McKernan, Mary Joyce, Bernadette Harnett, Lisa Brean, May Walker, Nirosha Pathiraja, William Parish, Annie Kennedy, Joyce Johnson, Teresa Francis, Bill Lawton, Michael O’Connor, Marie Parish.

SACRED HEART COLLECTIONS

The collection last weekend came to £264.80 and the Fiver a month collection came to £315.27 This weekend we have a second collection for the Johnson Fund. This is the fund which supports the retired and sick Diocesan priests, so please support it generously. The people of the diocese is its sole source of income. There are yellow envelopes for you to use if you are a taxpayer. Don’t forget to fill it your details.

VOLUNTEERS …..We need plenty of volunteers to help with the running of the Church: Here are some we need together with the co-ordinator. Please contact the co-ordinator if you think you might be able to help. TASK Co-ordinator Telephone Church cleaning Teresa O’Gorman 07585 907706 Counting collection Mary Crotty Children’s Liturgy Sheila McKernan 0121 344 3028 Visiting sick & housebound Sheila McKernan 0121 344 3028 Readers Mary & Kate McManus 0121 523 9613 Welcoming ministry Shirleyni 07583 177413 Altar Servers Peter McKernan & Sr. Clare 0121 344 3028 Baptism Preparation Fr. Stephen 0121 327 0235

Website & facebook – please look at our parish website. We need to get facebook going for the Church so please start using it. You register through the website. THE SECOND SATURDAY CONVENTION takes place this coming Saturday 12th November at the Bethel Convention Centre in Kelvin Way, West Bromwich. It starts at 8 am. Mass at 9. am. Finish 4.30 pm. It is near and railway station

Annual Blessing of Graves Oscott 5th November 3 00pm Abbey 6th November 1 00pm Newhall 13th November 3 00pm St. Joseph’s 20th November 3.00pm Witton 27th November 3 00pm Handsworth to be confirmed

Parish News

THE GIFT – A LIFE IN THE SPIRIT COURSE There will be a special Prayer & Praise Service and Mass on Thursday 10th November at 6.30 pm at St. Vincent’s to which you are all invited, whether you attended the course or not.

SACRED HEART CHURCH ROOF UPDATE We have appointed architects who are in the process of drawing up the schedule of works so that it can go to tender. We would hope to have the tenders in by Christmas or soon after. Then we shall know exactly what it is going to cost. We hope that work will start in the spring. We still have a lot of money to raise (approx. £150,000) and so need to keep raising money. We shall be going ahead with the work. The question is: How big will our overdraft be?

DAILY EXPOSITION. In these days of political and economic uncertainty, it is important that all Catholics are praying for our country and that it may be protected from the schemes of the evil one. Come to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Any time between 10.00 am – 5.00 pm usually in the Presbytery, or between 8.00 pm – midnight usually in the Presbytery. Sometimes it may be in the undercroft. Ring the appropriate bell or if no reply try the other one.

Please pray for Jayden Mateta who will be baptised at Sacred Heart after the Mass this Sunday morning and for his parents and godparents.

The Lunch Club Is Back!

The Lunch Club is held on Tuesday 11.45 – 1.30 at Sacred Heart School. It is intended for Senior Citizens and Parishioners, especially for those living alone, who would welcome the opportunity to meet with others for a tasty cooked lunch – a main course and dessert - and a social activity. Members are asked to pay just £3.50 towards the costs of the food. If you are interested in joining, please call the school on 0121 356 4721 before 9.30 on the Tuesday to book a place.

St Edmund Campion Catholic School and Sixth Form Centre have the following support staff vacancies: A part time Technician to primarily support Food Technology working 10 hours per week, term time only. A Level 3 Qualified Teaching Assistant/Raising Achievement Assistant to work 32.5 hours per week, term time only (part time/job share would be considered). For more information please contact the School Office on 0121 464 7700.

MARCH FOR LIFE FUND RAISING CONCERT with internationally famous singer and guitarist Martin Aelred, who has performed for HRH Prince Charles, The United Nations and for the Pope. Saturday 3rd December. Doors open 7 pm at St. Anne’s Centre, Alcester Street, Digbeth, B12 0PH. Booking required, places limited. Tickets £10. To book tickets email [email protected] or phone Isabel on 07773501721.

First reading 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14 There were seven brothers who were arrested with their mother. The king tried to force them to taste pig’s flesh, which the Law forbids, by torturing them with whips and scourges. One of them, acting as spokesman for the others, said, ‘What are you trying to find out from us? We are prepared to die rather than break the laws of our ancestors.’ With his last breath the second brother exclaimed, ‘Inhuman fiend, you may discharge us from this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up, since it is for his laws that we die, to live again for ever.’ After him, they amused themselves with the third, who on being asked for his tongue promptly thrust it out and boldly held out his hands, with these honourable words, ‘It was heaven that gave me these limbs; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.’ The king and his attendants were astounded at the young man’s courage and his utter indifference to suffering. When this one was dead they subjected the fourth to the same savage torture. When he neared his end he cried, ‘Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men’s hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life.’

Psalm 16:1,5-6,8,15

I shall be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord.

Second reading 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who has given us his love and, through his grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you in everything good that you do or say. Finally, brothers, pray for us; pray that the Lord’s message may spread quickly, and be received with honour as it was among you; and pray that we may be preserved from the interference of bigoted and evil people, for faith is not given to everyone. But the Lord is faithful, and he will give you strength and guard you from the evil one, and we, in the Lord, have every confidence that you are doing and will go on doing all that we tell you. May the Lord turn your hearts towards the love of God and the fortitude of Christ.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia! Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 20:27-38 Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached him and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’ Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.’

Reflection There were various people who were following Jesus. One set of them were the Sadducees. They belonged to an aristocratic set of priestly families, who did not accept the idea of Resurrection from the dead. So they raise a legalistic question on the law of the Levirate marriage. Their concern was not for the seven brothers who died, nor the lady who could not bear a child; rather it was a trap for Jesus. Jesus reminds them that we require the eyes of faith and live our present life more zestfully. Only God can open our eyes, and enrich us in faith, not our intelligence alone.

What’s going on in the Diocese

40 DAYS FOR LIFE finishes this Sunday. There will be a closing Vigil of Stations of the Cross at 6.45 pm around the Abortion clinic in Arthur Road, Edgbaston and a get together in a local pub afterwards for those who wish.

SERIES OF PUBLIC TALKS for the Year of Mercy at St. Mary’s College, Oscott. Monday 7th November - The Year of Mercy – the way ahead by Canon David Oakley The talk begins at 8 pm with Compline at 9 pm.

The deanery requiem for the souls of departed priests who have served in this area takes places at St. Michael’s on Tuesday this week 8th November at 11.30 am. You are welcome to attend.

A SAINT FOR THE MIDLANDS Blessed John Henry Newman. 3 events, 3 locations. 1. Saturday 1st October at Oscott College 2.00 pm exhibition open, talks at 3.00 pm. 2. Monday 14th November at Newman University 6.00 pm exhibition 7.00 pm talks. 3. Saturday 26th November at Maryvale Institute 2.00 pm exhibition talks 3.00 pm.

CLOSING THE DOORS OF MERCY. The Door of Mercy at St. Chad’s will be closed by the Archbishop on Sunday 20th November. I hope that the Year of Mercy has been a great blessing to you and that you have entered more deeply into the loving mercy and forgiveness of God and that the Sacrament of Reconciliation has become a more valued part of your Christian life.

ADRENALINE - Leadership Programme with NCS for 16 & 17 year olds This Autumn Soli are offering an intensive positive personal development programme which is part of the National Citizen Service initiative (NCS). Two exciting leadership residential programmes with outward bounds adventure and digging deeper into our social consciousness and followed by dynamic tailor made social action project with Soli & Fr Hudsons Care with a focus on the elderly and refugees. This leadership programme for 16 and 17 year olds will be offered for FREE this Autumn because of the funding from NCS. We would welcome all young people especially with extra needs/ from challenging back grounds, and will also assist with transport. The NCS programme is a great boost for a student's UCAS, their CVs and the residential elements count towards the Gold Duke of Edinburgh. We are looking forward to running four sets of dates throughout Autumn, all of these dates are offered outside of school time. Please see Fr. Stephen, if you might be interested in this.

NATIONAL 2017 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATORY 8 DAY FATIMA PILGRIMAGE 10TH 17TH July £725 with Fr. Gerard Kelly and Bishop Robert Byrne. For further information contact Mrs. Brigid McKenna on 0121 429 4145.