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Starting a Business? Need an Accountant? email: advertising Churches in Sevenoaks, Otford, We can help! @sevrcparish.org.uk Borough Green and west kingsdown Free Initial Consultation Parish Newsletter 10th March 2019 • Business Accounts • Company Accounts • Charities • Book Keeping You must worship the lord your god, and serve him alone. • Payroll • VAT Luke 4:8 • Tax Returns • Restructuring

www.gilbert-allen.co.uk Tel: 01732 770100 or email Kate Zell-Smith [email protected] Zachary Ramsden [email protected]

Parish Lent Talks

The diocesan Centre for Catholic Formation has chosen Sevenoaks as the Kent venue for its series of Lent talks on Pillars of Lent. These will be on Thursday evenings in the Parish Centre; refreshments from 7:30pm, talk at 8:00pm, followed by a discussion. If you can’t make them all, each talk stands alone, so come when you can. Today’s Mass: FIRST SUNDAY of LENT (Year C)

First Reading: an early creed or confession of faith, recalling the rescuing of the people of God in the Exodus. The ‘wandering Aramaean’ refers to Jacob.

Psalm: this is a rare occasion when the psalm refers to the Gospel, not the First Reading. The devil sneakily Thursday 21st March Sebastian Morello on Prayer Thursday 28th March Mark Nash on Fasting quotes it in the third temptation!

Second Reading: we comply with St Paul’s exhortation that our lips should ‘confess that Jesus is the Lord’ during the ‘Lord, have mercy’ (the ‘Kyrie, eleison’) at Mass.

Gospel: Jesus is tempted by the devil in the wilderness for forty days. Pope Benedict XVI wrote that at the heart of these temptations “is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our th Thursday 11 April lives”. Thursday 4th April Pierpaolo Finaldi on Almsgiving Fr David St Thomas of Canterbury Sevenoaks Contacts & organisations

Sunday Mass times: Weekday Mass times: Saturday Monday 8:00am 6:00pm Tuesday 9:30am Parish of St Thomas of Canterbury, Sevenoaks Wednesday 8:00am Sunday www.sevrcparish.org.uk Parish Tel: 01732 454177 Thursday 12:00noon 8:00am (Latin) Friday 8:00am 9:15am ( ) Parish Priest: Fr David Gibbons, KHS Assistant Priest: Fr Paul Okora Saturday 9:30am 11:15am [email protected] [email protected] Granville Road, 6:00pm Sevenoaks TN13 1ER Parish Secretary: Mrs Ingrid La Trobe [email protected]

Presbytery and Parish Office: 12 Granville Road, Sevenoaks, TN13 1ER Adoration: Sacrament of Reconciliation: Parish Office: Mrs Ingrid La Trobe Parish Office hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs & Fri 9:00am - 12noon Monday 8:30am - 12noon Saturday Mon, Wed, Thurs & Fri 6:45pm - 7:45pm 10:00am - 10:30am, 9:00am - 12noon Parish Safeguarding Tuesday 5:15pm - 5:45pm Tel: 01732 454177 Your Acting Parish Safeguarding Representative is Sally Kelly 07814 423383. Thursday 11:00am - 1:00pm [email protected] The Diocesan Safeguarding Coordinator can be contacted on 02072 611606. In an Emergency dial 999. Saturday 8:30am - 10:30am www.sevrcparish.org.uk @7oaksCatholic Adoration: Parents & Toddlers: Anna Kidd 07816 277765; Kelly Barry Authers - [email protected] Sammuller 07521 428112; Paola Webb 07429 160394.

Tuesdays 9.30am - 11.30am, Parish Centre Altar Servers: David Brunning Tel: 01732 465518 MOST HOLY TRINITY [email protected] RACET (Rural Africa Children’s Education Trust): OTFORD Church contacts: MaryAnn Perasso 01959 522337, www.racet.org Bereavement Support Group: A monthly meeting, Mass times: Sunday 9:30am Anne Knight 01959 524488 on the third Monday of each month for all those who The Pilgrims: Teas or lunches, four times a year, held (with Children’s Liturgy of the Word) (Acting Secretary) have been bereaved recently, or a long time ago. Held at St. Thomas’s in the Parish Centre. All older Wed 10:00am [email protected] from 10.30am till noon, Parish Centre, St Thomas’s parishioners are welcome and lifts are available. High Street, Otford Holy Days of Obligation 10:00am Adoration: Friday 11:00am - 12:00noon Church. If you would like more details, please phone Contact: Jackie Pembroke 01732 450197 TN14 5PH either Ronnie Campbell 01732 452988, Sarah Harrison [email protected] or Pat Harman 01959 522357 or Isabelle Parsons 07873 953423. 01732 453902 [email protected].

St Joseph’s Catenians: The Catenians are a social club for Catholic Scripture Fellowship: Reading a Gospel together. BOROUGH GREEN men aged 18 to 108. We also help the parish with Andrew Wilkinson - 07847 652846 Church contact: social events. We always welcome visitors to our Please contact us Mass times: Sunday 9:30am Antoni Offert St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP): (with Children’s Liturgy of the meetings at Knole Park Golf Club on Seal Hollow Tel: O75I3 O4IO75 if you know of someone who would benefit from a visit Word) Road. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of [email protected] or some financial help. We aim to help anyone Western Rd, Borough Green Thurs 10:00am every month at 7.30pm followed by dinner at 8.30pm. irrespective of a person’s religion. Kathie Gonzalez - Holy Days of Obligation 6:00pm TN15 8AG For further information, please contact: [email protected] (01732 761253) [email protected] or on 07834 259 229. Frances Smith - [email protected] Children’s Liturgy of the Word, Sunday Mass: Joan Perkins - [email protected] St Bernadette’s Sevenoaks, 9.15am Mass: West kingsdown Union of Catholic Mothers (UCM): Church contact: Mark O’Prey - [email protected] Borough Green UCM: June Dinmore (President) Mass times: Sunday 11:00am Jill & John Gobel Otford, 9.30am Mass: Tel: 01732 672602 Holy Days of Obligation 11:00am Tel: 01474 853676 Alex Wilson-Beales - Tel: 07789 776602 West Kingsdown UCM: Monica Biggs (President) Rosary: 1st Wed every month at 7:00pm [email protected] Borough Green, 9.30am Mass: [email protected] Fawkham Rd, West Kingsdown Adoration: Wed 7:30pm - 8:30pm Fiona Newton - [email protected]

TN15 6JP Thurs 10:00am - 11:00am Young Disciples: Informal catechesis for school years Finance Committee: Chair: Bill Farren 07787 537350 4 - 9, Sundays after 9.15am Mass in the TV room

Gift Aid: Sean Corrigan upstairs, starts with refreshments. Term time only. St Thomas’ catholic South Park, [email protected] Enia Adeleye - [email protected]

primary school Sevenoaks, TN13 1EH St Thomas’ Pre School Lectio Divina: Kathie Gonzalez Tel: 01732 761253 Further details of organisations are available in our Head: Mrs Debbie Whitehead Headteacher: Mrs Claudia Aquilina Mothers’ Prayers: Mondays, 11.30am at Star House, Parish Handbook and on our website. Tel: 01732 453921 Tel: 01732 779517 Star Hill Road, Sevenoaks. Tel: 01959 532505 Visit us at www.sevrcparish.org.uk www.saintthomas.co.uk [email protected] Readers, Ministers & Welcomers Rota: St Thomas Follow us on Twitter Andrew Pembroke: [email protected] @7oaksCatholic 2 11 Adoremus - second keynote Pa rish NOTICES sainthood, Sanctity - what makes us holy?

In his second keynote address at ‘Adoremus’ in Liverpool last September Bishop Robert Barron said that in the Canon John Bailey RIP earliest days of Christianity, faith was described as a way, a path. When we walk this path as a Christian, we should Contents this Week focus on three things: 1. we need to find the centre; Pages 3-4 Parish Notices  Monday 2. we need to recognise that we are sinners; and Page 5 Mass Intentions From 10:00am – 12:00 noon there will be a working 3. we need to acknowledge that our life is not about us. party at St Thomas’s, to prepare the church and the Page 6 Mass Readings Parish Centre for the Funeral. If you are free then First – finding the centre: Page 7 Sunday Message and can come to help clean the Church and Centre Bishop Barron recounted how, when he was studying in Paris, he would visit Notre Dame and would often find Page 8 Mass Activity for Children and move tables and chairs, etc, your help would be himself standing in front of the North Rose Window, the most magnificent window in the world. In its centre is Mary much appreciated. with Christ as an infant on her lap. Rose windows in churches around the world are wonderful evocations of this first Page 9 From the desk of the Parish Priest - path. However, they also teach us a crucial spiritual lesson: they are a depiction of Christ at the centre. Around the What are the Corporal and Spiritual There will therefore be no Adoration on Monday Works of Mercy? morning. centre, in ordered harmonic patterns and connected by spokes, are all the other parts of the window – depictions of everyday life. When Christ is the centre of our life, unambiguously, then the rest of our lives fall into harmony Page 10 Adoremus - Second Keynote. Sainthood, The Canon’s body will be brought into St Bernadette’s around that centre: mind, will, family life, private life, passions, sexual life. Sanctity - What makes us holy? at 4:00pm on Monday, and there will then be a Vigil St Thomas Aquinas said that the beautiful occurs at the intersection of three things: Page 11 Contacts & Organisations of Prayer until the Vigil Mass at 7:30pm. Monsignor First: integritas – wholeness, where our life is all about one thing. Secondly: consonantia – harmony, where Matthew Dickens will preside. The body will rest everything contributes to the whole design and makes it one; our lives are meant to be harmonious. Thirdly: claritas Today overnight in St Bernadette’s. – meaning radiance, or to glow. When Christ is the centre of your life, your soul becomes beautiful and has Visiting Priests integritas. A Saint is gathered together, everything in the saint is centred on Christ. The lives of Saints were far from We welcome Fr Mark Odion, MSP to celebrate the  Tuesday ordered – often turbulent and chaotic. But we put halos around Saints and show them as luminous people, with the Masses at Borough Green and West Kingsdown, and Fr On Tuesday, the 9:30am Mass will take place in St radiance of a harmonious life, integrated in Christ. Michael Ezenwammadu, CSSp to celebrate the 6:00pm Thomas’s as normal; this will be a Requiem for the Our lives are often a mess, we need to ask: what do you worship, what is of highest value to you? If it isn’t Christ, Mass at St Thomas’s. Canon. Year 4 will attend this Mass. your life will fall into disharmony. Bishop Barron told us of a young man he was counselling who asked how to pray. 11:15am Mass When months later the young man came back, he said ‘I have got to stop having promiscuous sex’. He said, “I did There will therefore be no Adoration following Mass The Traditional Choir leads the music today. what you told me and prayed”. And the prayer was knitting him back together, showing him what was off kilter in on Tuesday morning. his life, what was interrupting the harmony. SVP clothing collection Please place items for the SVP clothing collection, for There will be a choir practice at 10:30am for all A spiritual exercise singers and musicians able to come to the Funeral. refugees in northern France, in the baskets provided. Think of the Rose Window. And ask yourself: is everything in my life attached to Christ - mind, will, body, sexual The body will then be transferred to St Thomas’s for life, etc? Does it belong to Christ? Does He dominate every part of my life? If the answer is ‘yes’, this is true This Week liberation, and how you find the centre. the Funeral Mass at 12:00 noon. The Archbishop will Monday: RCIA be the principal Celebrant; Bishop John Hine will This will take place this week in the Presbytery (No 12). preach. In addition to concelebrant priests, there will The story of Martha and Mary can be aggravating to people - especially women - as it seems not fair to Martha also be vested Knights and Dames of the Holy who does all the work. The key to this story is not the difference between contemplative and active life, but when Wednesday: Cubs’ visit th Sepulchre. Refreshments will be available afterwards Jesus says to Martha, “You are anxious and upset about many things. Mary has chosen the unum necessarium - the We welcome the 4 St John’s Wildernesse Cubs for a in the Parish Room for our guests and visitors. one thing necessary”. When we are anxious about many things, we must order our life to Christ to find the centre. tour of the Church at 6:30pm. Parking will not be available in the Presbytery car In the Gospels, those possessed by the devil speak in the plural. ‘What do you want of us, Jesus of Nazareth’. The Stations of the Cross park, but you can park in the side streets for two word “diabolic” means to scatter, to divide and cast apart. This is the divided, splintered self. Jesus wants to bring us Stations of the Cross at Holy Trinity, Otford, at 7:30pm hours. back to harmonised centre gathered around Christ. on Thursdays in Lent. Another image – the Medieval Rota Fortunae - the Wheel of Fortune. At top is the king (“I reign”), then the king Stations of the Cross at St Bernadette’s, West The Interment will take place at St Teresa’s, Northiam has lost his crown (“I have reigned”), the pauper (“I have no power”) at the bottom then (“I shall reign”). We reign at 3:00pm; Bishop Hine will preside at this. Kingsdown, at 7:30pm, and at St Thomas’s at 8:00pm, with power, health, money, fame. When we are at the top of the wheel, we know we can lose it all, so every point on Fridays in Lent. on the wheel is a point of anxiety and unhappiness. Please note that there will be no Parents & Toddlers The centre of the wheel is Christ: He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. Don’t live your life on the Friday: St Joseph’s Committee Group this Tuesday. rim of the wheel, fussing about power, money etc. Rather move yourself to Christ, at the centre of the wheel. The inaugural meeting of this Committee is on Friday at

Finally, in the 70’s, just before he died, John Lennon was interested in religion. He wrote “Watching the Wheels” – 7:30pm in the meeting room. The members are Ann “I’m just sitting here watching the wheels going round and round, I love to watch it roll, because I am no longer riding Bailey, Margaret Briggs, Sean Corrigan, Harry on the merry-go-round”. When he was at the top of the Wheel of Fortune, in 1965, he wrote: “HELP - won’t you Dewhurst, John Foley, Nancy Morbi, Fiona Newton, please, please help me”. Nick O’Connor, Antoni Offert, and Melanie Sullivan. This is why we need to find Christ at the centre. Please speak to any of them if you have something you This Keynote address is available to listen to at https://www.ccftootingbec.org.uk/adoremus Part 2 next week... would like the Committee to discuss.

10 3 From the Desk of the Parish Priest Pa rish NOTICES What are the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy?

This Week cont. spare change during Lent and bring in your donations Human persons also suffer deficiencies in their spiritual to Mass on Palm Sunday. Many thanks in advance for dimension. Corporal poverty (if someone is starving or Friday: CAFOD Lent Family Fast Day your generosity. homeless, for example) can be more urgent, but Please fast on Friday, and put the money you save in spiritual poverty can be more destructive, especially in the second collection next weekend. Visit https:// SVP Walk to Canterbury Cathedral our modern secular society. The first three of the cafod.org.uk for more information. Joan Perkins will walk from Holy Trinity, Otford to Spiritual Works of Mercy are works of vigilance: (first)

Canterbury Cathedral – 45 miles mostly along the counsel the doubtful, (second) instruct the ignorant, th th Saturday: First Confessions Pilgrims’ Way – on the weekend of 16 /17 March, to and (third) admonish sinners. The next three focus on Those on this year’s First Holy Communion raise funds for SVP. You can contact her reconciliation: (fourth) comfort the afflicted, (fifth) programme, accompanied by their parents, will be ([email protected]) if you would like to forgive offences, and (sixth) bear wrongs patiently. The making their first Confessions on Saturday, at 10:30am accompany her on the walk. Please pray for her, and final work sums up all the others: (seventh) pray for and again at 11:30am. There will therefore be no please donate at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ uring the Year of Mercy (December 2015 both the living and the dead. Adoration on Saturday morning. joan-perkins1. to November 2016) Pope Francis asked people to think about the Works of All of these Works of Mercy teach us to look outside Notices 6 Nations: Wales or England (or Ireland)? Mercy. Lent would also seem to be a self. They help us to follow Jesus in compassion and You are invited to join the Catenians and friends for Dsuitable opportunity to reflect on them. What are the love for those in any sort of need. They are acts of Situation vacant: Parish Secretary the last 2 big games of the 6 Nations: Ireland v Wales human solidarity. Every Christian is called to know and This is a part time post – 3 hours on Monday to Friday Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy? at 14.45 and England v Scotland at 17.00 at to practise these simple acts of kindness to others. mornings – based in the Parish Office in the Weatherspoon’s on Sevenoaks High Street on They are thoroughly scriptural. There are constant Presbytery. The pay (for 15 hours) is £16 per hour, th Saturday 16 March. No knowledge of rugby needed references in the Old Testament to mercy. Many of the and the successful applicant will be on the diocesan for good company and craic! All welcome. psalms have phrases such as “his mercy endures for payroll. The post entails answering the door and Works of mercy ever” and in Exodus 34: 6-7 we are told that the Lord is telephone, basic secretarial duties (such as booking Summer Garden Party “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and are charitable Mass Intentions and issuing Baptism certificates), and Save the date! The annual Garden Party for all the abounding in mercy and faithfulness”. And if God printing the Newsletter and so on. Familiarity with parish will be on Sunday 7th July, from 12:30pm in the shows mercy so too should the people of God, actions by which we basic IT, including Microsoft Publisher, is necessary. Presbytery Garden. Put the date in your diary now, especially towards the poor and needy. Read Isaiah 61, Please contact Fr David for full information and an come to the aid of th and pray for good weather. Job 31, and Sirach 48 for lists of concrete works of application form. Closing date: Sunday 17 March. mercy very similar to our modern lists.

our neighbour in his Lent talks Parish Finances They are also Dominical (that is, they come from the We are pleased to announce that the diocesan Centre spiritual and bodily What return can I make to the Lord Lord, Jesus Himself). Jesus identified Himself with the for Catholic Formation has chosen Sevenoaks as the for his generosity to me? Psalm 116 hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick or Kent venue for its series of Lent talks on Pillars of Lent. necessities. imprisoned, and those who mourn. “You did it to These will be on Thursday evenings in the Parish Offertory - 2nd/3rd March 2019 me” (Matthew 25:40) is a uniquely Christian and Christ- Centre; refreshments from 7:30pm, talk at 8:00pm, The Corporal Works of Mercy St Thomas 1,438.61 like sentiment. He also asks us to forgive others, in the followed by a discussion. If you can’t make them all,  feed the hungry Otford 199.11 prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer. each talk stands alone, so come when you can. The  give drink to the thirsty Borough Green 219.05 talks are: They are also very much part of the Catholic tradition.  clothe the naked West Kingsdown 113.38 Thursday 21st March Sebastian Morello on Prayer Many of the early Church theologians made lists of  welcome the stranger th TOTAL £ 1,970.15 Thursday 28 March Mark Nash on Fasting works of mercy, culminating in the present double list  heal the sick Thursday 4th April Piero Finaldi on Almsgiving Advertising £40.00 in the writings of S Thomas Aquinas († 1274), who  visit the imprisoned th Thursday 11 April Theo Howard on The Passion wrote that “mercy is the greatest virtue”. The  bury the dead & Resurrection of Jesus. Standing Orders are not included and are notified Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the section entitled monthly. ‘Love for the Poor’ (2443-49), describes them as The Spiritual Works of Mercy SVP Lenten Collection Thank you for your generosity and support. “charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our  counsel the doubtful This year's Lenten collection will be to support a neighbour in his spiritual and bodily necessities”.  instruct the ignorant project in a village in India. The aim is to raise £800 to  admonish sinners provide bicycles for poor families, so that they can Please do take Each of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy remedies a  comfort the afflicted deficiency in a neighbour, (first) lack of food, (second) generate income for themselves and become self- a copy of this newsletter home  forgive offences sufficient. Bicycles give them mobility so that they can lack of drink, (third) lack of clothing, (fourth) lack of  bear wrongs patiently sell their produce over a wider area or take with you each week. shelter or hospitality, (fifth) lack of health, (sixth) lack of  pray for the living and the dead employment in a nearby town. Please save your freedom, and (seventh) lack of a proper burial. 4 9 God loves his children Mass intentions All masses are at st Thomas’s CHURCH unless otherwise stated

th Sunday 10 March 1st Sunday of Lent (Year C) 6:00pm (Sat) John Gordon RIP & Departed Baby Niamh Olivia Glynn RIP 8:00am Derek Gibbons RIP Please pray for the soul of

9:15am People of the Parish 11:15am Anne & George RIP Canon John Bailey RIP

6:00pm Deceased relatives - Andradi- Brown family 9:30am Otford Godfrey Rasquinha RIP & comfort of family who has recently departed. 9:30am Borough Green The Scanlon family RIP 11:00am West Kingsdown Canon John Bailey RIP

Please remember the sick Monday 11th Feria who have been commended to 8:00am Desmond Browne RIP our prayers, especially: 7:30pm West Kingsdown Canon John Bailey RIP (Vigil Mass) Sue Chamberlain, Michael Gerald th Tuesday 12 Feria Cleere, Elaine Cuthbertson, 9:30am Canon John Bailey RIP (Requiem Mass) Sister Rosemary McCaffrey fmsa, 12:00noon Funeral Mass for Canon John Bailey Patrick Moore, Fr Pat O’Leary, Richard Murphy, Rosemary Remnant, Wednesday 13th Feria Ana Pilar Santos, Ann Steven, 8:00am Fr Joe Andradi Bernard Summerville, Antony Tyler, 10:00am Otford Good health & well-being of Jim & Margaret Vinson, Jill Wilson Frank Mascarenhas

Thursday 14th Feria 9:15am West Kingsdown No Mass today Anniversaries 10:00am Borough Green Canon John Bailey RIP Becky Simmonds, Mary Oram, 12:00noon Frank Gostling RIP (Anniv) Margaret Coghlan, Edith Withers,

th Germaine Davies, John Phillips, Friday 15 Feria Clarissa Orchard, Edith Weaver, 8:00am Veronica Murphy RIP Dorothy Allen, Kenneth Blake, Jan Ruth Salt RIP Kuraszewicz, Michael Sullivan, 9:15am West Kingsdown No Mass today Margaret Geer, Mona Foucher,

Saturday 16th Feria William Querney, William Welsh, Nora Rigg, Patrick Rudden, James Boddy, 9:15am West Kingsdown No Mass today Arthur Stapleton, Yolande Brown, Sam 9:30am Dorothea Murphy RIP (Anniv) & Quick, James D’arcy, John Marchant, Patrick Murphy RIP John McGavin, Doreen Watts, Robert Sunday 17th March 2nd Sunday of Lent (Year C) Withers, Peter Mulheron, Ken 6:00pm (Sat) Chiara Mascarenhas RIP Wheatcroft, Giovanni Nagari 8:00am People of the Parish

9:15am Timothy & Cleta Andradi RIP Eternal rest grant unto them, 11:15am Richie RIP (birthday) O Lord, and let perpetual light 6:00pm Dorothea Murphy RIP & Patrick Murphy RIP shine upon them. 9:30am Otford Teresa Mary Watts RIP May they rest in peace. 9:30am Borough Green Patricia & Norman Wright RIP 11:00am West Kingsdown Good Estate of Sue & David Havercan

Sunday 8:00am Mass Antiphons Entrance Antiphon Invocabit me, et ego exaudium eum; eripiam eum, et glorificabo eum, longitudine dierum adimplebo eum.

Communion Antiphon Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei.

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