Newsletter: 4th Sunday of Lent B

Lent at St Margaret’s 
Our Lenten course We Dare To Say, has been postponed until after Easter. We regret any inconvenience caused. 

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Pizza and Prayer
For all our young people 12 and over there is a Pizza and Prayer evening on Friday 15th March. There will be Adoration followed by Reconciliation between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. This will be followed by pizza in the hall. Come and join your friends. Let us know by scanning the code found in the Page.

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Penance and Reconciliation Service with music 
Lent is an important season in the Church’s liturgical year, the time when we take stock of where we are in our faith and prepare for the death and Resurrection of our Saviour. Often, we lose sight of the point of this season because we get caught up in ourselves - how hard it is to fast, how bad we are at fasting - and we end up just waiting for the season to be over at Easter. Because of this, we sometimes arrive at Easter with our lives no different than they were on Ash Wednesday.

As a parish, we are seeking to prepare for Jesus’ death and Resurrection and experience true transformation in our lives during this powerful season.

Join us at on Wednesday 13th March at 7.30 pm for reconciliation and music. Guest confessors will be available.

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And finally, to watch the live-stream for Mass at 10.30 am please click here.

Newsletter: 3rd Sunday of Lent B

Lent at St Margaret’s 
Our Lenten course We Dare To Say, a resource based on The Lord's Prayer starts tomorrow at 7.30 pm. It is a four week course with each session lasting an hour. All are welcome.

WE DARE TO SAY - Our prayers together help us to become the dwelling places of the Holy Spirit that we are called to be (‘ Concilium, 2).

At every moment of every day, somewhere in the world, Christians are praying the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. When said in liturgy or in devotional prayer, together or privately, the Lord’s Prayer is a like a gentle, multilingual hum of heartfelt praise and petition.

St Thomas Aquinas once wrote that ‘The Lord’s Prayer is the most perfect of prayers… In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.’

Pope Francis has asked us, as part of our preparation for the Holy Year in 2025, to make this year into a time for refreshing our prayer, and especially our appreciation and use of the Our Father. I am pleased, then, to commend to you We Dare To Say, a five-week faith sharing resource on the familiar and powerful words of the Our Father taking place at St Margarets on Monday’s commencing March 4th, followed by 11th, 18th & 25th from 7.30 pm - 8.30 pm.

May you come to a deeper appreciation of what the Lord Jesus himself has given us in response to the disciples’ request ‘Lord, teach us to pray’. And please remember me in your prayers.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster

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And finally, to watch the live-stream for Mass at 10.30 am please click here.

Newsletter: 2nd Sunday of Lent B

World Day of Prayer
Ecumenical Service at St Mary's Church, Church St, Twickenham TW1 3DT, UK on 1 March 2024 at 10:30.

The service has been prepared by the Christian women of Palestine and is an opportunity for us to worship with people all around the world on the same day, and also to meet other people from local churches.

This service was planned years ago and written during the pandemic. The subject - ‘I beg of you, bear with one another in love’ - is even more relevant today.

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And finally, to watch the live-stream for Mass at 10.30 am please click here.

Newsletter: 1st Sunday of Lent B

The Synodal Process – Towards October 2024
May I explain a little further about Cardinal Vincent’s request to all parishes to assist him in making a collective response to the first offering from the meeting of Bishops and lay-people that took place last October in Rome. What was it all about? The meeting began with listening with an open heart to what is happening now in the Church throughout the world, both good and bad. The delegates proposed a vista for the future direction of the Church, not in changing the teaching but updating the tone to suit contemporary conditions. Maintaining strongly held beliefs that cannot be communicated will not advance the Church’s mission.

The Synod offered ways of communicating the same truths that recognised the fragmentary nature of most people’s experience. This is definitely a challenge! This remains a challenge to me because I have always accepted the intellectual coherence of faith, the active relationship between faith and reason, and the richness of catholic culture. Pope Francis is asking us not to be nostalgic for the past, and by implication thinking that Christianity has run its course, but this crisis is the beginning of a new era.

In the spirit of the second rather than the first sentiment, and wishing to assist Cardinal Vincent and our parish, I am suggesting two encounters to discuss the four questions sent to each parish to discuss.

Question 1: How do we witness as a Parish and proclaim our faith to: those who have not heard of Christ; those who have ceased walking with Christ; those with whom we worship Christ (those who go to Church)?

Question 2: How do we organise ourselves as a Parish to do this more effectively?

Question 3: What concrete opportunities would help us begin to witness and proclaim our faith more effectively?

Question 4: What structures may need to change? How might we need to develop the way we are organised currently?

For those who wish to be involved and offer any contribution, I will be hosting two meetings (both covering the same material), one on Friday 23rd February at 6:00pm, and another on Sunday 3rd March at 11.30am.

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Lenten Faith Formation
We Dare To Say, a resource based on The Lord's Prayer will take place on Monday’s commencing March 4th, followed by 11th, 18th and 25th from 7.30 pm - 8.30 pm.

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Penance and Reconciliation service
This will take place on Wed 13th March at 7.30 pm (further details to follow shortly).

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To download a copy of this week’s Page, please click on the button below.

And finally, to watch the live-stream for Mass at 10.30 am please click here.