Parish of St. Wilfrid, Burgess Hill and St. Edward the Confessor, Keymer

with

St. George’s Convent, Ditchling

and St. Anne’s Convent, Burgess Hill

Parish Priest Father Rick McGrath with Father Maksym Krat

Deacon Liam McIlvenny : liam.mcilvenny@abdiocese.org.uk

Priest’s House Station Road Burgess Hill RH15 9EN

Tel: 01444 232358 email: burgesshill@abdiocese.org.uk www.stwilfridsbh.com

Parish Office open: 9am - 3pm Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Sunday 11 October 2020 ~ Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Cycle A - Year II

CV Writing and Interviewing Skills Workshop One of our parishioners has offered to run a workshop to help those facing the challenge of looking for a job in the wake of the pandemic. The aim of the workshop will be to; look at what makes for a great CV and covering letter; improve your CV as a tool for selling yourself to a prospective employer; ways to make your job search more effective; and explore how you can improve the way in which you come across at interview. You will be able to swap your experiences with those of others taking part in the workshop and get their feedback on your approach to searching for that all important job. The workshop will be run on Zoom in two 90 minute sessions. From 4.30pm till 6pm on Thursday 29 October and Thursday 12 November. It is free and no one will be selling you anything. A workshop like this can’t make you into something that you are not (and presenting yourself well can’t be done at the expense of integrity) and nor can it create a job where there isn’t one. But it can help your CV and covering letter to stand out from the crowd; presenting yourself that bit better at interview might mean that next time you get the job offer - not the letter thanking you for your interest. If this sounds like something that you would find helpful, please email your details to george@galconsulting.co.uk

On the 12th of October, 1940, Hitler and the German High Command made the decision to postpone the invasion of Britain until Spring, 1941. We were unaware of the postponement, and when it became obvious, unaware that it was postponed ‘forever.’ We were also grateful that the bombing had slowed down, though it was only in retrospect that we became aware that the Battle of Britain was, effectively, won. They were very hard times, with great suffering and loss, but exciting times as well, and with great spirit and a great show of the better side of humanity as well as its worst.

Though the bombers, ours and theirs, often flew over Burgess Hill, there were few bombs dropped here, but the same worries about bombs and rationing, and the mined beaches along the south coast - though at least one living parishioner and his friends found their way through barbed wire and mines to swim in the sea on hot days. A naughty boy, and those who know him would not be surprised, but I will name no names. Among the joys of the time, apart from illicit swimming, was watching the new church go up. It was pretty clear at the beginning of 1939, to almost everyone, that war was probably coming, and that the opportunity to build the much-needed church would be lost. So they began building before they were ready, using money saved and raised, local labour, and with much help from the Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic at Ditchling. The church was far enough along by September, 1939, to get permission to complete despite wartime restrictions, and so they did. And on 12th October, as Hitler was deciding to postpone his invasion, St. Wilfrid’s was being blessed on its patronal feast during the first Mass in the church. 80 years ago tomorrow. We should be having celebrations after the Saturday and Sunday Masses, but those too will have to be postponed. My “wine deficit” to you is getting large, but I look forward to taking care of it in due course. As the Mass for a church’s anniversary reminds us, however much we treasure our buildings, it is the people that matter, the “living stones” of the church, and in that we have always been very blessed, and still are. A very Happy Anniversary to all of you. I am well aware of what a blessing you all are. Fr. Rick

CAFOD FAMILY FAST DAY - FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER

Last Friday marked CAFOD's Family Fast Day to help people facing the worst of the coronavirus crisis. Many will have felt the impact of this terrible disease so, please, help the poorest and most vulnerable in the world survive, rebuild and heal. You can donate online at cafod.org.uk/give or by using one of the envelopes available at the back of the church. If possible, please consider Gift-Aiding your donation (increasing your gift by 25% at no extra cost to you) by completing the CAFOD Gift-Aid form and handing it in on your way out after Mass today. Your ongoing support for the work of CAFOD is appreciated.

Tuesday 13th is the feast day of St. Edward the Confessor. If the people of Keymer and environs didn’t need to worry about bombs, it still took a great deal of courage and work to build the new church to replace the old army hut where Mass had been celebrated. The new church was completed and blessed by Bishop Michael Bowen on 6 April, 1973. Like St. Wilfrid, St. Edward is a wonderful patron, more or less local, and we are lucky to have a fine statue of him (often mistaken for the Sacred Heart) over the main doors between the narthex and the church. Although I suppose his most visible earthly memorial is Westminster Abbey, never- theless, we are honoured to honour him in our lovely church. A very Happy Feast day, indeed. St. Edward the Confessor, pray for us! Fr Rick.

St Anne’s Care Home have two to three rooms available. Though they have experienced challenging times with Covid19, the home have managed to keep the virus out and not had any cases. Staff are tested weekly. For info please contact the home on 01444 233179.

Mass Intentions ~ from Saturday 10 October 2020

Sat 10 Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

5.00 pm St Edward’s Betty Hobbs RIP

6.30 pm St Wilfrid’s For vocations to the priesthood and religious

life from our parish and our diocese

Sun 11 Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

9.30 am St Wilfrid’s People of the Parish

St Wilfrid Feast Day 12 October

11.00 am St George’s Gabriel McSharry RIP

Mon 12 Memorial ~ St Wilfrid, Bishop, Patron Saint of our

Parish and Secondary Patron of the Diocese

9.15 am St Wilfrid’s Brian Hearn RIP

10.00 am St George’s Harry Langford RIP

Tues 13 Optional Memorial ~ St Edward the Confessor, King

and Patron Saint of our Parish

9.30 am St Edward’s For the parishioners of St Edward’s

11.00 am St Anne’s Intentions of Sister Clare Bernadette and

all the Franciscan Sisters

Private Mass - Sisters and residents

Wed 14 Feria in Ordinary Time, Week Twenty-Eight

9.15 am St Wilfrid’s Betty Kinsman RIP

10.00 am St George’s Florence Bryan RIP

Thurs 15 Memorial ~ St Teresa of Jesus, Virgin, Doctor

9.15 am St Wilfrid’s Ivor Carroll RIP

10.00 am St George’s Paddy J. Hyland RIP

Fri 16 Feria in Ordinary Time, Week Twenty-Eight

Day of Abstinence

9.15 am St Wilfrid’s Sean Kerr RIP

10.00 am St George’s Intentions and well-being of Katie Dell

Sat 17 Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

5.00 pm St Edward’s Gerald and Roseanne Quinlan RIP

6.30 pm St Wilfrid’s Confirmation Mass People of the Parish

Sun 18 Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

9.30 am St Wilfrid’s Edna Thorn RIP

11.00 am St George’s Intentions of Sister Mary Luke Feast Day

11.00 am St Wilfrid’s Confirmation Mass For the children and

young people of our parish

Prayers for the sick

Please remember in your prayers those from our community who are unable to join us for Mass: Joan de Lacey, Daniel Dempsey, Dorik Frantz, Haslum Owen Gotting, Elmira Irasga, Anne Johansson, Janusz Kent, Mary Klimek, Catherine Mooney, John Mooney, Anywhere Muriro, Mrs Muriro, Alex Murray, Val Parris, Peter Ramage, Damian Sewell, Barry Sexton, Mark Swallow, Sister Pat (Convent of the Poor Clare's, Crossbush), Mary Stapleton, Margaret Vincent, Vicky, Mary Wallace, Brenda Walsh, Patricia (Pat) Weatherseed, Sheila White, Canon Colin Wolczak, Fiona Wright and all those with long term illnesses.

In order to keep the Prayer List up to date - names will remain on for one month. If you have a name you would like added or one you would like to remain on please advise the parish office. Thank you.

Homily All of our readings this week have a close relationship, with the very human symbolism of the feast, the banquet. The passage from St. Paul ties them together: he has been, he says, rich and poor, well fed and hungry, and that is the situation Isaiah is writing about in Israel during a period of great trial. The verse immediately preceding those we hear today tell his readers that God will bring down those who are persecuting them - remember he writes during the period of Assyrian and Babylonian conquest - but having brought them low and raised up Israel again, the Lord will provide the rich banquet and invite all people, an early indication of what seemed revolutionary in Jesus’s teaching: salvation was first for the Jews, but was to be extended to all peoples and nations. All those who had been poor will now be rich, all those who had been hungry will be well fed.

Jesus uses the same imagery with the parable of the wedding feast, but turns around what Isaiah had been saying: this time it is Israel that is refusing its invitation and the others, the outsiders who will be the guests. Everyone may be invited, but not everyone accepts, and we do have to accept our invitation, the offer of grace and forgiveness, of eternal life, which is the meaning of the symbolism of the banquet. There is the slightly mysterious reference to the guest who comes, but without a wedding garment, and is turned out. Both St. Augustine and Pope St. Gregory the Great see the ‘wedding garment’ as ‘charity,’ the love which we need to ‘put on’ as we learn to love God and our neighbour, and without which we cannot be guests at the heavenly wedding feast.

As we celebrate the Feast of St. Wilfrid this weekend, I am reminded of what the children at St. Wilfrid’s Primary School always acted out so well, at their Feast Day Mass: each year group would make coloured fish which they would carry in attached to nets, as a reminder that St. Wilfrid, finding Sussex in famine, taught the people to make nets for fishing, and having fed their bodies, he then fed their souls with the preaching of the Gospel, because he did “wear” that wedding garment of love for all the people he met here in Sussex. We and the school children are blessed to have a kind and good and loving patron who did, at least for a time, live in Sussex, a reminder that we are all called to be saints, even in Sussex. A very happy Feast of St. Wilfrid!

First Holy Communion is the rite of passage for our young people as they enter into a lifelong devotion to the Catholic faith. The day of celebration is one to cherish with children wearing special clothes for this event. As parents, we all want our children to fit in with the 'norm' and not stand out as being different, but for some families this can add to the stresses of everyday life, with the ever-increasing cost of purchasing these items. Clothes, especially the girls' white dresses may have been worn just the once and then stored away, never to see the light of day. So why not donate your children's clothes to the SVP who will ensure that other children whose families do not have the finances to spare also have the opportunity to look wonderful on the day. All clothing (both boys and girls) must be as good as new; are undamaged and freshly laundered or dry cleaned. No sizes are a problem, clothing can be altered/modified to suit. For donations, please contact our local SVP in the first instance via email PresidentA010507@svp.org.uk or telephone the Parish Office on 01444 232358 during office hours.

Track and Trace A reminder to please bring your piece of paper detailing your name and contact number with you to Mass and drop it in the ‘track and trace’ labelled basket. It takes a few Masses to get in to the habit. If any parishioner would like help creating a contact sheet please call the parish office. As mentioned previously, the slips are collected after each Mass, stored securely in date order and securely disposed of after 21 days. Thank you for your co-operation.