Parish Priest: Fr. Peter Mansfield

Parish House: 1 Portnalls Road, Coulsdon, Surrey CR5 3DD

Tel: 020 8660 2452 Email: coulsdon@rcaos.org.uk

Parish website: www.st-aidans-parish.org.uk

Church Hall enquiries: staidanshallbookings@gmail.com

Property maintenance, report issues: staidanspremisesteam@gmail.com

St. Aidan’s School: 01737556036

Year A. 27th week - Ordinary time. 4th October 2020

St Aidan’s Catholic Church - Coulsdon

'The God Who Speaks' ~ The Year of the Word

Masses are now open to parishioners under the stated conditions.

Public Masses are also streamed on the parish YouTube channel: St Aidans Coulsdon

Saturday 6pm Vigil Deceased members of the Mulhearn and Murphy families Sunday 9am James Corcoran RIP Sunday 11am Jean Kelly RIP

Monday 9.30am Francis Dias RIP

11.15am Funeral of Antonie Antona. RIP

Tuesday 10am Terence Sweeney RIP St Bruno

Wednesday 10am Staff and Patients of Canehill Hospital Our Lady of the Rosary

Thursday NO SCHEDULED MASS

Friday 10am Intentions of Ed & Mary Mulhearn

Saturday 6pm Vigil Emmanuel Francis Muffty RIP

Sunday 9am Steve Ashmore RIP 11am People of the par ish

Mass readings for this Sunday are on P 4.

CAFOD HARVEST COLLECTION. Friday, 2nd October was HARVEST FAST DAY. Each year we have two CAFOD Fast Days; one in lent and one at harvest time.

Message from CAFOD: This is a Harvest like no other as many families face chronic food shortages, malnutrition and poverty as the result of coronavirus. With your support, we can help people all over the world rebuild their lives.

Those who are at church are invited to put their contribution in the small box that you will see in the bench in front of you. Please AVOID TOUCHING the box. Envelops are not available on this occasion. For those who are not at Church and wish to make a donation please visit the CAFOD website and use their online donation facility: https://cafod.org.uk/Give Cheques can also be posted to CAFOD at: CAFOD, Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JBA

Please note that weekday Mass times in the coming week are slightly different due to a funeral and Fr Peter’s other duties.

Monday 9.30am, Tue 10am, Wed 10am, Thursday NO scheduled Mass , Fri 10am.

Dear sisters & brothers, First Communions. Thank you to all those who helped to make our recent first Holy Communion Masses such a beautiful and spiritual experience. It was lovely to see the children at ease in church despite all the restrictions. They really do show us how to adapt and overcome all obstacles. Thank you to Erica and the team of catechists who persevered despite the problems this year. Thanks also to the choir, to Roy for the streaming, to Brenda for her flower arranging and team Thurbon for serving. Confirmation. We had just begun the 2020 Confirmation preparation sessions when ‘lockdown’ came in March. It has not been possible to resume since then. I had been waiting to see if restrictions would start to ease bur this did not happen sufficiently and now there is an increase of Covid19. As from last week the total number allowed by law in church for a Confirmation Mass is 6, - I stress that this is not 6 per family, it means a total of 6 in the church. Clearly that in itself makes Confirmation masses impossible for now. Other considerations. Some may wonder why preparation sessions cannot be done on something like ZOOM for the first Communion 2021 group and Confirmation groups. Using that kind of medium for parish preparation is very different from using it for meetings. Teaching on ZOOM requires professional training and skills that volunteer parish catechists cannot be expected to have. Our trial of it earlier this year confirmed that also. I am mindful of the issues surrounding the 2020 Confirmation group owing to the fact that they are now in Year 11, the final year of their GCSE courses. We will keep it constantly under review and take any opportunity that presents itself when Covid restrictions are eased and it is safe to gather in larger groups. For those who may be interested in what is currently allowed in church halls with regard to social evens, the maximum is now six people. That effectively rules out any kind of parish social gathering for the time being. Collections and other financial considerations at St Aidan’s. The Diocese has decided that as from this weekend second collections will recommence. There will be a second collection every week until the end of the year, except during half term. This is to make up for the lost weeks since March. Some of the collections have been combined and will be shared out. One of the biggest problems with 2nd collections is a practical one, namely, how to take them. We are not allowed to pass baskets around or touch the baskets. It is not practical to line people up at the end of Mass and queue with required distancing to reach a basket. In the absence of a more practical solution we till try having small boxes on the benches for the sole purpose of second collections. Please place your donation in the box on the bench in front of whre you are sitting. If youre are in a front row you can use the box on your bench or any box. Avoid touching the box when you drop the money in. The stewards will empty the boxes after Masses. The baskets on a tables in each aisle will continue to be available for the offertory collection. That collection is our main income for running the parish. We publish the figures annually and it can be seen from them that it costs around £1,000 per week to run St Aidan’s parish. Even in good times we don't reach that figure in weekly offertory income but currently on an average week we are about £250 per week below what we need in order to pay our way as a community. For those who want to see more detail about ordinary parish expenditure I have republished the 2019 accounts on the back of this newsletter. Thank you to all those who have taken up the invitation to do their offertory contribution by Standing Order. That can be done with or without Gift Aid. If more people wold like to do that please contact Peter McFall, the parish treasurer, for information: coulsdontreasurer@rcaos.org.uk

******************************************************* October is the month of the Rosary. Today is Rosary Sunday. October 7th - Wednesday - is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary.

May the love and prayers of Mary our spiritual mother protect us from

Coronavirus and all the many stresses and burdens that are associated with it.

We think especially of those who live alone. Let us not forget those

who are worried about their jobs at this time of uncertainty.

PURLEY FOOD BANK. Thank you for your ongoing generosity which is much appreciated and desperately needed. Please donate these essential items: small bags sugar, tinned carrots or sweetcorn, tinned cooked meat, jars of honey or peanut butter, long life fruit juice, shampoo, unisex deodorant, bars of soap. If you wish to deliver goods to the Food Bank it is open for deliveries on Wed/Sat 10am - noon. WEST CROYDON REFUGEE CENTRE. Please continue to donate baby clothes, nappies etc. which are much appreciated. The Centre is also open for deliveries on Monday from 2-5pm. West Croydon Refugee Centre are very grateful for the ongoing high quality of our donations of baby items. They also need clothes for 2 - 7year olds, small backpacks and for all ages new or nearly new shoes and trainers as well as good outdoor rainproof jackets, and women and children's new underwear.

Here is the full list of 2nd collections.

4 October CAFOD connected with Harvest Fast Day which was on Friday 2 Oct.) 11 October Home Mission, World Communications, Day for Life (Life charities) - 3 combined. 18 October - Missio (Foreign missions - the spread of the Gospel) 8 November Student Priests Training Fund 22 November Catholic Youth Service / Catholic Education Service 29 November Holy Places (Upkeep of shrines in Holy Land) 13 December Peter Pence (Popes administration and charities). 20 December Apostleship of the Sea (Chaplains and chaplaincies for those who work at sea on ships).

FLOATING SHELTER: The Floating Shelter will not be functioning in the normal way this year because of pandemic restrictions but, when that decision was taken during in the summer, it was hoped that we would neverthe-less be able to support rough sleepers and those in hostels or temporary hotel accomodation in some other way. Many of the drop-in services which normally provide support for rough sleepers have had to close and, as a result, there has been a huge increase in the numbers going to Nightwatch in Queens Gardens in central Croydon every night. The Croydon Churches' Floating Shelter has been asked to lend a hand to the Nightwatch team by providing freshly made sandwiches for them to distribute to their clients on the eve-nings when we would normally be hosting the Floating Shelter. Therefore, each Thursday in November and December our Coulsdon shelter has taken on the commitment to provide 80 to 100 rounds of sand-wiches and take them to Croydon for Nightwatch to distribute. If you would like to volunteer for this project please let us know which of the following jobs you would like to do: provide one or two loaves of freshly made sandwiches, each round firmly packaged and la-belled, and ideally deliver them to a Coulsdon address on Thursdays; drive to Queens Gardens, central Croydon, at 8.30pm Thursdays to deliver the bulk batch; drive locally around Coulsdon during the day on Thursdays to collect sandwiches from those unable to deliver them to the Coulsdon address. Please also indicate which weeks you are available to help. We will be doing this each Thursday from 5 November to 17 December. This information is needed by Friday 16 October. A rota will be drawn up towards the end of October and any further details provided then. Please reply to Maureen Lee: maureenlee213@hotmail.co.uk

Please pray for the sick and housebound: Angela Lambert, Baby Sophie Gouveia, Raymond Mulhearn, Jean Agius, Norma Bird, Stewart Hunt, Eufrecinia (Sanny) Liguori, Derek Devine, Evelyn Browning, Lesley Leavey, Josie Davitt, Bernadette Blaquiere, Anne Walker, Peter Leeks, Mary Reynolds, Claudette Lovell, Sammy McCarroll, Trudy Kiely, Mary Crehan, James Tomlin, John Cooksey, Sarah Bell, Joseph Darville, Barbara & Geoff Wood.

Priest’s reference for Catholic secondary schools. Due to Covid restrictions Fr Peter cannot have groups of people coming together to the Parish House. You can email him for an appointment. Please do not bring children. Please state which catholic schools you are applying to. One Catholic parent is sufficient for the appointment but both may come if preferred. Please ensure that you have all the relevant forms available as he can only give one appointment per family. St Bede’s send their forms directly to the priest but he should be informed by the parent to expect it. Primary school references will be dealt with towards the end of the year.

Prayer to St Aidan for our parish.

O most holy St Aidan, our patron, guide our parish in the way of the Gospel as you did in this land in ages past. Protect us from the pandemic and all its consequences. Help us to find ways of extending our pastoral care and spiritual support to those who are housebound or in any kind of need. Intercede for us, that the Mass and the sacraments may become ever more accessible to God’s people so that we may praise and glorify His name in word and song and be gathered together in great numbers to receive the ‘bread of life’ which is Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN

First Reading Isaiah 5:1-7

Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his

vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug the soil, cleared it of stones and planted choice vines in it. In the middle he built a tower, he dug a press there too. He expected it to yield grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I ask you to judge between my vineyard and me. What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? I expected it to yield grapes.

Why did it yield sour grapes instead? Very well, I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge for it to be grazed on, and knock down its wall for it to be trampled on. I will lay it waste, unpruned, undug; overgrown by the briar and the thorn. I will command the clouds to rain no rain on it. Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel, and the men of Judah that chosen plant. He expected justice, but found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress.

Psalm 79(80):9,12-16,19-20

The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel. You brought a vine out of Egypt to plant it you drove out the nations. It stretched out its branches to the sea, to the Great River it stretched out its shoots. Then why have you broken down its walls? It is plucked by all who pass by. It is ravaged by the boar of the forest, devoured by the beasts of the field. God of hosts, turn again, we implore, look down from heaven and see. Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted. And we shall never forsake you again; give us life that we may call upon your name. God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

Second Reading Philippians 4:6-9 There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Gospel Matthew 21:33-43 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures: It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see? ‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’

OF

FE

RT

OR

Y

INC

OM

E.

Th

e figu

res belo

w

reflects the cu

rrent

pictu

re for a

typ

ical

week

. G

ift-aided

cash £

140

C

ash n

ot g

ift-aided

£173

Stan

din

g o

rders,

gift-aid

ed: £

400

T

ota

l: £713

Cu

rrently

we a

re ru

nn

ing a

t £1,0

00 less

offerto

ry in

com

e per

mon

th th

an

befo

re lo

ckd

ow

n.

We a

re also

losin

g h

all

hire in

com

e, socia

l clu

b in

com

e, fate a

nd

oth

er fun

dra

ising

inco

mes.

Please co

nsid

er mak

ing

a standin

g o

rder fo

r your

offerto

ry co

ntrib

utio

ns.

Contact th

e treasurer

Peter M

cFall to

get th

e details

cou

lsdon

treasu

rer@

rcaos.o

rg.u

k

or leav

e a note fo

r him

with

Fr P

eter.

Covid19 arrangements at St Aidan’s. What everyone needs to know and observe.

It is good to see that more parishioners are able to attend Mass in the church. As the numbers are steadily increasing we need to give special attention to all the issues below. Please bring a mask and wear it at all times in church covering your nose and mouth. For exemptions please consult the government publicity. Track & Trace. We recommend that you fill in the pre-registration form before you leave home. Pre-registration is for track and trace purposes only and is no guarantee of a seat in the church. If you cannot use the online form, bring your contact details on a piece of paper and leave it in one of the red baskets. If you do need to fill in a registration card at the church, please do so in the safest way for you and for others. If you have your own pen or pencil please use it. Do not stand at the table and fill the card in as this presents the risk of the contamination of the table and is too close others walking past. Take the card to your seat, fill it in there and return it (with the church pencil if used) to the red basket at the end. Arrive in good time. We have to operate a first-come first-served policy. Seating. Distancing,1 metre plus, will be maintained using signs on the pews indicating where to sit. Please sit on the sign as they are strategically placed. Seating is generally set out in clusters of 3 or 2. Only those sharing at home or in a bubble can make a cluster. People on their own can sit in a cluster place but not sharing. Those who are on their own will be the only person in the bench. At weekends stewards will show people to thir places. Holy Communion. Stewards will be on hand to direct you to control movement during the distribution of Communion. Those wanting a blessing can still come forward. The priest or minister will hold up the Host for you to bow to it in adoration. Toilet. We are not permitted to have the church toilet open but speak to a steward if the situation is urgent. Children and youth. There is no restriction on people from vulnerable categories and no upper age limit; however, young people under 16 years and children should be accompanied by an adult. Children under 11 yrs are not required to wear a face covering. Children who are admitted must be capable of sitting beside the adult without moving around and touching surfaces as that would be a risk to themselves and to others. At the end of Mass the stewards will call you from your bench starting at the back. Please move away from the outside entrance area when you leave Mass. Take care not to disregard the social distancing rule if you briefly stop to greet others. Be aware that other people are coming out behind you. The diocese discourages people from staying around outside church because of the risks involved. Newsletters. In the current circumstances hard copies are discourages. However, there are some newsletters on the tables inside the entrance to the church for those who do not have the online facility. Please help those who are not able to keep in touch online by printing off a copy off the newsletter for them. In this way we can ensure these messages are passed on.