Church Schedule

Masses

Private/Individual Prayer only

Wed: 10am –11.50am

Friday 10am -11am

Saturday 10am -11am

​Monday & Tuesday : 9:15 am

Wednesday: 12 pm

Thursday & Friday: 9.15 am

Saturday: 9.15 am & 6 pm

Sunday: 9 am, 11 am (also livestreamed)

Parish Message

The new Premier League football season begins this weekend. I must be honest that I find it scandalous when so many people are struggling to make ends meet in our country and beyond, that so many football players in the top leagues are earning crazy sums of money every week. Top flight football seems so dominated by money and profit. But there are still some with higher aims such as Brighton’s manager – Graham Potter. I read a fascinating interview with him in which he shared his own journey and management vision. Having played as a competent if unspectacular defender for 11 different clubs in his own playing career, he retired at 30. He described a key moment in his life which led to this decision – he found himself reading a very silly article in a tabloid newspaper and suddenly “woke up” – as he explains: “I suddenly thought, here am I sliding down the leagues as a player and reading meaningless rubbish in the paper, what am I doing with my life?” He realised that he needed to change direction & be much more deliberate about how he lived his life. So he went back to studies and earned a Masters degree in Leadership and Emotional Intelligence before taking his first managerial role at a 4th division team in Sweden called Ostersund. Every season they were promoted until they were playing in the Europa League, in which they beat Arsenal in London. This led to his appointment as manager of Swansea and later of Brighton.

His football “philosophy” is refreshingly different. He says: “Players are human beings before they are footballers. So it’s important to understand how I can help them to become happier people, more able to deal with life’s challenges, on and off the pitch. It’s not just about winning matches – they need to be able to play with freedom, to express themselves and not be afraid of making mistakes. Failure and learning from failure is part of life, part of growth.” What a great attitude! You could read Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel as if they were a “team talk” to his disciples – he too stresses that we need to “wake up” and live our lives with freedom, focus and fire in our belly, ready at all times for his return. How “awake” are you in your life?!

With blessings and prayers from Fr Richard, Fr Ephrem & the parish team.

God bless,

Fr Richard

Here is a prayer we invite you to pray during these days for peace in the Ukraine - https://tinyurl.com/7bhz5pap

“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”