Dear Friends,
Today’s Gospel is about the wedding feast at Cana, the third of the ‘epiphanies’ revealing who Jesus is. It was the first of the signs given by Jesus…’he let his glory been seen and his disciples believed in him’. The sign is extravagant – the wine is copious and of good quality! (God never does things by halves!) The sign is given, not to impress, but so that his disciples might believe in him. By giving this sign at a wedding John wants us to appreciate that Jesus is making real the marriage covenant of the Old Testament: God always faithful weds the unfaithful Israel.
God bless
Father James
This afternoon, 20th January, at 3.00pm, we shall host an important ecumenical event in North Walsham. All the churches in the town will formally sign a covenant promising to work together and support each other. It is some years since this last took place and it sends out a positive message about the good relations between the churches in the town.
Safeguarding: Gerry Mildinhall, the safeguarding officer for the Sacred Heart church will be making contact with parishioners who are due for a DBS re-check.
Looking ahead, Fr James will be leading a Lenten Reflection on Monday 11th March in the parish hall
The Senior Citizens Group (NW) will meet on Monday 21st for their usual weekly activities. In the afternoon Graham Jones will show a short BBC documentary about his previous work as a liaison officer with Romany Travellers followed by a talk about the history and lives of Romanies.
On Monday 18th March Wright’s Coaches will be taking the group on a Mystery History Tour with the well-known Neil Storey as their tour guide. Seats are available for friends and parishioners at a cost of £10. To book your place or for more information about the day please contact Teresa Butler on 01692 405007 or 07901 830327.
St Helen’s 4th Wednesday Club meets again on 23rd January from 11.30am until 4.00pm. This will be our New Year party and we will be having “home-spun” entertainment, poems, songs, games and quizzes. From the proceeds of sales of our fruit, plants and books in 2018, we have been able to give donations of £50 each to Support Cambodia, Bluebells Dementia Café, Y.M.C.A “my place”, S.W.A.N. (women’s wellbeing), Mission for Seafarers Gt Yarmouth and St Helen’s Funds.
The Bible Group meets again on Friday 25th January at 2.30pm in the parish hall. Any newcomers will be very welcome.
The next meeting of the Parish Pastoral Committee is on Tuesday 29th January at St Helen’s, Hoveton at 7.15 for 7.30pm.
The annual visit to Cambodia. Four members of the parish, Katie, Bob, Fran and Jan from St John of the Cross, left last Monday for a visit to Cambodia. During their time there they will visit various parts of the country, including our twinned parish of Svay Sisophon. They go with our prayers and best wishes to Fr Greg and the parishioners of St Francis Xavier.
Margaret & Alf Larkin would like to thank all who sent them Christmas cards, best wishes and prayers. They wish everyone a happy 2019.
We pray for all our sick parishioners, including Deacon Ron O’Toole, Mary Johnson, Joe Seely, Maria Wilby and Nicholas Elphinstone.
We pray for Tony Seaborne who died recently. His Funeral Mass will take place at Aylsham on Friday, 25th January at 10 am. We remember his family and friends at this time. We also pray for all those whose anniversaries occur at this time including: Grace Wood, Annunziata (Joyce) Cockrill, Dorothy Pearce, Gregory Noble and Jacqueline Beardshaw.
May they rest in peace.
