We would like to invite you to some wonderful online events.

Blessed Oscar Romero

On Saturday the 13^th of March, 11am-12pm you’re invited to the Archbishop Oscar Romero Anniversary National Ecumenical Service. This will be live-streamed from St Martin-in-the-Fields to mark the 41^st anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Click here to enter the livestream.

Fabiano in Uganda

Tuesday, 16 March 11am-12pm. Secondly, we’d like to invite you to hear about the difference you have made in Uganda. On Harvest Family Fast Day 2019, you heard about Fabiano in Uganda and raised money to help people without clean water around the world. Join this discussion, live from Uganda, with our local experts at Caritas Moroto and CAFOD’s Mark Kipkirui Baiywoh to hear about the amazing difference your help has made to the lives of local people.

Click here to book your place.

Tuesday 16^th March 7pm. Finally, there is a talk on Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ letter on Our Common Home. Dr Peter Coughlan will be joining the Sacred Heart Parish in Wimbledon to talk about the main themes of this hugely significant encyclical. He will explore both the origins of Pope Francis’ ‘ecological conversion’ and the significance of Laudato Si’ as we approach the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow. Peter has recently given seminars at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge and previously lectured at Heythrop College, University of London. The talk is organised by the Newman Circle and the Environment Group in the parish.

Email sarah.tobin@btconnect.com for the link for this meeting.

And a reminder that on Fridays throughout Lent we are walking through the Stations of the Cross online in a prayerful journey of transformation in solidarity with people living in poverty around the world.

Join us at 11am as we meditate on Christ’s journey to the cross, following themes of justice, poverty, mercy, friendship and hope.

Click here to register for the series.

My Faith into action

CAFOD volunteer Andy Wansbury, reflects on his role as a campaigns volunteer coordinator and how it is an expression of his faith and shares how he will get involved in the next few weeks and is inviting you to come along.

Andy is a CAFOD volunteer Campaign coordinator

As a result of the current pandemic it has been much harder to practice our Catholic faith.  As the crisis grew the church removed the obligation to attend Sunday mass, the celebration of the sacraments had to be suspended, churches were closed to the public, priests could only say mass in church in private.  Visits to the sick and housebound could no longer happen.  All these communal acts had to cease to help stop the coronavirus pandemic. 

Living my faith without the sacraments  

How then were we to live out our faith without access to mass and the sacraments?  For me being a practicing Catholic has always been more than just going to church on Sunday.  A line from one sermon that has always stayed with me is “It not going to church that makes you a Christian it is what you do when you leave church that makes you a Christian”.  Attending mass is a vitally important part of Catholic life, it is where we can get educated about our faith, the inspiration, and the graces we need to live out our God given mission as Catholics.  The roles that we fulfill when we leave church are many and varied some apply directly to supporting parish life such as being a server, a choir member or a catechist, some roles take us into the wider world as community leaders, emergency service and key workers, or campaigners for justice.  In recent years the role I have found is supporting those people living in the less well-developed parts of the world by volunteering  for the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development or CAFOD or as it is better known.   

Discover Pope Francis’ invitation to “Rejoice and Be Glad” on November 24th

Join us to pray and share on Pope Francis’ “Gaudete et Exsultate” (Rejoice and Be Glad) on November 24^th, from 10am to 4pm, . The retreat will be hosted at Romero House, 55 Westminster bridge road, London, SE1 7JB. Please bring a shared vegetarian lunch.

On Saturday November 24^th, we’ll be reflecting on how to be holy in today’s modern worlds, as well as looking at some of the idea’s in the Pope’s new document “Gaudete et Exsultate” or “Rejoice and be Glad.” He encourages us to open our eyes, ears and hearts to the words of the gospel and expand our limited horizons.

Join CAFOD and others at our retreat to explore the journey of faith

Register here

In this document, Pope Francis celebrates the simplicity of life’s daily activities and how they can be a window to our holiness and a way for us to channel the values of the Beatitudes. He celebrates the uniqueness and individuality of us all and reminds us that we all have agency and power to shift things that happen in our world. But, the way we carry out our daily activities can also expose to us how we separate ourselves from holiness, such as how our addiction to consumption could make spending time with God a ‘painful exercise’.

Julie from Rochester who has attended many CAFOD events says, “I cannot recommend CAFOD events highly enough. Over the years I’ve benefited greatly by participating in justice and peace assembly meetings and workshops and retreats on various themes.  They always prove to be inspiring occasions and I feel we need to prioritise such events more in our busy itineraries.  Why? Because they provide us with knowledge, social catholic teaching and prayer, providing guidance and examples of how we might help build the Kingdom of God together through personal lifestyle changes, and participation within our parish and wider communities.”

Take a look at our invitation video on Facebook and Twitter