News...

Trip to Yeavering and Millfield - (Ed Gelfrin and Maelmin)

The first Christian King of Northumbria was Edwin, who came to the throne is 616AD and was received into the church at York in 627, along with his niece Hilda (of Whitby). Edwin’s headquarters was in North Yorkshire but he had a Royal palace Yeavering (near Wooler) where he received the tribute of his Northern subject Kings. The site was a major excavation in the 1980’s. Nearby is another royal palace at Millfield. This is a first of a series of visits where we can learn about our local Christian history. 49 seats available for Saturday 2nd August and the cost is £4 for adults and children go free. 9.30am - 4.30pm, please bring along a packed lunch and can those interested please sign up at the back of church. We will also have a quiz and nature trail as part of the trip!

Please Remember

Ivy Pringle who has died and whose Funeral Service will be held at Cowpen Crematorium at 10.45am on Tuesday. May she rest in peace.

The Rosary

Will be said before mass on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; Friday will be retained for quiet prayer before The Blessed Sacrament.

Lourdes 2009

Our pilgrimage to Lourdes will be from 22nd May for 8 days travelling overland through the tunnel with overnight stops in Nevers and Paris on a half board basis whilst travelling and full board for 5 days in Lourdes. Cost £468.00 per person, single supplement £163.00 and insurance if required £28.00 Please contact Trevor Waggott if interested.

Blyth Valley Heritage Open Days 2008

St Cuthbert’s Church and Cemetery will again be taking part in the Heritage Open Days and volunteers are needed to welcome visitors and secure the church on Friday 12th, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September between 10.00am and 4.00pm.

Could we have another meeting... 

...of the Pastoral Group on Tuesday 22nd July at 7:00pm in the presbytery. Anyone can join in. We now have an updated parish census to use for invitations to the reopening of the church. A short parish history and guide to the church is also in draft and will shortly be ready for the printers.

Apostleship of the Sea Collection

This weekend we have our annual retiring collection for the Apostleship of the Sea. I know people are very supportive of this cause so we leave it to your usual generosity. Thank you.

St.Wilfrid’s Church Refurbishment

After further negotiations work will now commence on the 8th September and carry on until 31st October.

Choir members

Some members may not have gone through the Diocesan safeguarding procedures, could anyone who falls into this category contact Lawrie Wise as soon as it is possible.

Please prayer for the sick and housebound and all who have asked for our prayers especially:-

Doreen Stenhouse, Peggy Conboy, Margaret George, Anne Coxon, Mark Lawton, Eileen Wheaton, Eddie Clark, Ellen Nelson, Millie Seghini, Marie Chicken, Susan Buckham, Steven Chipchase, Jack Lowes, Dorothy Scott and Mary Henderson.

Father Murphy

Please pray for the soul of Father Murphy who sadly, died in the early hours of Sunday 8th June. I know that he touched the lives of many in the parish and beyond and we will all sadly miss him. Another one of God's "Good Men". May he rest in the eternal peace of Christ. His funeral was on Thursday 12th June in the village of Roy Bridge in the Highlands and some of us went up and attended.

We have dedicated a page to the memory of Father Murphy so please go and have a look and mail any comments and photographs to us that you would like displayed. Thank you.

If you have any photos that you would like to share - please email us HERE

Please see our page dedicated to Father Ted and some thoughts and photographs too.

The following is an extract from the bulletin on 15th June frm St. Margaret's Church in Roy Bridge where Father Ted's Requiem Mass was held...

Fr Ted passed gently to God early last Sunday Morning, June 8th, after a long and lingering illness which he bore with much patience and courage.

He was in semi-retirement after having served over five years in a busy parish at Blyth in the Hexham and Newcastle diocese, He had been chaplain to a very large hospital and also to a secondary school, over and above his many parish duties. According to his fellow priests in the diocese, he was greatly loved by everyone, and did not spare himself in giving all that he could to God in his pastoral work. When his illness became obvious, the bishop moved him to a small rural parish where he could relax before retiring. Sadly, his illness overtook him, and he decided to come home—to die.

He realised that his illness was terminal and that it was only a matter of time until God called him, and these last months gave him special time to make his final spiritual preparations to meet his master whom he had served so well. He himself said he was ready to go. In whatever parish he served, he was greatly loved for his humanity, his compassion and kindness—and also for his sense of humour.

His priestly life is now over, and may Christ, the Good Shepherd, receive him and reward him for all the priestly work he did for souls. May his gentle soul rest in peace

Murphy Family Thanks

The website received an email this week from the family of Father Ted Murphy giving thanks for our prayers and kind words. It read... "The family of the late Fr Ted Murphy would like to thank most sincerely the comforting tribute expressed in this dedication page. Your messages of symphathy and numerous mass cards were greatly appreciated.

 

A heartfelt thanks to Fr Paul, neighbouring clergy and all those who made the long journey from Northumberland to be with us at the requiem mass and final resting place of Fr Ted.

 

God Bless You All from the Murphy Family"

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Anglican bishop's plea to Rome

A traditionalist Anglican bishop has called on the Catholic Church to accommodate a potential new wave of converts following the decision by the Church of England to allow the ordination of women bishops.

"What we must humbly ask for now is for magnanimous gestures from our Catholic friends, especially from the Holy Father, who well understands our longing for unity, and from the hierarchy of England and Wales," wrote Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet.

"Most of all we ask for ways that allow us to bring our folk with us," said the bishop, who is a provincial episcopal visitor of the Canterbury Archdiocese, or "flying bishop," who ministers to Anglicans who will not accept women priests.

Bishop Burnham predicted there would be defections among Anglo-Catholic clergy and laity because of the ruling by the General Synod of the Church of England on July 7 to move ahead with plans to allow the ordination of women bishops.

Anglo-Catholics are those whose customs and practices within Anglicanism emphasise continuity with Catholic tradition.

The bishop recently travelled to Rome to discuss the reception of large numbers of dissenting Anglican traditionalists with Cardinal William J. Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

He was joined by Anglican Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough, England, also a flying bishop of the Canterbury Archdiocese.

As many as 1,300 clergy threatened to leave the Church of England if special arrangements were not made to guarantee they would be under the authority only of male bishops.

Bishop Burnham said the time had come when Anglo-Catholics had to decide whether to stay or leave.

"Leaving isn't quite so easy as it sounds," he said. "You don't become a Catholic, for instance, because of what is wrong with another denomination or faith. You become a Catholic because you accept that the Catholic Church is what she says she is, and the Catholic faith is what it says it is. In short, some Anglo-Catholics will stay and others will go."

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Feminist group will stage more "ordinations"

Members of the feminist group Roman Catholic Womenpriests have announced plans to "ordain" three more women to the priesthood this weekend, in a ceremony that will be held in a Protestant church in Boston.

The feminist group is undeterred by a recent Vatican statement announcing that any Catholics who participate in such a ceremony will incur automatic excommunication. Gabriella Velardi Ward, one of the women who will claim ordination, told the Boston Globe: "We're part of a prophetic tradition of disobeying an unjust law."

The Boston archdiocese has released a statement reminding its clergy that the male-only priesthood "is not merely a matter of practice or discipline within the Catholic Church, but rather, it is part of the unalterable deposit of faith handed down by Christ through his apostles."

Roman Catholic Womenpriests claims to have organized the priestly ordination of 28 women in the past several years.

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Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage to Carfin, Motherwell om Wednesday 6 August, 2008. The bus will pick-up at Central Station and St. Mark's, Westerhope. Please contact Jose Blay. Telephone 0191 2678693 or e-mail: josepha_blay@yaoo.co.uk for further details amd to book a seat.

Cost £13 - £15 depending on numbers.