News...

The Blyth Music and Theatre Singers

Are doing a concert for us on Fri 3rd Sep, 7pm-11pm, as a fundraiser for the old presbytery. There is a shared table with the usual entertainments after the concert. Tickets are available for £3. Bar open till 11pm.

Many thanks to Jake Jensen

Our sponsored runner who ran ten miles for us last Sunday, sponsorship forms still available, over £300 donated so far. Thanks also this week for the donation of white goods and a cottage suite for the old presbytery, much appreciated.

Blyth Valley Heritage Open Days

St Wilfrid’s and St Cuthbert’s will be open for the Heritage Open Days on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September. St Wilfrid’s opening times are 11am to 4pm on Saturday and 1pm to 4pm on Sunday. St Cuthbert’s will be open from 11am to 4pm on both days. Volunteers are needed to “secure” the churches and welcome visitors. Lists are available at the back of both churches

Walsingham Pilgrimage  

Final cheques in this weekend, cheques to Leisure Time Travel ltd. please.

Gift Aid

Letters for gift-aiders at the back of church.

Eucharistic Ministers

A new rota is being prepared, please let Joseph Hornby know if you know of any changes in circumstances that might affect the rota listings.

Refugee Donations

In July were 176 tins of beans and 113 tins of tomatoes. Thanks from the J&P group for your continued support and help.

Day Centre at the Claremont Hall

I had a meeting with Janice Bell this week and a project worker will be coming in Sep to help us with this project.

Social at the Claremont Hall

On Tues 21st September at 7pm with raffle & bingo. Tickets £4 from Iris Dunn at Cowpen or from Maureen Rudd at Blyth. Fund raiser for St. Cuthberts.

The 150th Anniversary of the parish of St Wilfrid`s

Is next October. We will be meeting with the outreach group after the holiday period is over.

Eucharistic Ministers

Reflection Day will be Longhorsley this year in September, being led by Fr. Ian Hoskins, More details shortly.

Rosary Intentions for August

Is for stewardship of the environment throughout the world.

Saturday morning Mass Confessions and Exposition

Please note there is Mass on Sat mornings at 10am followed by Confessions and Exposition 10.30 – 11.00am.

Please Pray for the Sick and the Housebound and all who have asked for our prayers especially:

Margaret George, Anne Coxon, Eddie Clark, Ellen Nelson, Marie Chicken, Harry Dearie, Rhona Stead, Margaret Stokoe, Rosaleen Short, Kathy Beard, Ruby Lackenby, Catherine Danielson and Frank Riley.

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Pope prays for trapped miners in Chile

Pope Benedict XVI has said that he is praying for miners in Chile who have been trapped underground for more than three weeks.

The Holy Father said that he felt “particular affection for the miners who are trapped”, and assured them of his “spiritual closeness”, as well as his “continuous prayers, so that they maintain calm as they await a happy fulfilment of the work being done for their rescue”.

The Pope also used the Angelus to welcome 60 new seminarians, who are beginning their studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

The students at the seminary sang “Ad Multos Annos” for the Pope, to which he responded with applause.

The Holy Father told them that he hoped their time in Rome would help them to “draw closer to the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving”.

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Cardinal Newman’s feast day will be October 9

Cardinal John Henry Newman’s feast will be celebrated on October 9, the date of his conversion in 1845, Pope Benedict XVI will declare next month.

The announcement of the feast day forms part of the Pope’s declaration of beatification, which has been published as part of the Magnificat booklet for the papal visit.

During the Mass at Cofton Park on September 19, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham will ask the Pope formally to beatify the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman. The vice-postular of the Cause will then read a short biography of the cardinal.

Then the Pope will say: “Acceding to the request of our Brother Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, of many other Brothers in in the episcopate, and many of the faithful, after consultation with the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, by our apostolic authority we declare that the venerable servant of God John Henry, Cardinal, Newman, priest of the Congregation of the Oratory, shall henceforth be invoked as Blessed and that his feast shall be celebrated every year of the ninth of October, in the places and according to the norms established by Church law.”

This will be the first – and possibly only – time that Benedict XVI personally pronounces the formula of beatification during his pontificate.

A portrait of the new Blessed will then be unveiled and his relics will be placed beside the altar.

The Magnificat booklet also contains prayers of preparation for the visit and texts for daily Mass from September 12 to September 29, including the Masses of the papal visit.

It contains the hymns to be sung at the beatification Mass, including Newman’s own “Praise to the Holiest in the Height”, and “Firmly I Believe and Truly”, but also more modern works, such as Bernadette Farrell’s “Christ Be Our Light”, “Be Still for the Presence of the Lord”, and “Make Me A Channel of Your Peace”.

The Creed will be in Latin, according to a plainchant setting, and Eucharistic Prayer III will be used for the Mass in Latin.

The booklet has forewords by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Lord Patten of Barnes and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

It also contains essays by leading Catholics such as Newman scholar Fr Ian Ker, Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham, and the current British Ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell.

The booklet is being distributed by Gabriel Communications and the bishops’ conferences of England and Wales and Scotland. A million copies will be sent to parishes in Britain.

Mgr Andrew Summersgill, papal visit coordinator, has said that while this “isn’t enough for everybody who regularly attends Mass”, there will “certainly” be enough copies “for each household”, as well as for those attending papal events.

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Benedict XVI marks Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday

Sister Nirmala Joshi, former superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, releases doves as nuns celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa's birth (CNS photo/ Deshakalayan Chowdh ur, pool via Reuters)

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta is “an exemplary model of Christian virtue” who showed the world that an authentic love for others opens the door to knowing and being with God, Pope Benedict XVI has said. Marking the 100th anniversary of her birth, the Pope sent a message to Sister Mary Prema, the superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation Mother Teresa founded in 1950.

The Vatican released the message after it was read in Calcutta, India, at the end of a special Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birth. In Calcutta, most of the Missionaries of Charity nuns gave up their regular seats in the motherhouse chapel to accommodate hundreds of pilgrims and volunteers who arrived for the early morning Mass.

After the Mass, the bishops, priests, nuns and visitors processed to Mother Teresa’s ground-floor tomb. Sister Prema handed Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi a lamp, and he lit a candle to mark the beginning of the centenary celebrations.

Dozens of Missionaries of Charity novices gathered around the tomb and sang “Happy Birthday”. In his message, Pope Benedict said celebrating Mother Teresa’s birth centenary “will be for the Church and the world an occasion of joyful gratitude to God for the inestimable gift that Mother Teresa was in her lifetime, and continues to be through the affectionate and tireless work of you, her spiritual children”.

The Pope said Mother Teresa was a living example of St John’s words: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection.”

He asked the order’s sisters, brothers, priests and lay members to let God’s love continue to inspire them to give themselves “generously to Jesus, whom you see and serve the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the abandoned”, and to draw constantly from Mother Teresa’s example and spirituality. After the visit to the tomb, Sister Prema read a message from the congregation, and the group processed to the motherhouse’s L-shaped courtyard. Sister Prema and Sister Nirmala Joshi, retired superior general of the order, released white pigeons and blue and white balloons amid cheers from those packing the balconies on the three floors surrounding the courtyard.

Similar events were planned worldwide, including at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

He said he had commended the miners and their families to the intercession of St Lawrence, the patron of miners.

The Pope’s assurance was given during a greeting in Spanish to the crowds that had gathered for his midday Angelus, at the summer papal residence at Castel Gandolfo.

Crowds broke into cheers and shouts of “Viva il Papa”, “Long live the Pope”, at the papal message.

Although the miners have been trapped since August 5, it was more than two weeks later, on August 22, that it was discovered that they were still alive, when the miners attached a note to a probe sent into the mine, which said: “All 33 of us are fine in the shelter.”

Since the discovery at the San José mine, near Copiapó, a week ago, rescuers have been sending the miners water, food, and playing cards, as well as messages and a Chilean flag.

A crucifix has already been sent down to the miners, and they have requested religious statues be sent down as well so they can convert part of the shelter into a shrine.

The miners are trapped 2,300ft beneath the ground. Drilling has already begun, but it is estimated that it will take at least three months to complete the rescue tunnel.