Posts from 2025

Dearest friends, We have a few big pilgrimage events this summer. Sadly they’ve come very close together and are normally more spread out.  The first is the Glastonbury Pilgrimage on the 6th September. We’ll be heading there as a parish and aim to arrive in Glastonbury for 11am. We need to register / pay £11 per person which covers the Abbey admission fee. You can do this online or in person at either of the churches this / the coming…

Dearest friends, We can often think that the Saints are so far removed from our lives. They are heroes from a remote time, from a different place, from a different reality.  Yes, they have lots to teach us, but their heroic sacrifices and displays of faith are simply too lost in the mist of time to be relevant to us today. In thinking this we miss the modern Saints. Those who have come before us whose shining example of faith…

Dearest friends, As many of you know Catherine, Edmund, and I headed to northern Brittany and Normandy for our summer holiday over the last two weeks. One of the visits I was most looking forward to was a pilgrimage to St. Michael’s Mount (or Mont-Saint-Michel if you prefer). It is a place that demands attention from it’s lofty perch. The statue of St. Michael gleams in gold from the highest spire and the sheer number of people visiting demands acres…

Dearest friends, I write you from a lovely camp site in Brittany – mainly because I miscounted how many pew sheets I needed to write before I left! That means there’ll be no printed pew sheet on Sunday, but one will be available for you to collect at the Tuesday and Wednesday midweek masses. The readings and prayers for this week are attached below – as is the calendar for August. Next week Tuesday 22nd – 10am, Said Mass, St.…

Dearest friends, Peace, Peace, Peace. A simple but powerful prayer. In 2022 my father and I drove across Europe to Ukraine to take aid to a refugee centre on the boarder and to bring a family home to live with us.  As we drove across Poland to reach the Ukraine boarder it became very clear that things had changed. We left Germany (and the very fast motorway) behind us, and slowed down to make sure we were within the new…

Dearest friends, Why is Holy Rest, the Sabbath, so important? It is often said that Priests, when they preach, do so primarily to themselves. This may well be an example of me writing an article I need to read! We have a packed summer  planned, there is something happening every week and we’re all working super hard to bring new people to Jesus Christ at both churches. As we come to the summer school holidays it’s a good time to…

Dearest friends, The T.H.A.T foodbank in Buckland is really showing us how to GO AND ANNOUNCE THE GOSPEL in our community.  However I ask ARE YOU? I know, as I’m sure many of us do, firsthand how financial difficulties can affect our ability to feed our families. Thus meaning we have had to rely on food banks though some of the most difficult of times. Harvest is a wonderful time of giving and giving thanks for all we have and…

Dearest friends, Our gathering in front of the Blessed Sacrament is no simple thing. Our bowing in front of the tabernacle where Christ rests is no simple formality. Our devotion to Jesus in the Sacrament is no simple prayer. It is the heart of our faith. Jesus offered himself up for us and in His last supper he declared the bread to be His body and the wine to be His blood. No dissembling, no metaphor, no parable.  So on…

Dearest friends, Just a week after we celebrate the decent of the Holy Spirit into the room filled with Jesus disciples we take a moment to praise and pray for a deeper understanding of the Holy Trinity. The Trinity pervades every aspect of our faith – it is one of the central planks of our faith – everything we do, everything we are sent out to do is done in the power of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. It…

Dearest friends, As we approach the feast day of St. Boniface (June 5), I would like you to reflect on his inspiring life and how his example can guide us in living a good Christian life (as so many of the saints do).  Born around 675 in Wessex, England, Boniface dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel, earning the title “Apostle to the Germans.” His courage, faith, and missionary zeal offer huge lessons for us today. Saint Boniface’s unwavering commitment…

Dearest friends, 40 Days after His Resurrection Jesus was taken up into heaven. During these 40 days – just as we have been living them – Jesus spoke to many people, sat and ate with them, prayed with them, talked with them.  We have celebrated these 40 days together and we continue to do so – just as the disciples did all those years ago.  Luke tells us that after Jesus was taken up into Heaven,  ‘They worshiped him and…