Dearest friends,
May is here and with it comes the tradition of honouring Our Lady – not just for a day, or even a few days – but for a whole month.
Buy why do we do this? The tradition goes back centuries, but as with many of the traditions surrounding Our Lady it found its modern form in the medieval period.
May was seen as a month in which the darkness of winter had finally been expelled and the coming of summer, of good crops, of long warm evenings and joyful times with friends outside had finally arrived.
Our Lady (seen here in her Icon – Our Lady of Perpetual Help) has always taken us to her son, Jesus.
She helps us expel the darkness in our lives and to see the coming of warmth and love in the world. She helps us see the Hope that Jesus brings, she helps us feel the warmth of His love for us.
So during this month we will be honouring Our Lady by singing the Regina Coeli (Joy to Thee of Queen of Heaven!) after Mass each day.
It’s easy to learn and there will be print outs in church and online to help.
It’s also a good month to learn how to pray the rosary if you don’t already know.
I’ve printed out some guides and put some rosaries at the back of church for you.
Fr. Matthew
Notices
Parish Outing
We are planning a Parish Outing to Truro on the train on the 21st June. We’ll be leaving Newton About at about 8am and returning about 6pm. We need to book tickets in the next two weeks, so if you’d like to come please sign up in church or via the website and pay a £20 deposit. Tickets will be booked on Monday 12th May. Sign up Online using this form.
Summer Term Planning
The summer term planning meeting went very well and a draft calendar has been produced. This will be sent out via email and available on the website here – as well as being available in both churches. Please do have a read and let Fr. Matthew know of an errors or omissions this week. The final calendar will be released next week. You’ll also find a review of the Easter services on the print out – if you have any other feedback please speak to Fr. Matthew.
Summer Lectures
Our Summer Lecture series will cover: ‘What is the Christian Perspective on Assisted Dying’, ‘Why was Devon so central of the anglo-Catholic Movement in the Church of England’, ‘Women in Scripture’, and ‘The Nicene Creed’. They will take place on Sunday afternoons throughout the summer and we’ll agree the dates in the Summer Term Planning Meeting, so make sure you come along!
Evangelism
As the longer evenings start to warm up it’s a good opportunity to get out and invite people to our wonderful churches. In Bovey Tracey we are going to partner with PPT to visit the new estates in the parish and invite people to the loving welcome of St. John’s and PPT. In Newton Abbot we’re partnering with the rest of the Team to be in the town centre on market days to had out flyers and loving invitations. Training is provided and it’s a terrific opportunity to meet people. If you’d like to get involved please see me.
Prayer Focus
For a strong team to come forward to help us get word out on the streets and in the estates about the wonderful love of Jesus Christ and the welcome that awaits them at our churches.
Sunday 4th May
3rd Sunday of Easter ⚪️
9:15am – Sung Parish Mass [SJ]
11am – Sung Parish Mass [SL]
Divine Office Psalter Week 3, C(I), Easter 3
Upcoming Dates
May
- 2nd – St. Luke’s Ladies Group, 2pm [SL]
- 3rd – Oswestry Regional Festival, St. John’s, Torquay
- 7th – PCC Meeting [SL]
- 16th – Bingo [SL]
- 24th – Rosary Group, 10:30am [SL]
- 30th – Cheese & Wine Evening [SL]
St. John’s Table Top Sale – Every 3rd Saturday at Wickham Hall
Regina Cœli
℟. Joy to thee O Queen of heaven, alleluia.
He whom thou wast meet to bear, alleluia.
As he promised, hath arisen, alleluia.
Pour for us to God thy prayer, alleluia.
℣. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
℟. For the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia.
℣. Let us pray.
O God, who, by the Resurrection of thy Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, hast brought joy
to the whole world; grant, that through
His Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may
obtain the joys of life everlasting.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
℟. Amen