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Author: Fr. Matthew

  • ACS Lent Appeal – Fr. Jay Hewitt

    During Lent we are raising money for the Additional Curates Society. You can collect a box from church and bring the box in after Easter, or you can give online via https://additionalcurates.co.uk/support-us/

    Each week I’ll be sending you the story of a Priest who was supported by the Society and what it means to the parishes involved. Here’s the second:

    I am Father Jay Hewitt and I am serving my titles’ curacy in the Benefice of Central Barnsley which incorporates four parishes with five churches which range in tradition from Anglo- Catholic to Charismatic Evangelical. The context in which I minister is therefore, one of variety and incredibly diverse. The town of Barnsley is a community of extremes in which you will see absolute wealth side by side with absolute poverty and this is reflected in the ministry of the Benefice, from all the Civic services involving the local elite to ministry to the homeless and those suffering with addiction or who are on the fringes of the local society.

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    There are a number of contexts within the boundaries of the various parishes in which I have ministered and become involved. These include the local the hospital, Care Homes, Hospice and the local Church of England School in which I sit on the governing body.  Before the pandemic, I would lead Collective Worship and serve as Deacon at the celebration of Mass once a month. 

    The main town church, St Mary’s, is both at the heart of the town and our benefice and is open daily for private and public worship, which includes Morning Prayer, Mass & Evening Prayer. St Mary’s is also the place in which one will interact with and minister to the homeless and those caught in addiction who often sleep and seek shelter in the Church Porch. This can indeed be challenging at times, due to the cleaning up required sometimes with only minutes before an act of worship is due to take place.

    The local food bank is also managed from one of our Churches: Saint George’s and is run via a mixture of local and parish volunteers.   I have taken advantage of several opportunities in assisting in this ministry.

    Some of the most profound moments in my priestly ministry will occur in the street or when a stranger knocks on the Vicarage door looking for a blessing or pastoral advice, in these moments I have realised, in most cases it is best to simply listen and not talk too much.

    I have, since the arriving in the parish, hosted a small Bible study group which has enabled both new and old parishioners to grow and engage with the catholic faith.  One of the greatest fruits of this particular ministry has been to see parishioners forming stronger bonds of friendship and community with one another as well as a visible increase in personal piety and devotion.

    To be a priest in any context is challenging in this day and age but can be particularly so in such a busy and varied context as Barnsley, in which you have to be reflexive and adaptable in order to minister to so many needs. This can indeed be exhausting, but I find great strength in the privilege and beauty of celebrating the Holy Mass, be that in a simple manner at our Evangelical Parish or in the fullness of Catholic tradition at St Mary’s. Regardless, it is always beautiful and dignified. The Joy of being a Priest is also mingled with sorrow as you accompany God’s people through their life from baptism to the grave and I have often found myself reflecting on mortality as I have watched the sick and dying and ministered to them at their bedside.

    I feel in all serenity that all I have experienced and what I have yet to for the remainder of time here, will have me prepared and grounded to continue serving God’s people and His Church for the rest of public ministry and beyond.

    Fr Jay Lawrence Hewitt

  • News for 20th March

    Holy habits, crossing ourselves.  

    This week in our Lent Course – Holy Habits – we discussed those small things that point us in the direction of God as we come into church.

    One of those things was crossing ourselves. Why do we do it? Why is it important?

    It’s actually one of the very oldest physical actions we have any record of within the christian church. It first appears in writings around 200AD but was clearly in use long before. 

    The action recorded at that time is much as we see at the reading of the Gospel when we cross our forehead, our mouths and our hearts.

    In the earliest days it was a simple cross on the forehead before any task that you were seeking God’s blessing on. That developed into a cross over your mouth and heart, and over time that became one large cross – starting at your head and ending over your heart.

    We do this to ask God to bless us or the task ahead of us. 

    Think about how you use it in church – when you enter (bless me), when we start the service (bless us), when you are sent out into the world by the Priest and he makes the sign of the cross over you (bless you all for the work of the Gospel in the world). 

    So be a blessing in the world and cross yourself often, and explain to people why you do it. 

    Cross yourself when you walk past the church, when you start work, when you wake and when you fall asleep. Give it a try this Lent and see how blessed you feel!

    Fr. Matthew

    Downloads

    Bulletin for 20th MarchDownload
    Message & Sunday Readings for 20th MarchDownload
    Look Sheet for Children for 20th MarchDownload
    Hymns for 20th MarchDownload

    Other news

    This Sunday we welcome a new family into our fold. We met them last week when they first joined us and on Sunday we will be baptising their beautiful baby girl Maya. Please do come and offer your support and love as we gather them into the love of Jesus’ family. 

    Our Lent Course – Holy Habits – continues on Thursday (24th). This week you’ll be hearing about Pilgrimage from Fr. Sam Cross. You can take part in person on Thursday mornings after mass (with a lent lunch served afterwards, this week it’s vegetable soup) or online on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm. More details on the website – stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/lent

    Lent is a very good time to make your first confession. If you’ve not come to confession before, or if you’re worried about how it works and what it is for – please speak to Fr. Matthew. 

    Please note changes to office times on Wednesday and Thursday.

  • ACS Lent Appeal – Fr. Paul Blanch

    During Lent we are raising money for the Additional Curates Society. You can collect a box from church and bring the box in after Easter, or you can give online via https://additionalcurates.co.uk/support-us/

    Each week I’ll be sending you the story of a Priest who was supported by the Society and what it means to the parishes involved. Here’s the first:

    It is now almost two years since my Induction as Rector, and of course as many are aware, after less than only five months in post we were plunged into our first lockdown.  We all recall how difficult it was to maintain any semblance of normality in parish life.

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    Our first response was to live stream Masses from an improvised chapel within the Rectory, and along with Stations of the Cross using posters on-line, we were able to assist many to continue with their spiritual journey even in isolation.  Apart from the streamed Mass, we used our Musical Directors immediate family in lock down to provide music from their own home and often from a large cave on the beach in Ramsgate. The combination of Mass and superb four-part harmony Church music with the amazing acoustics of the cave soon saw our viewing figures top 2,000 week by week. This was an incredible outreach ministry with many viewers coming from my former parishes in the USA, but across our parish and far beyond.

    I felt that it was vital to let the wider parish know we were still very much in business for pastoral care and Funeral ministry, and to that end I personally contacted all the local Funeral directors and offered my services to the bereaved, even though we could only have very small gatherings at the Crematorium.  This ministry has cemented many new relationships with people who ordinarily would not have contact with our Church.

    As the pandemic saw a little more relaxation of rules, we returned to the Church for livestreamed worship and our numbers continued to grow, and the emails we received were very encouraging. Even our Church School link was further enhanced by the regular weekly steaming of Collective Worship following the Diocesan plan of special themes, and again to our great surprise, we have had as many adults as possible watching week by week and giving us very positive feedback on what was essentially some basic Christian teaching. This has all served to remind us that even in tribulation the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always Good News!

    We have also had the good news of two adults both new to our Church Confirmed by Bishop Norman, and we are just beginning a second Confirmation course, with many older and long-time members of the congregation doing the course as a “refresher course” there is a keenness to go ever deeper into their faith.                                                                 

    We have also tried very hard to make our faith practical during this difficult time, and a few our members have engaged with the local food bank, especially at a time when many families were desperate for basic groceries. The last eighteen months have highlighted for us that what we do within the Church building is to equip us for mission and service, we are reminded that at the end of every Mass we are sent out to be Christ to others.  As parish priest I have become aware of just how vital this is for us all to remember, and I was deeply moved to hear a parishioner say in response to our restricted outreach during the worst of the pandemic, that “A Church that lives to itself will die to itself” and that I pray we have not done!

    It is with the continued and much valued assistance from ACS that our daily work of prayer, worship and outreach continues in a relatively understated manner, with a small but very faithful group of people who make a great effort to attend Sunday Mass, serve at the altar and sing n the choir, not to mention look to us for inspiration and encouragement to live out their own active apostolate. 

    Fr Paul F Blanch

  • News for 13th March

    Hearing God as we rest.  

    There is a statue and a devotion of
    St. Joseph that is said to be one of Pope Francis’ favourites. It’s one of mine as well. 

    It’s the sleeping form of St. Joseph.

    When I was growing up I was used to seeing St. Joseph working hard in his carpentry shop, lifting, cutting and shaping wood. This hard working man was the good family man who did the right thing when asked by God.

    What I had missed in my youth was that each time God comes to St. Jospeh he does so in his sleep. 

    No great announcement from an angel like Mary or the Shepard’s, no burning bush as for Moses – no great fanfare – just a very simple and quiet instruction in those calm moments of sleep.  

    He comes to St. Joseph four times – all in Matthew. 

    First God instructs him to stay with Mary, then to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt, then to come home when it is safe and finally to head to Galilee rather than Judea on his return. 

    St. Jospeh listen each time with a quiet resolve to do what God has instructed him.

    Do we listen to God in our times of rest? Do we hear that small voice in those small hours?  

    Fr. Matthew

    Downloads

    Bulletin for 13th MarchDownload
    Readings and The Message for 13th MarchDownload
    Look sheet for children, 13th MarchDownload
    Hymns for 13th MarchDownload

    Other news

    A big thank you to the foodbank volunteers who rolled up their sleeves and gave the church a good clean this week.

    Thank you also to Fr. Angus and to Susan for their sterling work and prayers this week. 

    Our Lent Course – Holy Habits – will start this Thursday (17th). You can take part in person on Thursday mornings after mass (with a lent lunch served afterwards) or online on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm. More details on the website – stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/lent

    Lent is a very good time to make your first confession. If you’ve not come to confession before, or if you’re worried about how it works and what it is for – please speak to Fr. Matthew. 

  • News for 6th March

    Repent, and believe in the Gospel.  

    This week I collected your palm crosses and burnt them to make the ash for Ash Wednesday. 

    There were only a few in the collection basket in church, and it’s something I notice each year. 

    We are reticent to give up those beautiful palm crosses that we took home from church last Palm Sunday. 

    They adorn our halls, our studies, our offices, our bedrooms, and we become used to their reassuring presence. 

    Each time we walk past them we feel safe and soothed. 

    This is a wonderful and good thing.

    But, they are transitory. They are given to us so that we may return them. 

    We must pick up our crosses and bring them to church so that they may be burnt and may act as a sign of our sin. 

    They must be burnt so that we can start Lent with our focus on the cross of our our own sins. 

    It is uncomfortable. We don’t want to remove them from our homes. They are OURS. 

    Sin is much the same. It is hard to put down, it is hard to put away, it is OURS and if we’re not careful we start to hold onto sin in much the same way as we hold onto our palm crosses. 

    But sin must be put down, it must be put away. 

    Don’t keep it at home, bring it to church. Lay it down at the altar, lay it down in confession, lay it down in prayer, that it may be taken from you, that you may be forgiven, that you may know the full and awesome mercy and love of OUR God. 

    Fr. Matthew

    Downloads

    Bulletin for 6th MarchDownload
    The Message & Readings for Sunday 6th MarchDownload
    Children’s Look Sheet for Sunday 6th MarchDownload
    Hymns for Sunday 6th MarchDownload

    Other news

    Thank you to all who helped with the concert last Saturday – we raised over £500 for the good works of the church.

    Our Lent Course – Holy Habits – will start on March 17th. You can take part in person on Thursday mornings after mass (with a lent lunch served afterwards) or online on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm. More details on the website – stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/lent

    Lent is a very good time to make your first confession. If you’ve not come to confession before, or if you’re worried about how it works and what it is for – please speak to Fr. Matthew. 

    This week we’ve had the final go ahead to advertise and employ a Mission Priest for Hayes. It’s very exciting news. We’ll be advertising the role after Easter, interviewing in June and we hope to have the new Priest in post by September. If there is something you feel this new role should focus on, do speak to Fr. Matthew.

  • News for 27th February

    Shrove Tuesday, why must we be shriven?  

    We start lent by being shriven of our sins. It is a moment of weakness and as St. Paul tells us, ‘..when I am weak, then I am strong’. (2 Cor’ 12:10)

    In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our fragility gives us strength. Our willingness to expose our ugly sins to Christ, renews us.

    Reconciliation is the sacrament of love and of mercy, it is a moment to die to sin and to our own desires that we may know Christ better, that we may be more open to what He calls us to in this world. 

    I know that it can be hard to come to confession – especially if you have never been before. 

    But we are not called to the easy things, we are not called to get caught up in our own feelings, we are called to trust in God and in His infinite mercy and love.

    I understand that some of you may find it difficult to come to me and express your sins – but please do know and be assured that the seal of the confession is absolute. You will find your parish priest in jail long before I would ever break the seal – to anyone for any reason. 

    I hope this reassurance will encourage more of you to come to confession this Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) and to start lent as you mean to go on. 

    Fr. Matthew 

    Downloads

    Bulletin for 27th February Download
    The Message and Readings for Sunday 27th February Download
    Children’s Look Sheet for Sunday 27th FebruaryDownload
    Hymns for 27th FebruaryDownload

    Other news

    A Welsh Celebration Concert on Saturday night will really be a great last blast before Lent – tickets will be available on the door for £5.

    Our Lent Course – Holy Habits – will start on March 17th. More details on the website – stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/lent

    On Ash Wednesday there will be two opportunities to come to Mass – please make a special effort to get to one of them. 

    On Shrove Tuesday I will be hearing lent confessions, please book a time or just come to Evening Prayer. 

    We’ll be renewing the Prayer list with a new list for next Sunday. If you would like to remain on the list, or if there is someone you would like to add please speak to Susan.

  • 20th February

    Holy water, holy habits.  

    By now you’ll be aware that our Lent 2022 course is called ‘Holy Habits’. 

    I decided to use this as the basis for our Lent reflections and teaching as I watched people stop themselves half way down the nave after we restored the holy water stoup a few weeks ago – and head back to the door to cross themselves with the water.

    It reminded me that these small things  had drifted away over the pandemic and we could do with being reminded about why we do them and why they are important.

    It also prompted me to think about those little things that we may have picked up over the various lock downs, things we didn’t do before but we now find very helpful.

    An example for me is the installation of a new crucifix next to my bed – put up in such a way that it’s the first thing I see when I wake and the last thing I see when I go to sleep. 

    It prompts me to cross myself (another holy habit) and to say the Our Father. 

    There are other habits – things like pilgrimage or the practice of gratitude – that perhaps we don’t consider enough in our day-to-day lives. 

    This Lent please make a special effort to come to the in-person course (Thursdays from March 17th after the 10am Mass) or to the online course (Thursdays at 7:30pm on Zoom – details on the website) and engage with the little things that point you to God each moment of each day.

    Fr. Matthew 

    Downloads

    20th February BulletinDownload
    The Message & Readings for Sunday 20th February Download
    Look sheet for children for 20th FebruaryDownload
    Hymns for 20th February Download

    Other news

    A Welsh Celebration Concert! Make sure you have your tickets for the Torfaen Male Voice choir who are visiting us from Wales on Saturday. There are a small number of early bird tickets left (£2.50). Please do put up posters (available at the back of church) and encourage all your friends to come. Tickets available via the website, Fr. Matthew or Susan Chick.

    Our Lent Course – Holy Habits – will start on March 17th. It will be after mass each Thursday at 10am and end with a shared lenten meal. It will be delivered by Fr. Matthew and Fr. Sam Cross from St. Thomas, Kensal Town. You’ll also be able to take part online on Thursday evenings (7:30pm). Details on the website. 

    We’ll be renewing the Prayer list at the end of this month with a new list for March.. If you would like to remain on the list, or if there is someone you would like to add please speak to Susan.

  • Lent at St. Anselm

    Holy Habits – Lent 2022

    The pandemic prompted many of us to explore what may be called Holy Habits. Little things that we do with our bodies, our minds and our spirits that draw us closer to God.

    Some of these habits have drifted away from us as the pandemic took hold – little things like crossing ourselves with holy water when we enter church.

    As those little things come back into our lives we’ll be exploring what Holy Habits mean in our lives and how we can use them to deepen our relationship with Christ as we head towards Easter.

    There will be several ways to interact with the course which will be delivered by Fr. Matthew Cashmore and Fr. Sam McNally-Cross as part of the Centre for Applied Theology.

    At St. Anselm, Hayes on Thursday mornings after mass (10am, course starts 11am and finishes with soup & roll)

    • 17th March – Introduction to the course, liturgical gestures and bodily prayer.
    • 24th March – Pilgrimage.
    • 31st March – Gratitude.
    • 7th April – Daily Prayer & Scripture with course wrap up.

    At St. Thomas, Kensal Town on Saturday mornings after mass (10:30am, course starts at 11am, refreshments afterwards)

    • 19th March – Introduction to the course, liturgical gestures and bodily prayer.
    • 26th March – Pilgrimage.
    • 2nd April – Gratitude.
    • 9th April – Daily Prayer & Scripture with course wrap up.

    At St. Martins, Ruislip on Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm.

    • 16th March – Introduction to the course, liturgical gestures and bodily prayer.
    • 23rd March – Pilgrimage.
    • 30th March – Gratitude.
    • 6th April – Daily Prayer & Scripture with course wrap up.

    Also via Zoom in partnership with the Centre for Applied Theology and Urban Abbey

    The zoom course will take place on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm GMT

    Register via Eventbrite to be sent a reminder each week along with the Zoom link.

    https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lent-2022-holy-habits-tickets-268364845477

    Or click here to open the Zoom session on Thursdays 17th March, 24th March, 31st March and 7th April at 7:30pm

    Catch-up

    Each week we’ll record the Zoom session and make it available to watch again via the Course Page here. It’ll be available a few hours after the session finishes each week

    Do join us this Lent to explore Holy Habits and their role in your daily life with Christ.

  • News for 13th February

    Saints Cyril and Methodius,  missionaries for Christ.  

    On Monday we celebrate with a feast! We do enjoy a good feast at St. Anselm’s and this is a good one.

    Saints Cyril and Methodius were brothers who both entered the service of Christ. 

    Methodius was a monk and Cyril became a Bishop. Between them they are credited with many wonderful things (not least the invention of an entire alphabet) but at the heart of this celebration is the message of a joint purpose and calling. 

    The brothers were missionaries in the slavic countries and nothing could stop them bringing the message of Christ to those peoples – not even the lack of a language or alphabet to do so.

    They joined forces to make Christ known in a place that was not especially open to the message… 

    Our mission at St. Anselm is just the same. We join forces with our brothers and sisters here in church to  make Jesus known in Hayes. 

    Hayes may not be the perfect soil into which to plant – but our mission is one sent by God and so we must look to Cyril and Methodius and not be discouraged -but see it as an opportunity to discover new ways of doing things and new ways of communicating the Gospel.

    Although, I do hope we don’t have to invent a whole new alphabet to do it!

    Fr. Matthew

    Downloads

    Bulletin for 13th February Download
    The Message & Readings for Sunday 13th FebruaryDownload
    Look sheet for 13th February Download

    Other news

    Date for your diary! Saturday February 26th we’ll be welcoming the Pontypool Male Voice Choir for our first big concert at St. Anselm in recent years. Tickets will be £5 but will be available next Sunday at the discount rate of £2.50. Tell your friends and get ready to sell some tickets!

    We’ll be renewing the Prayer list at the end of this month with a new list for March (as will be our pattern for the future). If you would like to remain on the list, or if there is someone you would like to add please speak to Susan (contact details on the front page of the pew sheet).

    Lent will soon be upon us. Fr. Matthew will be running a series of lent talks after Thursday Mass called ‘Holy Habits’. They’ll last for about 20 mins with discussion afterwards – as well as some suitable Lenten cake, tea & coffee.  

  • News for 6th February

    Our Lady of Lourdes, healing and love.  

    In 2018 I took my first pilgrimage to Lourdes. I was expecting – as many people had told me – the Disney Land of the Roman Catholic world. 

    A place rammed full of souvenir shops and tourist traps – not a place of prayer and healing.

    ‘Many people’ were entirely wrong (as they often are). From the moment Fr. Sam and I arrived in this tiny Pyrenees town we felt the powerful sense of prayer. 

    Prayer that has happened for so long and so hard that it had worn the world between this one and the next thin. 

    A sense that God was listening, that Our Lady was there with Her hand held out to take us to Her son.

    Each evening we would gather for the Rosary walk. This procession had thousands and thousands of people – all praying the same prayer in their own language. It gave me a real sense of the world-wide faith of Jesus Christ and it was powerful!

    On Friday we offer Mass for Our Lady of Lourdes and we give thanks for all of those people who have traveled there and found healing in the waters, who have found healing in the prayer, who have found healing in the peace.

    This week I head off on my own pilgrimage to Walsingham. Another place worn thin through prayer. 

    I will be praying for you all and for your health and vitality as we face a new and exciting future post COVID.

    Fr. Matthew

    Downloads

    Bulletin for 6th February Download
    The Message & Readings for Sunday 6th FebruaryDownload
    Look Sheet for Sunday 6th FebruaryDownload
    6th February HymnsDownload

    Other news

    We’ll be renewing the Prayer list at the end of this month with a new list for March (as will be our pattern for the future). If you would like to remain on the list, or if there is someone you would like to add please speak to Susan (contact details on the front page of the pew sheet).

    Fr. Matthew is away during the week over the next two weeks (but here on Sundays) – pilgrimage to Walsingham next week and a half-term holiday with his family in the second week. The usual schedule of weekly prayer will be maintained by Susan and our dear friend and visitor Fr. Angus. 

    Lent will soon be upon us. Fr. Matthew will be running a series of lent talks after Thursday Mass called ‘Holy Habits’. They’ll last for about 20 mins with discussion afterwards – as well as some suitable Lenten cake, tea & coffee.