Thank You!

notice from Issue No. 50/2007 for Sunday 23rd December

As 2007 ends, I wish to express my gratitude to those many people whose help, in so many different ways, makes my task as Parish Priest all the easier. Thank you to all who help with the Liturgy – our Readers and Servers, Instrumentalists, Cantors and Choirs, Collectors and Eucharistic Ministers, as well as Welcomers and those who run the Children’s Liturgy, not forgetting those who make the coffee after Mass.

Thank you to those whose help in church lies behind the scenes- our Sacristans and Launderers, Cleaners and Maintenance Men, Chair movers and Flower arrangers. Thank you to all who keep the social side of the parish life flourishing, those who arrange or help with the Bazaar and Summer Fete, with Dinners, Quizzes and Entertainments, not forgetting this coming week’s Christmas Party.

Thank you to all who look after our young people from the very tiny ones in Mums’n’Toddlers, right up to those who arrange various kinds of one-off events for our older youth. A very special thank you to our small, but dedicated, band of Catechists, especially those who prepare our children to receive the Sacraments of Holy Communion, Reconciliation and Confirmation and prepare those adults who wish to be received into the Church through the RCIA course.

Thank you to our Parish finance committee, as well as those who assist with prish finances – our Counters and Accountant, Gift Aid and 150 club organizers [not forgetting those who contribute to either or both of these schemes] as well as those who keep an eye on the maintenance of the church fabric, and unfailingly see to it that repairs get carried out before the building collapses!

Thank you to our Parish Carers who call on the aged or bereaved, the sick or lonely, to offer comfort and support, or transport to Mass. Thank you also, to all who keep our parish in touch with the wider world – our ecumenical links with Churches Together in Carshalton and the our diocesan Unity Commission.

Thank you very specially for all the initiatives which come from parishioners themselves: Alpha, café, Landings, Sons and Daughters of the Living God, as well as those who arrange and invite me to celebrate House Masses, and those who organize and join in Prayer Goups, Bible Study and other discussion groups and activities. Then there are ecumentical links with our fellow Christiasn, and out own deanery and diocesan links with the Deanery Pastroal Council and the Diocesan unity Commisiaon, not to mention national and internation links through Life, CAFOD, Traidcradt, Christian Aid, Cards to Prisoners, as well as with smaller fund-raising events for various good causes held here, or in people’s own homes, not forgetting the APF Red Mission Boxes, all who contribute tot hem or collect and empty them and make sure the money gets to the right people. Finally, thank you to all who help, unfailingly week after wekk, in the preparation, photo-copying or distribution (in all weathers!) of our Parish Newsletter. May God bless and reward you all.

Father Kevin