JUBILEE YEAR PILGRIMAGE TO ROME - 5 - 10 November (Cost £1,220 inc. travel, accommodation & half board; single supp. £188). Join two of our diocesan priests Fr Gus Campanello & Fr Nick Harden on pilgrimage to Rome. To find out more and book:-  sarah@tangney-tours.com or  01732 886666

Join the priests of our Diocese who are celebrating their 25th, 40th, 50th and 60th years in priestly ministry, to give thanks for their years of service at this special Mass in Arundel Cathedral 12th June , midday, Arundel Cathedral.

The priesthood is a special gift to the Church, through which Christ is always present to pour out His Spirit on His people through the holy sacraments. In this 7th week of Eastertide, let us pray for greater numbers to respond generously, to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass. If you have not yet managed to collect one of the diocese’s special leaflets, they are available in the narthex as you leave Mass - please take and use one.

At this time, we are coming nearer to the end of the Easter Season. The season in which we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of our Saviour from the dead. All Roman Catholics know that it is their obligation (once they have celebrated their First Eucharist) to fulfil what is known as their ‘Easter duties.’ This is to receive Holy Communion, in a fit state, between Ash Wednesday and Trinity Sunday (usually having celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation). The Church has always taught that the Lord, in his mercy, will forgive our sins, even our grievous sins if we cannot go to Confession – go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation – as long as we make what is termed a perfect Act of Contrition, and resolve to confess our serious sins when we next have the opportunity to do so. What the Church teaches us, is that God in his mercy, forgives our sins when we are truly sorry for them. And when we turn to him and express our sorrow in an Act of Contrition, it’s called an Act of Perfect Contrition when its focus is on the mercy and the love of God rather than on the burden of our guilt. So to make an act of Perfect Contrition, we simply need to turn to God and be, as it were, overwhelmed by God’s mercy, and then express in our own words or in the words of the traditional Act of Contrition, the sorrow we feel for our offences against the goodness of God. When we do that in real sincerity of heart, we may rest assured that God forgives our sins and that we come away from that Act of Perfect Contrition freed from those sins; the only thing we have to remember is, when it is possible to celebrate Confession, that we mention the grievous sins which were forgiven by this Perfect Act of Contrition. You might say, well, why do we have to go to Confession and name our sins?  Part of the reason is often we don’t really own our sins until we name them. In the act of naming our serious sin, we take hold of them and hand them over to Jesus on the Cross, because he takes on the burden of our sin; and we, for our part, when we make use of that opportunity, name it to the priest who is there representing the person of Jesus and his mercy. Thus we can approach our lives with a clear conscience. [Trinity Sunday this year falls on 15th June]

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Not quite such a busy week around The Presbytery this time as the schools are all on their half term breaks. They begin again on Monday with the older students all facing exams - please pray for them at this decisive time in their school lives . . . . . On Saturday morning Fr D was down at Arundel Cathedral with some of our teenage parishioners to celebrate their Confirmation with Bishop Richard. Our Parish was part of the first celebration for the Epsom Deanery, another scheduled for the afternoon. Fr D was particularly pleased when Bishop Richard remarked to him afterwards that he could tell the youngsters from Cobham as they all spoke up when he was confirming them.  Monday Fr D decided to have a long leisurely breakfast. Towards the end of it he could hear some strange banging sounds which seemed to emanate from the corner of the kitchen. Not being able to locate a cause and with the strange sounds still occurring he went and opened the front door to find a workman ‘capping off’ the two pipes into the gas meter. This was the final stage of requirements before the gas company come and remove the meter entirely. The complete removal of the meter has been necessitated because the new diocesan supplier had started to make a standing charge since last October (after no charges for three years) which was only discovered when a bill arrived. Having spoken about the unreasonableness of such a charge when no gas was being used (indeed Fr D turned the whole thing off three years ago) Fr D said that we’d have the meter removed! They then informed us that this could cost up to £10,000! Fr D said that he wanted a quotation for removal (which turned out to be just under £300); the quotation proved to be far less than they thought (trying to get us to back off!). Fr D said to go ahead, they wanted payment before, then said that we had to disconnect and purge the pipes (more delay tactics!). Finally with the disconnection, purging, and capping of the pipes, they have run out of excuses and now need to come and do the work we requested over two months ago (subject to any more ridiculous excuses and delays). This now means that at the Presbytery there is no more gas supply (or meter) and no more standing charges - we should not expect any more dealings with the gas company nor any more invoices, finally . . . .

Boniface, known as the apostle of the Germans, was an English Benedictine monk who gave up being an abbot to devote his life to the conversion of Germanic tribes. Two characteristics stand out: his orthodoxy and his fidelity to the pope. How necessary this orthodoxy and fidelity were is borne out by the conditions Boniface found on his first missionary journey in 719 at the request of Pope Gregory II. Paganism was a way of life. What Christianity he did find had either lapsed into paganism or was mixed with error. The clergy were mainly responsible for these latter conditions since they were in many instances uneducated, lax, and often disobedient to their bishops. These are the conditions that Boniface was to report on his first return visit to Rome. The pope instructed him to reform the German Church. The pope sent letters of recommendation to religious and civil leaders. Boniface admitted that his work would have been unsuccessful, from a human viewpoint, without a letter of safe-conduct from Charles Martel, the powerful Frankish ruler, grandfather of Charlemagne. Boniface was made a regional bishop and told to organize the whole German Church. He was eminently successful. On a final mission, Boniface and 53 others were massacred as he was preparing converts for confirmation.  To restore the Germanic Church to its fidelity to Rome and to convert the pagans, Boniface had been guided by two principles: to restore the obedience of the clergy to their bishops in union with the pope, and the establishment of many houses of prayer which took the form of Benedictine monasteries.

Each year ALL Catholic Parish communities are expected to have a period of extended Eucharistic worship. Many parishes throughout the world take the Opportunity of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi to do this, and for the past few years our Parish has held a period of Extended Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Accordingly we will be doing this from after the 11.00 Mass and ending with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 15.30 on Sunday 22 nd June. As always we will need to make sure that there are parishioners present in the church during this time and to this end there is a ’sign-up’ sheet at the rear of the church for parishioners to choose a twenty minute slot where they commit to being present. Please make a point of making sure that we are covered for the entire period on the day.

9-23rd August. Walking over the Surrey Hills and along the Sussex coast, this year’s route will visit every deanery in the Diocese, with pilgrims welcome to join for a day or two, or the whole 2 weeks. To find out more and book a place:-  thepilgrims.org.uk/book/home.php

Arundel Cathedral, 17-19th June. Experience Arundel’s beautiful Carpet of Flowers, in celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi. View the carpet 09.30 - 19.00 (Weds) and 09.30am - 17.30 (Thurs). Mass, followed by a procession to Arundel Castle, begins at 17.30 (Thurs). All are welcome.