Eastertide is the time of new life. Our Saviour’s in the first place, living for ever a life which belongs no more to the earth and which one day we shall share with Him in heaven. And then our own lives - from Christ to us - for we have more than the assurance of rejoining Him; snatched by Him from the power of the devil we belong to Him as His by right of conquest and we share His life. Easter week is the week of the baptized. They have passed from death to life, from the darkness of sin to the life of grace in the light of Christ. Wherever there are neophytes, the Easter season, and particularly the first week, is the period of postbaptismal catechesis or mystogogy. The community shares with them a deepening understanding of the paschal mystery and an ever greater assimilation of it in daily life through meditation, participation in the Eucharist, and the practice of charity. The moral requirements of the new life are recalled throughout Eastertide. They are governed by the principle enunciated by St. Paul that, risen with Christ, the Christian must raise his desires to heaven, detach himself from earthly pleasures in order to love those of heaven. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to complete the formation in the baptized of the ‘new man’ who, by the holiness of his life, bears witness to Christ crucified. The Fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one ‘great Sunday.’ These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia. The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of the Easter Season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holy day of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter. This solemnity directs our attention to Christ, who ascended into heaven before the eyes of his disciples, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, invested with royal power, who is there to prepare a place for us in the kingdom of heaven; and who is destined to come again at the end of time. The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.  This sacred season of fifty days comes to an end on Pentecost Sunday, which commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church and its mission to every tongue and people and nation.

Every year, in every Parish of the diocese a Retiring Collection is made for the ‘Overseas Missions.’ This provides the people of the Parish an opportunity to assist in the missionary work of so many priests, religious, and lay people, working in diverse situations throughout the world, spreading the message of the Gospel. This weekend we welcome Fr Peter Smith of the ‘White Fathers’ to make our annual appeal. The White Fathers are an international team of priests, brothers and lay associates from Africa, Britain, and many countries around the world. Any ministry which has a real relationship with Africa, no matter in what part of the world it may be, is considered by the White Fathers to be within the scope of the apostolate. Through their parish work, building up small Christian communities, working with the media, involvement in justice and peace, agriculture, seminary training, education, and social welfare the White Fathers aim to work in partnership with the Church in Africa . . . . and above all else to help build up the leadership of the churches.  Please be generous in your response to this appeal.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A very quiet week around The Presbytery; Fr D took off in the car on Easter Sunday evening to stay with a friend in Reigate before being picked up at 04.30 to be taken to Heathrow ready to catch a plane to Toulouse and from there by coach to Lourdes. Fr D was not looking after special needs children this time around as, with Easter being so late, the trip was not during the school holidays and lots of the group helpers being teachers it was just not practicable. However, he agreed to be a chaplain to an ‘Old & Bold’ group; these are more senior adults who in the past were helpers in various groups before deciding that they were now too old to be going as helpers (wranglers) for the children. They join in with all the Trust liturgies during the week but otherwise have a more sedate (and calm) time without children. Fr D has been a couple of times with this older group (perhaps he’s getting ready for when he could be classed as ‘Old & Bold’!). He should be returning to the Parish on Sunday evening when he will no doubt start messing about with the big white tin boxes in the utility room! Before leaving he did leave me with a schedule of what they’ve been doing during the week: • Monday - depart Heathrow for Toulouse, coach to hotel in Lourdes, relax before evening meal with the rest of the group and night prayers. • Tuesday - Mass at St Frai chapel, walk to Grotto to place Group candle and prayer intentions, Way of the Cross, Torchlight Procession. • Wednesday - Coach to Hosanna House, Mass in Hosanna House Chapel, celebration lunch in a Bartres restaurant, Reconciliation Service in the evening. • Thursday - Join Trust Mass in underground Basilica, Blessed Sacrament Procession, Torchlight Procession. • Friday - Mass in the St Frai chapel, ‘Old Town’ and shops (Fr D intends to buy the special crosses for our First Eucharist candidates), Cachot, Boly Mill, Parish Church, Maison Paternelle, drinks at a Café overlooking the river Garve. • Saturday - free time in Lourdes.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Not unexpectedly, a very busy week around The Presbytery, with Fr D and Sarah racing about to get the final pieces into place for our Easter celebrations . . . . This week was also one of those during the year when they also had to prepare a second newsletter for whilst Fr D was in Lourdes. This year not with special needs children as usual because Easter’s dates meant that the children were back at school, so he’s going as a chaplain to an ‘Old & Bold’ Group. These are those who have spent many trips looking after the children but now are of an age when they cannot do this any more - but they still come to Lourdes to join in with the children’s celebrations without the responsibility of looking after them! Fr D will be travelling out on Easter Monday and return the following Sunday evening. Easter Sunday, of course, is not the end of our celebration of Easter. After forty days in preparation with Lent, and the celebration of the Easter Triduum (from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday) it is easy to miss looking ahead in the Church’s liturgical calendar. This is, after all, the climax of the Christian year with the celebration of the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Catechism calls Easter the ‘Feast of feasts’ and the ‘Solemnity of solemnities.’ Yet, Easter Sunday is actually just the first day of the Easter Octave, the eight-day festal period, in which we continue to celebrate the momentous conclusion to the Paschal mystery and the economy of salvation played out in liturgical time. The eight days of the Easter Octave are a special time to celebrate the Risen Lord and to more deeply contemplate its mysteries.  The Church punctuates the special importance of this feast by assigning it the highest liturgical ranking, that is, as a Privileged Octave of the First Order. This means that each of the eight days is counted as a solemnity, the highest raking feast day, in which no other feast can be celebrated. It also begins the fifty days of celebration to the feast of Pentecost (known as Eastertide), but these first eight days of the Easter Octave culminates with the Second Sunday of Easter.

The collections taken over the Easter weekend provides income to the Parish specifically for the support of the clergy and may be Gift Aided. Any cheques should be made payable to the ‘Sacred Heart Parish, Cobham’ (any cheques made out personally to Fr D are direct gifts and cannot be received into Parish funds or Gift Aided). You will find a supply of Gift Aid envelopes (blue) for this collection in the narthex.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Although our schools are now on holiday for Easter the pace around The Presbytery has been picking up all week as we move into Holy Week . . . On Monday Fr D went off down to Worthing for his monthly Ministry to Priests Support Group Meeting. Having spent an hour before the Blessed Sacrament in one of his two previous churches the group retired to a local hostelry where they had lunch before going to the retirement bungalow of one of the group. Having spent some while looking back over the past month one of the members of the group (who is also retired and ill) ‘rang in’ to join the others over the telephone. By the time that Fr D got home again it was 21.30 and he just had a cup of tea, a sandwich, and went off to bed. On Tuesday, during breakfast, the Air Source Heat Pump engineer arrived to carry out the annual service of the pump that supplies the heating and hot water for the house. Fr D thought that he recognised the engineer and discovered that when the pump was fitted three years ago the engineer was an apprentice on his first job, now he is fully qualified and still with the company. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition Fr D was finalising his Triduum homilies and checking through the various ceremonies, making sure that he had everything he needed. There was no Morning Prayer on Wednesday as there was a Requiem Mass for one of our long-term parishioners, followed by a burial at Cobham Cemetery. Fr D then went off up to Brooklands to do some shopping ready for Easter. On the way back home he went into Sainsburys to pick up his new glasses. Following Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D was down to the diocesan offices in Crawley for the last time before Easter where there was quite a bit that had built up in his tray since last week! When he got home in the late afternoon he set about his parts of the newsletter ready for Sarah to finish, print, and set up the email distribution on Friday. After Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday Fr D completed his parts of the newsletter and sorted out the Prayers of Intercession for the weekend, along with the music for the Saturday evening and 09.00 Mass on Sunday. At 12.30 the last of this Lent’s Way of the Cross devotion took place followed by the last Fast Lunch for CAFOD in the Parish Centre.  On Saturday Fr D had a young couple coming to see him about getting married next year . . . .

TERMINALLY ILL ADULTS (END OF LIFE) BILL My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I wish to speak with you today about the process in which our Parliament is currently considering legalising assisted suicide through the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. As I have made clear earlier in this debate, as Catholics we have maintained a principled objection to this change in law recognising that every human life is sacred, coming as a gift of God and bearing a God-given dignity. We are, therefore, clearly opposed to this Bill in principle, elevating, as it does, the autonomy of the individual above all other considerations. The passage of the Bill through Parliament will lead to a vote in late April on whether it progresses further. This will be a crucial moment and I, together with all the Bishops of England and Wales, am writing to ask your support in urging your MP to vote against this Bill at that time. There are serious reasons for doing so. At this point we wish not simply to restate our objections in principle, but to emphasise the deeply flawed process undergone in Parliament thus far. We wish to remind you that it is a fundamental duty of every MP to ensure that legislation is not imposed on our society which has not been properly scrutinised and which will bring about damaging consequences. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will fundamentally change many of the key relationships in our way of life: within the family, between doctor and patient, within the health service. Yet there has been no Royal Commission or independent inquiry ahead of its presentation. It is a Private Member’s Bill. The Bill itself is long and complex and was published just days before MPs voted on it, giving them inadequate time to consult or reflect upon it. The time for debate was minimal. The Committee examining the Bill took only three days of evidence: not all voices were heard, and it comprises an undue number of supporters of the Bill. In short, this is no way to legislate on such an important and morally complex issue. One consequence of this flawed process is that many vital questions remain unanswered. Can MPs guarantee that the scope of the Bill will not be extended? In almost every country where assisted suicide has been introduced the current scope is wider than was originally intended. What role, if any, will the judiciary have in the process? We were told that judicial oversight was a necessary and vital part of the process; now we are told it isn’t needed at all. What will protect the vulnerable from coercion, or from feeling a burden on family? Can the National Health Service cope with assisted suicide or will it, as the Health Secretary has warned, cause cuts elsewhere in the NHS? Can MPs guarantee that no medical practitioner or care worker would be compelled to take part in assisted suicide? Would this mean the establishment of a ‘national death service’? In contrast to the provisions of this Bill, what is needed is first-class, compassionate palliative care at the end of our lives. This is already provided to many in our society but, tragically, is in short supply and underfunded. No-one should be dispatched as a burden to others. Instead, a good society would prioritise care for the elderly, the vulnerable, and the weak. The lives of our families are richer for cherishing their presence. It is a sad reflection on Parliament’s priorities that the House of Commons spent far more time debating the ban on fox hunting than it is spending debating bringing in assisted suicide. I am sure that you will share these concerns. It is now clear that this measure is being rushed without proper scrutiny and without fundamental questions surrounding safeguards being answered. This is a deeply flawed Bill with untold unintended consequences. Every MP, and Government, has a solemn duty to prevent such legislation reaching the statute book. This, tragically, is what may happen. So I appeal to you: even if you have written before, please make contact now with your MP and ask them to vote against this Bill not only on grounds of principle but because of the failure of Parliament to approach this issue in an adequate and responsible manner. In his Letter to the Philippians, from which we heard in the Second Reading, St Paul reflects on the difficulties and responsibilities of life. He speaks of ‘pressing on’ and ‘striving’ for the fulness of life promised in Christ Jesus. Yet he is totally confident in his struggles because, as he says, ‘Christ Jesus has made me his own.’ We too have many struggles. We too know that Christ Jesus has made us his own. So we too press on with this struggle, so important in our times.  May God bless you all, +Richard Bishop of Arundel & Brighton

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Things around The Presbytery are now starting to ‘heat up’ as things move into high gear for our celebrations in Holy Week . . . . . On Monday Fr D had what amounted to a ‘medical day,’ In the morning he had appointments for regular tests on his eyes and his hearing. The eye test resulted in new glasses having to be ordered and the hearing tests meant that his hearing aids needed to be ‘tweaked.’ In the afternoon he was at the doctor’s surgery having the stitches in his head removed by a nurse (he was delighted that no blood or pain was involved - even more that he was then able to wash his hair once more!). Also on Monday the workmen came to make a start on the missing, dislodged, and broken tiles across the Church and Parish Centre roofs. Early on Tuesday morning the workmen for the roof tiles were once more hard at work at high level. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition Fr D was checking on the progress of the workmen though he declined to go up high to take a look! In the afternoon he was preparing for his meeting with this year’s Confirmation candidates in the evening. This time they were looking at the ceremonies of Holy Week and their significance. In the lats afternoon he had a delivery of groceries (all the heavy and dry items). Wednesday the workmen were back on site once again with a lorry loaded with all sorts of roof tiles ready to go in the areas that they had repaired and prepared. Having celebrated Morning Prayer and Mass Fr D was working on the booklet that we are going to be using for the Triduum in Holy Week.. In conjunction with our singers and musicians this is ‘tweaked’ each year to take account of what may be going on at the various celebrations (particularly at the Easter Vigil). During the day an engineer arrived from BT to change the main router for the Parish ready for a switchover to a new supplier which will reduce two contracts down to one much cheaper one. The changeover of suppliers should take place after Fr D comes back from Lourdes.  Following Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday, Fr D went off in the car to the diocesan offices at Crawley - the first visit since falling over on the sanctuary. The bishop was interested to see where the stiches had been and what sort of scar might develop (he even offered to give permission for Fr D to wear a black skull-cap - not something that Fr D would even think of doing!). When he got back home in he evening Fr D put the finishing touches to the newsletter ready to pass it over to Sarah . . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A much quieter week this time around The Presbytery, enforced on Fr D by the events of last Sunday morning . . . . At our Sunday morning 09.00 Mass we welcomed our Confirmation Candidates among our community as they celebrated the Rite of Inscription; the candidates have taken part in several sessions now and this was their opportunity to decide to go ahead and present themselves before Bishop Richard in May to celebrate the sacrament. Just as they had completed this rite with Fr D, stepping backwards, Fr D caught his alb under his feet and fell over backwards, hitting his head on the marble base of the altar. Fortunately two medics from among the parishioners were present and came up to attend to him. Whilst they were doing this Fr D had deacon Paul lead the Prayers of Intercession and the reader continue as normal; during this Fr D went off with the medics into the sacristy where they were able to ‘tidy him up.’ Deacon Paul managed to set the music running for the Offertory Hymn and by the time this ended Fr D was able to get to the altar and continue Mass (though communion under both kinds had to be abandoned) and Fr D sat through the distribution of holy communion. At the end of Mass Deacon Paul took the newsletters to the back along with the server and Fr D retreated to the sacristy where the medics worked on stopping the bleeding. Fr D arranged for Fr Tony Churchill to celebrate the 11.00 Mass as he went off to Epsom hospital where he ended up with eight stitches into the back of his head! On Monday, with a ringing headache Fr D was taken out for a pre-arranged lunch by a couple of parishioners from one of his old parishes. Later in the afternoon he prepared a homily for the following day (Annunciation of the Lord), before having a sandwich and taking himself off to bed. Going to bed early seemed to become the pattern for the week as his headache continued, being particularly bad when he woke up in the morning (the doctor at A & E had told him that the concussion could take two to three weeks to disappear). On Tuesday evening Fr D went across to St Michael’s, Ashtead, to take part in the Deanery Adult Lenten Reconciliation Service which Bishop Richard was leading.  As the week progressed Fr D was managing to get over the shock of the fall but the headache was very definitely still with him . . . . .