DIY ABORTION UP TO BIRTH - Dame Diana Johnson MP has put forward an extreme abortion amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. This amendment would decriminalise abortion in England and Wales and means that there would be no criminal sanctions for a woman using deadly abortion pills sent to her by post to carry out an abortion at home, right up to the time of the baby’s birth! The Government has confirmed that the Bill will not be debated until after the Easter recess. So this will be a date after 15th April. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) will be alerting people to the actual date as soon as it is known. There is now more time for concerned citizens to lobby their MP’s to vote against Dian Johnson’s amendment. Please go to  https://www.spuc.uk/abortion amendments for:- • More information about abortion decriminalisation • To find who your MP is • To use SPUC’s online tool to contact your MP ASSISTED SUICIDE DEBATE - There will be an important debate on assisted suicide in the House of Commons on Monday 29th April at 16.30. This debate is taking place as a result of the campaign by media personality Dame Esther Rantzen who wants a change in the law to legalise assisted suicide. It is vital that as many MP’s as possible speak up in the House to oppose any move to make assisted suicide legal in England and Wales. Please go to  https://www.spuc.org.uk/livesworthliving for:- • A briefing on the case against assisted suicide • Three video stories opposing any change in the law • An online tool to contact your MP

Countless stories are told about St. George, including the famous episode of the dragon and the girl saved by the saint. According to the standard version of the legend, we hear that in the city of Selem in Libya, there was a large pond where a terrible dragon lived. To appease it, the inhabitants offered him two sheep a day and later a sheep and a child drawn by lot. One day the king's daughter was chosen, and while she was heading toward the pond, George passed by and pierced the dragon with his spear; a gesture that became a symbol of faith triumphing over evil. Who was St. George? George, whose name in Greek means “farmer,” was born to a Christian family in Cappadocia around the year 280. After moving to Palestine, he joined the army of Diocletian. When the emperor issued the edict of persecution against Christians in 303, George gave all his belongings to the poor and, in front of Diocletian himself, tore the document apart and professed his faith in Christ. For this he suffered terrible torture and was eventually beheaded. Shortly after his death, a basilica was erected over the place of his burial in Lydda (modern-day Lod, in Israel). His relics are still visible today. Among the most ancient documents attesting to the existence of St. George, a Greek epigraph from 368 found in Heraclea of Bethany speaks of the “house or church of the saints and triumphant martyrs George and companions.” A Passio Georgii was classified among the hagiographic works by the Gelasianum Decree of 496 and deemed apocryphal. There were many later redactions of the Passio, which informed subsequent legends. From martyr to holy warrior The crusaders contributed a great deal to transforming the figure of St. George the martyr into a holy warrior, seeing in the killing of the dragon a symbol for the defeat of Islam; Richard I of England (“the Lionheart”) invoked him as the protector of all soldiers. With the Normans the cult of St. George became firmly rooted in England where, in 1348, King Edward III established the Order of the Knights of St. George. Throughout the Middle Ages his figure inspired a great deal of epic literature. Devotion to St George St George is considered the patron of knights, soldiers, scouts, fencers and archers, among others; he is also invoked against the plague and leprosy, and against venomous snakes. In the absence of certain information about his life, in 1969 the Church changed the liturgical feast of St George to an optional memorial on the universal calendar. However, this change did not affect devotion to the saint. The relics of the saint are found in different places of the world; in Rome the church of San Giorgio al Velabro has housed his skull from the time of Pope Zachariah.  As in the case of other saints wrapped in legend, the story of St George serves to remind the world of a fundamental idea, that good ultimately triumphs over evil. The fight against evil is a constant in human history. It is a battle cannot we cannot win on our own. Saint George was able to kill the dragon because God was acting in and through him. With Christ, evil will never have the last word.

Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. When St Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark’s mother. Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone. The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus’s rejection by humanity while being God’s triumphant envoy. Probably written for gentile converts in Rome - after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70 - Mark’s Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a “scandal”: a crucified Messiah. Evidently a friend of Mark - calling him “my son” - Peter is only one of this Gospel’s sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem, and the Church at Antioch. Like another Gospel writer Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus: “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked” (Mark 14:51-52).  Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt.

Just like last week, we get another reminder that the risen Jesus offers peace to his friends and disciples. In this reading, they are still struggling with fear, doubt, and confusion about what they have experienced over the last three days. Rather than criticizing them for their doubts or misunderstandings, Jesus begins this encounter with them with his famous words “Peace be with you.” Before he does anything else, he wants them to have that gift. Once the peace is given, then he can answer their questions. It is only after they receive his peace that they can come to believe that this person in front of them-whom they thought was a ghost-is really their risen friend. Jesus takes care to show the disciples that he is still in a physical body. They can feel him with their own fingers. They can see the nail wounds in his hands and feet. They watch him eating fish. Jesus wants to be clear with them that he is not just a bright spirit floating around the earth.  In the Apostles’ Creed, we proclaim, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” The gospel today gives us that hope. Our belief is that somehow - we do not know how - God will give us new life in the physical bodies we had on earth. They will be recognizable, as Jesus was recognizable after his resurrection, and they will still show the marks of our wounds, but those wounds will be healed. We will never be able to explain this hope and this belief with our minds, but then again, neither could the disciples have explained it rationally to others. Questions of the Week  Jesus responds to his friends’ doubts and confusions by offering peace rather than criticism. In what area(s) of your life might God be inviting you to accept peace rather than remain troubled?  What difference does it make for you to believe in the resurrection of the body, not just a resurrection of the soul or spirit?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Things slightly ‘hotting-up’ around The Presbytery this week as people and organisations come back online after the Easter festivities . . . . . . Monday Fr D set about reading up on the ‘charging instructions’ for the new car. The first time he attempted charging (in the dark one evening) he couldn’t work out why the socket in the wall box wouldn’t let him plug in? When all else fails of course we tend to read the instructions which stated that the wall socket need to be ‘plugged’ first and then the car! So he spent some time ‘reading up’ in detail on the charging instructions. He is still chasing the electricity supplier to switch to the tariff that gives electric car charging lower prices between 23.30 and 05.30, which will make the whole change over even more economic. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday Fr D had a telephone call consultation from the Dr’s Surgery which told him that diabetes, cholesterol, and blood pressure readings had all been reduced by the medication they have put him on! (He wanted to know when he could stop all the tablets, of course!) at 12.30 Fr D was celebrating a funeral in the Crematorium chapel before a burial in the attached cemetery. In the late afternoon he began the bones of the newsletter for this weekend. Wednesday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D (with Sarah) was chasing up our previous electricity company once more - trying to get the full and final bill (from last December). Fr D is convinced that the company don’t actually know how to do this and has now threatened (having already raised the matter to a complaint) to refer the situation to the energy Ombudsman! When he went down to the diocesan offices, after Morning Prayer & Mass on Thursday, Fr D continued working several of his cases and started looking at how cases ready for judgement could be sent to judges electronically in a secure and coded manner as the normal postal service is breaking down in some areas (and has become extremely expensive). When he got back home in the evening he put his new ‘charging skills’ to good use before meeting with a family who are preparing to have their child baptised in May.  Friday, after Morning Prayer and Mass Fr D completed the newsletter for the weekend as well as the Prayers of Intercession and Notices so that he had everything he needed for the weekend . . . . . . .

Although all the chocolate bunnies have been eaten and all the Easter eggs found (hopefully), the celebration of Easter in the Church is far from over as Eastertide is just beginning. Catholics celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday; but the celebration of Easter through the season of Eastertide is 50 days long, leading up to Pentecost. It is the longest season in the Church’s calendar. But why is it that Catholics celebrate Easter for 50 days? The purpose of Eastertide is to bask in the glory of the Resurrection. This time is to reflect on the new life God has given us through Christ’s sacrifice. Everything changed and just a single day is not nearly enough time to celebrate the magnitude of Easter. Remember that we spent 40 days praying, fasting, and giving alms in preparation for the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Christ. In turn, we will spend the 50 days of the Easter season celebrating Christ’s victory over death.  Another reason the Church celebrates Eastertide is to remember the 40 days Christ spent with his Apostles before he returned to the Father at his Ascension. Just as the disciples rejoiced in the Resurrection for 40 days, learning more from Jesus, we rejoice during the Easter season.

Just like last week’s Gospel, we get another reminder that the risen Jesus offers his peace to his friends and disciples. In today’s reading, they are still struggling with fear, doubt, and confusion about all that they have experienced over the previous three days. Rather than criticising them for their doubts or misunderstandings, Jesus begins this encounter with them with his famous words “Peace be with you.” Before he does anything else, he wants them to have that gift. Once the peace is given, then he can answer their questions. It is only after they receive his peace that they can come to believe that this person in front of them - whom they thought was a ghost - is really their risen friend. Jesus takes care to show the disciples that he still has a physical body. They can feel him with their own fingers. They can see the nail wounds in his hands and feet. They watch him eating fish. Jesus wants to be clear with them that he is not just some bright spirit ‘floating around’ the earth.  In the Apostles’ Creed, which we proclaim throughout the seasons of Lent and Eastertide, we state: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” The gospel today gives us that hope. Our belief is that somehow - we do not know how - God will give us new life in the physical bodies we had on earth. They will be recognisable, just as Jesus was recognisable after his resurrection, and they will still show the marks of our wounds, but those wounds will be healed. We will never be able to explain this hope and this belief with our minds, but then again, neither could the disciples have explained it rationally to others. Questions of the Week  Jesus responds to his friends’ doubts and confusions by offering peace rather than criticism. In what area (s) of your life might God be inviting you to accept peace rather than remain troubled?  What difference does it make for you to believe in the resurrection of the - body, not just a resurrection of the soul or spirit?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A fairly quiet week around The Presbytery as the children are still on holiday and Fr D recovers from his trip to Lourdes with special needs children . . . Fr D returned home from his trip about 17.00. He had worked on a shopping delivery which was timed for between 18.00 and 20.00 on Sunday evening. This had the advantage of giving a couple of days food and refilling bulkier items in the storeroom without having to make trips out of the house. Having popped in to see the sisters to tell them he was back Fr D just had time for a sandwich and some real tea before taking himself off to bed! Giving himself a little lie-in on Monday morning Fr D soon set about emptying his suitcase and putting all his clothes through the washing machine (three loads), by the time that he’d done all of this he was able to have a first look at the post and emails that had built up whilst he was away - as usual lots of it was junk (no matter how much he takes the address off of mailing lists it all seems to come in just the same! Having celebrated Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning Fr D had some time with Sarah in the office to ‘catch up’ (principally about the electricity company that the diocese placed us with when the British Gas contract ran out (it took six months for them to accept that we did not want their services and we are still awaiting a final bill!). Wednesday morning, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D was off in the car to the Diocesan Office in Crawley to see what delights were sat in his ’in-tray’ after the Easter holidays. It seemed strange to travel down in the new car - not being able to hear any engine noise at all! After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday, Fr D was again off down to Crawley where he was working on a new (hopefully more efficient?) management scheme for the different types of Tribunal cases. He has discovered that the new Tribunal Secretary is quite proficient in Excel, so he can make some changes that he has been thinking about for a little while now.  On Friday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D needed to finalise this week’s newsletter. This had to take place up in the Parish Office as his own computer is giving him great grief at present. He has a new one ready to replace it but needs the diocesan IT man to set it up alongside the two in the Parish Office, which will hopefully be done towards the end of April when work on the telephone lines takes place . . .

Every household within the Parish is requested to complete a ‘Parishioner Registration/Census’ form so that our Parish records may be kept up to date. These forms can be obtained from the Parish Office and should be completed fully before being returned to the Parish Office.  Should you move address within the Parish at any time please complete a new form and write ‘AMENDMENT’ across the top of the form. Thank you.