Here you will find Father Pauls seasonal messages, some homilies and other interesting bits and pieces.
Where appropriate documents can be downloaded and printed but you will need Adobe Reader on your PC or Mac. Full information and a link to the Adobe web site can be found in the left hand side column of this page.
Clinking on the Title will download the PDF file for printing. Click on "go to " to read here without printing.
Downloads
 Lent 2007 - go to
Advent 2006 - go to
The Easter Triduum 2006 - go to
Cross Keys Interview 2005 - go to
Heart and Soul: Clergy and Collaborative Ministry - go to
"This is an article written for "The Pastoral Review" in which Canon Paul describes his vision of partnership in our parish communities"
Posted 23 February 2006
LENT 2007
"The forty day of Lent offers the disciples of Jesus a journey of adventure and new opportunity. Through prayer, fasting and works of charity (Matthew 6.1-18) we open our lives to the renewal and restoration that the Holy Spirit brings and which prepares us for the celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection and the share in it that Baptism gives.
Like Jesus' own forty days in the desert or Israel 's forty year journey in the wilderness, Lent brings a ‘joyful season' when we open our lives to the blessing the Lord gives to the one who “puts his trust in the Lord”. (Jeremiah 17.5-8) The three hinges of Lent, prayer fasting and works of charity, create through the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, a greater readiness to trust the gift which brings the satisfaction of all our desires and the fulfilment of the human search. Living in a time when consumerism and the addictive attraction of the market is such a priority, Lent confronts us with a moment of change. A time when we can more readily accept the reality that human life is part of a much bigger experience than is immediately obvious in our broken and materialistic world.
The bigger picture is the promise made in Jesus that human life is a journey and a transformation into a share in the life and glory of God. Prayer is the time when we choose to enter more deeply that process of growth and Lent is when we can make a special effort to examine and renew it. As we grow older and more experienced in the Christian way our prayer can become simpler, more generous and ready to trust St. Paul when he says “for when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words. (Romans 8.26)
A renewed Lenten enthusiasm in prayer is accompanied by a review of our works of charity and our fasting. Works of charity will grow out of love and be inspired by our relationship with God in prayer. They are the way in which we make present, through the action of the Spirit, the love of Jesus in the world; a work which is at the heart of our task of evangelisation.
Fasting or self-denial, also inspired by our love for God, must be guided by those powerful words from the Book of Wisdom “those who eat me (wisdom) will hunger for more”. If we are to be open to that Wisdom which is God's gift in the Holy Spirit then we must limit our intake of good things; the gifts of creation, the things that we can acquire for satisfaction, whether food and drink, the necessities of life or luxuries, are all good and all gifts from God. Fasting and self-denial is about having enough but not too much; about finding a blessing in God's gifts as well as in the things that only he can provide. About creating space in our experience so that we can trust completely in God's goodness.
Lent confronts us with the truth that human life and creation are part of a much bigger picture. Our personal Lenten journey and our lives as disciples of Jesus must connect with the issues that face the world and humanity. For the Christian there are many issues and I would like to mention two of them.
Climate change and the abuse of the earth's resources is a serious matter for the world and therefore for those who embrace its concerns in the name and Spirit of Jesus. All of us this Lent have an opportunity to reflect upon our use of the resources that are so easily available to us. Do we use too much? Is our use of creation's gifts guided by the love and word of the giver? Do we always remember that the earth's resources are given for the whole of humanity and not a small group living here or there?
The second issue that may not be ignored during Lent is that more human beings are deprived of the basic necessities of life than those who have enough or too much. Countless men, women and children die everyday because of malnutrition, disease, homelessness and that violence which grows out of poverty and injustice. Let us remember especially the people of Africa, South America and South-East Asia who live in terrible poverty. Let us connect our Lenten prayer, works of charity and self-denial with the suffering of the poor and exploitation of creation. Let us live simply that others may simply live."
Paul Townsend
17 th February 2007
Posted 30 November 2006
 ADVENT 2006
“Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive what is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man” (Luke 21.36)
These words from the Gospel of Luke are taken from the Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent. They set the scene for our Advent journey which ends with the celebration of the Lord's birth at Christmas. They point to the importance of a renewal in prayer which will open us a little more to the great gifts that God is offering us in the coming of Jesus into our world and our lives.
Advent is not only about preparation for a good time at Christmas. It is a gift and opportunity which leads us into greater simplicity, poverty and silence so that we might experience anew the healing and life giving power of Jesus in our own situations.
Advent is a liturgical season and our worship takes on a different feel. The vestments are purple and there are no flowers in our churches. There is much less music and a greater silence for prayer and reflection. This provides the pattern for a renewal of our own spiritual lives with greater silence in our prayer and simplicity in our lifestyles.
The simplicity in prayer and life opens us to the gift of poverty. I would like to quote some beautiful words which Fr. James Hanvey S.J. wrote for the Catholic Herald Advent Supplement:
“In Advent we have eyes to see back along the road of time. We see its twists and cul-de-sacs, the terrible carnage of wars and policies. We can look back too at our relationships, seeing our mistakes and deceptions and knowing the need for healing. In our Advent prayer of wakefulness we grow in humility, and with that comes an openness to receive. We come to understand how we need the gift of Christ so as to change, live again, to love and to give again. In Advent we come to learn our poverty and to understand why purple is the season's colour.
If we can take the gift of Advent and let it teach us this gift of watchfulness, we will come to see another face – the face of God who is infinitely poor, so poor that he has become one of us. God is so hidden by his poverty that we keep passing him by. This scandalously poor God , who doesn't answer all our questions and solve our problems, who offers no programmes, who writes no books of astonishing cleverness proving his existence and clarifying the mysteries of the universe, has nothing to give us but himself.
In a culture so captivated by its own image and confident about its own capacities, the poverty of God makes him an object of ridicule or someone to be missed as useless in the superficial chatter of the dinner party. Only the poor can risk loving such a God.
In Advent this mendicant God moves among us and the poor can see him because only they can understand why he is poor. In his poverty, God has made himself homeless. He has no place to dwell except in us. And, when we come to know our own poverty, we understand that all we can do is let him make his home in us.”(Dr. James Hanvey is the director of the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics and Public Life)
Fr. Hanvey goes on to explore the difference Advent makes to each of us in a practical way:
- By making time to pray Advent's prayer of longing wakefulness; by taking time to ponder within its delicate beauty at its core.
- By letting Advent take us into our own poverty so that we may learn how to receive the gift of the poor God with gratitude and humility.
- By looking with new eyes upon our world and to find new ways of giving or doing that will lighten the weight of need and suffering in others.
- By having confidence in the truth of faith – to live and confess it, to give voice to its values and vision, especially where these are under threat.
All this means that Advent is a time of change and renewal. A change which our Catholic tradition encourages us to celebrate in the Sacrament of Healing and Forgiveness that we call Penance or Reconciliation. Six priests will be available for our Advent Penitential Service with opportunities for individual confession on Monday 11 th December at 7.30 pm in St. Peter's Church, Winchester .
PJT
Posted May 18 2006
Transcript of an E Mail from Augusta Wolf
As we prepare for the announcement from Bishop Crispian about the new Larger Pastoral Areas there will be a time of special prayer in our Diocese in the form of a Novena from Ascension until Pentecost, when the announcement will be made.
I would like to encourage you to take part in this. You can have the prayer materials emailed to you each day by simply registering with novena@wellsprings.org.uk Please forward this information to others in the Parish. You can find more prayer materials on the Diocesan website www.portsmouth-dio.org.uk . Hard copies of the Novena will also be available at the back of our churches this weekend for those who do not have access to the internet.
Posted May 17 2006
Monsignor Jeremy Garratt
Congratulations to Monsignor Jeremy Garratt the Parish Priest of St. Lawrence Petersfield who has been appointed Rector of St. John's Seminary, Wonersh.
Da Vinci Code
Millions of people worldwide are expected to flock to cinemas to see the Da Vinci Code The Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation (CASE)) is busy collating resources to help us make an appropriate response. For more information please contact: www.caseresources.org and www.life4seekers.co.uk or please telephone 020 8458 3316.
MY FIRST SIX MONTHS
Reprinted from Cross Keys Easter Edition
Since my arrival in Winchester six months ago, a lot has happened. Canon Charles Stewart, the Precentor at Winchester Cathedral, has announced his move to Walton-on-Thames. I shall miss Canon Charles who has been an immense support to me. On 25th March, as well as celebrating the annual 'Tichbourne Dole' at Tichbourne Park, we welcomed Canon James Atwell, the new Dean at Winchester Cathedral. In our communities at St. Peter's and St. Gregory's there have been conversations about the Pastoral Plan "Go Out and Bear Fruit", as we anticipate the publication of the new Pastoral Areas at Pentecost this year. A number of new ministries are emerging in the life of this faith community. The writing team for the General Intercessions (Bidding Prayers) is about to start work; the teams who prepare people for marriage and for baptism have expanded their activity; a new group is preparing to support the bereaved; a communications team is coming together to consider how best to co-ordinate and promote the websites and general communications and the new "Young People's Team" has developed a 'Sunday Night' group and Media Workshops on Thursday evenings. I want to thank all those who have co-operated so generously in these initiatives.
The number of "Ministry Groups" in Winchester and Alresford is impressive. At a meeting of many involved a few weeks ago, I was captivated by the enthusiasm of so many people for the work they are doing and the new opportunities they wanted to seize. The Catholic Church is alive and well in our district and increasing numbers of people are offering their gifts to the community. One of the things I have noticed during the past six months is the need for the "Ministry Groups" in Winchester and Alresford to be supported. As was so eloquently pointed out by those who know about these things, the support needed is co-ordination, education and communication. From our more than competent and excellent musicians and those involved in liturgical ministry to the catechesis ministries and the ministry of young people, I need help to carry out my work of gathering and nurturing all those publicly engaged in the mission of the church in ministry.
With the help that I need in mind, I have discussed with St. Peter ' s Pastoral Council and the Liturgy and Finance groups the possible appointment of a paid "Pastoral Co-ordinator". I am happy to say that everyone consulted so far has offered encouragement and positive advice on this issue. I would like to initiate a selection process after Easter.
My vision of worshipping communities made up of individual persons and a wide range of ministries and groups committed to the Church's work of evangelisation, means that we must apply some of our resources to the human skills required to develop this.
I would like to close by saying how encouraged and delighted I would be if we had a person training for the Diocesan priesthood from our Parish. I am convinced that there are possible candidates for the priesthood among our number in Winchester and Alresford. Anyone who feels called to this ministry must feel welcome to come and talk about it with me.
Father Paul
HEART AND SOUL : CLERGY AND COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY
"This is an article written for "The Pastoral Review" in which Canon Paul describes his vision of partnership i our parish communities"
Fr.Robert Bogan was a great support and example to me as a child. As a young teacher I wrote to him asking his advice about my hope to become a priest. His reply came promptly. Two sides of black script failed to provide easy answers. “Don't be tempted to imagine”, he wrote, “that the priesthood that you have experienced as a child and a young man will be anything like the priesthood you are thinking of joining”. Fr. Bogan wrote his letter in 1979.
Nearly twenty years of ordained ministry have revealed the truth of his words that a new model of priesthood has been emerging. The tridentine priesthood, which I grew to know and respect, has been replaced with something very different. Something that came into sharp relief at a recent conference at the Beda College . It was the 2003 conference for pastoral directors from English speaking seminaries. Entitled “Forming the Pastoral Heart and Mind: a theological conversation”, the conference was held at the Beda College and turned out to be an intense and fruitful examination of the issues around formation for the ordained ministry. The 25 delegates, including Nicky Stevens who is Head of Evangelisation and Catecheses in the Diocese of Portsmouth and Fr. Phil Rosato SJ, a theology professor at the Gregorian University , engaged in an honest and courageous discussion about the required developments in formation for priesthood in the contemporary Church.
I found the conference deeply energizing because it grappled with the tension between the priest as the celebrant of the Eucharist and his work of gathering and nurturing the people he serves. Everyone agreed that “it is impossible to isolate the Christian cult – especially the eucharist – from the building up of the Body of Christ, which is the end and goal of all ministry.” (1) The development of skills and processes to enable partnership in ministry and collaborative working was seen both as crucial and challenging to those involved in seminary formation. Powerful and passionate dialogue and extended periods of silence were prompted by a consideration of words from the The Sign We Give. “The receptivity of students to collaborative ministry varies. They may have an idea of priesthood which does not reflect the communion nature of the Church very strongly….In assessing its students seminary staff must both accept where students are and ensure that they are willing to change…”. (2)
This “varying receptivity” to collaborative ministry is something that no educator of future priests may ignore. A friend of mine, who has worked as a psychotherapist with priests for many years, is convinced that we are in a transition stage between two models of priesthood. Fr. Phil Rosato, who acted as the theological commentator at the Conference, spoke of this transition when he said “that the restricted concept of hierarchical ministry operative in the post-Tridentine Church is over, but the collaborative concept advocated by the post-Vatican II Church is not fully realised”. Fr. Rosato saw this transition as offering creative possibilities and all those involved in formation should see their work in the context of human growth, maturation.
The Pastoral Directors' Conference was able to see that, while we are still moving from a post-Tridentine Church model of ordained ministry to the one offered my the Second Vatican Council, the are many challenges to those in situations of leadership in the Church to see that a clear course is set towards the realization of the latter. As the Conference progressed it became clear that we had to be committed to a collaborative style of ordained ministry, which would be very different from the one on which many of us base our understanding of diaconate, priesthood or even episcopacy.
Since Fr. Bogan's letter, in which he spoke of a radical change in the style of ordained ministry, I have been convinced that the change is happening, albeit very slowly, and that it offers us one key element in the emerging Church of Vatican II . The Catechism begins by describing Holy Orders, with Marriage, as being “at the service of Communion”. It is the working out of the implication of this service of communion, which concerns me in my work in the formation of students for the ordained ministry and the ongoing formation of the clergy. Whether it is called “Collaborative Ministry” or ministry at the service of communion does not really matter. What is important is that the style of ministry for both laity and ordained is completely in tune with the vision for the Church described in Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes and more recently in documents like Christifideles Laici and The Sign We Give.
The Acts of the Apostles reading for Low Sunday describes a “the whole group of believers united, heart and soul”. It is this unity, which underpins the collaborative style for all the baptised. Christians must be seen to be living, working and praying in the kind of partnership that manifests the presence of the Spirit of Christ. Soon after our Bishop was appointed, the diocese had a conference in which we considered the future pattern for all our ministry. Emerging from the sometimes tense and uncomfortable dialogue, which involved representatives from clergy and laity, came the unmistakable conclusion that the future of our diocesan life and mission had to be developed in partnership. This collaborative future had to do with “bringing the Good News into all strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity and making it new”.
Those words of Pope Paul VI, which describe our mission so well, are powerful and deeply challenging. They open us up to the task to which the disciples of Jesus are committed together in Christian Initiation. Filled with the Spirit of the risen Lord each Christian is called to contribute to that shared responsibility of proclaiming the Good News to men, women and children of all times and places. It is a daunting task but it is one that we do together in the name and power of Jesus. Each individual in the Church is filled with gifts to be used in a joint effort to bring the Good News of Jesus to all. This proclamation of Good News or evangelisation is not just a matter of words and well-delivered presentations. It has to be about every group, which is nourished by the Body and Blood of the Lord, becoming what they eat in every detail of individual and group experience. Collaborative Ministry is about everyone who is involved in mission being united heart and soul!
For over thirteen years I have worked at diocesan level encouraging and supporting laity and clergy in the task of working together in mission. I am absolutely convinced that our effectiveness in mission is enhanced by our readiness to work together. Not just clergy with laity but laity with laity and clergy with clergy as well! The Holy Spirit, who unites us with the Son of God; who is the source of unity in the life of the Trinity and of all communion in the Church, leads us to appreciate the value of partnership. Listening, cooperation, forgiveness, initiating new relationships, silence, confrontation, managing conflict and any number of other ways of struggling together are indispensable requirements in our lives as members of the Church and in our missionary effort. Such qualities are fundamental if we are to continue the mission of Jesus in a way that is true to his vision and prayer “May they all be one”. (4) The “manner and style” of our relationships as Christians will be an indicator of the extent to which out missionary efforts are in tune with the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. The more we are seen to be in “communion”, the more we will be seen to be continuing the Lord's work of healing and renewing humanity and making the presence of the Risen Christ a reality for all. Collaborative Ministry has emerged as a term at the core of my diocesan work and our diocesan vision. The challenge is to ensure that our parishes, communities and every aspect of diocesan life make the ideals of Christian partnership a visible and accessible reality.
As an assistant priest many years ago, my parish priest used to listen to my theories and enthusiasm with a wise and well honed pastoral ear and sensitivity. He often used to say in response “that all very well but what does it mean in practice?” The task of making the ideals of collaborative ministry into recognisable reality and practise is an exacting task that confronts all of us engaged in adult religious education or ministry. In any event, while developing new approaches, it is crucial to respect what exists already. Diocesan and parish life has been filled with cooperative styles of ministry for many years. We must build on the foundations that have been left for us.
One of the clear challenges that was identified at the Pastoral Directors' Conference at the Beda was the urgent need to find concrete ways of developing a collaborative approach in everything we do. Whether we work in seminaries, at diocesan level or in parishes as laity or clergy, it is crucial that we find ways of turning the values and directions implicit in the theology of communion and partnership into something authentic and identifiably human.
There are many starting points for putting into practice something that could so easily remain words and theories. I will attempt to confine my comments to practise within the ordained ministry. Simply because this is the area for which I now have direct responsibility and also because my colleague Angela Wills will consider the lay ministry side of the question. In my work in the ongoing formation of clergy it is vital to see that the ordained must be enablers of partnership in our situations of service. We are ministers of communion in the liturgical and pastoral sense.
An important memory in my own journey of discovery was a conference I facilitated for the Diocese of Clifton. We were looking at how we could work together more effectively and like all conferences it had its stormy moments! When things were getting particularly rocky, the kind of moment when the facilitator panics, a particular input brought everything together and ensured the conference a smooth passage to its conclusion. It was a talk given by Canon Alan Griffiths in which he offered the liturgy as a model we could use to guide our collaborative practise. The basic point was that the priest in a parish has a primary responsibility to gather the people to celebrate together the SundayEucharist. Through their presence, their listening to the word, their eating and drinking and their expression of the bond of baptism through singing and hospitality, the group becomes an expression of the communion they celebrate in word and sacrament. Each individual has an indispensable part to play in the joint enterprise, which is nothing less than joining Jesus in the movement of his self offering to the Father. What is crucial for our present reflection is that each person cannot be done without in this aspect of the Church's work!
But in any celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, while many individuals have a vital part, so do particular groups of individuals who cooperate for a particular task. So we speak of these groups as ministries. Readers, Ministers of Hospitality, Eucharistic Ministers, RCIA catechists, Ministers of the childrens' liturgy, Altar Servers, and Ministers of Music all make their cooperative contribution to the whole celebration. The priests task is to ensure that everyone is there and that all the ministries are respected and effective. He does not do it all himself but his leadership is tested in partnership, mutual respect, dignity and worthiness of the celebration.
So just as the president of the Eucharist leads and enables a large group of people to make a joint contribution in the single event that gives perfect thanks and praise to God, he must do the same outside the eucharistic celebration in the community of which he is part. The principles that guide the involvement of so many in the liturgy need to be applied to the pastoral work in the parish, which aims at gathering this group of people together as a strong community of faith committed to each other, to catechesis, to works of charity and to evangelisation.
I would like to close by suggesting specific ways in which we as clergy can help develop a “collaborative climate” among those we serve. Just as the priest must be aware of the contribution that everyone is making in the liturgy so he must attempt to develop the same awareness in the general pastoral life of the parish. This means that somehow, with a pastoral council, there has to be a means of knowing the people of the parish and being aware of their gifts and the level of contribution they could make. This is because baptism provides the foundation for all ministry, ordained and lay, and ordained leadership has a responsibility to ensure that all the baptized are able to make a contribution to which they are suited. It is important to note that collaborative ministry is not something we have developed because of a declining number of priests. It is more to do with baptism and our responsibility to enact and foster the divine communion which nourishes us and which collaboration reflects.
It is vital that individuals and the gifts are known. It is part of the respect and listening, which are crucial values in the collaborative approach. Clergy, advised and supported by the pastoral council, are then in position to identify the particular needs that a community needs to address if it is to thoroughly committed to mission. These will vary from place to place but a list might be useful by way of illustration. Readers, eucharistic ministers, catechists, servers, workers with young people, supporters of the bereaved, foundation governors, hospital visitors, welcomers, musicians and singers,those involved in ecumenism and outreach, the pastoral council, the finance committee, the liturgy group or the RCIA team; the list could be endless! Those in the parish with leadership responsibity can then invite people into particular area of work.
Once the needs are established a group is brought together to address them in a cooperative way. The Sign we Give called these “Ministry Groups”.(8) and they are a crucial aspect of any pastoral development of renewal in a parish community. The groups make possible the inclusion of each members gifts and contribution to the development of that community's mission.
A key role in the work of the ministry group is that of the coordinator. There is much talk about the importance of lay leadership. I would suggest that the coordinator is one of the most significant of lay leaders. The coordinator will ensure that the group is responsible for running itself.This would include the recruitment and formation of new members. The recruitment will require consultation with the priest and the pastoral council because the most effective form of recruitment is by invitation. Appeals in the newsletter are not appropriate. Such an approach fails to respect individuals and their gifts, which must be known by someone in the community. I am more convinced than ever that this is a key element in the pastoral approach and a particular responsibility of the clergy with the pastoral council. Experience seems to prove that appeals for volunteers are either unsuccessful or provide people with who may not have the appropriate gifts for the task in hand. Once a suitable selection process has evolved and new members are given formation, the coordinator must ensure that the group has ongoing formation and, through a process of consensus decision making, bring the group to an effective way of operating., which would include handling its own budget!
Like the ministry group, consensus decision making is a crucial element in practical collaboration. If all members of the ministry group, not to mention the parish, “are to realise to the full their baptismal vocation and mission”(9) they must be able to make their contribution to decision that affect the running of the venture of ministry in which they are involved. Any other way has the danger of failing to respect the gifts and contribution of each of the baptised. It is this respect that is a vital ingredient in the priest's leadership and enabling of a collaborative approach, which aims to involve as may people as possible in ministries and activities.
Pastoral development that respects the contribution of each person has to be slow and time consuming. Listening, learning, dealing with conflict and change are all involved but the results are long lasting and effective and ensure that people feel valued and effective in the work they do. Often, practical collaboration, relying as it does on so many people, can be untidy. Our effectiveness in mission depends on the degree of our work in communion not on how polished our end results are seen to be! It is the manner and style of relationships that are fundamental in the sign we give to the world!
A repeated comment is that the collaborative approach is a response to the declining number of clergy in our own land. It is not. While a perceived shortage of clergy will focus the administrative mind, the collaborative approach is essentially not about providing alternatives to clerical ministry. Rather it is about respecting the baptismal call and vocation.
More often than not the ordained will say that they have enough to do without all the work that is involved in collaborative ministry. It is a sad fact that some clergy will bin anything they receive in the post that encourages practical collaboration. Sad indeed because dialogue and partnership, listening and respect are vital in that work of gathering the people who are “created to give glory to God” (10)
Whether he likes it or not the ordained minister is in a ministry of leadership to gather the people he is given so that the Lord's prayer may answered “may they all be one”. Certainly the work is difficult and challenging but it is vital that we provide the necessary formation and support for our clergy. I think any resistance from clergy may grow out of fear about the complex amalgam of leadership styles that is certainly required. The ordained minister in the contemporary Church must be able to suggest projects and see that they are carried through. He must also be able to nurture and allow to come to completion the ideas and projects of the groups and individuals of the parish as well as being able to recognise when education and information are needed. He must have a comprehensive view of all the individuals and details that make up the life of the community for which he is responsible. This will mean a lot of listening, watching and waiting for plans and ideas to emerge. It will also require that skill that so many clergy describe as “keeping all the balls in the air”.
As we continue to search for the ways of being most effective in evangelisation, we must continue to develop a collaborative pastoral sense and practice that can become a sign of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in our world. Priests and people must diligently work towards that unity of heart and soul and become truly “ministers of communion”.
1. Yves Congar, Le Sacerdote du Nouveau Testament: Mission and Culte” quoted on page 218 of Theology of the Priesthood by Goergen et al.)
2. The Sign We Give, pages38 –30
3. Evangelii Nuntiandi 18
4. John 17:11
5. Kaspar on the Bishop's Office by Kilian McDonnell in Theological Studies, page 718. Vol.63.No.4
6. Lumen Gentium no.27.
7. IGMR 58
8. The Sign We Give, page 36
9. Ibid page 36
10. Eucharistic Prayer for Various Occasions
THE EASTER TRIDUUM
Lent begins
I never feel that Lent has quite begun until I have celebrated the Rite of Election at our Cathedral. It always happens on the Saturday after Ash Wednesday and is the occasion when those to be baptised at Easter or to be received into the "full communion of the Catholic Church" are called by the Bishop and sent out to prepare during Lent for Easter and the celebration of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil.
Go out and bear fruit.
It is at the Easter Vigil that we celebrate Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist for those becoming Catholics. At the same time, and with those who are to be received into the Church, we renew our own baptismal promises. The forty days Lenten journey brings us to this point when with hearts and minds renewed by works of charity, prayer and self-denial, we commit ourselves once again to the work of baptism, which is to "Go and make disciples of all nations."
The summit of the Christian Year.
As well as being the central celebration of Baptism and the Lord's resurrection, the Easter Vigil is the summit of the Christian Year. "This is the night when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness."
The Triduum
At the same time, it has to be remembered that the Vigil is the high point of a longer liturgy, which begin 48 hours before, on Maundy Thursday evening with the Mass of the Lord's Supper. As the Roman Missal says "The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, reaches its high point at the Easter Vigil, and closes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday." These three ceremonies make up the single liturgy of the Easter Triduum and they are linked together by the Good Friday fast and abstinence and the silence and severity of Holy Saturday, when our churches are bare and free of everything except the simplest prayer.
The Lord's Supper
The celebration or the Lord's Supper begins on Holy Thursday evening with the Sign of the Cross, which is not used again until the final blessing at the end of the Easter Vigil. During this Mass we join with Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper, the washing of the feet and the gift of Jesus' Body and Blood to build up his Body the Church. This Mass ends in silence following the procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose. Everyone is invited to remain in silent prayer until midnight. I always use the Lord's Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane for my scripture reading at this time.
Good Friday
We wake on Good Friday ready for a day of silence and fasting, keeping in our minds that this is a special time within the great Paschal Liturgy of Easter. At 3.00pm we gather to celebrate the Lord's Passion. This is not a celebration of Mass but a Liturgy of the Word, which includes the proclamation of John's Passion. After the prayers for the world we process to venerate the Cross on which Jesus died. The procession of all of us to venerate one cross speaks eloquently of our community as one united in the Cross of Christ and reconciled in his death.
Holy Saturday is not a day of fasting and abstinence from meat but it is marked by a special austerity and silent watchfulness which reflects on the time that Jesus was in the tomb as his disciples waited with uncertainty and a good amount of fear. There is a darkness about Holy Saturday which prepares us for the light and beauty of the Easter Vigil and the proclamation of Jesus as the light of the world.
On Holy Saturday evening we come together for the Easter Vigil. We begin outside the church building as we gather around a fire which is blessed and used to light the "Paschal Candle", carried in procession with the solemn proclamation "Christ our Light". We light our own candles from the Paschal Candle because the resurrection means that Christ is the Light for everyone. As the lights in the church are switched on, we listen to the story of our faith and salvation beginning with creation and ending with Mark's Gospel of the Resurrection.
Then everything is ready for what the whole of Lent has been moving towards: renewing our baptismal promises and our joint share in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The catechumens are baptized and the candidates received into the Church and then together we celebrate the Eucharist and our share in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus.
I have attempted here, as requested by the Editor (of Cross Keys), to describe the Easter Triduum and its importance for the Lord's disciples. It is a liturgy that none of us should miss.
INTERVIEW FOR CROSS KEYS
Canon Paul joined us in September 2005 as Parish Priest, prior to which he was the Parish Priest of St Francis de Sales parish at Wash Common in Newbury. Many will remember Father Paul as Parish Priest of Alresford until 1998.
He was was born, brought up and educated in South London . He has one brother who lives near Poole , four nieces and is looking forward to becoming a great uncle at the end of this year.
In 1968 at the age of eighteen Father Paul went to a College of Education in Lancashire , and in 1972 commenced teaching in Hampshire. In 1975 he was appointed deputy head at St Jude's Catholic school in Fareham , and in 1979 following several years of reflection, he offered himself to the Bishop of Portsmouth as a student for the Priesthood. He studied at St Mary's Oscott, and was ordained by Bishop Emery at Windsor in 1984.
Father Paul's first appointment was at English Martyrs parish, Reading, followed by a stint at St John's Cathedral where he worked with Canon Peter (his predecessor at St Peter's, now the Bishop of Northampton). He was then made the 'Director of Religious Education ' at which point he moved to St Gregory's at Alresford. In 1998 Father Paul was appointed to the post of Head of Collaborative Ministry, and Parish Priest of Sacred Heart parish, Fareham and Portchester. In 2002 he was appointed as the 'Episcopal Vicar for the Formation of Clergy', becoming Parish Priest at St Francis De sales, Wash Common, Newbury. And now St Peter's Winchester , and St Gregory's Alresford!
Father Paul will be retaining his post of Episcopal Vicar. This involves responsibility for the education for future priests and deacons, and for their ongoing formation once they are ordained. The work involves supervision, appraising and supporting the clergy as well as the planning of training, sabbaticals, courses and conferences, mentoring those in new appointments and monitoring appointments and transitions. In other words a pretty hefty workload. This in addition to running a parish, and in this next appointment at Winchester he will be without a fulltime assistant priest. A huge challenge indeed. !
CrossKeys was keen to find out more about our new parish priest. and so we asked him a few key questions:
What will you miss most about your Parish at Wash Common?
'The enthusiasm, support and involvement of so very many lay people involved in Parish Ministries. I am thinking especially of the young people's music group, involving children and young people from the age of five through to the early twenties'.
What are you most looking forward to about coming to Winchester?
'To be part of a large and efficient Parish that has so many roots in history. It will also be like coming home in the sense that I was Parish Priest at Alresford for some years. Winchester has a great reputation within the diocese, and I am looking forward to the challenges.'
And what is most challenging?
'Being the only Parish Priest as well as having a busy diocesan workload. There will have to be some changes or adaptations because of this, but I do not anticipate any reduction in the number of weekend masses.'
What is your ideal evening out (or in)?
'I love classical music concerts and look forward to be able to get to London easier than was possible from Newbury with the better train service from Winchester . I was at a concert at the Royal Festival Hall very recently where the pianist Alfred Brendel was playing. I also enjoy the radio particularly Classic FM or Radio 3 as well as reading novels or books on theology.'
What would you do if you were invisible for the day?
'I would like to be a 'fly on the wall' at the Vatican , I would like to observe their decision making, and how they decide their political and theological priorities'
Sport - are you a spectator or player?
'I enjoy walking and swimming very much indeed. I like watching cricket from time to time.”
Where would you like to go on a magic carpet?
I am fascinated by China and that part of the world. It would be fun to go there.
Who is your favourite saint?
'St Paul . He is the founder of Christianity in terms of it's conceptual and theological framework.'
Is there anything else you want to say?
'Just to thank everyone for their warm welcome. I have had a huge number of e mails, letters and cards since the appointment was announced. I am looking forward very much indeed to becoming the Parish Priest of Winchester, to meeting everyone as well as getting to know members of other faith groups within the city.'
|
