Dear Friends
Welcome to the web site, I trust that you will find it informative and encouraging. The Church in the Parish of SS. Mary and Chad is certainly alive and well. I hope that you will be impressed with our programme of activities, and even be encouraged to join us for some of them.
I am writing this in the enourmous wake of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to our land, and I'm sure that there will be as many opinions on the legacy that he has left behind, as there are people commenting upon it. Personally, I felt the Holy Father took us as we are and pointed clearly to that which we ought to be. There is no doubt in my mind that England is currently a half hearted Christian venture in desperate need of re-evangelisation.
The Holy Father left me with a great sense of urgency to show Jesus to the people of our land, rather than trying to get them into church; I've long been convinced that regular churchgoing is a natural result of the call that Jesus makes once we've encountered him; it follows, therefore, that the role of the church is to set Jesus before the people so that they can hear that call.
All this can only be acheived by the image that we as churchgoers set before the people with whom we live and work, it goes without saying that we should be able to draw strength and encouragement for this task from the christian family with whom we worship and live.
I am in no way naive enough to beleive that a christian community is always an easy or comfortable place to be, but I hope that here at SS Mary and Chad, under my care, our family members find all that they need to further the message of the Gospel in the world.
With every blessing
Fr Paul.
Welcome to the web site, I trust that you will find it informative and encouraging. The Church in the Parish of SS. Mary and Chad is certainly alive and well. I hope that you will be impressed with our programme of activities, and even be encouraged to join us for some of them.
I am writing this in the enourmous wake of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to our land, and I'm sure that there will be as many opinions on the legacy that he has left behind, as there are people commenting upon it. Personally, I felt the Holy Father took us as we are and pointed clearly to that which we ought to be. There is no doubt in my mind that England is currently a half hearted Christian venture in desperate need of re-evangelisation.
The Holy Father left me with a great sense of urgency to show Jesus to the people of our land, rather than trying to get them into church; I've long been convinced that regular churchgoing is a natural result of the call that Jesus makes once we've encountered him; it follows, therefore, that the role of the church is to set Jesus before the people so that they can hear that call.
All this can only be acheived by the image that we as churchgoers set before the people with whom we live and work, it goes without saying that we should be able to draw strength and encouragement for this task from the christian family with whom we worship and live.
I am in no way naive enough to beleive that a christian community is always an easy or comfortable place to be, but I hope that here at SS Mary and Chad, under my care, our family members find all that they need to further the message of the Gospel in the world.
With every blessing
Fr Paul.
