Worth Abbey Retreat 2010

On the 16th to 18th of July, a group of fourteen parishioners ventured down to Worth Abbey near Crawley for the first Parish Retreat. The retreat was hosted by Worth Abbey’s Open Cloister programme in St Bruno’s retreat house.

Those attending the retreat participated in the prayer life of the abbey which revolves around the singing of the Divine Office and daily Mass. The theme of the retreat was “Deepening your Life of Prayer” and five talks were given in St Bruno’s

• Deacon Peter – “The Rhythm of Monastic Life” which covered the role that the Divine Office plays inthe life of the community and it’s history
• Deacon Peter – “Praying with Scripture” about the ancient meditative prayer Lectio Divina
• Br Anthony OSB – “Prayer in the Benedictine Way of Life” which covered the Rule of St Benendict and how it directs Benedictine prayer
• Canon Frank – “Reflections on a Liofe of Prayer” that described practical aspects of prayer
• Alan Watson – “Journeying into Prayer” which described the ACTS methodology of prayer

We were very well looked after by Fr Patrick OSB and Lesley from the Open Cloister team.

Worth Abbey is a place of great peace and spirituality only 30 minutes from Purley.

Another retreat is being planned for May 2011 and further details will be posted on this website.

The John Fisher School Chapel

Please note – During the School holidays, which started on Wednesday 21 July and end on Wednesday 1 September there will be no services in the Chapel during the week. There will, of course, be Mass in the Chapel each Sunday at 08.30. As soon as possible after the holidays begin, work will begin on major repairs to the lantern and flat roof above the sanctuary. This will entail the erection of scaffolding inside the Chapel on the sanctuary, as well as outside the Chapel. It is hoped that the scaffolding inside the Chapel will be dismantled by the end of the School holidays. During this time, a temporary altar will be placed in front of the steps for the 08.30 Masses on Sundays throughout the holiday period.

CAFOD Haiti Appeal

As a member of the Caritas Federation, we are supporting our partners to assist with the relief effort following the earthquake on the Caribbean Island of Haiti on January 12, 2010

As rescuers search for survivors among the rubble following the earthquake, our partners will be carrying out needs assessments.
Follow the latest on our Haiti blog

At present there are no accurate figures of the number of dead and those made homeless by the quake, but it is clear that with a population of around nine million people – with three million living in the devastated capital Port Au Prince – substantial humanitarian assisance will be required.

Any money pledged will help our partners supply water, food, medicines and shelter to the worst affected areas.

Please donate to the CAFOD appeal for the victims of the easrthquake in Haiti. You can do this online here.

Hall Bookings

You are reminded that hall bookings are not dealt with by telephone. All communication must be via email to jezstevens.hom@btinternet.com If you do not have email, write to Liz at the Parish Office who will email on your behalf.

Altar Servers

Re-registering is now complete and new rotas which include the 17 servers who have just completed their training are ready in the box in the Sacristy.

All servers are asked to collect their copy – last time round some remained uncollected for several weeks.

OliveAid

The Holy Land has long had a special place in the heart of our parish due to Canon Jim’s activity with the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The OliveAid project has in te last year become a pet project of the parish of St John the Baptist Purley.

The parish has so far sponsored an entire field of new olive trees near Bethlehem.

Thousands of Olive trees have been destroyed in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Gaza strip. Farmers have been deprived of their economic livelihood causing families to be forced into poverty. OliveAid’s aim is simply to restore the injustice suffered by the Palestinian people by replanting the Olive groves and providing families with a sustainable income from olives and olive based products.

We have identified over nine sites within the West Bank where sustainable Olive groves can be planted. Each site has been carefully selected and prepared to accept three year old Olive saplings with have been sourced locally and are certificated against disease. Irrigation has been secured and each site is fenced where necessary. Most importantly we have ensured that all OliveAid sites are positioned in non conflict areas ensuring the long term security of the Olives groves and their crop.

A local management infrastructure provided by The Institute for Community Partnership working in partnership with local farmers and the community monitors both the planting and the ongoing husbandry of the trees to ensure that they reach their fruiting maturity in seven years. OliveAid intend to plant 2,000 trees in the Apr 08 Mar 09 season with a further 3,000 trees next season.

We cannot accelerate the growth of the Olive tress but we can with your help maximise the number of trees planted this season so please give generously.

You can find more about OliveAid at http://www.oliveaid.com.

Welcome…

Welcome to the Roman Catholic parish of St John the Baptist in Purley. We are a thriving parish in the London Borough of Croydon. We are a community drawn from over forty countries.

There are a number of parish groups that you might like to get involved in and a variety of Masses dependent on your needs.

We hope that you can use these pages to find out more information about us and hopefully drop in to one of our Masses or parish groups.

UPDATE: Canon Jim’s Email

Canon Jim’s new email address is CanonJim@johnthebaptistpurley.org.uk

Please update your address books.

IMPORTANT: Canon Jim’s Email

Canon Jim’s email address jimpannett@hotmail.com has been hijacked by someone running a Nigerian 401 scam.

If you receive one of these emails, delete it immediately.

Do not send anything to jimpannett@hotmail.com and please add jimpannett@hotmail.com to your junk email filter.

Canon Jim will have a new email address shortly, but in the meantime, you can email Liz on office@johnthebaptistpurley.org.uk.

Plant an Olive Tree in Bethlehem

This Christmas our parish is supporting this aid program to plant olive trees near Bethlehem to aid our Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine. Canon Jim has set us a target of 200 trees, and a field has been reserved for St John the Baptist Purley in Beth Sahur (Shepherds Fields). Please support this program.

We have identified over nine sites within the West Bank where sustainable Olive groves can be planted. Each site has been carefully selected and prepared to accept three year old Olive saplings with have been sourced locally and are certificated against disease. Irrigation has been secured for each site is fenced where necessary. Most importantly we have ensured that all OliveAid sites are positioned in non conflict areas ensuring the long term security of the Olives groves and their crop.

A local management infrastructure working in partnership with local farmers and the community monitors both the planting and the ongoing husbandry of the trees to ensure that they reach their fruiting maturity in seven years. OliveAid intend to plant 10,000 trees in the Apr 08 Mar 09 season with a further 20,000 trees next season.

We cannot accelerate the growth of the Olive tress but we can with your help maximise the number of trees planted this season so please give generously.

You can download the brochere here.