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ADDITIONAL WEEKDAY SERVICES FOR LENT

ST ANNE LINE 2019

Morning Prayer and Mass times as usual

Monday

8:00am   Exposition & Confession

10:00am Stations of the Cross

Tuesday

8:00am Exposition & Confession

10:00 – 11am Confession

10:00 – 12am Exposition as usual

12:00 Angelus

Thursday

6:30pm Stations of the Cross

7:15pm Exposition & Confession

Friday

8:00am Exposition & Confession

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY…

A unique opportunity to see the film

Unplanned

At St. Anne Line Parish Hall 4pm Saturday, 9^th March.

Unplanned is the inspiring true story of one woman’s journey of transformation.

All Abby Johnson ever wanted to do was help women. As one of the youngest Planned Parenthood clinic directors in the nation, she was involved in upwards of 22,000 abortions and counselled countless women about their reproductive choices. Her passion surrounding a woman’s right to choose even led her to become a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, fighting to enact legislation for the cause she so deeply believed in.

Until the day she saw something that changed everything, leading Abby Johnson to join her former enemies at 40 Days For Life, and become one of the most ardent pro-life speakers in America.

The Guardian (online) reports:
“A former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal has been dismissed from the priesthood after the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors in a sign of an increasingly hardline stance taken by the church.”

The Telegraph (online) headline:

“US cardinal expelled from Catholic Church over sexual abuse allegations”

To be fair, The Telegraph has more recent posts which are slightly more accurate.

Fr. Z’s Blog reports:

“McCarrick has been “laicized”, that is, stripped of the clerical state.  While Holy Orders leaves an indelible mark on the souls (meaning that even death doesn’t remove the sacramental character – a priest is a priest forever, even in heaven or… *shudder* in the other place) he may not function in any priestly capacity for the rest of his life.”

Even that isn’t the whole picture, because in danger of death, Mr McCarrick can administer the relevant Sacraments.

He has not been expelled from the Church nor excommunicated. We must pray for his soul. The Office of Readings this morning gave us a sobering reading from I Corinthians 6:

“You know perfectly well that people who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God: people of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, thieves, usurers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers will never inherit the kingdom of God. These are the sort of people some of you were once, but now you have been washed clean, and sanctified, and justified through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.”

Is this “an increasingly hardline stance taken by the church”? Or just an isolated one-off high-profile response to mollify very disillusioned American faithful? For sure, it isn’t the end of the matter.

We will be leaving from St Anne Line at 9:30 am on Saturday 16th February to go by Underground to St. Mary Moorfields church near Liverpool Street station for server training. Young men under 16 are welcome, but only with a parent of guardian. You will need to book to help gauge numbers. Click this link to the LMS website to find out more.

This is a talk to be given by Fr. Andrew Pinsent of Oxford University as one of a series entitled Iota Unam at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street on Friday, February 22nd. Doors to the basement open at 6:30 for a 7 pm start. £5 to cover refreshments. Fr. Neil will be going, and if anyone wishes to join him, we’ll leave at 6 pm from St. Anne Line.

Fr. Andrew has doctorates in particle physics and philosophy. He is a director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion. His publications include work in virtue ethics, neurotheology, science and religion, the philosophy of the person, insight, divine action, and the nature of evil.

Fr. Andrew is a skilled and inspiring communicator and the evening, held under the auspices of the Latin Mass Society, will most certainly be a stimulating one.

This is the title of a series of meetings organised by Fr. Mark Swires at St Edmund of Canterbury, 9, Trapps Hill, Loughton IG10 1SZ starting in February 2019. The actual dates are on our Parish Diary page. The first is on Wednesday 6th February at 7 pm.

It’s for those men who would like to find out more about a possible vocation to the priesthood. There’ll be a talk, prayer and some refreshments.

Please contact Fr. Mark on: vocprom@dioceseofbrentwood.org for more details. The website is: https://www.brentwoodvocations.org

The parish partnership of Woodford and Wanstead took a new turn on Tuesday 22nd January. With snow on the ground and in the air, the Parish Councils of the 3 parishes met in the St Francis Xavier Hall to discuss the diocesan Vision document. Miraculously, there are some happy faces at the end of the evening! Thanks to Mary Busk who took the photographs, rustled up the refreshments with some helpers and made her contribution as our Steward of the Gospel. There will be minutes of the meeting which will be posted on the “Parish Partnership” page in due course.

C O N V E R S I O N

Following the Call of Christ

What makes one’s life successful? Money? Power? Honour? Pleasure?

Most philosophies of the well-lived life are based on having something.

But the Christian perspective is that it is better to be something. The goal of the Christian life is to grow in loving relationship to Christ, becoming more like him through the immersion of our entire selves into his Church, Christ’s Body.

But our transformation in Christ will not occur until we recognise him as our ultimate concern.

In Conversion: Following the Call of Christ, explore the stories of six great biblical figures with Bishop Barron, using their examples to grow closer to Christ.

C O N V E R S I O N

Seven Tuesday Evenings from January 8^th, 2019.  If you have missed this introductory session, don’t worry. Come along on the 15th anyway.  Continue reading “Conversion: Following the Call of Christ”

We haven’t had links on our website so far, but this organisation is a good one. https://couragerc.org/
“Courage members are men and women who experience same-sex attractions and who have made a commitment to strive for chastity. They are inspired by the Gospel call to holiness and the Catholic Church’s beautiful teachings about the goodness and inherent purpose of human sexuality. Through our apostolate, people who experience same-sex attraction receive pastoral support in the form of spiritual guidance, community prayer support, and fellowship.” Their goals are listed on the website too, the first of which is: “To live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality (Chastity)”. You will find a listing in the diocesan directory. Catholics with same-sex attraction will find a support group in London on this website as they try to live the Gospel. There is a sister organisation for families and friends called Encourage. Be assured of our respect, support and prayers in the parish.

I mention it now because there is confusion due to the promotion of Quest which is an organisation which promotes same-sex “marriage” and campaigns to change the unchangeable teaching of the Church that marriage is between a man and a woman, as clearly spelt out in scripture. To suggest that such teaching can change is a cruel deception. It is leading our brothers and sisters into serious sin. Certainly, “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) But then: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2) True Christian love of all our neighbours means we support each other in seeking holiness. Christ must reign in our minds, wills, hearts and bodies.