World Homelessness Day is tomorrow (Oct. 10). To mark this day, our fabulous B-Attitudes Team are sleeping out in the church grounds this Saturday evening, safeguarded by some of the members of the adult SVP Team. They have been doing this for a numbers of years now and it always proves to be a really empathetic experience for everyone involved. Please pray for them and for all our homeless sisters and brothers.
We would like to say thank you to all of you for the lovely support you showed for our shop, known as ‘Gifted’, last weekend.
As mentioned in previous SVP News items, it is really homely to hear all the chatter, and especially the voices of the young children, as our various gifts are checked out and assessed!! We’re sure you appreciate the range of statues, rosary beads, keyrings, cards etc etc that we have on offer but never be shy to ask us to order something for you if you cannot see it on display.
You’ll have seen our shop, known as ‘Gifted,’ on the way into Mass this weekend. We thank you for the lovely support that you always show for it on the first weekend of each month. Have a look at the items on offer and if ever you need something that is not on the table, just mention it and we’ll try to get it in stock.
A reminder that our other monthly activity, the Bereavement Support Group, will not be meeting on Wednesday as the hall is undergoing refurbishment. This group will be back in action again, please God, on the first Wednesday of September, 1030am to noon, in the hall. If you ever need to speak to someone sooner, just contact us as below.
Your SVP team reflects the mission of the global SVP family in its various workstreams. Poverty is addressed through the food bank, for example, and tackling illness and loneliness is the goal of our home and care home visits, as well as the Bereavement Support Group. Visiting the imprisoned is addressed by detention centre visits. This work is powered by the Holy Spirit, acting through the team members and also acting through the parishioners who support us in such prayerful and material ways.
Many of us are interested in current affairs and you won’t need to search hard to read, or hear, about refugees crossing the channel in small boats. It is always well to inform yourself, though, before coming to your own conclusion on such issues. For example, did you know that net migration to the UK in 2024 is provisionally estimated to be 431,000, according to the Office for National Statistics. The total who crossed the channel in small boats was approximately 36,816 – only 8.5 percent of the total!