“Through the holiness of the young, the Church can renew her spiritual passion & her apostolic energy. The balm of holiness generated by the good lives of so many young people can heal the wounds of the Church & of the world, bringing us back to that fullness of love to which we have always been called; young saints inspire us to return to our first love. Some saints never reached adulthood, yet they showed us that there is another way to spend our youth. Let us recall at least some of them who, each in his or her own way, & at different periods of history, lived lives of holiness. St Francis of Assisi, while very young & full of great dreams heard Jesus’ call to become poor & to rebuild the Church by his witness. He joyfully renounced everything he had & is nor the saint of universal fraternity, the brother & sister of all. St Joan of Arc was a young peasant girl who, despite her tender years, fought to defend France from invaders. Misunderstood for her demeanour, her actions & her way of living the faith, she was burned at the stake.  May these & so many other young people who perhaps in silence & hiddenness live the Gospel to the full, intercede for the Church, so that she may be full of joyous, courageous & committed young people who can offer the world new testimonies of holiness.”                                                                                                                                                         (“Christus Vivit” by Pope Francis)
 
We are renowned for our support of charities locally & internationally, & one of our ventures is to invest in Lendwithcare, who lend small amounts of money to poor people to help them begin their own sustainable businesses.
Kit Dollard manages it on our behalf. We have £2800 invested & since we began 3yrs ago we have made 55 loans:757 family members helped on 290 projects with 74 new jobs created, including £200 for fishermen in Cebu in the Philippines: £300 to establish a retail Pharmacy on the West Bank in Palestine & £45 for poultry raising in Piura-Pura. These loans allow people to start up their business, & as it becomes financially viable, they repay the loan which is then reinvested in another start up. Please keep all the beneficiaries in your prayers.
 
At our Parish Forum in February 2018, I raised with the Parish my need for administrative help, & through the Vision Group & prayer & discussions at our Parish Forum’s since then, together with an increased workload at the Abbey through my work on the Council & as a Trustee, the need has been proven. The amalgamation of our three local Churches brings an urgency, & after discussions with the Vision Group, the Chairs of Finance for each Church, Fr Edgar, & Julia Brooke (the Trust Delegate for the Parishes) we are to proceed immediately towards appointing a Parish Administrator to a temporary post for 6 months, with the possibility of the role becoming permanent. We hope to advertise this coming week, with a closing date of 4th Nov, interviews in mid-November, & with the appointee in place by early January 2020.
If you know anyone in the locality who may be interested in applying for the position, please let me know very soon. We envisage they will work Tues/Wed/Thurs each week, possibly 15/16 hours per week with a 9.30am start and early finish to suit those who may have young children of school age. A job description & person specification are available from me, or from the advert.
With Teresa Briggs continuing work on Monday & Friday mornings, we will have cover in the Parish Office each weekday & Kathryn Lynam’s work on completing our accounts from St John’s Easingwold will continue.
I appreciate that with the introduction of the new arrangements in the local Parishes being announced & implemented in the holiday period, many of you will be perhaps only partially aware of the meetings, timescale & discussions which have taken place since the 7th April 2019 when Fr Gabriel wrote to parishioners at Our Lady & the Holy Angels in Gilling to explain Fr Matthew’s failing health & the need to look at alternative pastoral provision there. An addendum to this bulletin will give a brief summary of the preliminary work we have carried out so far, & of the membership of a Coordinating Group, consisting of 2 parishioners from each Church, who will work together with Fr Edgar & myself, to tackle immediate & short term issues in the process of amalgamation, until we are in a position to constitute a Parish Pastoral Council.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                            With my love & prayers Fr Bede.