ST ANSELM’S CHURCH 9 Tooting Bec Road, London SW17 8BS Telephone: 020 8672 2179

Parish Office email: tootingbec@rcaos.org.uk Parish website: www.stanselmstbec.org. St Anselm’s Catholic Primary School Headteacher: Miss H Elwes Telephone: 020 8672 9227 Website: www.stanselms.wandsworth.sch.uk

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 20th September 2020

Parish Team: Rev Canon Dr William Hebborn (Parish Priest) Fr Peter Littleton (Assistant Priest), & Fr Mebrate Desalegn. Deacon Michael Carrucan, Deacon Simon English, & Deacon Tom McCarthy. Tom Gately (Catechetical Co-ordinator). Martine Mercer (Parish Administrator). Parish Sisters: The Little Company of Mary. Meetings with the priests/parish team by appointment Baptisms & Marriages by appointment

Confessions: Saturday following 9.00am Mass. 9.30am – 10.00am & following 6.15pm Mass 6.45pm – 7.00pm or on request.

The obligation to Sunday Mass attendance is at present suspended due to Covid-19 but none the less Sunday is the Lord’s day, the day of rest and prayer in so far as you are able. Our 9.00am Mass will continue to be live streamed every day.

Mass will be offered Monday to Friday 9.00am only (live streamed). Saturday 9.00am (live streamed) & 6.15pm. Sunday 9.00am (live streamed), 10.30am & 6.15pm. Our health and safety limit is 60 parishioners attending each Mass., this will vary with house-hold groups. If you come as a family/household, you will be able to sit together in one pew.

We encourage you to consider attending Mass during the week if possible, at 9.00am to help the pressure no numbers on a Sunday and allow a gradual return to the Eucharist for more people.

Stewards will meet you at the Tooting Bec Road entrance and direct you to pews for individuals or same household/families which will be clearly marked with a (green tick ü) Please respect and be patient with the stewards who will advise and guide you, especially at the distribution of Holy Communion.

NHS Test and Trace service set up to manage the risk of the virus re-emerging in local outbreaks. In line with other government guidance to assist (NHS Test and Trace) by keeping an accurate temporary record of visitors for 21 days. Please download the sheet of Track and Trace cards from the website: stanselmstbec.org. Complete one slip per person/family and hand to the steward on arrival at the Church when you attend Mass. These slips will be available to pick up as you leave the church after each visit.

PARISH NEWS

Parish Shop will open on a Sunday with restricted access from 8.30am until 11.15am and strict health and safety measures in place. Exit church through one - way route and return to the courtyard Tooting Bec Road entrance. We have First Holy Communion and Confirmation cards and gifts, as well as a stunning array of goodies, many of them vintage and rare!!!

Appointments We ask you to contact the parish office 020 8672 2179 to arrange an appointment with the priest and these will take place in the lower new hall where social distancing and safety requirements can be met.

Sacramental Programmes 2020 First Holy Communion please pray for the children and their families as they prepare to receive their first holy communion over the weekends of Sunday 20th, 27th September & 4th & 11th October. We thank the catechists for all their work in preparing the children.

All sacramental programmes and arrangements will be reviewed regularly under Government and Diocesan guidelines.

WEEKDAY READINGS

Monday: Eph 4:1-7.11-13; Ps 18:2-5; Mt 9:9-13 Tuesday: Prov 21:1-6.10-13; Ps 118:1.27.30.34-35.44; Lk 8:19-21 Wednesday: Prov 30:5-9; Ps 118:29.72.89.101.104.163; Lk 9:1-6 Thursday: Eccl (Qo) 1:2-11; Ps 89:3-6.12-14.17; Lk 9:7-9 Friday: Eccl (Qo) 3:1-11; Ps 143:1-4; Lk 9:18-22 Saturday: Eccl (Qo) 11:9-12:8; Ps 89:3-6, 12-14.17; Lk 9:43-45 Sunday: Ezek 18:25-28; Ps 24:4-9; Phil 2:1-11; Mt 21:28-32

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY ** 9.00am ** 9.00am ** 9.00am ** 9.00am ** 9.00am

** 9.00am & 6.15pm ** 9.00am, 10.30am

& 6.15pm

Church Closes 10.00am

Church closes 10.00am

Church closes 10.00am

Church closes 10.00am

Church closes 10.00am

Church closes 10.00am & 7.00pm after Evening

Mass

Church closes 11.15am & 7.00pm after Evening Mass

** LIVE STREAM

COVID -19 Pandemic Masses

The Church will open at 8.30am daily and 5.45pm at weekends Face coverings are compulsory when visiting the Church (except children under 11 years of age)

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION PROGRAMME 2021 If you have a child(ren) joining Yr 3 September 2020 or at least 8 yrs of age by 31st August 2021 they will be eligible for the 2021 First Holy Communion programme. Please download the application form and information sheet from our website: stanselmstbec.org complete all sections and scan the form with a copy of baptismal certificate (only if he or she was not baptised at St Anselm's) by Wednesday 30th September to the parish office: tootingbec@rcaos.org.uk (Subject Matter: FHC 2021). Full information of the 2021 programme will be confirmed in November.

RCIA (Journey in Faith) 2021 PROGRAMME: The parish runs a course from September through until after Easter each year.

For adults who have not been baptised and would like to be

For Christians of other denominations who would like to be received into the Catholic Church

Catholics who have not been confirmed The course is known as RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults - Journey in Faith) and is the process by which adults who are not Catholics are welcomed into the Catholic Church. It involves personal growth, as well as growing into a particular Catholic community or parish. For this reason each parish in the Catholic Church is responsible for its own RCIA process. Please download the initial inquiry form and scan to the parish office: tootingbec@rcaos.org.uk. For further information please contact the parish on 020 8672 2179 or email: tootingbec@rcaos.org.uk when we would be delighted to speak with you.

PRIEST REFERENCE FOR SECONDARY & SIXTH FORM SCHOOLS APPLICATION FORMS On the advice of the Education Commission of the Archdiocese of Southwark the following statement has been released: "The suspension of the obligation to attend Sunday Mass was announced on 18th March 2020 by Bishops' Conference of England & Wales. If a parent/carer attended Mass at St Anselm's prior to 18th March 2020 then they will be considered to have attended Mass in that parish regularly since that time. This will remain the case until the Sunday obligation is reintroduced by the Bishops. We will be concentrating on the Sixth Form & Secondary Transfer applications from September through to the end of October. Please read the newsletter/website regularly for updates. During these current times the process for referencing will probably take a different format and you will be advised when you contact the office. If you would like a priest reference please contact the parish office only on the following days and times: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday between 10.30am - 2.30pm when you will be advised of the process and which documents to provide. Deadline for all sixth form/secondary transfer references from Canon William will be Friday 16th October, 2020.

PRIEST REFERENCE FOR NURSERY & PRIMARY SCHOOL APPLICATION FORMS Full details will be made available in the newsletter mid-October for these applications. PARISH MINISTRIES, GROUPS & MEETINGS All parish ministries (readers/extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion) groups and meetings remain suspended until further notice. (Canon William Hebborn)

LIVE STREAMING We are looking for more volunteers to help us continue to live stream Mass from St Anselm’s. No previous experience is needed; all training will be provided. The system is controlled from an easy-to-use web interface, so the only prerequisites are a reliable internet connection and basic computer skills. If you are interested, please get in touch with stanselmstbecstreaming@gmail.com

Thursday 9.00 am

Madeleine Jones (Wellbeing)

Friday 9.00 am

William Gately RIP

Saturday 9.00 am 6.15 pm

Foundation Mass Peggy Healy (Wellbeing)

Sunday 9.00 am 10.30 am 6.15 pm

Pro Pop Canon John McNamara RIP Carmel Quinn RIP

MASSES FOR THE WEEK

Sunday 9.00 am 10.30am 6.15 pm

Pro Pop Zilia D’Mello RIP Paul & Jones Family (Wellbeing)

Monday

9.00 am

Martin Abbott (Wellbeing)

Tuesday 9.00 am

Yvan Silva RIP

Wednesday

9.00 am

David Holder RIP

A parishioner writes: SUNDAY REFLECTION

Today’s reading is the famous parable about an absurdly generous landowner who pays his workers a full day’s wage even when they work just a few hours. By turning our concept of fairness upside down, Jesus makes his message memorable – God’s boundless mercy is there for us all, at any time, in life and in death.

A Benedictine Abbot once began his sermon on this parable with the words: “Hell exists”. His congregation felt their hearts sink as they prepared for a grim “fire and brimstone” lecture, but then he said something intriguing: “Yes, hell exists, but we can’t be sure that anyone is in it.”

For centuries, Christian theologians have grappled with the question “Is Hell crowded, or empty?” Writers like St Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD) and St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74), thought that most people would be damned. However, in the 20th Century, Fr Hans Urs von Balthasar concluded that, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, “we can reasonably hope that all people will be saved”. Von Balthasar chose the words “reasonably hope” carefully, because he recognised that each person has free will, and therefore the capacity for good, or evil.

William Golding’s novel, Pincher Martin, explores this issue vividly. Christopher “Pincher” Martin is shipwrecked and drowning. From flash-backs we learn that his life has been one of arrogance, selfishness and hate. As he flounders in the sea, “black lightening” erases the last vestiges of his being “in a compassion that was timeless and without mercy”. Pincher Martin realises what is happening and screams his last defiant words: “I spit on your heaven.”

CS Lewis described the door to hell as “being locked from the inside” – that is, rather than God locking an individual in, human will can keep God locked out. Jesus reassures us that God is standing by the door, offering a full day’s wage. How we live our lives determines whether we are able to open that door and accept God’s gift, even at the last moment.