Face 2 Face

An invitation from the Association of Religious. Come and share tea and conversation with religious brothers and sisters, get to know them and meet other young adults from our Diocese. Saturday 1st February at St Mary’s Cathedral, Newcastle – drop in between 2pm and 4pm. Contact: Sr Barbara Sweeney RSCJ on bswe915436@aol.com

Diocesan Holocaust Memorial Evenings

Tuesday 28 January at 7.00pm at St. Mary’s School, Benton Park Road, Newcastle. Smajo Beso will tell of his parents’ experiences during the Bosnian Genocide in 1995, and Gerald Stern will recall his father’s experiences during the Holocaust.

Thursday 30 January at 7.00pm at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, Beamish Road, Billingham. Guest speaker; Marta Josephs, who will recall her father’s experiences during the Holocaust.

I have seen and I am the witness

In today’s Gospel, we see the mission of John the Baptist approaching its fulfilment. The Baptist made it clear from the start that he himself was not the Christ, but the prophet sent by God to prepare the way. Now, John the Baptist sees Jesus, recognises him as the Lamb of God and points him out to his disciples. Jesus is the one whose coming John was sent to proclaim; the Chosen One of God.

As disciples of Christ, we have been baptised with the Holy Spirit and set free from our sins. We too are called to see, recognise and bear witness, as the Baptist did. This is how the Church can be a light to the nations, as Isaiah foretold. This is how, as St Paul says, we will take our place among the saints – the vast assembly of believers who acknowledge Christ as Lord. Every baptised Christian is called to witness.

Diocesan Holocaust Memorial Evenings

Tuesday 28 January at 7.00pm at St. Mary’s School, Benton Park Road, Newcastle. Smajo Beso will tell of his parents’ experiences during the Bosnian Genocide in 1995, and Gerald Stern will recall his father’s experiences during the Holocaust.


Thursday 30 January at 7.00pm at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, Beamish Road, Billingham. Guest speaker; Marta Josephs, who will recall her father’s experiences during the Holocaust.

Church Stewarding

The church is open apart from service times from 10 to 3 on Fridays and 10 –noon on Saturdays. This allows people to pop in and pray and gives visitors to Durham a chance to see inside a building of considerable beauty.

To enable this to happen there is a small but dedicated band of stewards. There are proposals to extend the occasions when the church is open but for this to happen we need more stewards. It is not an onerous task. It usually means sitting in the narthex and saying ‘Hello’ to people, keeping an eye on the place and answering, as best you can, questions visitors might ask. There is a folder containing information on just about everything to do with the church. It is possible that no one visits on some days so it is a chance to read the paper do a few lines of knitting or whatever.

If you would like to join this group please let Fr Andrew, Ciara or David Crookes (davidcrookes@talktalk.net) know. Students are eligible too. It means studying in the narthex rather than the chaplaincy for a while.

Light of the Nations

John the Baptist was a powerful and challenging preacher – a prophet like the prophets of the Old Testament. He called the people to repent of their sins and receive baptism in the River Jordan – the same river that the people of Israel crossed when they entered the Promised Land. But when Jesus came for baptism, John demurred, knowing that Jesus had no need to repent and no sins to be forgiven. Jesus replied, ‘Let us do all that righteousness demands.’ Jesus would teach the people a new understanding of ‘righteousness.’ For disciples of Christ, to be righteous means to accept God’s love and mercy, symbolised by the water of baptism; to know ourselves to be forgiven sinners; to live the commandments of love of God and love of neighbour. Anyone who lives righteousness in this way, Peter says, is acceptable to God. Jesus’ mission is prefigured in Isaiah’s prophecy of God’s servant, who brings true justice to the nations. On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ mission to reveal God’s mercy to all the nations of the world.

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