For Year 7 and upwards will take place on Saturday 22 October at 5:30pm.
We will have our usual shared meal and watch a film together. Please bring something fro a shared table. Please fell free to bring a friend or two! Everybody is welcome.
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MASS OF INDUCTION
FRIENDS OF ST LEONARD’S SCHOOL ANNUAL CEILIDH
Catholic Theology Research Seminar
On Thursday 13 October, Marco Politi (Author and journalist, Rome): ‘Pope Francis Among the Wolves’. The evening will begin at 5:30pm with drinks; the seminar will start at 5:45pm-7:15pm at Dun Cow Cottage, Dun Cow Lane, Durham. Please note the new time and day of the week.
A group will share a meal afterwards at a local restaurant. All welcome. Please contact Jane at ccs.admin@durham.ac.uk or call 0191 334 1656 if you wish to attend, noting whether or not you wish to dine afterwards.
Prisoners Sunday
Sunday 9 October is Prisoners Sunday. Please pray for those in prison, for their families and dependants, and for the work of the Prisoners Advice and Care Trust (PACT), which works to help prisoners to turn their lives around. Are you interested in volunteering with NEPACS? For more details or visit www.nepacs.co.uk or call 01913757278.
PARISH READING GROUP
The next meeting of the group will be on Tuesday 25 October at 8:00pm at 25 Orchard House. We will discuss Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch.
All are welcome. The Group is open to undergraduates and post-graduates as well as parishioners and their friends.
On arrival at the front entrance to Orchard House dial 48 on the key pad, following its instructions which will lead you to the lounge where everyone will meet.
FRIENDS OF ST LEONARD’S SCHOOL ANNUAL CEILDH
EXPLORING POPE FRANCIS’ ECOLOGICAL VISION IN LAUDATO SI’
“To live wisely, think deeply and love generously” with Karen Kilby. All sessions will run from 7:00pm – 8:00pm at the following venues;
- Wednesday 5 October St Aloysius’ Parish, Hebburn
- Thursday 6 October St Anne’s Parish, Darlington
- Monday 10 October St Michael’s Parish, Houghton Le Spring
- Wednesday 12 October St Cuthbert’s House, Newcastle
To book, please contact the Diocesan Department for Adult Formation and Evangelisation at: adult.formation@diocesehn.org.uk | 0191 2433313.
FR BEN WRITES…..
After a break of a couple of weeks I am now safely arrived in Rome, where I am missing the milder climes of Durham! I write to thank all at St Cuthbert’s for their kind words at the time of my departure, for your generous gifts, and once again for your welcome and support over the last four years. Please keep me in your prayers as I will you: may God bless you all.
Prisoners Sunday
CAFOD HARVEST FAST DAY
This Friday 7 October is Harvest Fast Day. We are invited to join 32-year-old Nicanora, from Bolivia, on her journey from poverty to abundance.
We can stand alongside Nicanora as she learns new skills and receives materials and seeds that will enable her to grow enough food to feed her family. Please pick up a Fast Day envelope today and give what you can.
Justice and Peace Group
The Justice and Peace group are holding a collection of unwanted / broken jewellery / watches to be recycled in support of Traidcraft. More than £16,000 has already been raised through this scheme which helps families in Bangladesh to grow tea and so provide themselves with an income that will feed their malnourished children for years to come.
Please have a clear-out of old costume jewellery, gold, silver or watches that you don’t wear or need and bring them to church next Sunday 9 October.
EXPLORING POPE FRANCIS’ ECOLOGICAL VISION IN LAUDATO SI’
“To live wisely, think deeply and love generously” with Karen Kilby. All sessions will run from 7:00pm – 8:00pm at the following venues;
- Wednesday 5 October St Aloysius’ Parish, Hebburn
- Thursday 6 October St Anne’s Parish, Darlington
- Monday 10 October St Michael’s Parish, Houghton Le Spring
- Wednesday 12 October St Cuthbert’s House, Newcastle
To book, please contact the Diocesan Department for Adult Formation and Evangelisation at: adult.formation@diocesehn.org.uk | 0191 2433313
JUSTICE AND PEACE
Our parish collects biscuits and toilet rolls to help provide basic supplies to asylum seekers in the diocese. These are collected regularly, on the first Sunday of the month. If you would like to donate items and haven’t brought anything in yet then please remember to bring them to Church next Sunday 1 October and place them under the bench in the narthex ready to be collected.
The Justice and Peace group are also holding a collection of unwanted / broken jewellery / watches to be recycled in support of Traidcraft. More than £16,000 has already been raised through this scheme which helps families in Bangladesh to grow tea and so provide themselves with an income that will feed their malnourished children for years to come. Please have a clear-out of old costume jewellery, gold, silver or watches that you don’t wear or need and bring them to church on Sunday 9 October.
CAFOD FAMILY FAST DAY
durham in bloom
In the Northumbria in Bloom Awards held in July, Durham City won the Regional Champion of Champions category. Our own garden here at St Cuthbert’s won a well deserved Silver Gilt! Martin Donbavand and John Urquhart work so hard come rain or shine to keep the garden as wonderful as it is. So well done to them their hard work has paid off!
Welcomers, readers & ministers of holy communion
Please could you let Ciara in the parish office know on 0191 3843442 or email office@stcuthberts-durham.org.uk of any Sundays you will not be available for the new rota by noon on Tuesday 26 September. The new rota will run from Sunday 9 October until Sunday 15 January.
Friends of St Leonard’s School Annual Ceilidh
Charity Concert at St Mary’s Cathedral
The Simon Bates Foundation is organising a Charity Concert to be held at St Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday 22nd October at 7.00pm. The concert features the Felling Male Voice choir, Glynwood Primary Choir, the Swing Bridge Singers and Flotsom and will be hosted by Paul Mooney. For concert tickets please contact Mick McCabe on 07969107791 – tickets £10 (under 16’s £5). Please see poster on the noticeboard.
The Parable of the Generous Father
Does love have a limit? The younger son in the parable believes he has reached the limit of his father’s love for him. He has abandoned his home, gone off to a foreign country and squandered the family’s wealth in the worst possible way. Surely there’s no way that his father will now have him back as a son? But perhaps there will be a place for him in the house as a servant.
The younger son has underestimated his father’s generous love for him. Not only has the father not rejected his wayward son – he’s watching out for him, anxiously waiting to welcome him back, and ready to throw a party to celebrate his return.
The elder son, sadly, has no grasp of his father’s generosity. He sees his work on the family farm as “slavery,” and his brother’s return prompts resentment rather than rejoicing. If the younger son represents the sinners who are seeking the company of Jesus, the elder stands for the “righteous” Pharisees and scribes.
This parable shows us the extravagance of God’s love for us. When we turn away from God’s love by choosing to sin, God seeks us out, ready to forgive us, and to celebrate our return home. God’s love and mercy has no limit.