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Soho Masses Pastoral Council Members: Benoit Crabeels (Treasurer), Celia Gardiner, Michael Jenkins, Vincent Manning, Lorraine Milford (Joint Secretary), Renate Rothwell (Joint Secretary), Sophie Stanes, Joe Stanley (Chair), Terry Weldon.
Webmaster: Roger Jenkins. Please contact Roger if you want to have something displayed on the website, or with suggestions, corrections, etc. rogerdgford@gmail.com
Items For The Council? The Pastoral Council meets on Sunday, 15 November 2009, at 14.30. If members of the congregation have items which they would like raised please notify us by 8 November, at the latest – info@sohomasses.com .  The Soho Masses 10 years of ministry to the LGBT Catholic Christian community This Mass is yours ... please complete our TALENT SHEET if you'd like to help with reading or Eucharistic ministry, help with refreshments, preparing and cleaning up the church, distributing publicity about the Masses etc, or e-mail us at info@sohomasses.com or tel: 020 8986 0807
AFTER-MASS REFRESHMENTS - a chance get to know other members of the congregation in the parish hall, particularly if you are new or visiting. Check out the book-stall and information tables. Just follow the crowd through the door, to the left of the sanctuary.
Soho Masses Younger Adults Group provides an opportunity to meet and socialise with other younger adults in their 20s, 30s & even 40s, who are part of, or visiting the Soho Masses. Next gathering: Friday 20th October, 21.00 at Costa Coffee, Old Compton Street - For more details and directions: info@sohomasses.com
New Facebook Group Thanks to the hard work of Lisandro Caffaratto, the Soho Masses now have a group on Facebook. You can find the group here: http://www.facebook.com/n/?group.php&gid=159409215819&mid=1307cbaG69c2e60cG1ea635G40
Please, everyone, get involved - the group needs you!
Michael B. Kelly has been visiting from Australia, to give a paper, Unlikely Prophets of an Erotic God: gay men and the future of Christian spirituality, at the recent conference, Sources of Transformation: Revitalising Traditions of Christian Spirituality for Today. Around a dozen people from the Soho Masses community gathered with Michael on 12 July, for a couple of hours discussion. He is pursuing a Ph.D. at Monash University, Melbourne, and would be pleased to hear people’s experiences as they integrate LGBT realities with life with God, his short-hand definition of ‘spirituality’. We have copies of his book, Seduced by Grace (£8.00), published in 2007. If you would like a copy of his conference paper, please e-mail: info@sohomasses.com. We can also send a copy of James Alison’s presentation, Befriending the vacuum: Receiving responsibility for an ecclesial spirituality, closing the same conference. Michael has posed the questions, Will /can the Church and the spiritual tradition be able to take the risk of engaging deeply with the people who ask the crucial questions of our age? How could the sexual experience of LGBT people and their spiritual lives help release the potential for transformation that lies at the root of the Christian spiritual tradition? Michael would be pleased to receive comments/reactions to these questions and can be e-mailed: michael@mbkelly.com
YOUR KINGDOM COME prayer, reflection and discussion groups take place, Thursdays 5, 12, 19, 26 November, 19.00 - 20.00, in the Presbytery, 24 Golden Square W1F 9JR - This week’s session was a lively but reflective discussion, learning from each other’s experience, with additional occasional hand-outs - ALL ARE WELCOME ! Booklets are available for personal and group reflection - take one NOW!
Impending US Bishops' Pastoral Letter - "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan" For more details see the Fortunate Families' section on the Parents' Issues page here
Homilies - You can read a selection of Soho Masses' homilies on the website
If you wish to understand the principles informing the Soho Masses’ liturgical style, please refer to our website: www.sohomasses.com – SMPC Aims & Principles.
CHURCH TEACHINGS – Do you know what the Church teaches on a range of issues? Was childhood RE your last faith formation? Mount Street Jesuit Centre runs some excellent programmes. Leaflets available at the back of the Church. CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS: On 3rd Sundays we name those who have requested our prayers as they enter civil partnerships. Please take a form from the information table if you wish names included or contact us, as above.
Varying Our Music Styles? CAN YOU HELP ENRICH OUR LITURGIES. Some have offered their talents with guitar, keyboard, etc. Please contact Martin to fix a convenient date to meet -020 8986 0807 or sohomasses@btinternet.com
It is right and just … that we account for 5.00 pm Mass collections on 1st & 3rd Sundays. Total from 5 July-20 September: £1159.78, October: £352.71 . Your offertory gifts contribute to the day-to-day expenses of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish including the provision of these liturgies and other pastoral activities.
RETIRING COLLECTIONS: A special retiring collection will be taken on 15 November. The Soho Masses Pastoral Council has donated £250 towards the costs of the first-ever LGBT Russian Christian conference to be held in Moscow, 20-22 November 2009. We invite you to match this sum, and more, with your donations, please - a courageous venture, worthy of support and expressing our communion with fellow believers who do not enjoy our freedoms, or levels of pastoral care .
Soho Masses Blogger The Soho Masses are fortunate to have an accomplished blog writer in theior midst! Terry's blog "Queering The Church" contains much that is stimulating, thought provoking and informative. Click here to take a look.
Terry has also set up a site for the discussion of all matters relating to faith and homosexuality - "The Sergius & Bacchus Book Club". You can find it here
Unattached ? (from a church that is!) – Apart from taking a more active part in the life of the Church of the Assumption, including its other Masses, you may wish to check out other London churches as welcoming communities on Sundays, other than 1st and 3rd Sundays in Soho. We aim to up-date our directory – let us know any you can recommend.
Carmel-in-the-City is a monthly Carmelite spirituality initiative at St. Joseph’s Bunhill Row (see above). For further details, see website: www.laycarmel.org or e-mail: carmelinthecity@laycarmel.org - Sylvia –07889 436165 . ALL ARE WELCOME!
Visiting South Africa? We have a link with Holy Trinity Jesuit Church in Joannesburg – www.trinityjhb.co.za – See all the links to other parishes worldwide, on our website – www.sohomasses.com
WINTER CEILIDH - Scottish Country Dancing, open to all, Saturday, 21 November, 19.30, Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Rd, NW1 7AY. Tickets (£10.00) from Tom Munn, 07742 577 509 or tommunn67@hotmail.com Looking for support? Counselling & Psychotherapy – a number of Soho Masses participants are professionally qualified in these areas. If you’re seeking such support please contact us in confidence for referral details. Catholics and HIV/AIDS: Contact CAPS if you would like friends/loved ones’ names inscribed in the Catholic AIDS Memorial Book - take a leaflet from the information table. Names are inscribed by Fr. Bruno Healy, a Westminster priest living as a hermit in Norfolk. They are included in Bidding Prayers, every 1st Sunday. Positive Catholics is a peer-support group for Catholics living with HIV - details from 07505 608 655 or CAPS - 020 8986 0807 - or e-mail: positivecatholics@btinternet.com – CAPS, PO Box 24632, London E9 6XF Website: http://positivecatholics.googlepages.com or e-mail: positivecatholics@gmail.com
Search Group - peer support group for gay clergy and male religious – Bernard 020 7284 1464. STAY INFORMED! Browse the information table, over after-Mass refreshments, for all the latest news from LGBT and other sources.
Want to prepare reflectively for Mass?
Go to Links section for Liturgy, Spirituality & Theology Resources
Also see Links for news and other items of interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics.
The Soho Masses Bookstall includes books by laity, priests and religious all closely linked to the Soho Masses community! All at special discounted prices. JUST ARRIVED - Guardian Of The Light, biography of the late Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban SA, & Pilgrim In A Pilgrim Church, memoirs of Archbishop Bembert Weakland OSB. Contemporary Icon greeting cards £1.00. Soho Rainbow Crosses & Ruandan Crosses, £2.50. New discounted books at knock-down prices available NOW!
Concerned about homophobic/transphobic incidents, or harassed in Soho/Westminster? Let us know, pick up a GALOP card on the information table, or contact WPC Anita Simmons, LGBT Police Officer for Soho, 0207 321 9754, - info.lgbt-westminster@met.police.uk |
