The September prize draw of the St Mary Magdalen 150 Club was made on Sunday 25th September. You can see a list of prize winners on the notice board in the church porch or you can read it here.
Will all readers please note there is a new rota for the period 25th September to 20th November. The new rota can be found on the notice board in the church porch, or you can download a copy here.
The October edition of Catholic East Anglia, the Diocesan newspaper, is out now and a copy can be collected free of charge from the narthex. Alternatively you can read the newspaper on-line by clicking the adjacent image.
The edition includes several tributes to Queen Elizabeth II and a report on a Requiem Mass held to pray for her in Norwich
Also included are a story about Bishop Alan blessing the first new Catholic school to open in the whole country for a decade, in Peterborough. There is also a report on the new-look Ignite Youth Team and two new senior appointments within the diocesan curia.
It is with great sadness that we announce that Heather Poll, wife of Jim, passed away on Saturday 3rd September following serious health issues she bravely bore. Please pray for the repose of her soul, and remember also her husband Jim, her daughter Beverley, her sister Molly, brother Michael and all her family and friends.
There will be a Requiem Mass for Heather on Friday 30th September at 11:00 am at St Mary Magdalen church, followed by interment at the Millennium Cemetery.
May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
The East Anglian Daily Times recently published an article about the Ipswich food bank charity FIND (Families In Need), a charity which we have supported at St Mary Magdalens for many years. In the article Maureen Reynel appeals for more donations to help meet the increasing demand for FIND's services, as well as an appeal for volunteer drivers to help deliver the food parcels. If you can help with the former, don't forget our FIND tub, which is always in the church porch, to accept your donations. If you can help with the latter, please contact FIND direct - you can find details on the FIND website. You can read the full EADT article here.
The latest edition of the CAFOD magazine Side By Side, Summer 2022, has been published. You can read this by clicking the adjacent image.
Thank you all once again for your generous support for FIND and the work that it does among the disadvantaged and poorest families in Ipswich and the surrounding area.
FIND has provided a list of suggested articles for donation during the month of September and these include:
Coffee, long grain rice, tinned vegetables - garden peas, carrots, sweet corn, kidney bins - cereals, long life milk, jams, rice pudding, flavoured noodles and biscuits.
These suggested items would be gratefully received, but they are only suggestions. Please do not feel restricted by this list as any and all donations of non-perishable food items will be gratefully received and go to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
Pupils and staff from St Alban’s Catholic High School in Ipswich have become the first school in East Anglia to achieve a CAFOD LiveSimply Award after taking action to demonstrate they are living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor. Bishop Alan Hopes visited the school to present the award and open the school prayer garden on Thursday July 14th.
Championed by overseas development charity CAFOD, the school achieved the award after the whole school community implemented a number of exceptional projects that highlighted the importance of caring for people and the planet. Their actions not only had a positive impact on their school community but also reached out to embrace the local community and our global community.
CAFOD’s LiveSimply assessor, Joe Burns from Leeds Diocese, congratulated the school saying: “Working towards a LiveSimply award has clearly had a significant and ongoing impact at all levels within this school. The students, of all ages, were bubbling with ideas of what else they could do to take living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor forward. The full support of the headteacher and hard work of the coordinator and lay chaplain will ensure that more staff and students become engaged and enthusiastic about continuing this work in future years. The award is very well-deserved.”
Jane Crone from CAFOD in East Anglia, who knows the school well, added: “One of the highlights for me has been watching the development of the prayer garden project over the course of this school year. The community has worked together to create a place for contemplation in the heart of the school. The project has enabled LiveSimply to reach out into the wider community as the benches were made in the workshop of a local prison.’
One year 7 student from the Eco Team commented on why they took part in the LiveSimply Award: “The award has given me a purpose. I belong to the eco warrior club and I help care for the school environment. I have made lots of new friends and enjoy implementing positive change. It has helped me grow and develop as an individual.”
Vanessa Williamson, Head of Geography, led the LiveSimply journey alongside the school chaplain, Katherine Edwards. She said: “I’d sum up our journey this year with these thoughts. The greatest wealth is to live content with little. Adopt the pace of nature. The secret is patience.”
If you’d like to find out more about the LiveSimply Award for Schools take a look at CAFOD’s website here.
Pictured above is Bishop Alan Hopes with pupils from St Alban’s Catholic High School in Ipswich with its LiveSimply Award.
The following clergy moves and appointments across the Diocese of East Anglia, to be taken up in the autumn, have been announced by Bishop Alan Hopes:
Parish Priests
Fr Antony Arockiam to St Thomas of Canterbury, Brandon and St John, Mildenhall.
Fr Jude Belnas to St Mary, Ipswich with Holy Family Kesgrave; also with canonical jurisdiction of St James, Ipswich.
Canon Pat Cleary to St Mary, Thetford.
Fr Michael Brookes to St Edmund, Bungay with St Thomas More, Harleston.
Fr Dennis Gallagher, becomes Parish Priest at Our Lady & St Thomas of Canterbury, Wymondham.
Fr Luke Goymour to St Mark Ipswich with Holy Family, Brantham; also with Canonical jurisdiction of St Mary Magdalene, Ipswich.
Fr Padraig Hawkins to Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lowestoft, with St Nicholas, Pakefield.
Fr Peter Raj to Sacred Heart, North Walsham with St John of the Cross, Aylsham and St Helen, Hoveton.
Fr Joseph Welch to St Pancras, Ipswich.
Priest Administrator
Fr Peter Wygnanski to Our Lady & St Joseph, Sheringham, with Our Lady of Refuge, Cromer.
Assistant Priest
Fr Paul Chanh becomes Assistant Priest to Fr Luke Goymour with pastoral care for St Mary Magdalen, Ipswich.
Retirements
Fr James Fyfe, Canon Peter Leeming and Fr James Walsh.
In announcing these moves, Bishop Alan said “I am very grateful to all the priests who have so generously agreed to take up new appointments in the autumn. Please keep them in your prayers. I also want to express my gratitude for the many years of service these retiring priests have given to the Diocese as well as the parishes in which they have served. We wish them many years of happy and fulfilling retirement."
The Synodal National Synthesis process began in November 2021 in the Particular (or Local) Church and then moved to the level of the Bishops’ Conference. From there, discernment took place in the Regional Area for England and Wales, and concluded in March 2022, with the Diocesan and national organisational reports being submitted to the Bishops’ Conference just before Holy Week 2022. Since then, the National Synthesis Team has been working on producing the “National Synthesis” – reflecting on the reports received, discerning the main themes that have emerged from the listening conversations, and collating them together to give a picture of the synodal process in England and Wales.
This National Synthesis report has now been published, and you can read it here.
From here, the National Synthesis will be steered by the European Council of Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) – before moving to the Universal Church with the final Synod Gathering of Bishops in Rome 2023, sub et cum Petro.
You can also read the Bishops' reflection on the Synodal National Syntheses here.
Finally, Cardinal Vincent Nichols alongside, Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference and Sarah Adams, Clifton Diocese’s Director for the Department of Adult Education and Evangelisation, took part in a press conference to discuss these two documents. You can listen to what was said by clicking here.
