Holy Name Esher

Last night was Fr David's last Mass here at Holy Name. We are so sad to say goodbye to him after a short 4.5 years with us. We wish him well on his next chapter - in Rome - where he will be studying and teaching for a few years. Thank you Fr David for all you have done for this parish. We will miss you!

Fantastic celebration of 100 years of Holy Name Church yesterday! The sun shone down on us. 250 parishioners past and present came along and so many people pitched in to make it a joyous occasion. Happy anniversary all!

It’s a big day for our young people. First Holy Communion and Confirmation services today. Keep them in your prayers

Huge thanks to parishioners who supported our cake sale this weekend; to the First Holy Communion families for baking and to the Outreach for organising! An amazing cross-team effort and £905 was raised for Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH)

100 chicks knitted and sold in one weekend! Thank you knitters - £200 proceeds towards Cafod’s Ukraine Appeal

Save the date ... Sunday 22 May .. open air Mass celebration .. 100 year anniversary of Church of the Holy Name

Happy St Patrick's Day!

JOIN US FOR PANCAKES!
Next week, Shrove Tuesday
after the 9.30am Mass.

Members of the Holy Name parish Core Group and the OLOL Strategic Team met on Saturday, February 12, to learn about each others' story and vision and to begin the work of bringing our two communities together as one parish. Lots of energy in the room and lots of great ideas for our future mission.

AN ANNOUNCEMENT READ OUT AT ALL MASSES THIS WEEKEND ...........

"Statement To Parishes of Our Lady of Lourdes, Thames Ditton
and Holy Name, Esher

As some of you may already have heard, Father Rob Esdaile is leaving Our Lady of Lourdes parish at the end of May, after almost 16 years in the parish. After a three month sabbatical he will be taking up a new assignment in another parish. At the same time, Fr. David King, Parish Priest of Esher, will have completed over 10 years as a priest and this is a good point for him to undertake further studies to prepare him for his own future ministry in the Diocese.

Given the falling number of clergy in active ministry, Bishop Richard will be appointing one Parish Priest to serve both Thames Ditton and Esher.

The aim is not to force a merger of the two communities. Each will
retain its own identity, but now we have the opportunity to harness
the gifts of each community to sustain our liturgical celebrations, our daily living out of our Catholic faith and our sharing of that faith with others. Already, this year, young people from the two parishes are preparing for Confirmation together. For several years youth groups for Year 7 students have been shared. Despite the disruption caused by Covid-19, there are plenty of opportunities to work together.

Fortunately, as well as being physically close our two parishes have a lot in common. Both have sought to develop a more ‘outward-facing’ attitude to ministry and mission in recent years. Each has a recently renewed leadership team and a tradition of active participation by a large number of members of the congregation. Each has a focus on welcome and creating opportunities for people to grow in faith. Both communities have been influenced by the ‘Divine Renovation’ ministry of Father James Mallon and have embraced the Alpha Course as a tool for evangelisation. Each has a history of generously responding to social needs at home and abroad. Both are served by St. Paul’s Catholic Primary School, while our secondary school pupils also study alongside each other, either at Salesian School, Chertsey or one of the other excellent secondary schools in the area.

We are also blessed with very good resources, in terms of plant,
finance and personnel (both paid staff and volunteer). Working
together can bring many blessings to both our communities.

From the end of May each parish will have to reduce the number of
weekend masses from 3 to 2 in order to make it feasible for one
priest to preside at them. But the bigger challenge is to move from a notion that the parish priest is there “to run the parish” alone to the realisation that (as St. Paul tells the Corinthians) “you together are Christ’s body, but each of you is a different part of it.” (1 Cor 12.27). Without the contribution of each of us that body is incomplete.

Few of us enjoy change, especially in the most familiar and highly
valued features of our life. But the Church has always been about
bringing change about because we are followers of Jesus, who
proclaimed in the Synagogue at Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.” (Lk 4.18) And the Church has always been well equipped to embrace change because the same Spirit continues to empower us and lead us into the fullness of Truth.

So let us pray every day for God’s blessing on the journey we are
now beginning and let us set out confidently on the path our two
communities will walk together in the years ahead. The Lord Jesus
walks with us, as he walked with the disciples on the Road to
Emmaus, As then, so now, he wishes to speak to our hearts, to
explain the Scriptures to us and to lead us to recognise his presence in the breaking of bread."

Fr. Rob Esdaile Fr. David K

Thanks to Pat Sutterby and team of knitters who have been busy making these great hats, scarves and blankets for Salvation Army to provide to those in need this winter. To be continued so any knitters out there wishing to contribute - let us know!

CHRISTMAS POINSETTIA DEDICATIONS
We have a wonderful Christmas tradition here at the Church of the Holy Name remembering loved ones at this special time of year. If you would like to dedicate a Poinsettia plant to be displayed in the church over Christmas, please collect a form in the church foyer for your personal dedication. Each plant costs just £8.00. Supply is limited this year, please order by Sunday 19th December.

All good gifts around us ......

MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING well underway this morning. Great turnout and delicious cakes! Thanks to all for supporting this, especially our bakers.

The family of John Basted, our lovely gardener who sadly passed away earlier this year, have donated this wonderful bench to sit in the parish garden in his memory. Fr David will bless the bench after the 10am Mass this weekend. All are welcome to come along for a cuppa!

CHILDREN'S LITURGY IS BACK!
One step closer to normal - great to see our young ones back for Children's Liturgy in the hall this morning!

Our eight young confirmandi took their Rite of Acceptance yesterday evening at mass. Please keep them in your prayers this week ahead of their Confirmation on Friday.

Wedding season continues .....congratulations to all happy couples over the past two weekends. Pictured below Jo Woolhead (daughter of Jan & Tony!) & Gavin Larkin and Becky Lown (daughter of Sue & Roger!) & Harry McKeown

HOLY NAME REMEMBRANCE TREE 2021
Our newly formed Bereavement Team has transformed our little oak tree at the front of the church into a Remembrance Tree for all to write the names of those who have died on the white labels (provided at the base of the tree) and tie them to the ribbons in tree. The tree will be there as a way of remembering our loved ones and as a prayer for them. Please do visit the tree and feel free to add any names you want, particularly of those who have died recently.

Thursday morning coffee 😄

Our bumper wedding season began this afternoon! Congratulations to Greg & Jess on their special day.

Please help yourself to logs - just at the front of the parish rooms car park

Big Shout Out to our wonderful flower team for their beautiful Easter Flowers in the Church

FANTASTIC baking has been taking place amongst our junior parishioners for the Easter Bake-off. Well done everyone. Fr David will announce winners tomorrow at the 9.30am Mass. After judging, the cakes are being taken some families supported by the Kingston Churches Action for Homeless. Thank you to our judges and bakers!

All are welcome to join us for this East European tradition on Holy Saturday morning!