Rosaline Brothers reports on this year's Walk of Witness, which took place as usual on Good Friday.

A team of skilled flower arrangers under the direction of Jan Morris worked throughout Holy Saturday morning to dress the bare interior of St. Pius X Church with a blaze of floral colour.  The preparation of the Sanctuary for the Easter celebrations was completed by the arrival of an Easter Garden, which had been expertly assembled during Holy Week by Sophie Milton and her family.

Thanks to John Williams for bringing these reflections to our attention.  John is a parishioner, a member of Pax Christi and the author of one of the seven reflections.

Thanks to Mandy Castellain of St. Peter's School for this account of the school's participation in Fairtrade Fortnight 2019.

St. Edward's parishioner Peter Ward was intrigued by this plaque and decided to research the story behind it.  He discovered not one but two poignant and parallel stories, from World Wars I and II.

Thanks to parishioner Michael Wheeler for bringing this forthcoming charity event to our attention.  The subject of caring is close to Michael's heart, as he explains:

St. Pius X Church was host to this year’s World Day of Prayer (WDP) in Guildford, on Friday 1st March.  WDP, previously the Women’s World Day of Prayer, is an international movement which prepares ecumenical services to mark the day – the first Friday in March each year.

Click on the image above or here for this great Lent resource from Cafod.  This Lent Calendar provides reflection, prayer and actions for each day of Lent.

PowerPoint calendars for children and young people may also be downloaded from the same page.

Were you there amongst the bunting?  Why not add your 'heartfelt' observations using Comments?

St. Joseph's was cast in a red hue on Wednesday 28th November last.  And it was not the only building in Guildford to turn red - but why?  Thanks to Rosaline Brothers, we have the answer...

Here is a story of a remarkable achievement, and although it appeared in the newsletter in December, I for one missed it and so am grateful to Rosaline Brothers for bringing it to our attention.

Rosaline comments...
'Climb every mountain’ says the song and a parishioner, Fergus McDonald certainly took this to heart and climbed and summited Everest.  Fellow parishioners took advantage of this feat to fund raise for CPG, raising £1120 at a celebratory evening. 

Bob Durston once again brings us the latest news from this dynamic charity.  This is the latest in a series of updates - to see the others just follow the WaterHarvest link under CATEGORIES, on the right-hand side of the screen.

Thanks to Una Corning for this account of last week's film night.

Last Friday’s Film Night welcomed over 80 Parishioners from across the whole Catholic Parish of Guildford to watch a special documentary about the life and work of the recently canonised Saint Oscar Romero.

Fr. Sebastian explains how this picture of St. Teresa was blessed during Mass on Monday 7th January and mounted on the wall adjacent to Our Lady's grotto.

Last week Michael Gove, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, delivered the Theos 2018 annual lecture.  More details can be found in the report in the Independent Catholic News.  A video of the lecture, with slightly poor sound, is available below.

There was a request in the last St Pius InPrint email for contributions related to the Great War.  I am grateful to Frances Allen and Veronica Ker who both responded - in quite different ways...

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​The morning after: A normally closed border crossing between East Germany (foreground) and Czechoslovakia has been damaged and left open; fresh tank tracks are visible.  A group of Russian or East German soldiers stand on the Czech side.  The road leads to a small village, then to Chomutov and Prague.  Taken by George Cranstone, 21st August 1968.

It is 50 years since some 650,000 Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia, to reverse the reforms introduced there by Alexander Dubček in the “Prague Spring” of 1968.  My own recollection of this event, on 21st August 1968, was seeing a newspaper headline as a 14-year old and witnessing the evident concern on my parents’ faces.  But at the time of the invasion Agnes and George Cranstone and their three sons had a much closer perspective, and George has written this account of the family holiday which took a dramatic turn.

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The recent visit of Pope Francis to Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families, has attracted enormous attention and has been widely discussed in the press.  Maureen Rivett was amused by this photo in the Telegraph on Thursday 23rd August, showing one of the items of merchandise inspired by the visit: a “souvenir Lollipope”!

A big thank you to the children and teachers of St. Thomas of Canterbury School, who produced the outstanding Stations of the Cross which were displayed in St. Pius church during Lent and the Easter season 2018.  These remarkable images depict the Passion in a most striking and arresting way.  Together, the 14 Stations represent the work of each of the classes in the school. 

​Take a look below to appreciate these wonderful works of art.

Thanks once again to Bob Durston for this latest newsletter from the charity WaterHarvest (formerly known as Wells for India).  It includes the Spring 2018 edition of the WaterHarvest magazine, which may be downloaded.  This is a most informative magazine which includes "Where we work and what we do" in the form of a map, a description of the Chauka system and how it works, and even a recipe for 'Paneer in Spicy Tomato Sauce'.

One of the things I hope for this magazine is for it to reflect the interests, in as general a sense as possible, of the community.  Thanks once again to Bob Durston for keeping us up to date with one of the charities in which he and other parishioners take a great interest.  As we see in this announcement, the name of Wells for India is being replaced, and the latest edition of WaterWise magazine is available to download.

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This charming piece, contributed anonymously, recounts happy memories of a much-loved and dearly-missed parishioner.  Our contributor has counted some 25 church and local community activities in which the 'Lady on the Bike' was involved.  She is surely missed in all of them.

Thanks to Helen Stewart for bringing the work of this Christian charity to our attention.

Helen writes:  I am not sure how many Parishioners are aware of this organisation.  I was advised of their existence by the lovely lady who runs the Sewing Machine Shop in Guildford.