In his letter to the church at Collossae, Paul is at pains to encourage people's faith in Christ, who he tells them is the centre of all creation.  Warning against false teaching, he says to them:

Thanks to Michael Combes for bringing this account of the rally in London on Saturday 11th May to our attention:
​​https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/37083.

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.

​NF