News

On 17th September, the first Parish Pastoral Council meeting joining the parishes of St Francis de Sale and Our Lady of Lourdes took place. Please find attached the minutes of this combined/overarching PPC meeting.

The parish is pleased to welcome Fr Zbigniew Budyn as our new Parish Priest. As part of his appointment at St Francis de Sales, Fr Zbigniew will also be looking after Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Hungerford. Please note that going forward, Sunday mass times will be:

• 9am at Our Lady of Lourdes and
• 11am at St Francis de Sales.

Please keep Fr Zbigniew Budyn in your prayers, especially in his first few weeks.

On Sunday, we said farewell to Fr Bruce who has been with us since 2015. The parish got together for a BBQ followed by some amazing cakes and many desserts.

Fr Bruce leaves us to go to the parish in Guernsey. We all wish him the very best.

Last Sunday we enjoyed an afternoon of music by various members of the parish and guests. There was a wide array of performances including piano, guitar, flute, trombone, cello, trumpet and singing. All enjoyed with burger and sausage from the BBQ.

Congratulations to this year's First Holy Communion group. We had good weather for the special day and a lively service. Thank you everyone who helped make the day go smoothly.

We wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful Easter. Don't eat too much chocolate!

On Palm Sunday we joined St George's parish for the procession from the Falkland Road Memorial. Many people gathered for this coming together of our communities before we gathered in front of the church for the start of mass.

We at St Francis de Sales are proud of the amount we give to charity. Please see the attached file for the amount given in 2018.

We wish you all a very happy, peaceful Christmas.

Advent/Christmas Leaflets: these have the times and events of those things happening during the run up to Christmas and the New Year. Please take one from the porch.

Thank you to all those who attended and supported the Parish Fundraiser Afternoon Tea. Very pleased to say that the event and raffle raised over £250 which we also hope to fund-match through the Vodafone scheme. The 1st prize in the raffle went to Marie, Congratulations! and to the other winners, Maureen, Paul, John and Olwyn.

Congratulations to Isabella & Sophia Warner on receiving their Bronze Guild of St Stephen Medals.

For those of you who take the sacrament to the sick may I remind you to make sure that the Pyx which you use is cleaned after each Communion. You should gently rub your finger around the Pyx and consume any crumbs and when you get home place some water in the Pyx and drink the water. Thank you.

Congratulations to the winners of the September draw.

First prize - Sue Mackey
Second prize - Sonya Hutcheson

A full list of numbers for 2018-19 is pinned to the notice board in the porch. There are still a few numbers remaining - £11 per number for inclusion from October 2018 - August 2019. Please complete and return the slip on the back of the J&P bulletin (available in the porch), or contact Lucy.

Thank you for your support.

We're pleased to announce the launch of our new website. This is a custom built website for our parish with more features to come in the future. If you have requirements for features or feedback on the site, please let Andrew Polland know.

The initial implementation includes the following features: