Eleven lively youngsters from the parish made their First Communion at a special Mass on
May 15th. It was a lovely sunny day and families and friends enjoyed refreshments in the
church garden following the service. The three catechists who had spent nearly 5 months
preparing the children were presented with cards and large baskets of flowers from the
communicants’ parents.
At the end of May Father Des travelled to Tanzania to represent the British Province of the
Salvatorian Order at celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the mission in that
country. At one time there were 22 priests from the UK alone but of these only two remain,
one being Fr. Des’ brother Terry. There are now 24 native priests, 44 brothers and 80
clerical students, a result worthy of the fifty years of commitment and dedication in that
part of the world.

ST PAUL’S & HOLY CROSS
The reminder came for the next edition. That it is a July/ August one must have something
to do with holidays. Yes, ours is all booked up, ten days walking in the Dolomites. It
really is good to be able to go away for a short while to do something different.
Holidays……holy-days.
In years gone by that’s what they were – days to be released from ….. for ….. Released
from the ordinary and necessary things of daily life – work, in the main – for something
different – holy days, days set apart with clearly a religious significance.
Sadly, one of the legacies of a previous generation is that the notion of holiness tends to
imply “thou shalt not” (as in a strict Victorian Sunday) rather than holiness being
“wholeness”.
Why then did God give special “holy-days”? Mainly they were for celebration and recreation
or “re-creation” – an opportunity to:-
Celebrate and enjoy all that we have which is good, and for the re-creation of our family
ties and friendships (God’s gifts to us). Celebrate and enjoy God’s goodness and for the
re-creation of our relationship with HIM. I am really sad that in popular thinking
“holiness” is so easily linked to prohibition- it makes God such a bore! He is far from
that; He is the source of life.
If past generations have so concentrated on the religious to prohibit the social, perhaps
our present generation is in real danger of focusing so much on enjoyment of ourselves and
of social renewal that we forget proper celebration of God, His goodness and recreating our
relationship with Him.
To put it another way, when “God” stands in the way of social activity and friendship (I am
sure you can think of plenty of examples) or when those same social activities block God
out of the picture, something is not right.
Holy-days are meant to give us space for both enjoyment and a renewal of relationship with
God and enjoyment and a renewal of relationship with one another.
If certain sections of Victorian society went wrong in one direction, perhaps we need to
ask whether we are not in danger of the opposite imbalance. We are spiritual beings as well
as social ones.
Perhaps this year’s break from the necessary routines and disciplines of normal daily life,
gives us the opportunity to ask the question – “have I, have we as a family got the balance
right?”
Enjoy your holy-days. I hope you return refreshed in every way, so that the balance in
everyday life is good and life enhancing for all concerned.
With my greetings and prayers,
Jim Stevens

YOUTH WORK AT ST. PAUL’S & HOLY CROSS
In the last few weeks we have begun to look forward to the Holiday Club.
As both Holy Cross and St. Paul’s are now under one benefice we will be holding a joint
Holiday Club. The date planned is Wednesday 19th October – Friday 21st inclusive, followed
by a Sunday celebration on 23rd October. The venue will be in Sarratt and we are hoping to
confirm shortly that this will be at the primary school.
As always, Jenny has big ideas and we are looking to have between 100-150 children for the
three days. As you can imagine planning has had to start and we will be needing a lot of
help in many areas, e.g. security, catering, small group leaders and preparing games and
craft.
If you would like to be involved in this venture, even if it is for just a few hours
during the life of Holiday Club, please contact:
Jenny Newman on 01923 265667 or Rev. Jim Stevens on 01923 265848.