Weekly Email – Easter 6
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Dear friends,
This Sunday sees our Annual Parochial Church Meeting take place after the High Mass. This operates as the AGM for a parish church each year. Although there are lots of bureaucratic pieces of business that need transacting, it is also an opportunity on a spiritual level to look back at the previous year, and to give thanks to God for all that he has done amongst us.
I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all who have served on our PCC over the past year, and especially to our our churchwardens. I am so grateful to Kate and Huw for all they do. They undertake huge amounts of work behind the scenes and are a real blessing to our parish. Their commitment to All Saints’ is incalculable – many thanks, Kate and Huw for the incredible work you do for our parish!
I am pleased to be able to announce some very heartening news concerning the results of our recent renewal of the electoral roll. Our electoral roll has grown from 144 to 214, increasing in size by about 50%. This new roll will be presented to the meeting and represents a significant increase in the official “membership” of our parish. It is a substantial achievement and something we should all feel very encouraged by. I hope this is something we will all give thanks to God for at this Sunday’s High Mass.
The number of people on a church’s electoral roll is not the only measure of how healthy a church is, but it is, nonetheless, a significant one. Whereas attendance figures record the wide range of people who pass through our doors, electoral roll membership records the slightly different dynamic of the number of people who regularly worship here and who have made this their church home.
All electoral rolls are wiped clean and reconstructed every six year with the aim that they contain a reasonably accurate record of who is associated with a parish church. This means the names of people who have moved away, died, or ceased to worship at a particular place are removed and an effort is made to record all newcomers who have arrived.
The usual pattern one would expect to see is that in a renewal year (such as the one we have just seen), the total number on an electoral roll tends to decrease, only gradually to creep back up over the following six year period. To have increased in number through a full electoral roll revision, therefore, is a very significant statistical result. To have increased by such a large margin is very notable indeed. It shows our parish’s worshipping community is significantly larger than when the roll was last recreated in 2019.
The general patterns of attendance we are seeing at All Saints’ point to a worshipping community which, by contrast with what we had in 2019, tends to be substantially larger and have a lower average age, but which attends a little less regularly than was the case in 2019. Our parish community in 2019 was smaller and older, but tended to worship more regularly and frequently.
The period we have seen since the last renewal of the roll has witnessed some of the most complex disruptions to worship and churchgoing seen in a generation. This parish has not been immune to the challenges of COVID, but has worked hard to rebuild the community which worships at All Saints’ and to reach out to new people with love and welcome.
Although this roll renewal has involved a lot of complicated work, it has been a very useful exercise in recording all the new people who have started worshipping with us since COVID. The statistical picture emerging with increasing clarity is one in which our parish is growing not just in the number of people who come to services here, but also in the number of people who are committed to regular worship in this place.
I want to thank all those who have contributed in so many ways to the welcome of new members of our parish: sidesmen and those on the coffee rota; those who run our parish bar; the serving team and choir who enable our parish’s life of worship to be so attractive and converting; all those involved in the catechesis of confirmation candidates and in running our young adults programme. It is through your work that God is adding to our number, and our whole parish is very grateful.
I want to say a particular word of thanks to Daniel Fielden who has presided over this revision as our Electoral Roll Officer. The process has been hugely time consuming, and I am especially grateful to Daniel for his wisdom and hard work in bringing this accomplishment off. Many thanks indeed, Daniel!
As we meet this Sunday for our APCM, there is so much to give thanks to God for. I pray this offers an opportunity to reflect with grateful hearts on how God is calling more people to know Christ in our parish community and to worship him here. Let us recommit ourselves in joy and gratitude to the proclamation of the Gospel and the furtherance of the Catholic Tradition we have received.
Fr Peter
Congratulations to all those who were baptized, confirmed or reaffirmed their faith in Christ on Sunday!
Feast of the Ascension
This Thursday 29th May is the feast of the Ascension. The preacher at the 6.30 pm High Mass is Fr David Houlding.
Music will include: Missa brevis by Neil Cox; and Ascendit Deus by Peter Phillips.
Thanks
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the wonderful celebration we saw last Sunday for the Baptism and Confirmation presided over by Bishop Jonathan. The parish lunch we shared after the liturgy was wonderful. Huge thanks go to all who provided food, and to those who prepared, served and cleared up. What a splendid day it was – many thanks to all involved!
Parish lunch last Sunday in our courtyard after the High Mass and Confirmation.
Last call! – National Pilgrimage
A double decker coach will depart from All Saints’, Margaret Street, on Monday 24th May 2025 at 7.30 am sharp, to take pilgrims to the National Pilgrimage at Walsingham. The coach will return to the West End by the evening of the same day.
There are still places left. The cost is £30 per person, and you sign up and pay online via the Eventbrite link here.
We are so grateful to Simon Rainey for providing one of his renowned smoked salmon platters for our parish lunch. Careful observers will note the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are displayed descending on the faithful, picked out and numbered with anchovies! Many thanks, Simon, for this culinary triumph!
Trip to the National Gallery
A parish outing to the National Gallery will take place on Friday 6th June to see its highly praised current exhibition focussed on Sienese painting in the 13th Century. There are 20 tickets which will be apportioned on a “first come, first served” basis. There will also be an option for dinner together after the exhibition in Chinatown, which will cost £35 per head.
You can sign up and pay via Eventbrite here.
A huge thank you goes to everyone who helped, organised, contributed food, served and cleared up at our splendid parish lunch on Sunday. It was a wonderful occasion, and our whole parish is very grateful!
Fulham Festival
The Bishop of Fulham invites everyone to a day festival which will take place at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday 31st May to celebrate the life of his parishes. There will be a Solemn Mass at 11.00 am, followed by the opportunity to have a picnic lunch with activities in the afternoon. The day finishes with Cathedral Evensong at 4.00 pm.
You can watch last week’s High Mass and confirmation again here, and you can listen to Bishop Jonathan’s homily here.
Parish Walks
Our parish rambling group will be going on two day trip walks over the coming months: Saturday 7th June; and Saturday 5th July. All are welcome to join the group! Precise details will follow, but for now the dates are published so you can make a note in your diaries. If you have questions or suggestions about future walks, please be in touch with Fr Alan.
Candidates for baptism at the font last Sunday, awaiting rebirth by water and the Spirit.
Next Zoom Theology
Our next online Zoom Theology seminar will take place on Tuesday 8th July at 7.00 pm. It will focus on a recently published book by biblical scholar Candida Moss entitled, God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible.
This seminar, led by Fr Peter Anthony, will seek to delve deeper into the question of who wrote the New Testament.
We are used to thinking of the great names of the apostolic band as the authors of the gospels and epistles, but who actually put pen to paper, and in what sense can we say they “wrote” those texts?
This ground-breaking new work by Candida Moss explores the contribution of a range of enslaved secretaries, amanuenses and writers. It seeks to reveal the forgotten voices, and marginalised contributors without whose work the New Testament corpus would not exist.
It will be important for all participants to have read Candida Moss’s book in preparation for the seminar.
“Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6.4
Attendance last Sunday
Services this week
Saturday 24th May – Easter Feria of Our Lady
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 25th May – SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction
Monday 26th May – St Philip Neri
12 noon Low Mass
N.B. Only one Mass today as it is a Bank Holiday
Tuesday 27th May – St Augustine of Canterbury
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Wednesday 28th May – DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
12 noon Low Mass
5.30 Holy Hour
6.30 pm Low Mass
Thursday 29nd May – THE ASCENSION
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm High Mass
Friday 30th May – Easter Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Saturday 31st May – The Visitation
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 25th May – SUNDAY AFTER THE ASCENSION
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction
For your prayers
The Friends of All Saints’ Margaret Street
25th – Judith Mather, The Ven Fr Stephen McClatchie, John McWhinney, Colin Menzies, Amanda Miller;
26th – Thomas Moller, Michael Mortensen, Barry Moore, Deacon Christopher Morash, Grace Morgan, Dr John Morrell, Fr Stephen Morris, Inger Mosbery, Lachlan Moyle, Carol Mundell
27th – Christopher Naylor, Brian Newman, Barry Newsome, Elaine Norman, Richard North, Fr Paul Ockford;
28th – Fr Peter and Anna Oesterby-Joergensen, Amanda Oldman, Daniel Oliver, Fr. Barry Orford, Nicholas Page, Samantha Parker, Malcolm Parr, Bhaven Patel, Philip Payne, Alma Pearson, Gladys Pearson
29th – Pat Philips, Dr Colin Podmore, Nick and Cecilia Powell, Johann Powell, Susan Prain, Vasileios Psomas, Simon Rainey, Heikki Repo
30th – The All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor
31st – Friends of All Saints’ in need
The sick
Graeme Butler, Dame Averil Cameron, David Craig, Fr Michael Gudgeon, Tony Hawkins, Margaret Hill, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Elizabeth Lyon, Philip Payne, James Rodger, Ingrid Slaughter
The recently departed
Barbara Jones, Vernon Groves, Ina Long, Ronald Corp CBE Pr
Anniversaries of death
25th – Frederick Seales, John Davies, Yvonne Harland
26th – Clare Jackson, Percy Aspinall
27th – Elsie Davies, Betty Scott, Ivan Sutton, Joy Cooch
28th – Constance Crozier
29th – Agnes Barry, Brenda Lusha, Dominic Borg;
30th – Henry Pelham-Clinton, Constance Porter;
31st – Olga Gaunt