Weekly Email – St Michael and All Angels
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Dear friends,
I have just returned from New York City where a group of parishioners from All Saints’ have spent the past weekend deepening the partnership between All Saints’ and our sister parish St Mary the Virgin, Times Square. It was a particular joy to organise a launch party for the American Friends of All Saints’ and to hold it at St Mary’s. I am hugely grateful both to the parishioners who joined me in New York, and also to St Mary the Virgin, and especially to Fr Sammy Wood their Priest-in-Charge, for hosting us so graciously and generously.
The launch party was a splendid affair and it was good to meet a range of people with a link to All Saints’ and an interest in our parish. Many people spoke warmly of their love for All Saints’, how much they appreciate participating in our worship by live-stream, and shared their stories of past visits to our parish.
It was especially good to see Bishop Allen Shin present. Before becoming a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of New York, he worked as an assistant priest at both All Saints’ and St Mary the Virgin. He was also Huw Pryce’s College Chaplain at Keble, and was particularly glad to be able to catch up with Huw. I am grateful to him for the warm words of encouragement he spoke about the importance of partnerships between London and New York to those gathered.
It was also a great joy for us to be able to spend a Sunday worshipping at St Mary’s. I preached at the various parish masses, and our group met many parishioners after the Solemn Mass. We had lunch out together with the clergy of the parish and enjoyed getting to know each other better.
We look forward to welcoming a group from St Mary’s next year to All Saints’ for the feast of Corpus Christi, as part of a pilgrimage they will be making to England. It will be good to show them around London and share the feast day with them.
I pray this past week marks a further deepening of the partnership between our two parishes, as we grow in faith together, make friendships, share worship, and hold each other in prayer and intercession.
Fr Peter
We are very grateful indeed to the parishioners of All Saints’ who were present last weekend in New York to deepen our relationship with St Mary the Virgin, and to launch the American Friends of All Saints’, Margaret Street.
Diocesan Partnership with Berlin
A group of visitors from Berlin will be visiting the Diocese of London over the weekend of 11th-13th October as part of our biennial theological ecumenical conference. If you are interested in hosting a German guest, please speak with Fr Peter.
Please put Sunday 13th October in your diary as the German delegation will be joining us for Evensong and Benediction. There will be a parish drinks party after Evensong in their honour to which all are invited.
You can listen to the sermon Fr Peter preached at St Mary the Virgin, Times Square, New York, here.
Zoom Theology Seminars
We had wonderful opportunity to discover more on Wednesday night about the traditions, history and contemporary mission of the Church in Berlin through the first of our new programme of online Zoom Theology seminars. We are grateful to Christof Theilemann in Berlin and to Brian Leathard in London for their contributions and for teaching us so much.
Our next Zoom seminar will take place on Saturday 9th November at 7.00 pm and will focus on the theology of Soren Kierkegaard. You can find out more about our Zoom Theology programme for the rest of the year here.
Our Zoom Theology Seminar on Wednesday night – there were attendees from as wide a range of locations as North Carolina, Greece, Germany, and Kazakhstan!
In person formation: Pearl with Dr Charlotte Gauthier
Join us for the first of this Autumn’s in-person study opportunities on Wednesday 16th October at 7.00 pm. A light supper will be provided.
Pearl is one of the most important literary survivals of the 14th century: a beautiful meditation on love, loss, death, and grief that still possesses the power to move the modern reader. Together we’ll explore some of the major theological themes and images of Pearl – including grace, sanctification, and the Eucharist – which the anonymous author has drawn largely from the Gospel of Matthew.
Dr Charlotte Gauthier is an historian of church and state in late medieval/early modern England. She is also Assistant Director of Discipleship, overseeing lay training for the Diocese of Southwark.
She recommends the translation by Jane Beal, but this is not essential.
Please register for this event here.
Guests enjoy meeting each other at the launch party we there for the American Friends of All Saints’, Margaret Street.
Homeless shelter
All Saints’ will be collaborating this year in the running of the winter homelessness shelter at the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road, which is organised under the aegis of the homelessness charity C4WS.
A number of volunteers are needed to prepare beds, cook, serve and share a meal, staff the shelter over night and then prepare breakfast in the morning. The two dates on which All Saints’ staffs the shelter this winter are: Wednesday 6th-Thursday 7th of November 2024; and Wednesday 5th-Thursday 6th February, 2025.
If you wish to volunteer for this important work, please be in touch with our parish office (office@asms.uk).
We are grateful to Fr Sammy Wood and the parish of St Mary the vIrgin for allowing us to use St Joseph’s Hall for the launch party of the American Friends of All Saints’, Margaret Street.
‘Adoremus’ Young Adults Pilgrimage
A group from All Saints’ will join the weekend pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our lady of Walsingham aimed at younger Christians who are 18-35 years olds. The weekend begins with supper at 6.30pm on Friday 22nd November and ends with Sprinkling, Benediction and Last Visit at 2.30pm on Sunday 24th November. The cost of the weekend is £95 per head. This covers the cost of accommodation, meals and travel from Kings Lynn. Pilgrims simply have to pay for their train ticket to Kings Lynn. You can sign up here.
All Saints’, Margaret Street, takes Times Square by storm!
Advent Silent Retreat
A silent pre-Christmas retreat will take place at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham from Friday 6th – Sunday 8th December 2024. The weekend involves arriving on Friday afternoon, and then keeping silence from Friday evening until Sunday morning. The cost of this pilgrimage is £250. This covers the cost of accommodation, meals and travel from Kings Lynn. Pilgrims simply have to pay for their train ticket to Kings Lynn. To reserve a place, sign up via Eventbrite here.
You can watch the High Mass at All Saints’ for Trinity 17 here. The preacher was Fr Julian Browning, and the music included: Missa Brevis, Kenneth Leighton; Ave Maria, Franz Schubert; and the voluntary, Allegro moderato e serioso, Felix Mendelssohn.
Attendance last Sunday
Members of the group of parishioners who visited New York last weekend with the clergy of St Mary the Virgin, Times Square, after a convivial Sunday lunch together.
Prayer List
The Friends of All Saints’ Margaret Street:
September 29th – Pat Philips, Dr Colin Podmore, Nick and Cecilia Powell, Susan Prain, Vasileios Psomas, Simon Rainey, Heikki Repo
30th – The Sisters of All Saints
October 1st – Carlos Remotti-Breton, Dr Steve Rice, John Rick, Fr. Peter Roberts, Hilary Rodger
2nd – Greg Round, Jamie Rundle, Mary Sherred, James Shrimpton
3rd – Ingrid Slaughter, Naomi Slippe, Vaughan Snook, Harvey Solomon-Brady
4th – Richard and Louise Stallwood, Iain Stewart, Madeleine Storer, Ian and Veronica Summers, Colin Symes, Ann Tacchi
5th – Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Michael Taylor, Kitty Thompson, Charles Thomson, Dr James Thomson, Jeremy Thorp, Jane Turner, The Rev’d Roger Turner, Dr Christine Vaughn Lillie
6th – Christopher Walsh, Philip Wayne, Fr. Benjamin Weitzmann, Fr. Mats Wendt, Michael Westcott
The sick:
Theresa & Augustina Baier, Stewart Buckingham, Fr John Burniston, David Craig, Tony Hawkins, Fr Stephen Heard, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Arthur Johnson, Katherine Lee, Elizabeth Lyon, James Rodger, Christine Vaughn-Lillie
The faithful departed:
John Donvan, Caroline Gibbons, Bruce Ross-Smith, David Weller
Those whose anniversaries of death fall at this time:
September 29th – Alfred Davis
30th – Jack Minnett, Leslie Thomas, Brenda Kirk, John Shand Pr
October 1st – Edith Fricker, Alice Sexton, Edward Grant
3rd – Norma Everton
4th – Edna Thompson, Olive Robin
5th – John Clayton
6th – Alan Harrison Pr, Patricia Molly Simpson-Coe, Raymond Oram
We were very pleased to see Bishop Allen Shin at the launch party for the American Friends of All Saints’ last week in New York. He has worked both at All Saints’ and St Mary the Virgin as an assistant priest. He encouraged us with warm words to deepen the friendship that exists between our two parishes as part of the London-New York Diocesan partnership.
Service times this week
Saturday 28th September – St Wenceslas
12.00 noon Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass
Sunday 29th September – ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction
Monday 30th September – St Jerome
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Tuesday 1st October – St Teresa of the Child Jesus
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Wednesday 2nd October – The Holy Guardian Angels
12.00 noon Mass
5.30 pm Holy Hour
6.30 pm Mass
Thursday 3rd October – Feria
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Friday 4th October – St Francis Assisi
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Saturday 5th October – Feria
12.00 noon Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass
Sunday 6th October – TRINITY XIX
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction