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CHURCH NEWS
Buckden Methodist Church
Minister:
Rev. Paul Beard (473444)
Stewards:
Bob Baxter (810092)
Carol Swepstone (810053)
Room Bookings:
Isabel Daniels (810084)
Services in February
Sunday 7
10.30 am Morning Service, Rev. Katy Dunn
6.00pm Section service at Great Barford
Sunday 14
10.30 am Morning Service, Mrs. Angie Barnes
6.00pm Favourite hymns & readings
Sunday 21
10.30 am Morning Service, Mr. Tony Sainsbury
6.00pm Evening Fellowship, Rev. Paul Beard
Sunday 28
10.30 am Morning Service, Holy Communion
Rev. Pam Siddall
6.00pm Evening Fellowship, Mrs. Angie Barnes
Activities in February
Fri 5
10.00 am
Coffee Morning
Mon 8
12.30 pm
Study lunch
Tue 9
9.30 am
Quiet Time, Wesley Room
Wed 10
2.30 pm
CAMEO, Wesley Rm
Guess what this is!
Fri 12
10.00 am
Coffee Morning
Fri 19
12.00
Soup & sweet lunch
Fri 22
10.00 am
Coffee Morning
Tue 23
9.30 am
Quiet Time, Wesley Room
Fri 26
10.00 am
Coffee Morning
Catholic Church of St Hugh of Lincoln,
High Street, Buckden
Telephone:
01480 810344
Website:
saintshughandjoseph.churchgoers.co.uk
In the pastoral care of the Claretian Missionaries:
Fr. Chris Newman cmf
Fr. Angel Ochagavia cmf
Fr. Peter Wareing cmf
Fr. Paul Peter Alphonse cmf
Sunday Masses
- Saturday evening at 6.30 pm and
Sundays at 9.45 am
Weekday Masses
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday at 9.30 am and on Wednesday and Friday at
7.00 pm.
Morning Prayer
on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday &
Saturday at 9.15 am in the Lady Chapel.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
every Saturday
from 10.00 to 10.30 am.
The Rosary
is prayed each Monday morning after
the 9.30 am Mass.
Catechism Classes
for school age children each
Sunday from 9.00 am in term time. Formal classes for
primary age children.
Silent Adoration.
There is half an hour of silent
adoration before the Blessed Sacrament every Thurs-
day following the 9.30 am Mass and ending with Ben-
ediction at 10.30 am.
Would any newcomers to the Village who are
Catholics please let Fr. Chris
Newman know their contact details
.
The Migrant Crisis
I did find it ironic that the irrelevance of recognising the acute needs of a single homeless family from the Middle
East was referred to when our attention was focussed then on just such a human dilemma. May I quote from the
recent letter, sent by the Churches in St. Neots and published in the Hunts Post of the 23rd of December, in which
they collectively argued that "as Christians we are compelled by the teachings of our faith to care for the stranger
and it is not acceptable to be passive in the face of this crisis."
I note Mr Davies does not mention the fact that there has been a brutal civil war raging in Syria for 5 years now,
with no sign of it abating. Millions of human beings have as a result been displaced, hundreds of thousands have
been killed or maimed. Millions of refugees have already been absorbed by Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with
millions more internally displaced in Syria itself. So we will return "those people" to exactly what. To tents, prefabri-
cated huts and shipping containers in the middle of a harsh winter. To camps where food rations are inadequate
and subject to cuts, to a situation where you are not allowed to work or seek employment, where you have little or
no access to money, where your children receive little or no education and where it is entirely possible that you
will have to tolerate such a purgatorial limbo indefinitely. I wonder, in such dreadful circumstances, what I would
do? If I could muster the courage and resolve I might well choose to attempt the almost Biblical odyssey that we
daily witness on our screens and in our newspapers. I might aspire to a better life for my family. For there are no
"safe havens", no "UN peacekeeping", with the war grinding remorselessly on. I might recall the UK was so com-
passionate as to admit 216 Syrians to their country in the preceding 4 years, and follow the rules and be a well
behaved and deserving refugee, thus appealing to politicians.
Mindful of the limited space available may I close with a general observation. Some of the discourse in our media
and political parties reminds me of the proposition suggested by Harry Lime in The Third Man, you know the lines
on the Ferris Wheel, where he invited the audience to imagine those people viewed from a distance as ants or
dots on the ground. But the refugees have been so unkind and discourteous as to confront us with the immediacy
and depth of their needs. How will we respond?
Yours respectfully Rob Gardiner