Next Sunday – First Sunday of Advent – A note for readers (and listeners)

The St. Mary’s Reaching Out project which works closely with our own Reaching Out Group is now responsible for the night shelter for the homeless in Saint Mary’s of the Angels on Wednesday nights. A member of our Reaching Out team is one of the volunteers supporting this work which has 15 people sleeping over in the Church Hall.  Those men who sleep over are in desperate need of hats and gloves and if anybody has any spare or would like to buy some to donate, they would be very welcome. A box is at the back of St. Teilo’s for such donations and any brought to Our Lady of Lourdes will also be added to the box. Warm jackets on the large size would be welcome. While these young men are often thin, they need larger jackets as they wear many layers of clothes to keep warm. The team is also delivering clothes, food and hot drinks in Cardiff city centre every first Sunday of every month. Donations are all very welcome.

Archbishop Mark has written a special Holy Year Prayer, which he calls ‘Jubilee Prayers to Our Lady of Hope’. Prayer Cards with the prayer and the Jubilee year logo are available at the back of both Churches. You are welcome to take them home to use in your own prayer and to take them and deliver them to any Catholic friends who are housebound or who no longer come to Church, that they may be part of the prayer for this Holy Year.

Wednesday March 5th this year is Ash Wednesday. It is the Church’s tradition to create the ashes from the palms distributed on Palm Sunday the previous year. If you have retained your palm(s) from last Palm Sunday please bring them to Mass with you next weekend and leave them at the back of the Church. One of our parishioners will then burn them, ready to be used at the two Masses on Palm Sunday.

Charlie, James and Dom will be appealing to the Parish for your kind and generous donations for HCPT Group 102, a charity group with which they are volunteering. HCPT is a registered charity offering life-changing pilgrimage holidays, to Lourdes in the south of France, for disabled and disadvantaged people from around the UK and further afield. For HCPT Group 102 to continue helping children and adults in need, we rely on kind donations from our generous supporters. So we ask you to dig deep into your pockets today please and to be very generous with your donations as we can assure you they are going to a fantastic cause.

Ddydd Sadwrn, Mawrth 1af, bydd yr Archesgobaeth yn dathlu Gŵyl ein Nawddsant Cenedlaethol yn Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi yng Nghaerdydd am 12 o’r gloch, canol dydd. Dewch i ddathlu Dydd Gŵyl ein Nawddsant yn Gymraeg. Bydd llyfrynnau dwyieithog ar gael. Bydd y Tad John Patrick Thomas, y Caplan newydd i Brifysgol Caerdydd ac i Dŷ Nazareth, yn dathlu’r Offeren. On Saturday, March 1st, the Archdiocese will celebrate the Feast of our National Patron Saint at St David's Cathedral in Cardiff at 12 o'clock, midday. Come and celebrate our Patron Saint's Day in Welsh. Bilingual booklets will be available.  Father John Patrick Thomas, the new Chaplain to Cardiff University and to Nazareth House, will celebrate the Mass.

Please view our current newsletter HERE

The Parish Rosary Prayer Group meets on the last Thursday of each month at 2.00pm in Ty Mair, 19 Heol y Waun CF14 1LB at the junction of Heol Gabriel and College Road. The group members have intercessory prayer, read and discuss the following Sunday's Gospel, pray the Rosary, pray the 3 o'clock prayer and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and have a cuppa! The next meeting takes place on Thursday, February 27th . All are welcome to attend.

The first parish quiz night of 2025 will be held on Friday, February 28th . The doors open at 6.45pm for a prompt start at 7pm. Light refreshments and snacks available but if you would like anything stronger then please bring your own refreshment of choice. Bottle opener and glasses are supplied. There is an entry fee of £3 per person and there will be a raffle to raise funds for the Parish.

This year, Pope Francis proclaimed 2025 as the Jubilee Year of Hope, with the theme of “hope does not disappoint” and a call to Catholics worldwide to become “Pilgrims of Hope.” The Jubilee Year officially started on Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and will continue until the Feast of the Epiphany in 2026. On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis invited pilgrims to the Vatican to walk through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s and the other Holy Doors throughout Rome and the world. In the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia the Holy Doors are at St. David’s Cathedral, Cardiff, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Swansea, the statue of Our Lady of Penrhys, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan, the Shrine of Divine Mercy at Sacred Heart, Morriston, the Churches of St. Francis Xavier, Hereford, St. Francis Xavier and St. David Lewis, Usk, Our Lady and St. Illtyd, Llantwit Major, the Welsh Martyrs, Aberystwyth, the chapel of St. Non’s Retreat Centre in St. David’s; and the Abbey Churches of St. Michael and All Angels, Belmont and Our Lady and St. Samson, Caldey Island.  On a visit to the Holy Door(s) you are invited to undertake a pious act including participating devoutly in Holy Mass or at a celebration of the Word of God; the Liturgy of the Hours (Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer); the Stations of the Cross or the Rosary along with the other requirements for an Indulgence - https://rcadc.org/jubilee-home/the-jubilee-indulgence/ Preparations for the 2025 Year of Jubilee began in Advent 2023, which marked the start of a year of prayer. The Bishops’ Conference have produced resources for the preparatory year of prayer, focusing on the Our Father, as well as resources about Jubilee in the Catholic Church. View the resources from the Catholic Bishops Conference here View the resources from our own Archdiocese here Jubilee Year Calendar (Cardiff-Menevia)