News from The Society of the Holy Cross

Richborough Family Festival at Rochester Cathedral Saturday 14th September 2019 Holy Cross Day

30/7/2019

Richborough Family Festival at Rochester Cathedral
Saturday 14th September 2019 Holy Cross Day
Mass at 12 Noon Evensong 3.15pm
Bishop Norman is very much looking forward to the much hoped for splendid turnout out from his parishes and beyond. Some parishes and dioceses have organised coaches although it would be helpful to have a rough idea of numbers for logistical reasons. Please do your best to encourage a great attendance.
Concelebration
Priests who relate to Bishop Norman for sacramental care (mainly The Society/SSC) are welcome to vest in the lady chapel (to the right of the nave) by 11.40am. There will be some red vestments but otherwise please wear alb and red stole. Only priests who hold a current PTO or licence are permitted to concelebrate and no exceptions will be agreed. All concelebrants must advise me in advance of their intention as I am duty bound to submit a list to the Dean and Chapter in advance.
Children
Children are most welcome and although there will be no organised activities we will provide 30 goody bags for children of primary age on a first come first served basis. Laura the Erith Deanery Children’s worker will keep a look out for all such children. The Lady Chapel may be used as a break out area during mass for restless children who are accompanied by a parent or carer.
Lunch & Cathedral Cafe
If wet you are welcome to eat your packed lunch in the cathedral. We will provide some bin bags but please take rubbish home if possible. If the weather is good the castle lawn opposite or cloister garth are options. There are plenty of eateries for a sit down meal in Rochester High Street but large groups will need to pre-book as Rochester is quite busy on a Saturday. The cathedral café (in the crypt) serves drinks, cake, sandwiches and crisps – they are stocking up for us so please support them!
Parish Banners
You are encouraged to bring your parish banner for the procession in but not out. Someone will be on standby to direct you.
Evensong
The travelling evensong choir “SiNG” have been drafted in as the cathedral choir is not in residence. We are most grateful to them.
Acknowledgements
The Dean & Chapter and cathedral staff have been very welcoming and helpful in organising these acts of worship. The Society of the Holy Cross have also sponsored this day. The Bishop of Rochester will be present and will give the blessing at Mass. The collection will go towards the mission of our cathedral church so please be generous; Thank you!
Contacts
Fr Clive Jones ssc (on behalf of the organising committee)
020 8311 6307 or 07780 992871 e: frclive@tiscali.co.uk
to edit.

RECTOR OF THE BENEFICE OF SKIRBECK ST NICHOLAS

25/6/2019

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Saint Hugh Eyres Monsell , Leicester, Vacancy

8/5/2019

The Bishop of Leicester is seeking to appoint a Priest-in-Charge of the parish of St Hugh, Eyres Monsell, Leicester, which is under the pastoral and sacramental care of the Bishop of Richborough. We are seeking a full-time Priest to lead and care for our outer estate church on the southern edge of Leicester. Our new Priest will work as part of the All Saints’ Mission Partnership of Society parishes.

To this end, we seek a person who:

- Is an experienced Priest of the Society.
- Will lead us to grow in the number of our disciples, the depth of our discipleship and in our loving service of the local community.
- Is a person of deep catholic spirituality, who will help us to grow in prayer and lead us on pilgrimage, especially to Walsingham.
- Will help us reconnect with our local schools and engage in fresh expressions of church.
- Will assist us in making the best use of our well-resourced Parish facilities.

Full details about this Vacancy can be found at https://www.leicester.anglican.org/vacancies/priest-in-charge-of-eyres-monsell/

Fr. Philip O’Reilly,ssc, Bishop of Richborough’s Representative in the Diocese of Leicester, can be contacted for an informal conversation about thiis post. philiporeilly@leicester.anglican.org or (0116) 240 2215.

Weymouth Saint Paul’s A Parish affiliated to The Society and Forward in Faith

1/5/2019

Diocese of Salisbury Weymouth Saint Paul’s A Parish affiliated to The Society and Forward in Faith
We are looking to appoint a motivated, energetic and forward looking vicar who can lead us on our spiritual journey, strengthening our liturgical traditions and building our established outward looking catholic mission.
The Parish receives episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet and we are proactive members of the Society of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda, our deanery and diocese.
Our hope is for a vicar to engage with the parish, grow the congregation, nurture young families and the youth of the parish and bring everyone to the love of Christ. In return, the vicar will find a willing, hardworking and supportive congregation.
Parish information can be found at www.stpaulsweymouth.org.
For an information pack and/or an informal chat, please either contact the Archdeacon of Sherborne’s office on 01202 659427 or email Debbie.albery@salisbury.anglican.org.uk
or the Bishop of Ebbsfleet ‘s office on 01189481038 or email office@ebbsfleet.org.uk

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PARISH PROFILE

Letter from the Master for Brethren Passiontide 2019

10/4/2019

Master News Click (Password needed)

ACTA FOR FOUNDERS DAY 2019

8/3/2019

Click of the Link to go to the ACTA PAGE Password protected
Contact frmarkssc@msn.com if you have lost the password.

Synods 2019

8/3/2019

Synod 2019
This year we will be meeting in Regional Synods. Priests will be available from 11am to hear confessions and the Mass will begin at noon. All brothers with PTO or a licence are encouraged to concelebrate. Lunch will be provided -please let your Regional Vicar know of any dietary requirements.
2nd May The West at S Bartholomew Plymouth
11th July The North
17th July The Midlands at S Mary Stamford
26th September London and South East All Hallows, Gospel Oak
Brothers are not limited to their own Regional Synod. Please write to the Master in good time, requesting a dispensation giving your reason for not being able to attend any of the Synods. “Last moment” requests will be treated as presenting apologies. (Statutes IV. 4)

The CHURCH UNION calendar of events for 2019

28/2/2019

The calendar of events for 2019 has been published, which details all of the exciting events happening in the Catholic Societies in the Church of England. If you would like a printed copy to display on your church, please contact Fr Adam Edwards communications@churchunion.co.uk.

Or get a pdf version by clicking on the link below.

PDF

Homily for the Funeral Mass of Fr Michael Shields St Mary’s East Grinstead, 11th January 2019

12/1/2019

Homily for the Funeral Mass of Fr Michael ShieldsSt Mary’s East Grinstead, 11th January 2019
It’s obvious, isn’t it, why that Gospel passage was chosen for Fr Michael’s funeral. Like those disciples at Emmaus, Michael loved and recognised the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Like them, he was keen to celebrate the resurrection joy in the company of the apostles, that is to say, in the Church. And in fact, like the risen Lord himself on the Emmaus road, Michael accompanied so many disciples in their journey of faith, explaining the Scriptures and encouraging them. No doubt many of you will be thinking of times when perhaps it even seemed as if your heart was burning within you as he gave inspiration on your road of discipleship. He built up the Church spiritually through his wise counsel, as well as quite literally at St Matthias Colindale.
The first time I ever met Michael Shields though, it wasn’t just bread that was beingbroken. It was also the beautiful crystal trifle dish of Fr Timothy Lipscomb. I was onplacement with Fr Lipscomb at St Bartholomew’s Armley and after Mass I was invited to Sunday lunch because Fr Shields had come to stay. In honour of this visit Fr Lipscomb had made, among other things, a sumptuous trifle and after Fr Shields had dished himself up a portion he slid the dish along the table towards me. The table was polished to perfection and, like a giant ice hockey puck, the trifle dish instantly and alarmingly picked up speed. Before we knew what was happening it had shot off the end of the table and crashed dramatically onto the floor, great shards of custardy-creamy crystal everywhere. And while with characteristic presence of mind Fr Lipscomb instantly rustled up some emergency flambé-ed bananas by way of a replacement pudding, Michael was in a dual state of consternation and delight: consternation because, as we all know, he was a deeply courteous man, horrified to have spoilt the pudding and smashed the dish; delight because it was so funny and, as we all know, Michael Shields was a man of laughter as well as genuine seriousness and wisdom. He loved remembering that lunch!
Looking round today, I guess most of us knew Fr Michael through SSC or CMP, maybe through parish connections in Sevenoaks or earlier, or through Bromley College or the College of St Barnabas, where he was cared for so beautifully in these last months of his 88-year life. That life began in Penton House in Penton Road at Penton Hook on the River Thames in 1930 but it wasn’t long before the family moved to the Isle of Wight, where Michael’s dad worked in one of the prisons. Michael remembered the war years, when as a boy he watched the bombing of Portsmouth and the docks at Southampton. He told me that it was during the war that he first started going to Church seriously. One Sunday evening when he was 12 he looked out of the window and saw a woman pushing her bicycle to Evensong and thought “I must go”. And the rest, as they say, is history!
His Vicar encouraged him to go to the Society of the Sacred Mission for pre-theological training and so in September 1945, aged 15, he embarked on his first train journey on his own to Kelham. It was here that the young Michael had his first experience of monastic life, the attraction of which I don’t think ever left him. And it is interesting to reflect thatthis only child, who (as far as I know) has no blood relatives at all, found throughout his life that the household of faith provided a loving family for him, among the baptised to whom he ministered, and among his brother priests, in whose company he delighted. And though he had no children of his own, he was a father to so many. With his characteristic courtesy, laughter, seriousness and wisdom he modelled what it is to live a Christ-centred life and a priestly life. There’s a bit more to say about that in a moment.
Michael Shields was a Catholic Anglican to the core of his being. He served the Church not only as a Parish Priest, but as a pastor to priests, both as Master and Master General of SSC and as the Warden of his beloved Company of Mission Priests. The Society and the Company meant a lot to this only child. ‘We are family’, he used to say to us at CMP Chapter. And in his will he wrote that in the event of his death the Master of the Society and the Warden of the Company should be informed. In his life he brought tremendous fatherly reassurance to both fraternities, even in the most uncertain or troubled of times.
If it is not too strange a thing to say, I think Fr Michael’s seriously-cultivated Christian joy is what equipped him, and many of us, to live through difficult times. It is as if he had truly assimilated the wisdom to be found in his very well-used Breviary:
For even though the fig does not blossom, nor fruit grow on the vine,
Even though the olive crop fail and the fields produce no harvest,
Even though the flocks vanish from the folds and stalls stand empty of cattle. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord and exult in God my Saviour
After 1992, Michael guided the Company of Mission Priests into a joyful new chapter in its life, thanks to his dedicated nurturing of new friendships in the Vincentian Family, of which we are so delighted to be a part. Michael taught and exemplified the love of the priesthood, the concern for the poor and the Christian virtue of kindness, with which
St Vincent de Paul is so rightly associated. Michael’s was a prayerful kindness and even now his Breviaries are full of Mass cards, lists of names and even photographs of many of us here today, as well as those who have gone before us. He prayed for us all.
His kindness and his rootedness in the faith meant that there was nothing narrow-minded about Michael Shields. If his faith was Catholic with a capital C his interests were catholic too: science-fiction, Buddhism, astrology, 80’s disco hits, the RAF, Papal encyclicals,anything tech-ie and vast numbers of cards and letters from friends – all this and much more were among the possessions we went through the other day. In his last months he relished reading those cards and remembering kind things about those who had written
to him. He was particularly proud of those whose vocations he had encouraged.
I mentioned earlier that Fr Michael modelled Christian living. I would like to tell you that, for me at any rate, he also modelled Christian dying. We all know the theory about how Christians should face their death: Fr Michael lived out that theory in a very edifying way. Towards the end he spoke of being excited that he was going to be with the Lord. The
old RAF man enjoyed the prospect of soaring through tracts unknown to be with the Rock of Ages. Having spent his life recognising the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread, he was extremely thankful that he was at the College of St Barnabas, where thanks to the ministry of the Warden, the staff and all his friends, he could receive the Blessed Sacrament every day and even in his bed listen to Morning and Evening Prayer from the Chapel. The last time I saw him he said he thought it was time to make his confession. I truly believe he died in a state of grace. Goodness knows what any of us will be like in our final days. I’ll be psycho-patient of the year, probably. But be that as it may, like St John Paul II, Michael Shields has taught me these last months about how to face death as a Christian. I am truly grateful to him for showing me that.
On Wednesday I went to the funeral home to say some prayers with Fr Michael. In his coffin he is vested as a priest, just as he wanted. He is holding his beloved rosary made of rope, which he had in his hands all the time in these last months. One of the psalms I found myself saying is one beloved of religious, an appropriate psalm for Fr Michael,“How good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity”. The goodness andpleasantness of common life in the Church, common life with his friends, common life with his neighbours in the College of St Barnabas, in the Society of the Holy Cross, in the Vincentian Family and common life in the Company of Mission Priests: this was, I think, the locus of Christian joy for Fr Michael Shields. We praise God for that, because Michael also knew and strongly believed that these earthly joys are but a delightful foretaste of the true joy which constitutes the very hope of the Christian faith: beatitude in heaven with the risen Lord in the Communion of the Saints.
And so, as we delight at this Mass to meet the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread, let us offer the Holy Sacrifice for our brother Michael, as he would wish, and pray that this faith and hope in the risen Christ might be fulfilled in him now. Amen.
Fr Tim Pike
11th January 2019

The Funeral of The Reverend Canon Michael Shields

23/12/2018

The Funeral of The Reverend Canon Michael Shields

The Funeral Mass of Fr Michael Shields will take place at St Mary's Church, East Grinstead at 12 noon on Friday 11th January 2019.

Fr Shields expressed the wish that priests who are members of the Company of Mission Priests, the Society of the Holy Cross or the Society under the Patronage of St Wilfrid and St Hilda be invited to concelebrate, should they so wish. Anyone wishing to do so should please write to Fr Tim Pike at fathertimpike@hotmail.com so that proper liturgical arrangements can be made.

Concelebrants should be vested in alb and purple stole by 11.45am.

The Principal Celebrant will be the Bishop of Chichester, who is the Visitor of the Company of Mission Priests.

Everyone is invited to come to the Church Hall for a glass of wine after the Mass.

Fr Shields' ashes will be interred at the College of St Barnabas where he lived so happily and whose staff cared for him so wonderfully during his final illness. Fr Shields did not want anyone to send flowers for his funeral but should anyone wish to make a gift in memory of Fr Shields, donations to the College of St Barnabas, Lingfield, will be very gratefully received. Details of how to make a donation can be found on the College's website, http://www.st-barnabas.org.uk

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Richborough Family Festival at Rochester Cathedral Saturday 14th September 2019 Holy Cross Day

RECTOR OF THE BENEFICE OF SKIRBECK ST NICHOLAS

Saint Hugh Eyres Monsell , Leicester, Vacancy

Weymouth Saint Paul’s A Parish affiliated to The Society and Forward in Faith

Letter from the Master for Brethren Passiontide 2019

ACTA FOR FOUNDERS DAY 2019

Click of the Link to go to the ACTA PAGE Password protected
Contact frmarkssc@msn.com if you have lost the password.

Synods 2019

The CHURCH UNION calendar of events for 2019

Homily for the Funeral Mass of Fr Michael Shields St Mary’s East Grinstead, 11th January 2019

The Funeral of The Reverend Canon Michael Shields

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Keep up to date with the News from SSC subscribe to the email alerts sent out each day there is news delivered between 9-11pm GMT.

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