June Enews

The next ACTA Leeds meeting will be an in person meeting on Thursday 13 July 2023 at 1pm

North Bar upstairs room
2D Oxford Buildings
Cheltenham Parade
Harrogate HG1 1DA
directions

This will be an opportunity to meet socially and discuss current issues. All are welcome.

If people want to buy lunch at the North Bar please bring your lunch upstairs for 1pm. Please bring a friend if you can. We look forward to seeing everyone then.

Please reply to this email to contact ACTA Leeds about anything in this enews

Previous enews's can be found here

Letter sent by Vincent Borg on behalf of ACTA Leeds to Jessica Wilkinson P2M on 11/5/23
Copies to Fr.Martin Kelly, Fr Sean Crawley, Mgr.Andrew Summersgill

[No reply at the time of sending this enews]

I hope you are keeping well. Thank you for the website news overview of your visit to Prague as part of our journey in the Continental Stage of the synodal process (From our own Correspondent : 15 March 2023)

At a recent meeting of ACTA Leeds we shared developments in our own parishes to assess how synodality is (or is not..) evolving in practice. There is every encouragement to be ‘getting on with it’ locally and acknowledging where and how synodality is developing in our diocese. ACTA Leeds is committed to sharing good practice. We also considered your P2M March news update and were pleased that under ‘What’s next for us?’ Parish Priests and Deans were due to receive reports from their autumn (2022) parish meetings and that this would be followed by ‘further listening’. We were also pleased that there would be ‘opportunities to learn more about the process of synodality and how to engage in spiritual conversations within the diocese’.

Could you please give us some details about these plans so that we can update our companions on the synodal journey in the next ACTA Leeds e-newsletter in early June. We will, of course, be happy to direct our readership to an updated P2M page on the diocesan website to encourage the fullest participation.

With thanks again for everything you and the team are doing.

Vincent Borg
On behalf of ACTA Leeds
actaleeds.org.uk

Staying Involved in the Synodal Process
You may wish to sign a letter to those who have influence in the selection process for who is nominated and approved for the 2023 Synod in Rome and beyond
The letter can be found on Catholic Church Reform International website

News from Parishes some good some not so good

Communion under both kinds

The parish of St Mary, Bradford, were asked by their priest before the mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday how many wished to receive the precious blood from the chalice. A show of hands indicated some did, and communion from the chalice was recommenced from that mass onwards (on Sundays subsequently, not weekdays).

Parishioners from Burley and Ilkley are being consulted on reducing the frequency of mass times, following plans for one priest to take over serving both parishes(alongside Addingham). A letter has been sent from the bishop informing them of the pending changes

Thanks to John Joyce

Movement of Clergy

Priests are moved to other Parishes/communities without any consultation with Parishioners.

As trained facilitators for the Synod of Synodality we have tried to establish a working relationship with Clergy. This is now compromised when we are unaware of who is going to be moved when and to where. For those leaving a parish, they do not want to engage as they are looking towards to their new appointment. For those taking up a new appointment, it could be the first time they have been appointed as Parish Priest and it may take several months to get to know how their new Parish works and to get to know people.

Clergy receive an Ad Clerum which provides them with this information, however this is not shared with lay people neither is it available on the Diocesan website – WHY NOT?

The definition of Synodality is “journeying together as the People of God. It indicates a way of listening to each individual person as a member of the Church to understand how God might be speaking to all of us”. The key areas of Synodality are being Companions on the Journey, Listening, Sharing responsibility for Our Common Mission, Dialogue, Authority and Participation.

Why can’t the Diocese be transparent, instead of engaging in what appear to be secretive, medieval, outdated behaviours?

Thanks to Tony Pickles

The journey together and part of ‘enlarging the space of our tent’

Developing Synodality at Grass Roots

The diocesan synodal process which started at grassroots parish level has now arrived at continental level. It seems key to try and live synodally in our parishes while we wait for the outcome of the final Synod in Rome in 2024. It is not an "either/or" local or international, but a "both and" dynamic process.

In one parish in the Leeds Diocese we are trying to do that in a small way. In the pandemic when churches were closed we got a new Parish Priest, so the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) had to be re-formed. During that time we started a Parish Forum online. It was open to every parishioner and helped parishioners to stay in touch and talk about the Parish and discuss ideas. When the incoming Priest appointed the new PPC the Forum continued.

The Parish Forum meets in between PPC Meetings. It is open to everyone. Its aim is to encourage discussion and new ideas, a good practice in itself, and also to feed to the PPC. It hopes to be inclusive and welcoming. It has a revolving Chair and a Note Taker. Two members of the PPC attend to feedback the ideas. It aims to encourage people to voice their ideas and listen to each other. We hope it will continue.

I see it as a grass roots way of developing synodality: that every Parishioner has an opportunity to come along, discuss ideas, agree and disagree, and LISTEN to each other so that we can go forward and grow together....

Thanks to Pippa Bonner

Synodality at St.John Vianney, N.Leeds

Our ‘new’ parish priest was appointed in the middle of Covid. As our large parish emerged from restrictions he invited a core of parishioners to reflect on parish needs through a short series of meetings. In the last 18 months there have been two open Parish Forums to consider issues raised by parishioners. Between these ‘open’ meetings a parish steering group, appointed principally from parish groups by the PP, has met to look more closely at issues raised.

During that time there were also two Parish2Mission listening exercises as instigated by the diocese. The first was reasonably well attended (about 35) but the second was poorly attended (9). Synodality was not generally mentioned by clergy in Masses at the time, though the meetings were advertised in bulletins.
Paradoxically, significant progress in dialogue between priest and people has been made. There appears to be a ‘disconnect’ between P2M and what is actually happening.

I was recently invited to attend a parish steering group meeting to introduce our application for the CAFOD Live Simply award. Many other issues were raised, including (briefly) the existential questions: ‘Why are we here? What is our role?’ Some felt that the parish steering group was a ‘consultative committee’.

To me, this gathering of lay people and clergy presented an ideal opportunity to develop and chart our synodal journey as a parish. Were we not praying, listening and sharing our hopes, dreams and frustrations in the name of Christ? The language and perspective of ‘synodality’ seemed to be missing.

There must be hundreds of similar scenarios in parishes and schools across the diocese where discussion and decision-making would be so much more fruitful if discerned through the prism of synodality, as so clearly expressed by Pope Francis.

Thanks to Vincent Borg

Walking Together with our Families preparing for the Sacraments

A few years ago we changed our parish preparation for the sacraments of Reconciliation, First Communion and Confirmation from catechist led to parent led on the basis that parents are the best educators of their children. It was a tricky move at the time as many catechists were reluctant to relinquish the work they loved and parents were initially a bit shocked at the thought of having to lead a session if they had not done this sort of thing before. We purposely did not ask the parents
for any ‘qualification’ of any kind, just their willingness to participate. In this new arrangement parents and children are put in groups (6 children plus parent/s) with one parent taking the lead on each table. The lead parent is given a set of catechists’ notes and each parent has a parental set of notes. The lead parent rotates each session. The catechist role is to facilitate, encourage, listen, maintain consistency and continuity, provide formation as necessary and support the parents fully in their work.
The benefits of this method are easy to see – each table is buzzing with smiling children and parents.

There are many new creative ideas being brought to enhance the sessions as we encourage the lead parents to use the catechist notes for guidance and enhance the session by their own experience and imagination. The lead parents always put work into their preparation, and it really shows in their delivery and how the children respond. The parents are so enthusiastic and apart from saying they really enjoyed taking the lead role, which gives them much enjoyment, nearly all of them have expressed an interest in continuing to help either with Children’s Liturgy or future sacramental programmes. There is a real light in their eyes at the end of the session. This enthusiasm applies to women and to our surprise to many men who have also come forward and expressed an interest in continuing in this work. Many have found it has refreshed their own faith and bought them back to a love of the Mass.

Some of the parents are hesitant at first, especially if English isn’t their first language, but this has not stopped some of them, although it is understandable that a lack of a command of English does lead to a few declining to lead a group.
It is a real joy to encourage and watch gifted people using their talents for the glory of God. It is part of the journey together and part of ‘enlarging the space of our tent’.

Thanks to Denise Mason

Massimo Faggioli writes:-
A Synod that's less episcopal, but perhaps more papal?

Read whole article on the La Croix website

Thanks to Sister Teresa Kennedy,PBVM for sending article

Forthcoming Lectures at Leeds Trinity University

School of Theology in Leeds and Bradford

After meeting for 2-3 years in Leeds, the Leeds School of Theology have this year started a Bradford school of (Christian) Theology, open to all, meeting one Saturday a month through the year, with the option of a Year2 and Year3 to follow. Participants (around 70 in Bradford) have joined from diverse church traditions, with a good gender and age mix. Some are traveling from as far away as Hull, Carlisle and Newcastle. More details on their website

Thanks to John Joyce

ACTA National News

ACTA are holding an event on Wednesday 28th June from 7.00pm - The Synodal Journey- Travelling with Great Expectations?

Our guest speakers are :

Ms Sarah Adams - Director of Adult Formation, Diocese of Clifton who was one of the lay representatives at Prague
Bishop Nicholas Hudson - Auxiliary in Westminster and the rep of the CBCEW at Prague
Fr Jan Nowotnik - National Ecumenical Officer - CBCEW and rep at Prague

Registration is online. Click here

I also edit an enews for CWO which comes out every month. If you would like to receive this enews, please reply to this email with your details. You can look at earlier ones here

News from St Bede's Pastoral Centre, York

Summer Term Newsletter 2023

What in your life is calling you,
when all the noise is silenced,
the meetings adjourned,
the lists laid aside,
and the wild iris blooms by itself,
in the dark forest,
what still pulls on your soul?
Rumi

New Director for St Bede’s Pastoral Centre

We are delighted to announce that Paul Golightly has been appointed as the new director of St Bede’s Pastoral Centre!

Paul brings a wealth of experience; he is an ordained Methodist minister, was the director of St Anthony’s Priory Ecumenical Spirituality Centre in Durham for 14 years and is a trainer and the national co-ordinator for Capacitar wellbeing training in England.

We look forward to welcoming Paul at the beginning of September and to all that he will contribute to the life and mission of St Bede’s.

Summer Programme

As midsummer approaches and the lighter evenings stretch out, St Bede's continues to offer a range of events in person and online.

We are delighted to welcome Diarmuid O'Murchu as our keynote speaker at our online summer school. Our annual Strawberry Tea, to celebrate the year, will take place in the beautiful St Bede's garden on Sunday 16th July.

See below for more details...

Or click here to go to the 'What's On' Section of our website where you can access details of all events, courses and to book.

Or contact the office for further information on 01904 464900 / programmeadmin@stbedes.org.uk

Please do feel free to share and pass on details to anyone you think may be interested.

Online Guided Prayer Sessions
Mondays 5-5.30pm

5/12/19/26 June; 3/10 July

These sessions offer opportunity to pause for 30 minutes, dip into some quiet space and find time to reflect.

Agents of Active Hope

Saturday 10th June
10am - 1pm

ONLINE

Drawing on the work of Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone this half day workshop offers us the opportunity to explore what it means to be an ‘agent of active hope’ in these challenging & pivotal times of climate breakdown.

Through input, exploring our human creativity and through discussion, we will:

reflect on the idea of being ‘agents of active hope’ in service to a guiding vision of the future we wish to create
explore what being an ‘agent of active hope’ might look like in our own specific life contexts
discover what can help to inspire and sustain us as we seek to make a positive contribution to the ‘Great Work’ of our time – transitioning into a sustainable future for all life on Earth

‘Active Hope is not wishful thinking. Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act.’

Led by Julia Ling-MacDonald.

Click here to book online or contact the office. (£15)

Guided Reflective Morning
Praying with Nature

Wednesday 21st June
10am - 12.30pm

This morning will invite us to ponder how Jesus used the book of nature in many of his parables and how we too can encounter God through nature.

Facilitated by Sr. Marion Bettenworth and Siobhan Burke.

Click here or contact the office. (£10)

Join 'The Great Turning'

Wednesday 5th July
6.30 - 8.30pm

ONLINE

An introduction to what some name the ‘Great Turning’ or the ‘Great Transition’ – the movement away from destructive modes of being on the planet into a life-honouring society where humans act as creative and generative members of the whole life community on Earth.

The workshop will provide a ‘deep time’ perspective of our current position at this point in human history on planet Earth and a framework for how we can focus our faith, energies, gifts and talents to enable and support creative change.

There will be space for personal reflection, shared conversation as we explore the current crises we are facing and the invitations being presented to us at this unprecedented time in human history on the Earth.

This workshop will be helpful to those working in parish or community settings who wish to root practical local responses to the climate crisis in a bigger picture context and draw inspiration from the ‘deep-time’ dynamics of the unfolding Creation.

Led by Julia Ling-Macdonald.

Click here to book online or contact the office (£15).

ONLINE SUMMER SCHOOL
Radical Incarnation: Embracing Our True Nature
with keynote speaker Diarmuid O'Murchu

Wednesday 12th - Friday 14th July
10am-3.30pm each day

ON ZOOM

Over the course of this three-day online summer school, we will explore more deeply the following core themes:

‘Incarnation as Embodiment’
‘Incarnation of the Evolutionary Human’
‘Incarnation for us as Earthlings’

As Diarmuid helps us to journey through these themes, we will be invited to: more fully inhabit our ‘true nature’ so we can live more radically the gift of ‘incarnated’ lives; more consciously engage in life as creatures who are deeply earthed, fully enfleshed and intricately embedded in the rich tapestry of the human and more-than-human world on our home planet we call ‘Earth’; and, open to a wilder sense of the Divine Mystery, Christ and Spirit.

Each day will run on Zoom from 10am–3.30pm and will include:

a daily input offered by our keynote speaker Diarmuid O’Murchu
a daily creative workshop/nature based reflective wander
space for both individual and guided reflection
opportunity for small group conversation

Click here to book online or contact the office. £90 for all three days

We suggest an offering for each event, course and retreat but do not want anyone to feel excluded because of cost - please do enquire and we will offer some support.

To register and pay either book online or contact the office...
e: admin@stbedes.org.uk
t: 01904 464900

Social Events

Social Wednesdays

Wednesday 14th June

12pm - 1pm: Taize prayer - A meditative Taize liturgy in the chapel.

1pm - 2pm: Lunch Together - Feel free to bring along some lunch to eat together.

2pm: Community Cinema - This month we will be showing Life is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni's Oscar, BAFTA and Cannes-winning film. A happy, eccentric Italian bookseller of Jewish ancestry is caught up in the evil of the war when his family is deported to a concentration camp. Whilst locked up he uses humour and imagination to try to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.

Join us for as much or as little of the day as you would like. Free of charge, with donations welcome for refreshments.

The final social Wednesday of the term will be on Wednesday 5th July. We will be showing Mamma Mia in the afternoon, however there will be no Taize that day.

Strawberry Tea

Sunday 16th July
2pm - 4pm

St. Bede's Garden

Join us at the annual Strawberry Tea to celebrate the year!

This year there will also be an opportunity to say goodbye to Julia and thank her for her work over the past 6 years as Director of St. Bede's.

There will hopefully be a chance to say hello to our incoming Director Paul Golightly.

There will be refreshments, cakes and plenty of strawberries! We will be running a raffle - if you have any unwanted gifts or would like donate a prize please drop these in the office before the 17th (thank you!)

We will need to know numbers for catering so if you would like to come please contact the office to let us know
admin@stbedes.org.uk
01904 464900

Big Charity Plant Swap

A very BIG Thank you for supporting our Big Charity Plant Swap. Thank you to the people who grew and donated plants, to the people who donated their time and money and to the people who came along to support on the day.

This year we have raised enough money to feed 25 children every day for a whole school year!

Next Year

Personal & Spiritual Development Course (PSD)

PSD is an ecumenical experiential course rooted in the Ignatian Spiritual tradition.

Aim of the Course
The key aim of the course is to support and foster greater integration between our relationship with God and the matter of our everyday life and personhood.

Including opportunities for both personal and small group reflection, the course seeks to do this through a two stage process:

in year one, we focus on developing and deepening experiences of different ways of praying alongside facilitating growth in self-awareness, personal reflection and reflective living practices
in year two, we focus on ways of responding to what is happening in our prayer and reflective practice by developing capacity for spiritual discernment and skills in reflective decision making

Start date
The next PSD course will start with an Opening Saturday on 23rd September 2023 10am-3.30pm.

Duration
The course will run over two academic years. Sessions will take place every week on Tuesday mornings from 10am - 12.15pm with breaks at half terms, Christmas, Easter and for the month of August. Each term includes one full Saturday running from 10am - 3.30pm.

A full information leaflet including year 1 term dates is available by clicking here. If you would like to talk to one of the tutors please feel free to get in touch.

Booking your place
To book your place on the course you will need to complete an application form which can be downloaded by clicking here. The closing date for applications is Friday 21st July 2023.

Please note that places on the course are limited.

Personal & Spiritual Development Course (PSD)

PSD is an ecumenical experiential course rooted in the Ignatian Spiritual tradition.

in year one, we focus on developing and deepening experiences of different ways of praying alongside facilitating growth in self-awareness, personal reflection and reflective living practices
in year two, we focus on ways of responding to what is happening in our prayer and reflective practice by developing capacity for spiritual discernment and skills in reflective decision making

Please note that places on the course are limited.

A Blessing For Solitude
May you recognise in your life the presence,
power and light of your soul.

May you realise that you are never alone,
that your soul, in its brightness and belonging,
connects you intimately with the rhythm
of the universe.

May you have respect for your own
individuality and difference.

May you realise that the shape
of your soul is unique,
that you have a special destiny here,
that, behind the façade of your life,
there is something beautiful, good and eternal.

May you learn to see yourself
with the same delight,
pride and expectation
with which God sees you in every moment.

- John O’Donohue

Thanks to Katharine Salmon for sending this

Please donate

If you prefer to make a direct transfer, rather than use Paypal, the details are below. [Paypal takes a little of what you give]

Account name ACTA Leeds
Sort code 05-01-26
Account number 10722432

Many thanks to those who have donated especially those who have set up monthly donations

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ACTA Leeds prayer - Seeking is Seeing

Seeking God is as good as seeing God.
Who, but a saint,
Would know so clearly
That the journey is the reality,
The steps are sight,
The effort is reward,
The seeing is the searching,
The dream is the reality?
Seeking God is seeing God.