This Sunday, the CAFOD collection takes place, as last Friday was the Harvest Fast Day - an opportunity to set aside some of the money that might otherwise have been spent on food for the benefit of those who go hungry.  Elizabeth Carey’s article on the parish website provides some helpful background.  St James’s parish supports the twice-yearly CAFOD collections well and this weekend offers a good opportunity to maintain that tradition of generosity.

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Now that the month of October has begun, the month of the Holy Rosary, there will be recitation of the rosary each weekday evening after the 6pm Mass.  The origins of this association with the month of October go back to the battle of Lepanto, fought on 7 October 1571, when the victory of the Christian forces was attributed to the praying of the rosary.  In thanksgiving for the victory, Pope Saint Pius V instituted the feast that we now know as Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated on 7 October each year.   Next Tuesday’s feast-day is a good moment to pray for our friends in the neighbouring parish of Marylebone, whose church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

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Pope Saint Pius V was a member of the Dominican order, one that has a particular association with the rosary, and it is because he continued to wear his white Dominican habit after becoming Pope that the tradition of the Pope wearing white became established.  His titular church when a Cardinal had been the beautiful Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the same church that was assigned more recently to Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor.  

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This weekend is the last opportunity to submit applications for enrolment in this year’s First Holy Communion classes, in Confirmation classes and in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), aimed at those interested in learning more about the Catholic faith.  The forms are still available at the back of the church and on the parish website (under Catechetics).  After this weekend, those who have applied may expect to hear from us with further information about the classes.  The RCIA will need to begin soon (with a preliminary meeting on the afternoon of Sunday 12 October), while the other classes are likely to begin in January.

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Requests continue to arrive for certificates of Catholic Practice.  Do bear in mind that you need to tell us the full name, postal address and date of birth of your child, and it may be advisable also to provide evidence of Mass attendance for three consecutive Sundays.  Newsletters signed by the celebrant of the Sunday Mass you attended would be sufficient.

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It has been announced that the date set for the proclamation of Saint John Henry Newman as a Doctor of the Church is Saturday 1 November, the feast of All Saints and the conclusion of the Jubilee of the World of Education.  We are proud to see our local saint honoured and it seems most fitting that it should happen in this way, particularly in view of Saint John Henry Newman’s considerable influence in the world of education.  His published collection of discourses under the title “The Idea of a University” is widely admired even outside Christian circles, while the university that he founded in Ireland continues to go from strength to strength.  There is already an English Doctor of the Church, in the person of Saint Bede, while Saint Anselm of Canterbury may be considered English by adoption, although his origins lay elsewhere.

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The parish pilgrimage to Rome comes shortly before the Jubilee for the World of Education, but the events soon to follow will sharpen the focus of our visit.  In particular, when we see Pope Leo at the General Audience on 22 October, both he and we will be very conscious of the honour in store.

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I had hoped this weekend to be able to announce the dates for the planned installation of new boilers for the church, but unfortunately there have been further delays and I have to ask you to be patient for a little longer.  We already notice the temperature falling and I am sure the availability of new boilers will be widely welcomed once winter is here.  Undeniably, the costs are higher than anticipated, but happily the Appeal launched almost a year ago has made it easier to afford this essential but expensive work.  Renewed thanks to all who supported the Appeal.

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Everybody in the parish is looking forward to the return of our newly refurbished organ later this year. To celebrate the organ’s impending arrival, several members of our choir, alongside our Director of Music, Iestyn Evans (piano), will perform a wide-ranging programme of 20th-century English and Welsh song at the Wigmore Hall on Sunday 23 November at 3pm. Tickets are now on sale from the Wigmore Hall website, and the proceeds of this concert will go towards underpinning the great musical tradition of the parish.

(Iestyn Evans piano; Philippa Boyle soprano; Rebecca Hardwick soprano; Diana Moore mezzo-soprano; Michael Bell tenor; Michael Hickman baritone).  I will write more about this concert in a newsletter closer to the event.  But please save the date in your diaries now.

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Another date for diaries is that of the next Wigmore Hall concert to take place at St James’s Church - the last in the series of recitals given by the Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers and devoted to the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose fifth centenary it is this year.  It is to take place on Wednesday 22 October.  Sadly, those taking part in the pilgrimage to Rome will be unable to attend.

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News from around the world is often disheartening - but we continue to place our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has conquered suffering, sin and death once and for all.  May he be praised for ever.