22nd June 2025 - Thought from Fr. Colm

The Feast of Corpus Christi this weekend is a time to reflect on the importance of the Eucharist in our lives. It is also a time which offers me the opportunity to thank all our Eucharistic Ministers for their support and dedication especially to bringing the Eucharist to the house bound. Our Ministers will renew their commitments at all Masses this weekend.

We welcome Bishop Stephen to our parish this week for the celebration of the sacrament of confirmation on Tuesday evening. They are a great group of young people and how they have taken their preparation very seriously. We need you to maintain contact with the parish. Those who have been welcomers have been a real blessing. A special thanks to Sarah and Ciaran for being there for them, and for the many hours of hard graft, not forgetting Marjorie, the silent third member of the team.

We look forward to our Parish Picnic, our trip to Holy Island. Weather like this would be a bonus.

My mind goes back to another memorable parish trip to the West of Ireland. Most of the pilgrims will always recall our very eventful boat trip. One glowing  memory for me was celebrating Mass on the island of Inisbofin.

Fr. Tony King joined us and explained the two plaques each side of the sanctuary showing the photos of young men and women from this tiny island who had left Inishbofin to become priests and nuns throughout the world. Two blood sisters in particular who went on to become Dominican nuns, and who were the first white people allowed into the townships in South Africa, and at the height of political unrest. This display with Fr Tony’s historical overview and in such beautiful surroundings made our final hymn more poignant. 

That final hymn was In Christ Alone, and though small in number, we sang with gusto. But,  it was the accompanying organ that rang out above everything else that remains encased in my memory. We were fortunate to have an exceptional musician with us on that trip. Geoff Foxall lifted the rafters in that historic church on that small island as I imagine it has never been lifted before.

Sadly, Geoff’s brother John, also a fine musician, died this week. With the loss of his close friend, Helen Tumilty, this has been a difficult time for Geoff. Our prayers are with you Geoff and never forget how, in your quiet humble way, you played an exceptional hymn in the most unlikely of settings.

Inishbofin on a Sunday morning.

Sunlight, turfsmoke, seagulls, boatslip, diesel.

One by one we were being handed down

Into a boat that dipped and shilly-shallied

Scaresomely every time. We sat tight

On short cross-benches, in nervous twos and threes,

Obedient, newly close, nobody speaking

Except the boatmen, as the gunwales sank

And seemed they might ship water any minute.

The sea was very calm but even so,

When the engine kicked and our ferryman

Swayed for balance, reaching for the tiller,

I panicked at the shiftiness and heft

Of the craft itself. What guaranteed us —

That quick response and buoyancy and swim —

Kept me in agony. All the time

As we went sailing evenly across

The deep, still, seeable-down-into water,

It was as if I looked from another boat

Sailing through the air, far up, and could see

How riskily we fared into the morning,

And loved in vain our bare, bowed, numbered heads. 

From Seeing Things by Seamus Heaney

15th June 2025 - Thought from Fr. Colm

I spoke to someone who seemed like a foreman about the intrusive building at the bottom of the Mill Lane. He told me they hoped to be finished before the beginning of the new university term in September. So at least we know it’s for students, surprise, surprise. We will then have our street back, but my sense of outrage has not diminished one bit.

As a parishioner observed recently that we (Gilesgate area) are slowly becoming part of the university campus. While it is always so uplifting to have students come to our services, sensible planning might keep our local historic community together at affordable rental and purchasing levels.

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges facing our cities or to the housing crisis, but the two issues need to be considered together. From an urban design and planning point of view, the well-connected open city is a powerful paradigm and an engine for integration and inclusivity.” Richard Rogers, Architect.

We, as parish, hope to contribute to more affordable housing with the surplus land we have in the parish, and especially with the development of the old car park at St Bede’s presbytery, the planning of which could have been faster, but is now proceeding with a bit more pace. The sale of which might offset the ever increasing costs of maintaining our present structures. And all this before we come to the ever diminished state of Durhams once beautiful city.

First Communions. A special thank you to the staff of our three primary schools for the hard work they put in bringing the children to this important stage of their spiritual development. It’s over to the parents now to continue with what communion really means: Community, belonging, gathering, breaking of bread, sharing….and commitment.

Happy Father’s Day to all our Dads!

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

George Herbert

8th June 2025 - Thought from Fr. Colm

Much is happening in the parish over the Summer. There’s the parish Picnic, the First

Communions, Pilgrimage to Holy Island, concerts at St Godric’s .

This great feast of Pentecost is an opportunity to join us in prayer, especially for

peace, at St. Godric’s this Sunday between 3 and 4.

“A Christian who does not pray for those who govern is not a good Christian.” - Pope Francis

The new Parish Mass Books will be available from next weekend. There’s a limited

supply for now as we assess how many may be needed due to the digital age, as

many now prefer using the Universalis app.

A Rabbi Prays:

If there has ever been a time for prayer, this is that time.

If there has ever been a place forsaken, Gaza is that place.

Lord who is the creator of all children, hear our prayer this accursed day.

God whom we call Blessed, turn your face to these, the children of Gaza, that they

may know your blessings, and your shelter, that they may know light and warmth,

where there is now only blackness and smoke, and a cold which cuts and clenches

the skin.

Almighty who makes exceptions, which we call miracles, make an exception of the

children of Gaza. Shield them from us and from their own. Spare them. Heal them.

Let them stand in safety. Deliver them from hunger and horror and fury and grief.

Deliver them from us, and from their own.

Restore to them their stolen childhoods, their birthright, which is a taste of heaven.

Remind us, O Lord, of the child Ishmael, who is the father of all the children of

Gaza. How the child Ishmael was without water and left for dead in the wilderness

of Beer-Sheba, so robbed of all hope, that his own mother could not bear to watch

his life drain away.

Be that Lord, the God of our kinsman Ishmael, who heard his cry and sent His angel

to comfort his mother Hagar.

Be that Lord, who was with Ishmael that day, and all the days after. Be that God,

the All-Merciful, who opened Hagar's eyes that day, and showed her the well of

water, that she could give the boy Ishmael to drink, and save his life.

Allah, whose name we call Elohim, who gives life, who knows the value and the

fragility of every life, send these children your angels. Save them, the children of this

place, Gaza the most beautiful, and Gaza the damned.

In this day, when the trepidation and rage and mourning that is called war, seizes

our hearts and patches them in scars, we call to you, the Lord whose name is Peace:

Bless these children, and keep them from harm.

Turn Your face toward them, O Lord. Show them, as if for the first time, light and

kindness, and overwhelming graciousness.

Look up at them, O Lord. Let them see your face.

And, as if for the first time, grant them peace.

With thanks to Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman of Kol HaNeshama, Jerusalem.