Christmas 2017

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Website: https://livingstoncatholicparishes.co.uk/ Facebook: Livingston and East Calder Catholic Parishes

Today, the Church once again experiences the wonder of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and the shepherds of Bethlehem, as they contemplate the new-born Child laid in a manger: Jesus, the Saviour. On this day full of light, the prophetic proclamation resounds: “For to us a child is born, To us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder; and his name will be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is 9:6) The power of this Child, Son of God and Son of Mary, is not the power of this world, based on might and wealth; it is the power of love. It is the power which created the heavens and the earth, which gives life to all creation: to minerals, plants and animals; it is the force which attracts man and woman, and makes them one flesh, one single existence; it is the power which gives new birth, pardons faults, reconciles enemies, and transforms evil into good. It is the power of God. This power of love led Jesus Christ to strip himself of his glory and become man; it led him to give his life on the cross and to rise from the dead. It is the power of service, which inaugurates in our world the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and peace. For this reason, the birth of Jesus was accompanied by the angels’ song as they proclaimed:

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” (Lk 2:14).

Today, this message goes out to the ends of the earth to reach all peoples, especially those scarred by war and harsh conflicts that seem stronger than the yearning for peace.

Peace – not merely the word, but a real and concrete peace – to our abandoned and excluded brothers and sisters, to those who suffer hunger and to all the victims of violence. Peace to exiles, migrants and refugees, to all those who in our day are subject to human trafficking. Peace to the peoples who suffer because of the economic ambitions of the few, because of the sheer greed and the idolatry of money, which leads to slavery. Peace to those affected by social and economic unrest, and to those who endure the consequences of earthquakes or other natural catastrophes.

Peace to the children, on this special day on which God became a child, above all those deprived of the joys of childhood because of hunger, wars or the selfishness of adults.

Peace on earth to men and women of goodwill, who work quietly and patiently each day, in their families and in society, to build a more humane and just world, sustained by the conviction that only with peace is there the possibility of a more prosperous future for all. We wish you a very happy and joyful Christmas! Fr Kenneth Fr Simon Fr Peter and Fr Tony

From the message of Pope Francis on Christmas

Mass Times St. Andrews: Vigil-5:30pm Polish-9:30am 11:30am

St. Peters: Polish Vigil-6:30pm 9:30am 5:50pm

St. Philips’s: 9:30am

St. Theresa’s: 11:30am

St. Andrews

Foodbank

St Andrew’s is the venue for the weekly foodbank

that is offered to clients in the East Livingston and

East Calder area. Staffed by volunteers from all four

parishes and some Caritas students. It opens

weekly providing three days food for those in need.

Compere kilted Fr Tony at

the One World Evening

Sunday Evening Youth Group

The last few months have been a lively and busy time

for our Youth and their leaders. The weekly Sunday

evening meetings offer the chance to come together with

friends and to enjoy a whole variety of activities. Trips

to other attractions and the cinema also compliment the

weekly activities in the Lanthorn. A particular treat

this year was the Camp at Tomintoul where for the first

time some went horse riding and others took part in

white river surfing.

Altar servers

Thirty two of our altar servers turned

up at Deer Park for bowling one

Sunday afternoon. It was a chance to

meet servers from other parishes and

to enjoy each others company. It was

rounded off with a bite to eat and the

commitment to keep serving in our

parishes.

The new intake of servers had some

time at St Margaret’s making the

wooden crosses that they wear when

serving at liturgy.

Hermitage of St. Seraphim – the enclosed garden has been transformed into a new, ‘reflective space’ to pray, between the house and church of St. Peter’s is now available for anyone to use. Why not come along one day and take some reflective time and space apart.

St. Peter’s Makeover – St. Peter’s has undergone a dramatic makeover this year with new sound and lighting systems installed and the interior repainted. In 2018 we hope to re-tarmac the Car Park.

Schoenstatt Retreat Day – a lovely group of people from our four parishes enjoyed a few hours Retreat with St. Peter’s Legion of Mary in September this year.

St Peter’s hosting the cluster parishes for a musical afternoon to learn a new common setting for the mass. Parishes communities have already begun learning it and hopefully we will all be pitch perfect by Easter!

The One World Liturgy for Peace took place in St Peter’s in December. It was an opportunity to remember that in our world today there are sill many areas of conflict and injustice. The internationality of our parish communities was celebrated by people praying in their own language for peace in our world.

St. Peter’s

Fr Simon with altar servers and serviettes. Legion of Mary retreat to Schoenstatt

St Philip’s became the first parish here in Livingston to clear its debt. So well done to all who worked so hard to bring this about. This means that new and exciting programs can be developed in St Philip and we will begin to develop them in 2018. The Lanthorn Centre has also become again a resource for the whole parish. The One World Group Social as always was specular and in 2018 the Polish Community will host their first social there at the end of January.

September saw the re-launch of the social life of St Philip’s It began with a late summer BBQ. Plenty families, children and parishioners were on hand to join in the fun day. A St Andrew’s Ceilidh continued to get great fun under way. The parish com-munity responded with great enthusiasm to the challenge of fund-raising for the Malawi Maize Grinder and a Saturday table-top sale saw the fund boasted by over £1 000.

Explore faith has been a great new initiative shared over all four parishes. St Philip’s hosted in October and was lead by Fr Simon. The purpose was to allow a free flowing and robust discussion of different aspects of our faith. It was an invitation to question and voice personal and community wide issues such as: What is the church? How did permanent diaconate come about? Is the revised lectionary still having work done on it? In the New Year we hope to continue these monthly sessions but also have a topic on each occasion such as understanding the mass better, ethical concerns in the Christian community and a deeper understanding of the bible. So when you see Explore faith in the newsletter and you wonder what happens why not come along and see for yourself.

SPRED Mass in St Phillip's June 2017

St. Philip’s

The parish has rediscovering its’ social dimension over the last few months. From brunch, afternoon tea and tea and coffee on Sundays there has been an opportunity to meet socially and make new friends. Afternoon Tea also raised a great contribution to the Malawi Maize Grinder.

A very successful Advent retreat took place early in December and reaffirmed the beauty of our church grounds and surroundings as well as the hospitality offered to parishioners from the other three cluster parishes. The Epiphany Group were on hand to help develop our attention to prayer, silence and contemplation. Everyone agreed that it was a worthwhile day and should be repeated and shared with the wider parish.

The RCIA programme has also been hosted this year in the parish with six candidates exploring the Catholic faith. Some will be baptised at the Easter Vigil others will be confirmed and receive the eucharist for the first time.

St. Theresa’s

The farewell social for Fr Matthew brought parishioners

and friends from all over to enjoy an evening of saying

goodbye. We shared memories of his time in the

parishes as well as seeing some of the photos from

Sacred Heart in Ulongwe where he works. By

Christmas 2017 we can report that we have raised over

£5 000 to buy a Maize grinder for the community there.

Livingston Polish Community

Polish Community in Livingston in 2017 - teamwork, joyful celebrations and intercultural integration Serving those who come to our Polish services (around 500 people every Saturday and Sunday), and assisting many others, who come to celebrations in English with their children is my main duty in our 4 parishes in Scotland. As you might know I am also a full time professor at a university in Poland and researcher involved in several international projects. So - for obvious reasons occasioned by my frequent absences - we needed to create a culture of teamwork with other priests, and many Polish lay apostles. In Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis we read:

"There has been a growing awareness of the identity and mission of the laity in the Church." I can confirm that we have celebrated that growth of awareness of lay apostles in many areas during the whole of 2017 in our Polish communities. Creation of pastoral teams was the first and most important task for 2017. Preparation and induction of four Eucharistic Ministers for our Polish services was an im-portant step forward in our community live.

Our catechetic team consisting of three catechists and 6 others involved in children liturgies during our masses. These are important steps forward in serving adults and numerous children coming for our liturgies. St. Andrew's have had a team of Polish sacristans and pass keepers, but we needed to create a similar group for St. Peter's. After careful training provided there by the main sacristan Frances, we were able to announce in December that we will take responsibility for our Polish services and prayers, which often last until late in Saturday's in St. Peter's. Better care for the music during our liturgies and training for altar servers - these are other activities, which have improved in 2017. I have to praise all people involved, but especially those who come regularly to be in the church for 9am on Sunday. Our altar servers are better trained and come regularly for their duties, also because of the commitment of Marcel, who shares his experiences as an altar server. Joined initiatives of Polish, Scottish and inter-national members of our parishes have also been a great success for us in 2017. St. Andrew's Poles are happy when Fr. Tony makes an effort in celebrating in Polish and giving his homilies in simple English. St. Peter's Polish community on Saturday's is enjoying Fr. Simon, who comes and shares news with us, members of one parish. The presence of Fr. Kenneth with his feedback about our finances in both of our masses was much ap-preciated. Joint Christmas and Easter celebra-tions, shared music and One World liturgies and events are important lessons for all of us.

This year, the R.E department at St. Margaret’s Academy has offered their senior pupils the opportunity to complete the Pope Benedict XVI Caritas award, in order to promote their students to reflect upon the social mission and core values of the Catholic Church. The Caritas course provides students with an abundance of volunteering opportunities within their local communities, such as: helping out at the youth club held at Lanthorn Community Education Centre, visiting and offering help at local elderly homes and assisting the helpers at St. Andrew’s food bank. On November 16th, St Margaret’s Academy had the great honour of welcoming Archbishop Leo Cushley, to celebrate and commemorate Saint Margaret of Scotland with Caritas students at their feast day mass. Special thanks to Anna Berry from the Caritas Group who has helped to design and prepare this Christmas newsletter.

Research and scientific visitors - We are living in a multicultural community of Livingston. I've invited others to better understand the possibilities and barriers related to our international environment. Fr. Tony has been invited as a speaker to Poland and talked about social and pastoral issues there. Two groups of Polish research-ers have visited us, and we have produced two topics, which will be presented during prestigious European Social Work Conference in 2018. To stay or not to stay?: the dilemmas of Polish emigrants in Scotland in the face of Brexit will show results of the survey conducted in Scotland in 2017, with over 900 respondents, indicating factors which either hasten or block integration process. Another one entitled: Scotland for a while? Polish migrants as careers of people with disabilities shows that those who have seen Scotland as a temporary place of living, often stay here for many years or will stay here for good. At the end of 2017 the Dean of UMK Torun University - Prof. P. Petrykowski with his presence has confirmed that what I've done with other researchers here is important and will be continued in the future.

Our aspirations for 2018 are simple - we would like to develop processes of integration of Polish parishioners into various activities in our parishes and reach out to new Poles who are not with us yet. We hope to meet many of you on our FIRST POLISH CHRISTMAS NIGHT - ON SATURDAY 27.01.2018. My personal goal would be to bring those who would like to visit Poland during next year, when we will celebrate 100th anniversary of our independence. I know for sure, that we can learn a lot from one another! Fr. Piotr (Peter) Krakowiak SAC

Livingston Polish Community St Margaret's Academy

Feast of St Margaret with Archbishop Leo Cushley

and School Chaplain Fr Simon

B e r e a v e m e n t M i n i s t r y One of the things the clergy were reflecting on recently was how difficult it can be for us – given the multiple commitments we all have – to ‘follow’up’ on families when there has been a bereavement and when the Funeral is over. And so we need your help! In 2018 we’ll be looking at ways for parishioners to get more involved in this important area of ministry and in particular accompanying more closely those going through the experience of bereavement. If you are a good listener and you have a little time to spare then this might be the ministry for you!

First TAPP Theatre Production Early in the New Year Fr Simon and his company will perform their first musical theatre for the parish. A truly community activity and great fun too. Perhaps this is an area where you have talent as an actor, singer or could be involved in production. Retreat in Lent with John Pridmore and St Patrick’s community 10-17 March 2018 Our major Lenten spiritual focus will be our retreat during the season of Lent. A reformed gangster John Pridmore and the community of St Patrick spend their time in schools and parishes inviting people to live the gospel to the full. They will be in all parishes at the weekend and the Monday to Friday retreat will be in St Andrew’s, Craigshill. The Gospel of Mark and the movies On the Sundays of this year we read from the gospel of Mark. Fr Kenneth will explore the major themes in the gospel of incarnation, conversation, redemption, kenosis and keryma through the texts and also using contemporary movies in order to develop a deeper relationship with God. Pope Francis and metaphors Fr Tony will explore some of the key metaphors that Pope Francis uses in his teaching like the church being “a field hospital for wounded humanity”, “Who am I to judge”, “Eucharist is medicine for the weak”. As a way to understand-ing ourselves better. Parish in pilgrimage There are twenty pilgrims from the parish going to Jerusalem and Tiberius in February this year to understand more about the biblical lands and the gospel. There is an adult group going to Malawi in July to build a relationship with the parishioners of Fr

Matthew’s parish to learn about the church in Malawi. The Youth Group are off to Rome in May to meet Pope Francis and to see many of the spiritual sights there.

Looking ahead to 2018