St Elizabeth’s Church
St. Elizabeth’s Parishioners wish all readers a happy and peaceful Christmas and a New Year full of blessings.
Sundays Mass 9.00am at St.Elizabeth’s
Please see notices on church door for details of other services within the Parish and for the services over Christmas.

PRIESTS

Father Kieran Magovern C.M (Superior and Parish Priest)
Father Jimmy Sheil C.M
Father Chacko Panathara C.M.
Parish Deacon: Philip Pugh
St. Mary’s Presbytery, 82 West Street, Dunstable. LU6 1NY
Telephone: Dunstable 01582 662710 Fax: 01582 670968

Mothers Prayers
This is an organisation which was begun by a few mothers who had worries about their children. That was over 13 years ago. Mothers Prayers is now an international ecumenical movement of mothers from different Christian denominations now present in 92countries, who meet in small groups to pray for their children.

The group started in Dunstable, St. Mary’s Church, 82 West Street, earlier this year, and is held on alternate Thursday mornings from10.15am to 11.15am in the Lady Chapel, in the Church.
For more information please contact Brenda: Tel. 01582 607966

The RCIA Process
These letters stand for ‘the rite of Christian Initiation of Adults’ – a long title for the process through which interested adults are gradually introduced to the Catholic faith and way of life.In St. Vincent’s Church in Houghton Regis –Father Jimmy Shiel is in charge of this program for the Parish. Meetings are held on Monday evenings. If anyone is interested in going to a meeting –please ring the presbytery – or 01525 873536, we will be happy to accompany any enquirer for the first few meetings as the church can be difficult to find.

St. Elizabeth’s Church Diary

5th February - First Friday Mass – 2pm
Father Chacko is very kindly coming out on the First Friday of the month to say Mass for us. The time of the Mass is 2pm, so that the Mums can come before going to collect children from school. Please do come if you can. Everyone is welcome! If you require a lift please contact: 01525 873536

5th March 2010 at 2pm Women’s World Day of Prayer
At St. Elizabeth’s - All Welcome This year’s theme is ‘LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE GOD’ On Friday 5th March over 3 million people world wide will be praying and worshipping together during an annual day of prayer, using a service prepared by Christian women in Cameroon, Africa

Emma Wilcock, president of the National Committee of the Women’s World Day of Prayer Movement, said: 'This is always an exciting day as a great wave of prayer sweeps the world, beginning when the first service is held in the Queen Salote Girls’ School in Tonga and continuing around the world until the final service takes place, some 35 hours later, in neighbouring Western Samoa. By then the day will have been celebrated in over 170 countries and over 5,000 services will have been held in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.’

The Republic of Cameroon is said to be ‘Africa in miniature’. It is a country of great cultural diversity with more than 240 ethnic groups and languages. The constitution promotes equality between men and women but traditional rights and attitudes discriminate against women in many areas of life.

However giant steps have been taken towards assuring women’s rights and women are involved in the struggle for peace, justice and integrity. Cameroon faces many challenges as its people seek to move forward into a modern age without losing their distinctive characteristics. But at all times, in all circumstances, Cameroonians are able to praise God with joy and exuberance and the service reflects this. Although organised and led by women, this is essentially a day of prayer for everybody as we demonstrate our solidarity with our sisters and brothers in other countries and all are welcome to attend. Further information and resources, together with details of services in your area, can be found on the WWDP website at www.wwdp-natcomm.org.

Coffee Morning
Second Monday of every month at 10.30am – at Maureen’s,’ The Cottage’, 2 Dunstable Road, Toddington. You are invited for coffee and a raffle. Entrance £1.00, plus £1.00 for a raffle. Proceeds all go to fund a teacher’s salary at a school in Tanzania, and also to give all the school children breakfast, which may be their only meal.

Next date: February 8th

Ecumenical Christian Contemplative Meditation
Our small meditation group in Toddington is part of the Christian Meditation Trust UK, which in turn is part of the World Community for Christian Meditation, WCCM for short.

The Christian Meditation Trust UK is nondenominational and welcomes people of any tradition or none. There is an excellent website: www.wccm.org For Christians, meditation provides a simple and powerful way of praying. It offers a practical tool to enable us to go beyond thoughts, words, images and emotions and become more aware of the presence of God in our hearts.

During Lent we shall be following a book entitled ‘Lent with St. Benedict’ – studying set pieces and discussing them during our meeting. Everyone welcome to come just for the Lent period, or just for one or two weeks. Every Wednesday evening we meditate together – we spend time in God’s presence, just being with Him and listening to Him. It is amazing how sitting in total silence with others builds such a solid sense of community with them. In the silence we truly feel in communion with each other and with the love that is God’s gift to all.Tel 01525 873536 Please phone if you want more information – you will be very welcome to join us, even just for one evening to give it a try. Meditation has to be experienced! Wednesdays from 7.15pm until about 8.30pm at 10 Park Road, Toddington.

Eucharistic Adoration
We spend time in church with Jesus on Monday and Thursday afternoons, 2pm to 3pm – in praise, petition and thanksgiving. We start with some formal prayers for about 20 minutes, then silent private prayer for the remaining time. People come for as long or short a time as they wish – some for the hour, others for 10minutes. This is not a ‘service’ – just a few parishioners gathered for a quiet prayer time with the Lord. All welcome. Why not make it a practice to pop in for 10mins during the Lentern period?

House Masses
If you would be interested in hosting a House Mass - date and time to suit you – please contact either Patricia Posnett on 01525 873536, or Father Chacko Panathara at St. Mary’s presbytery 01582 662710

Childrens Liturgy – In ‘Father Con’s Cabin’
Come and join us! We regularly have ten to fifteen children attending their own ‘liturgy’ during the first half of our church service. Many thanks to all those who made this such a success –especially the children. We wonder if the cabin will continue to accommodate all the children – a wonderful problem!

St. Elizabeth's / February 2010
Contact Phone No. 01525 873536