There are several events organised by the Worthing Deanery Justice & Peace Group to celebrate Refugee Week 2025. Please put them in your diary and come along to one or all: • Faces of Resilience on Sunday 15th June 2-5pm at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church Hall, Vermont Drive. East Preston, BN16 1JU. Come and see photographs and listen to a ‘Living Book’, vividly telling the stories of Ukrainian women fleeing war and seeking refuge in the UK. Join us in prayer in the church at 3pm for refugees, people seeking asylum and peace in our world. See you there! • On Wednesday 18th June , there will be a Vigil for Refugees after the 10am Mass at Holy Family Church, Lancing. We are going to spend time together praying and reflecting on the plight of the refugee. • During Refugee week, please come and see Refugee photo exhibition "THE STATIONS" on display at both The Holy Family Church, Lancing, and St Mary of the Angels, Worthing. • "Welcoming the Stranger" - an evening of stories and sharing on Saturday 21st June 7-9pm at St Peter's Church Hall, Shoreham. Come and hear stories from Ukrainian refugees and those who support them in our local community, as well as information from the charity Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group and Refugee Tales. Please bring some snack food and drink to share! See the leaflet with the newsletter for lots more information! Download here

Photograph exhibition happening this Sunday 15th June

A statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks with clarity of the Father, Himself as the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His words express the unity that exists between the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Spirit will speak what comes from the Son, who has all that belongs to the Father. We express this in the Creed when we speak about the Holy Spirit coming from the Father and the Son. The mystery of the Trinity is about relationships – the relationships that exist between Father, Son and Spirit, one God. The wonder of God, existing eternally – as we hear in the First Reading this Sunday – pours love into our hearts, as St Paul reminds us. It is truly wonderful for us to reflect that, through our baptism, we are brought to live our lives in the love that exists in the Trinity. We are enabled to live in relationship with a God who is all love and whose love we see and experience as it is lived between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As we rejoice in our relationship with the one God, three Persons, let us recall that it is God who gives us life and, in the coming days, pray very especially for respect for life in our own society as those in parliament prepare to vote on the “Assisted Dying Bill”. If you have not written to your MP, there is still time. May I thank all those who have written, for such action is a powerful witness to the wonder of life, given us by God. With every blessing  + Richard

Parishioners are warmly invited to an online webinar being run by Stella Maris on Thursday, 19th. June from 7:30pm to 9pm. You will hear about the work that Stella Maris has been doing with seafarers and fishers over the past year, including the use of the funds kindly donated on Sea Sunday last year. To attend this webinar, please sign up at: www.stellamaris.org.uk/thankyouwebinar

An update from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales about the Assisted Dying Bill ( download here )

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, We rejoice this Sunday as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the young Church - Our Lady and the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room. The coming of the Holy Spirit transforms their lives. No longer do they remain locked in the room together, fearful for the future. They go out to proclaim the message of the Risen Christ. So with us, who have received the Holy Spirit at our baptism and confirmation. We are called to be fearless in announcing the Good News in our present, often darkened, world. Into the difficulties, struggles and sorrows around us, the Lord Himself calls us to take His message, our every step guided by the Spirit, our every word given us by the Spirit. At this particular moment, as MPs prepare to debate the “Assisted Dying Bill”, I renew the call for us to write to our MPs, asking them to vote against this potential legislation. The vote will take place on the 20 June. May the Holy Spirit strengthen us in our prayer and our action to do all we can to promote the dignity of life. At this time, too, so many young people of the Diocese are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. They do this at an exciting moment for the Church, when we are seeing the green shoots of increased numbers of adults being baptised and more people coming to our churches in search of the gospel message. Please join with me in praying for our young people, that strengthened by the gifts of the Spirit that they receive, they continue their journey of life with Christ, taking their place in the mission of the Church. With every blessing,  + Richard

The Jubilee logo shows four stylised figures to indicate all of humanity from the four corners of the earth. They are embracing one another, indicating the solidarity that unites all people. The first figure is clinging to the cross. The underlying waves are choppy to indicate that the pilgrimage of life is not always on calm waters. Sometimes personal circumstances and world events call for a greater sense of hope. This is why the lower part of the cross is turning into an anchor which dominates the movement of the waves. The anchor has often been used as a metaphor for hope. In fact, in maritime jargon, the hope anchor is the name given to the spare anchor, used by vessels in emergency manoeuvres to stabilise the ship during storms. The image shows how the pilgrim journey is not individual, but rather communal, with the signs of a growing dynamism moving towards the cross. This cross is by no means static; it too is dynamic, bending toward and meeting humanity so as to not leave alone, but rather offering the certainty of its presence and the reassurance of hope, expressed in the Jubilee motto: “Pilgrims of Hope”.  Thank you to one of our parishioners for sharing this from a priest friend. We pray for all pilgrims during this Jubilee year, and in particular, the people joining the Diocesan pilgrimage to Walsingham this weekend.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, At this time of the Church’s year, we are in Ascensiontide, having celebrated that feast on Thursday. Jesus has returned to the Father and the Apostles are waiting in expectant hope for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We, of course, have received the Spirit – in our baptism and in our confirmation. Indeed, at present, we rejoice in the great number of our young people who are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation at this time of year. All are coming to the Cathedral – making a pilgrimage to the mother church of the Diocese in this Holy Year and in our 60th year. Those being confirmed hear the words of the prayer: that the anointing of Confirmation conform them more fully to Christ, the Son of God. The more closely we are conformed to Christ, the more effective we shall be in our witness to Him. St Stephen, whose martyrdom forms the text of the first reading this Sunday, was so closely conformed to Christ that he was ready to shed his blood in witness to Him. The word ‘martyr’ means ‘witness’ – so being a martyr in the broadest sense is the call for every Christian. In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear Jesus tell us that through our witness, the world will come to believe in Him. This is the mission the Lord has given to each and every baptised person. Wherever we are – whatever we do – our lives must speak to others of the wonder of the Lord’s love for us and His call to every person, of every age, to life in Him. With every blessing + Richard