PARISH NEWSLETTER

Congratulations to Mel on his successful walk to the highest peak in the Sierra Nevada Earlier in the year, we appealed in the newsletter for support for Mel Hopkins, one of our parishioners, who was raising funds for Velindre Cancer Care by walking to the highest peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Granada region of Spain. Mel successfully completed the walk last Sunday. It is not too late to support Mel with a donation to this cause – just click on his Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/mel-hopkins-1.

The Reaching Out Project team is hosting a celebration evening for all Reaching Out Volunteers on Friday in St. Teilo’s Hall at 7pm, following the 6.30pm Mass. The team would like to thank all the parishioners for their generous contribution to the work of Reaching Out and to ask for continued support and prayer for the project as it continues to show the parish’s outreach to those who are in great need.

This year marks 90 years of the Red Box and partnership between Missio and the Mill Hill Missionaries. More than a simple collection box, it is a powerful symbol of faith, hope and love - bringing together the vision of Blessed Pauline Jaricot and the missionary ingenuity of Fr. Thomas Jackson MHM. You can read more about the history of the Red Box, and how it continues to help build the Kingdom of God throughout the world, in the Mission Today: Impact Report. This edition is packed full of inspiring examples of how your efforts ignite God's love around the world. Through your giving, whether directly or via the Red Box, you have built churches, presbyteries, convents, schools, children's homes, health centres and dispensaries; you have also trained local priests, sisters and catechists, and contributed to thousands of other projects that have helped the Church grow in service to those in need. The Summer edition of the Mission Today magazine and a special Red Box prayer card, are now available at the back of the Church.  Does your Red Box need emptying? Please call the number on the box’s label or contact Peter Jones on 07594693054.

Every year, the Day for Life falls on Father’s Day and we wish fathers a blessed day. Today we remember with gratitude the loving care and direction our parents gave to us, whether they are still with us or have gone to the Lord. Parenthood is a vocation of joys and hopes, of griefs and anxieties. On this year’s Day for Life, we acknowledge the particular grief of mothers and fathers who have lost a child before birth or in infancy. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be especially difficult for parents who experience the loss of an infant. Such loss often takes its bodily toll upon the mother, and it can leave fathers feeling helpless and unsure of how to support their family, or of how to express their own grief. The Church wants to be especially close to parents who have suffered the loss of an infant. We try to offer spiritual support through the pastoral care and blessing of our priests, and through the comfort of our liturgy. You only have to reach out to your priest or deacon if you would like to know more about this. Just as importantly, many parents find consolation in their faith and its assurance that every child, including those who lose their life before they are born or soon after, is created, willed and deeply loved by God from all eternity. We have the Lord’s promise from the Scriptures that: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5).The Word of God reveals the sacred humanity of the unborn child and perhaps helps us understand why we feel such profound grief at the loss of a baby. Parents instinctively grasp how precious and unique the child is whom they have lost and whom they may already have called by name. They know how no other child can ever replace the one they have lost. Science is clear that life begins at fertilisation when a new and unique living human being comes into existence. Every technological development in recent decades has given us insight into how life in the womb unfolds for each of us. At conception, our gender, genetic makeup, and eye and hair colour are already determined. As early as five weeks, our heart begins to beat. By ten weeks, we can move and respond to touch and, beginning two weeks later, we have the capacity to feel pain. By eighteen weeks, our mother can sense our movement in the womb. By twenty-seven weeks, we can recognise the voices of our parents. For some decades, parents have been able to observe some of these stages through ultrasound scans during pregnancy. The more we learn about the science, the more we understand the teaching of the Church on the unique value of the unborn baby. This understanding, however, is not complete without the recognition that, from the beginning, every human being is not just a body but also an immortal soul, with a unique and eternal connection with God, our Creator. It is because of what both science and faith reveal to us that the Church and many people of good will have always held that the unborn child merits the full protection of the law, and why we have always rejected elective abortion. This Day for Life 2026, we reflect on the wonder of human life from the moment of fertilisation. We remember how the Lord Jesus Christ Himself sanctified and experienced the beginning of life in the world as an unborn child, hidden in the womb of Mary. Mary knew that she was carrying the Son of God – God and man – as soon as He was conceived. John the Baptist leapt in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when Mary greeted her. Our Lady treasured Our Lord in her heart and womb until His birth. We, in our turn, commit ourselves to work and pray for our society to cherish the value of every little one, especially those at the earliest stage of human life, and to help our parish communities support all those in our midst who have suffered the loss of a child. Archbishop John Sherrington, Archbishop of Liverpool, England and Wales; Bishop Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin, Ireland; Bishop John Keenan, Bishop of Paisley, Scotland. Day for Life – Collection this weekend The Church teaches that life is to be nurtured from conception to natural death. In England and Wales, the Day for Life is celebrated on the third Sunday of June each year. This year it falls on this weekend. A retiring collection will take place to support the Bishops of England and Wales’ Day for Life Fund. More details here: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/day-for-life-fund/ . You are also able to donate using a debit or credit card at the Electronic Donation Station at the back of St. Teilo’s or at this address –  https://donate.mydona.com/st-teilo-our-lady-of-lourdes

🗞️ Archbishop Mark's June 2026 Newsletter is now available! This month's newsletter includes a variety of topics of interest to people across the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia, including: ✝️ Welcome & Appointments - including new canonical appointments and the installation of three new Canons at St David's Metropolitan Cathedral 🙏 Vocations - updates on those in formation for the priesthood and permanent diaconate, including an upcoming ordination in July ⛪ CCO Mission - a three-week diocesan mission running from 19th June to 5th July 🎒 Emmaus Youth & Vocations Events - including a teenage pilgrimage on 18th July and Summer Camp 5th-9th August 📖 Heart Speaks to Heart - Archbishop Mark's six-week study programme, available for parishes, schools and groups 🕯️ Prayers - remembering Canon Jason Jones and those who are ill 🌊 Sea Sunday - 12th July, supporting Stella Maris ✈️ Welsh National Pilgrimage to Lourdes - 20th-24th July 2026 🛕 Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo and Assisi - 28th September - 2nd October 2026 ❤️ Caritas Day - 'The Burning Heart of the Church's Mission' - St Mary's, Bridgend, 10th October 🔗 Read the newsletter here: https://rcadc.org/archbishop-marks-june-newsletter/

Clothes donations for the SVP – This Weekend The Parish St. Vincent De Paul (SVP) Conference undertakes a monthly collection of clothing for the SVP Charity Shop. Clean, good quality clothing, books and toys are very welcome. Donations may be left outside the confessionals at the rear of St. Teilo’s this weekend. The clothes will be removed early on Monday morning, so please ensure that donations are brought to the Church by the end of the evening Mass this weekend or kept at home until the Second Sunday of July when we will have another collection Thank you from the parish SVP.

The Church teaches that life is to be nurtured from conception to natural death. In England and Wales, the Day for Life is celebrated on the third Sunday of June each year. This year it falls on June 21 st , next Sunday. This year’s theme is: The Wonder of the Child in the Womb. A retiring collection will take place to support the Bishops of England and Wales’ Day for Life Fund at all Masses next weekend. More details here: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/day-for-life-fund/

Many of you will know that Canon John acts as chaplain for the HCPT group 547 which goes on pilgrimage from Cardiff to Lourdes each September. This year they will be travelling from September 25th to October 2nd. If anyone is interested in travelling with Canon and the other members of the group, please email Canon John on whitchurch@rcadc.org as soon as possible.

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is celebrated on Saturday, the day following the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Mass will be at 10am. The feast reminds us of the joys and sorrows, virtues and hidden perfections of Our Lady and above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus and her compassionate love for all persons. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is based on the imitation of Mary’s ‘yes’ to God as the Mother of Jesus. In this devotion, love is the result, rather than the “object” of the devotion; the object being rather to love God and Jesus by uniting one’s self to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues, to help one achieve this. As we sing in the great Marian hymn, “Immaculate Mary! Our hearts are on fire; your title so wondrous fills all our desire.”