The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A very busy week around The Presbytery this time round . . . . At our Sunday 11.00 Mass last weekend we were joined by this year’s Confirmation Candidates, their families, and their sponsors as they celebrated a Lucenarium (Service of Light) before being sent off by the community to celebrate their Confirmation with Bishop Richard this Saturday. During the service the candidate’s parents lit the Baptismal Candle they were presented with on the day of their child’s Baptism and solemnly handed it over to their child as a sign that they are now considered adults in the Church and are responsible for themselves for keeping the flame of faith alive in their hearts. After celebrating Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning Fr D had several specialist engineers coming in: - the electrician was around to replace a failed ‘Fire Exit’ sign in the main hall of the Parish Centre, check on a failing fire escape ceiling light in the back corridor of the Centre, confirm the death of a tea urn in the Centre kitchen, and finally, to connect-up a ‘penny heater’ for the airing cupboard in the Presbytery - the LiveStream engineer came up (from Cardiff) to re-instate the set-up after some sort of an energy spike caused a failure two weeks ago; whilst here he serviced the security alarm in the Presbytery and replaced a camera on the church CCTV system that had failed. - By the time that all the workmen had departed in the middle of the afternoon Fr D was quite exhausted! Wednesday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D needed to make a start on the newsletter as he was losing both Friday and Saturday with events involving the bishop, so would not have the time he usually has. In the afternoon Fr D and a workman were sorting out which replacement shower he needed for his bathroom the old one that Canon Tony Clarke had put in having ‘given up the ghost’ last week (Fr D has been dashing across the landing to the guest bathroom since it failed!), Between them they worked out what the new version was and are now looking for a supplier before fitting it.  After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D was down in Crawley, working on his marriage cases. When he came back he was meeting with a family whose child will be baptised later in May . . . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A ‘full-on’ time around The Presbytery this week as Confirmation, First Eucharist, and Baptism programmes are all coming to a ‘high point.’ On Monday Sarah & Fr D were chasing the engineers for our LiveStream service on the Parish Website to get things back to working order. Sarah was sent chasing all around the system machinery to see if it would ‘re-boot’ in some fashion but all to no avail. The conclusion is that the engineers will have to visit (Fr D thinks that one of the machines has died!). Tuesday morning after Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition Fr D was following the activities of the engineers who were running an optical cable between the Presbytery and the Parish Office ready for ‘the great telephone switchover’ which will get rid of one of the present telephone accounts (which will be a saving of £1,200 a year!). An extra benefit is that we will now have wifi access points in each of our upstairs meeting rooms and the main hall (one step closer to being able to renew the audio visual set-up in the hall). The engineers will be back next Wednesday to complete the new wiring. We also discovered a fire detector in the loft of the Parish Centre which we didn’t know existed! In the evening Fr D met with the Parish Finance Committee for one of their quarterly meetings. On Wednesday evening Fr D met with our Confirmation Candidates for their last ‘input session’ before the Confirmation ceremony with the Bishop at St Joseph’s Church, Epsom next Saturday morning. Fr D was also able to give the group the final instructions concerning the celebration which he had just received from the co-ordinator. After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D went off in the car to the diocesan offices as usual, but this time (for the first time in ages) went there using the motorway. This meant that he was able to see exactly what the new car could do! When he got to his Tribunal office there were several Decrees for cases that required his signature. There was also a little celebration given by the Tribunal Secretary to mark her six months in the position (lots of Polish food)! In the evening Fr D was to have had the second session of the present Infant Baptism Course but one of the parents had gone down with food poisoning so the session was moved to the following week.  Once Morning Prayer and Mass had been celebrated on Friday morning Fr D completed his bits of this week’s newsletter . . . . . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Things slightly ‘hotting-up’ around The Presbytery this week as people and organisations come back online after the Easter festivities . . . . . . Monday Fr D set about reading up on the ‘charging instructions’ for the new car. The first time he attempted charging (in the dark one evening) he couldn’t work out why the socket in the wall box wouldn’t let him plug in? When all else fails of course we tend to read the instructions which stated that the wall socket need to be ‘plugged’ first and then the car! So he spent some time ‘reading up’ in detail on the charging instructions. He is still chasing the electricity supplier to switch to the tariff that gives electric car charging lower prices between 23.30 and 05.30, which will make the whole change over even more economic. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday Fr D had a telephone call consultation from the Dr’s Surgery which told him that diabetes, cholesterol, and blood pressure readings had all been reduced by the medication they have put him on! (He wanted to know when he could stop all the tablets, of course!) at 12.30 Fr D was celebrating a funeral in the Crematorium chapel before a burial in the attached cemetery. In the late afternoon he began the bones of the newsletter for this weekend. Wednesday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D (with Sarah) was chasing up our previous electricity company once more - trying to get the full and final bill (from last December). Fr D is convinced that the company don’t actually know how to do this and has now threatened (having already raised the matter to a complaint) to refer the situation to the energy Ombudsman! When he went down to the diocesan offices, after Morning Prayer & Mass on Thursday, Fr D continued working several of his cases and started looking at how cases ready for judgement could be sent to judges electronically in a secure and coded manner as the normal postal service is breaking down in some areas (and has become extremely expensive). When he got back home in the evening he put his new ‘charging skills’ to good use before meeting with a family who are preparing to have their child baptised in May.  Friday, after Morning Prayer and Mass Fr D completed the newsletter for the weekend as well as the Prayers of Intercession and Notices so that he had everything he needed for the weekend . . . . . . .

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A fairly quiet week around The Presbytery as the children are still on holiday and Fr D recovers from his trip to Lourdes with special needs children . . . Fr D returned home from his trip about 17.00. He had worked on a shopping delivery which was timed for between 18.00 and 20.00 on Sunday evening. This had the advantage of giving a couple of days food and refilling bulkier items in the storeroom without having to make trips out of the house. Having popped in to see the sisters to tell them he was back Fr D just had time for a sandwich and some real tea before taking himself off to bed! Giving himself a little lie-in on Monday morning Fr D soon set about emptying his suitcase and putting all his clothes through the washing machine (three loads), by the time that he’d done all of this he was able to have a first look at the post and emails that had built up whilst he was away - as usual lots of it was junk (no matter how much he takes the address off of mailing lists it all seems to come in just the same! Having celebrated Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning Fr D had some time with Sarah in the office to ‘catch up’ (principally about the electricity company that the diocese placed us with when the British Gas contract ran out (it took six months for them to accept that we did not want their services and we are still awaiting a final bill!). Wednesday morning, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D was off in the car to the Diocesan Office in Crawley to see what delights were sat in his ’in-tray’ after the Easter holidays. It seemed strange to travel down in the new car - not being able to hear any engine noise at all! After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday, Fr D was again off down to Crawley where he was working on a new (hopefully more efficient?) management scheme for the different types of Tribunal cases. He has discovered that the new Tribunal Secretary is quite proficient in Excel, so he can make some changes that he has been thinking about for a little while now.  On Friday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D needed to finalise this week’s newsletter. This had to take place up in the Parish Office as his own computer is giving him great grief at present. He has a new one ready to replace it but needs the diocesan IT man to set it up alongside the two in the Parish Office, which will hopefully be done towards the end of April when work on the telephone lines takes place . . .