MISSIO is still active and able to take your contributions via bank transfer or standing order/direct debit if you wish to set this up. Otherwise we hope to be able to distribute magazines and collect any monies after Easter.

Sadly we have lost two of our long standing contributors this year. Please hold Pat Whitfield and Ann Cullen in your thoughts and prayers together with two ex-members: Brian Cummings and Cath Richards who have also passed away recently.

A couple of messages from HQ:

'With a Father's Heart' - Thursday, 18 March at 6pm

Fr Kevin Hughes MHM will be reflecting on St Joseph and the letter of Pope Francis, 'With a Father's Heart', which launched this special Year of St Joseph.

Joining Fr Kevin will be reflections from Sisters Brenda and Margaret, Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph, and Fr Dermot Byrne MHM, the British Regional of the Mill Hill Missionaries.

Please do join us for the online session which will include time to reflect together, as well as a chance to ask questions. It will last under an hour. To register and receive the Zoom link, please email redbox@missio.org.uk or call 020 7821 9755.

Lenten Reflections - Fridays at 10.30am

Our weekly Lenten Reflections are proving very popular, with many of you joining us live via Zoom, and many more watching on YouTube later.

To join us on Zoom with the chance to talk with one another afterwards, please email redbox@missio.org.uk for the link.

Alternatively you can catch up with all the reflections via YouTube: youtube.com/MissioUK.

 St Luke’s parish first became a member of the A.P.F. (now known as Missio) in 1989 when Father Ivan Burke and Dr Peter Carr set up the system of red-box collections. Since then we have continued supporting the missions and last year (2019) contributed over £1900 to Missio.

In a nutshell, Missio is the Charity for world mission:

helping poor communities, training priests and enriching lives; 

as the Missio website itself states:

Together we are enriching today’s global Catholic community.

Together we are training tomorrow’s generation of Priests and Sisters.

Together we are giving hope to the world’s poorest children.

Together we are Missio.

Please explore Missio’s own website: https://missio.org.uk/

here you will see a vast amount of information about the work done by Missio throughout the world.

Our parish involvement is as follows:

• In our parish of St Luke’s we have 45 red-box holders
• Around every four months each red-box holder receives a magazine together with a brown collection envelope. The contents of our members’ red-boxes are then emptied into these envelopes and then dropped into a collection box at mass over a window of two or three weeks. The money is then counted and deposited into the Missio account.
• Missio also produces a calendar that is given out with the last collection of the year.
• Every five years or so we welcome a visiting priest who appeals for more members and provides a picture of the latest Missio activities.

Please contact Father Pascal at the parish house if you are interested in becoming part of our Missio community and he will pass your details on to Laurence, our current Missio secretary.