St Helen's Roman Catholic Church, Caerphilly
I Have Come To Light A Fire On The Earth | Luke 12:49
For God to plant the seed of his law of love deep within our hearts, we must prepare the ground , so we complete our Lenten scrutinies, and maybe try to redouble our Lenten efforts for these last ten days. Jesus is the seed of that love; he dies to bear fruit in us. The cross is the pattern he gives us, and the Easter call, for us to be able to live his risen life: Ten more days’ grace to enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery, sharing the Easter Sacraments: Then come to (his) life:
St Helen’s may be a local church in Caerphilly but did you know that we receive visitors to our website from all over the world? In fact, over the course of the last year we have received visitors from 56 countries, including Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Brazil and Brunei.
These are some of the countries with the most visitors. 
And what are the people who visit our website looking at? Here are the top pages that they viewed over the last 365 days. It’s not surprising that the home page is top but notice that the Parish Newsletter generated 3,749 views and Mass and Services This Week 1340. The Community Hall and one of its activities, Parents and toddlers, are popular and directions to find us and contact us are also important. Of the Sacrament pages Baptism is top with 97 views, whilst the next spot is occupied by Becoming a Catholic – 3 views ahead of Marriage! If only we could get more people to come along to our Becoming a Catholic sessions!
And how are they finding us? Well, it looks like they are mainly finding us through the search engines – Google accounts for 5231 of those search engine queries. However, the number of people coming here from Facebook is also on the increase: 351 over the last year but 33% came in the last quarter and 20% in the last month.
And one final stat.. Our website has 78 pages (newsletter, sacraments, etc) and 278 blog articles.
We hope you found that useful and don’t forget to let people know about this website!
On Friday, 13th October at 7pm, we will have our parish ceilidh in the church hall. While there may be no food provided at the ceilidh, we can offer you a bar and a good dance! Tickets are available in the porch at £2/person or £5/family after Masses over the following weekends. We look forward to seeing you there!
Yes, is that’s time of year again and it offers an opportunity to look at what has happened over the past year, think about what we would like to happen in this coming year, and start planning it, will be on the evening of Tuesday 26th September. Reports from the parish groups and ministries will be published shortly. Meanwhile, please book the date.
This weekend, we welcome two people to our church.
Firstly, we welcome Fr Angelo, a Comboni missionary, who has spent much of his apostolate in Egypt. He will be celebrating Mass for us and will tell us about the work his order do in mission territories throughout the world. Please keep him and all who work to spread the Good News of Christ in your prayers.
Secondly, we welcome Zachary Good into the church as he is baptised. We also extend a warm welcome to his parents, godparents, family and friends joining us for this celebration. Please pray for him as he begins his journey with the Lord. If you would like to know more about the Catholic faith, click here.
It is striking that from Saint Matthew’s 18th chapter, which is on relationships within the community, the Church has chosen this passage. The first part is all about sorting out disagreements and about forgiveness. Despite the presence of Christ in the Christian community, there are disagreements and misunderstandings in every community and every family. The vital thing is to sort them out before they fester. So here we are given a safe process. We also get a reminder that Christ is present always in his community. So the decisions of the community will be considered binding in the sight of God. It is especially striking that the same promise is here given to the Church as had earlier been given to Peter: The authority Peter exercises is that of the whole Church.
Today’s Scripture: (Psalter: Week 3)
Ezekiel 33: 7 – 9
If you do not speak to the wicked man, I will hold you responsible for his death.
Response: Psalm 94.
Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come before him, giving thanks,
with songs let us hail the lord.
Come in, let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us
for he is our God and we //
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert //
when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work.’
Romans 13: 8 – 10
Love is the answer to every one of the commandments.
Acclamation for the Gospel:
Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia!
Your word is truth, O Lord,
consecrate us in the truth.
Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia!
Matthew 18: 15 – 20
If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
Prayer of the Faithful: R/. Lord, save us all
Read this weekend’s readings here:
Reading 1 – Ezekiel 33:7-9
Psalm – Psalm 95:1-9
Reading 2 – Romans 13:8-10
Gospel – Matthew 18:15-20
