First Holy Communion Preparation 2026/27

Our preparation programme for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion begins on Monday 21 September 2026 at 5.30 pm at St Ann’s. The first meeting is for parents and children together. Children aged seven years and over are welcome to join the programme, and families can register using the application form on our website. Fr James, Nicci and Sr Ursula look forward to welcoming all our children and families as they begin this special journey of faith.

Family Mass – Sunday 27 September

Our next Family Mass will be on Sunday 27 September at 10.30 am. All families and children are warmly invited. Altar servers are kindly asked to come to the sacristy 15 minutes before Mass. Let us gather together in prayer and thanksgiving as one parish family.

Pets’ Blessing Mass – Sunday 4 October

St Ann’s warmly invites you to our Pets’ Blessing Mass in honour of St Francis of Assisi on Sunday 4 October 2026 at 10.30 am. The blessing will take place in the side garden at St Ann’s. All pets – and their owners – are warmly welcome. After Mass, every pet will receive a small gift and a medal. Please ensure that pets are safely kept on leads or in suitable carriers.

Parish Hall Renewal & Extension – Planning Update

We are delighted that our Parish Hall Renewal and Extension Project has reached the planning permission stage. The application has been submitted to Kingston Council, neighbouring properties have received consultation letters, and the full plans are now available on the Council’s website.

Planning Application: 26/01632/FUL

The proposed development will help us create a more welcoming, accessible and flexible space for worship, children, families, parish activities and the wider community. Images of the present hall and the proposed new design are included in this week’s newsletter.

St Ann’s Campus Well-being

Our vision is to make St Ann’s a space for harmony of body, mind and spirit. Current Wednesday activities include the 60+ Club from 10.45 am–12.15 pm, Reflexology & Healing Touch, and Meditation, Breath & Yoga Exercise from 6.00–7.00 pm. These activities offer opportunities for companionship, relaxation, movement, reflection and holistic well-being.

Tea & Coffee After Sunday Mass

Everyone is warmly invited to stay for tea and coffee after Sunday Mass – a simple opportunity to meet one another, make new friends and strengthen our parish community. Children can also enjoy our Kids’ Corner.

Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

This Sunday’s Gospel can make us uncomfortable.

Jesus tells us about a landowner who goes out early in the morning and hires labourers for his vineyard. He goes again at nine o’clock, at noon, at three, and finally almost at the end of the day.

Then comes the surprise.

When the wages are paid, those who came last receive a full day’s wage. And those who worked from the morning receive exactly the same.

Immediately we may ask: “Is that fair?”

But notice carefully: the master has cheated nobody. Those who worked from the beginning received exactly what had been promised to them. Their problem began only when they saw what somebody else received.

And the master asks:

“Do you begrudge my generosity?”

I understand this Gospel very personally.

In the village where I grew up, ordinary people depended very much on daily work – farming, masonry, woodcutting and other labouring jobs.

When we were boys, especially during weekends and holidays, my brother and I would sometimes go looking for work with the masons. We could carry bricks, sand, cement – whatever small jobs they gave us.

A day’s wage might be thirty or thirty-five rupees. It sounds very little now, but to us then it meant something. It meant that we could take something home and help the family.

Early in the morning, labourers would gather in a particular place. The landowners or contractors would come and choose the people they wanted.

Naturally, they chose the strongest-looking people first.

The strong were taken.

The experienced were taken.

The healthy were taken.

And some were left standing.

I remember that experience myself. Many times I was not chosen. I was small and thin, and people looked at me and thought, perhaps, This boy will not be much use.

And sometimes I went home disappointed.

So when I hear this Gospel now, I see it differently.

Those standing at the eleventh hour were not necessarily lazy.

The master asks them:

“Why do you stand here idle all day?”

And they answer:

“Because no one has hired us.”

That sentence changes everything.

Perhaps they were the weakest.

Perhaps they were older.

Perhaps nobody considered them useful.

And yet they remained there because they needed work. Perhaps somebody was waiting at home. Perhaps children needed food that evening.

The master sees not simply the hours they worked.

He sees the human being standing before him.

That is the heart of God.

The first reading tells us:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.”

We calculate.

God sees.

We measure.

God understands.

We ask, “What does this person deserve?”

God sometimes asks, “What does this person need?”

This does not mean justice is unimportant. The first workers received what was justly promised. But the Gospel tells us that God’s justice is never without mercy, and God’s mercy is larger than our calculations.

Every person we meet carries a story we cannot see.

The difficult person has a story.

The person who failed has a story.

The person who arrived late has a story.

The person whom society has overlooked has a story.

So perhaps the invitation today is very simple:

Do not look at people only with the measuring tape of fairness. Look at them also with the heart of compassion.

God’s heart is wider than ours.

His ways are higher than our ways.

And if we are truly His children, our hearts too must become wider – more generous, more understanding, more capable of making room for the one who has been standing outside waiting for someone to notice them.

God bless you.