The parish is donating to a number of charities both home & abroad with money that’s tithed from the weekly collection during this financial year. In the next few weeks information will be given about each one.
The first one is St Martin’s Mission in Kingstown, Jamaica. The Dominican Friars (English Province) run two parishes, one of which is desperately poor and in an area policed by the military because of gang violence. In addition to normal parish duties, and a food ministry to the poor and pre-schoolers, the friars aim to build up and empower the Catholic presence in Jamaica through education: a parish Nursery school, teenager and young adult catechesis , chaplaincy outreach in the local university and hospital. Young men are beginning to enquire about vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and two of them who are currently living in the friary during a period of discernment have now been accepted into the English Province. This September, they will begin their year’s noviciate in Cambridge. After that, God willing, they will begin their priestly formation in Oxford.
The leadership of the English province visits the mission yearly, to oversee the mission and provide direction and guidance. Student friars are sometimes sent on pastoral placements during the summer to further assist in the mission to young adults. Leaflets are available at carpark entrance at St Mary’s and at Holy Family