Welcome to our parish
I hope our website will give you some idea of our parish life. We are a very mixed community of Catholics from numerous cultural and ethnic backgrounds, seeking to ‘live a life worthy of the calling we have received’. (Ephesians 4:1)
Any queries, please contact one of the Parish Team.
St Edward the Confessor Catholic Church
Serving the Golders Green area for more than 100 years
‘Come and see’ (John 1:39)
If you would like to know more about how we worship and pray, how we pass on our faith, how we support each other in friendship, how we look after the resources entrusted to us, how we reach out to the wider world. please come along to a Parish Council meeting. For more details contact Kasonde Konie (Parish Council Coordinator)
Welcome to our parish website
I am very pleased to welcome you to our parish and I hope our website will give you some idea of our life and activities.
We are a very mixed community of Catholics from numerous cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Some of our parishioners have lived here for many years, others have joined us more recently from other parts of the world, indeed from every continent.
Golders Green itself is home to a large Jewish community, and we have a close and growing relationship with our local synagogue.
It is also a multi-faith area and our parish is very involved in Churches Together and Inter Faith Groups.
You are very welcome to join us at any of our Masses and services. If you are here for the first time do come and introduce yourself to either myself, the parish priest (I am usually in the porch before and after each Sunday Mass so that parishioners can make easy contact with me), or the parish Deacon who is present at the Saturday evening, and Sunday morning Masses. We will be delighted to meet you. Our coffee morning in the hall after the 10.30 am Sunday Mass, provides a great opportunity for you to meet other parishioners.
If you are new to the parish, you may like to register your details by way of our parish registration form.
May God bless you.
Fr Tony Convery
Parish Priest
Mass Times
Mass Times
You can watch our Masses and daily reflections on our YouTube Channel. Follow This link:
St Edward the Confessor Daily and Sunday Mass.
please consider subscribing to our channel.
As envelope donations are discouraged due to COVID-19 please send us your donations via the following button
Since the lockdown came into operation in March, our usual services have been suspended.
Currently we have the following public Masses:
A recording of the Sunday Mass can be found on our YouTube channel.
A recording of each weekday Mass, except Wednesday and Saturday can be found on the YouTube channel, together with a gospel reflection for each day:
Confessions can be arranged directly with Fr Tony: 020 8455 1300
Contacts
Fr Tony Convery Parish Priest
Rev Anthony Clark Deacon
Mary Whittle Jones Music Coordinator
Alvaro Scrivano Chief Catechist
Kasonde Konie Parish Council Coordinator & Parish Hall Manager
Marie Cooney Parish Secretary
All can be contacted on
Tel: 020 8455 1300
Parish Hall Manager: Kasonde Konie: kasondekonie@rcdow.org.uk
All enquiries about the parish hall should be sent to this email address. Please do not phone the parish landline.
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Find us
St Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic church
700 Finchley Road , Golders Green.
London NW11 7NE
Tel/Fax: 020 8455 1300
Click to find St Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic church
This week's news letter
Click to downloadThis Sunday's Reflection
18 October 2020 Twenty Ninth Sunday Year A
NO EASY ANSWERS
We’re all familiar with the trap the Herodians and the Pharisees set for Jesus, asking whether it was right for a Jew to pay allegiance to Caesar. Jesus must have been making a strong impact because this alliance between Herodians and Pharisees was such an unlikely one. The Herodians had crossed over to the Romans whereas the Pharisees epitomised the Jewish Law. In fact, they hated each other.
We all know Jesus’ answer: give both God and Caesar what they’re due. And at first we can think of it as a smart reply. But upon reflection we come to realise that it might have got him out of a sticky situation but it’s not really any answer at all.
We live side by side with two kingdoms: the kingdom of secular government and the kingdom of God. And week by week, month by month, we come up against the rub. We find ourselves faced with circumstances where one conflicts with the other. So we recognise the State’s right to levy taxes but we might have problems with the sort of medical or social services they provide with the money they raise. We recognise our right to defend ourselves but we might have trouble with wars and campaigns that our governments lead us into.
Christians have a smart reply to the problem, but it too only raises more questions. They say that there is nothing that does not belong to God, so God must come first in all things. This is true on one level but it does not take away our need to use our own consciences when making our decisions, and it means that we have to be quite clear about the influences that are shaping our consciences. We are called to think about what belongs to God and to let it influence the way we live. When earthly authority is opposed to what we believe is God’s authority how do we react? Conscience is both a blessing and a curse because we cannot blindly follow rules and regulations; we have to inform our consciences and act in accordance with what we believe to be God’s will for humanity.
Today’s reading is a classic example of how the gospel does not provide us with pat answers. The good news is good news but it’s also a challenge to us to be just as adult about the things of God as we have become about the things of Caesar. And vice versa.
Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.
(Matthew 22:21)
Parish Council News
Click to downloadParish Notices
18 October 2020 29th Sunday of Year A
Mass Intentions
Sunday 18 October
Twenty Ninth Sunday of Year A
10am Leonila Araneta Cruz RIP
12noon Sofia Gomes de Angarita RIP
6pm Jeanne Wood
Monday 19 October 10am
Souls of Edna & Dieter RIP
Tuesday 20 October
Special Intention (Fr Tony)
Thursday 22 October 10am
Charles Sagayam RIP
Friday 23 October
John Murphy RIP
Sunday Masses: there are now three Masses on Sunday at 10am, 12noon and 6pm. Please arrive early. Remember: there are NO toilet facilities. Face coverings are now mandatory at church services so parishioners are asked to observe this ruling. When our numbers reach 80 for a Mass we will have to close the church doors.
Church heating: the main heating in the church is provided by the system of convector radiators. The air blown out from the radiators may facilitate any virus in the church so we have been advised to shut the radiators while people are in the church. This means, unfortunately, that the temperature in the church will be less that we would like or be comfortable with. Please dress appropriately!
The Foodbank collection will continue on Sunday both from 8am to 1pm and 5-6pm. The items requested are as follows: tins of fruits, tins of rice pudding and custard, sugar (white or brown). Thank you for the generous response last weekend.
Parish Zoom meeting: On Tuesday 20 October at 8pm we will be holding a parish meeting via Zoom to offer parishioners an opportunity to get together after this long period where it has not been possible to see and talk to each other. The details for joining are as follows:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89091558469?pwd=MDcrd2dYb3BxOHlJS2M3bnR3WVVXdz09 Meeting ID: 890 9155 8469 Passcode: 940983
On Saturday 24 October we’ll be celebrating the belated First Communion Mass and the following Saturday, 31 October, the Confirmation Mass. Please keep the children and young people in your prayers.
Timeline: before the lockdown, we had planned to offer this popular Bible course to the parish but this had to be abandoned. The course is now being offered free in an online format, via live-streaming on Wednesdays (for 7 sessions) starting on Wed 4th November, 2020 @7pm. Course info: www.comeandsee.org To register for the course: https://comeandsee.org/registration.html
Planning application: the owners of Glentree at 698 Finchley Road were successful in 2014 in their application to build flats on the land adjacent to the church. A modified version was submitted last August but then withdrawn. It has now been re-submitted and comments about it need to be submitted by 29 October. A briefing note has been prepared for parishioners and is available on our website: follow this link:
https://stedwardgg.uk/here/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/M20201009-Planning-Objections-revised.docx
The application can be found on the Barnet Council website at https://publicaccess.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications. The reference is 20/4194/FUL.
Do take care, and enjoy the week ahead.
Upcoming Events
Thursday: Weekday Mass
The weekday Masses on Mondays and Thursdays only are open to the parish. The church will be open from 9am and the Mass will be at 10am. The church will be closed after the Mass. Remember: there are no NO toilet facilities.
10:00 am Church