Our church is situated at the far end of Abbey Street in Eynsham and serves the surrounding villages including the Hanborough's, Freeland, Cassington and Stanton Harcourt.

The address is St Peter's, Abbey St, Eynsham, Witney, OX29 4HR Tel: (01865) 881613

Directions: (from the A40) Turn onto the B4449 signed Standlake at the roundabout and then turn immediately first right signed Eynsham Village only. Follow this road right into the village, and in the centre of the village go straight across the junction into Lombard Street and then straight across the next junction into Abbey Street. Proceed along until you turn left into the church car park. For a map that locates the church click below.
Anyone is welcome to pray in our Church or come to Mass. You do not have to be a Catholic. Come and see what a Mass is like.
The Tolkien Room (our small Hall) is for hire to the public. Contact : Dani Bint 01865 464320 Waynebint@msn.com

Father Martin is also the Catholic Chaplain at Oxford Brookes University - see more details against that entry. He became the Priest in this Parish in October 2005.
His email address is : meflatman@brookes.ac.uk
He is always willing to respond to any questions or requests for prayer by email or via Facebook or to arrange a meeting.
He sends his weekly Homily all over the world. Send him your email address if you would like to receive it. It can also be read below.

SUNDAY MASS is at 10.00am also Saturday (for Sunday) at 7.30pm

MASS on Holy days of Obligation is usually at 9.30am and 7.30pm but in England a number of such days are now kept on Sundays

Confessions are on Saturdays from 6.45pm to 7.15pm during Holy Hour or by arrangement with the priest

Weekday Mass is normally at these times
Monday 5.30pm,(Bank Holidays 10am) Tuesday 7.30pm,
Wednesday 9.30am, Friday 6am

Silent Prayer with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturdays with Holy Hour from 6.30pm (join in as you arrive) and Benediction at 7.15pm.

Bible study and prayer : Thursday evening at 8pm in the House. Drinks and chat from 7.30pm. Just drop into the house
BUT in Lent this is replaced by Our LENT COURSE on Tuesday evenings in the Tolkien Room at 8.00pm on Praying with the Bible
Ash Wednesday is 17th February : Mass 9.30am and 7.30pm

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, Witney.

5th Ordinary Sunday 6/7 February 2010

The Readings are :-
Isaiah’s vision of God and his calling (Isaiah 6:1-8)
Paul’s summary of the faith and his call to preach (1 Cor.15:1-11)
Jesus calls his disciples to be fishers of men (Luke 5:1-11)


Saturday Mass (for Sunday) 7.30pm
SUNDAY MASS 10.00am (Lesley Farmer+)
Children between 3 and 8 have their own Liturgy for the first half of Mass
Refreshments after Mass in the Tolkien Room.

MASS & EVENTS HERE THIS WEEK
THE CHURCH IS OPEN for prayer every day
Morning/Evening Prayer 15 minutes before Mass.
MONDAY MASS 5.30pm
TUESDAY MASS 7.30pm
WEDNESDAY MASS 9.30am
Adoration from 8.45am. Morning Prayer 9.15am
THURSDAY
Open House at Fr. Martin’s. Just drop in
Drinks 7.30pm Bible Study & Prayer 8-9pm
FRIDAY MASS 6.00am
SATURDAY Holy Hour from 6.30pm
Evening prayer 6.30pm Benediction 7.15pm
MASS (FOR SUNDAY) 7.30pm (Rod Wallis+)
NEXT SUNDAY : MASS 10.00am
(Fr. Andrew McGann +)

HOMILY Ask if you would like Fr. Martin’s homily sent to you, or read it on the Website
THE FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER is available for those who do not receive it by email.

Last Sunday’s Collection = £ 266.76
Plus £341 monthly by Standing Orders.
Catholic Education Council = £ 91.25

SECOND COLLECTION
TODAY the February collection for our Buildings & Maintenance Fund.

OUR PANCAKE FEAST is THIS SATURDAY 13th February from 10.30am – 1.30pm in the Tolkien Room. We would be grateful for contributions to the cake stall and the raffle. If anyone can help on the day, please see Jenny Murray.

LENT COURSE : PRAYING with the BIBLE
Begins NEXT Tuesday 16th February
“Prayer as a journey”
Speaker: Mrs Frances Flatman

ASH WEDNESDAY is 17th February
Mass 9.30am and 7.30pm

PRAY those who are sick or housebound especially Tom Von Kaenel, Dorothy Baker, William Sherlock, Mary McCarthy, Pat Wymer, Edmund Zeally, Izabella Rodzynkiewicz, Paul Smith, Carmella Smith, Nuala O’Donnell, Jeanne Smale, Joan Lacey, Paul Morrill, Bill Mowl, Steve Martin, Dennis Callow, Margaret Lusinska, Margaret Edwards, Margaret James, Denise Knox, Nigel Swietalski, Mike Flynn & Dot Walker.
PRAY for the dead especially for Thomas Sheehan, Anne Gourdon & Anastasia Smith whose anniversaries occur this week.

40 Hours Adoration
in Newman’s Chapel at Littlemore
Friday 12th to Sunday 14th February 2010
With special prayers for Christian Unity and
Newman’s Beatification – see noticeboard

THE BOOKSTALL will be on February 28th – not the 23rd as advertised elsewhere

Walk with Me booklets and calendars for Lent are available at the back of church.
Please donate £1 if you can afford it.

Dates for your diaries :
The Annual Meeting will be on Wednesday
10th March
The Parish Supper will take place on Friday
16th April

St Peter’s Club : January Draw
£15 23 Annette Moody
£10 76 Tom Von Kaenel
£5 12 Chris Blackman

ROTA for this Sunday (next in brackets)
Welcome: Sam Flatman
(Bill & Debra Rooke)
Readers: Marie Mills & Jenny Murray
(Jane Shaw & Gerry Shaw)
Offertory: Moore Family (Stobart Family)
Ministers: M Blackman, F Flatman,
V Goodstadt, D Knox
(J & W Murray, V & W Phillips)
Coffee: Ruzia Calley & Rosemary Horan
(Sara Ruane & Anne Smith)
Cleaning: Mary Hull & Wendy Sweetman
(Helen Cannons & Valerie Phillips)
Flowers: Sarah Wallis & Ruzia Calley
(Valdis Culverwell)
Counting: Anne & Vincent Goodstadt
(Bill Rooke & Ann-Marie Armstrong)

LOOKING FOR TALENT. Has anyone got experience with keeping simple accounts or would like to be part of a group looking at alternative heating for the Church?
Please contact Father Martin.

Please click below for the full history of St Peter's. What follows is also a Guide around our Church.


THE CHURCH IN 1940
Start at the back of the church. Turn round and look up at the back wall – the east wall and the ceiling. This area was originally going to be the place for the altar and if you have seen any ancient churches in Italy you will recognise the style. Look down at the bottom left corner and a stone tells you that this part of the church was begun on 1st August 1940. Now look above the main entrance where there is a portrait of the first Catholic priest of this Church, Father John Lopes. It was under his inspiration and generosity that this church was built. He wanted a grand building to mark the return of Catholicism to the site of the great Abbey of Eynsham but the 2nd World War made further building impossible. So for almost 30 years, the altar stood here, whilst the rest of the church was just a large wooden hut. Fr. Lopes never gave up his dream for the church to be finished to his original design, and so it was not until after his death in 1961 that a more modest church, the one you see now, could be built, begun in 1966 and consecrated in 1968. Fr. Lopes is buried in the graveyard outside and was so well-known in Eynsham that a road is named after him.

THE NEW CHURCH OF 1968
When the new church was built, the whole church was turned round the other way with a new altar at the west end of the church, just like St Peter’s, Rome – though smaller of course! Here at the east end we now have the font where people become members of the church by being baptised – water is poured over their heads whilst special prayers are said. Behind it you will see a Ceramic by Adam Kossowski of Mary receiving her message from God by the Angel. Most of his other work can be seen at Aylesford priory in Kent. Just inside the door of the Church, as in all Catholic churches, is a place where Holy Water is provided so that anyone who enters can mark their forehead with the water as a reminder of their Baptism.

THE ALTAR AND THE LECTERN
Now walk up the church until you reach the sanctuary step. In front of you is the main altar where the priest takes bread and wine at Mass and with ceremonies and prayers calls upon God to make it for us the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus said “This is my body.. This is my blood.. Do this in memory of me.”, and so that is what we do. As with all altars, the candles are a sign that this is a holy place where God becomes present. Look at the crucifix up on the wall behind the altar. It is a reminder that the God we meet here and proclaim to others is the God we meet in Jesus Christ who died on the cross thus defeating death to bring all who follow him to life with God for ever. Below the crucifix is a carving of the crossed keys of St Peter carved by Peter Nicholas whose grave you can find outside. The other important object here is the reading desk, called the Lectern, where passages from our holy book, the Bible, are read to the people. Sunday Mass is at 10.00am and anyone is welcome to come and see what goes on.

THE BLESSED SACRAMENT CHAPEL
Over in the right hand corner of the Church is another altar often used for Mass on weekdays when there are only a few people. Behind this altar is a decorated cupboard, called the Tabernacle, in which is kept (reserved) some of the blessed Bread – the Body of Christ. A candle burns nearby as a sign that Jesus is present in this special way. This special presence is called the Blessed Sacrament, and this is taken regularly to those members of the church who are sick or housebound. The Tabernacle is decorated with a pelican feeding her young with blood from her breast. This is an ancient symbol of how Christ, through his sacrifice made present here, feeds and supports us. Above the tabernacle is a wooden figure of Christ in Majesty. With one hand he blesses us whilst in the other he holds a book on which is written words in Latin : translated they mean “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS
On the right wall here is the first of 14 carvings telling the story of the last walk of Jesus to his death. Here he receives his sentence of death from the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, and you can then follow the story right round the church. You will see him take up his Cross, fall with it three times, meet various people, including his mother Mary, and then you will see him stripped and nailed to the cross and left to die there, before being taken down into the arms of his mother and put into a tomb.

THE STATUES
As you pass round you will have seen a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus and so the Mother of God. Following the words of Jesus from the cross, we honour her as our Mother and always ask her to pray for us. As we do so we can light a candle as a sign to us and to others that even when we stop praying, our Mother Mary continues to pray from her place close to God in the glory of heaven. You will also have seen another statue of Jesus wearing a red robe and showing us his heart. This is a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a symbolic way of showing how much Jesus loves us and the whole world. His death on the cross is the greatest sign of this, but lest we think of this as only a past event, the Sacred Heart reminds us the Jesus is eternally alive and present for us pouring out his love for those who are prepared to receive him and put their faith in him. Here too you can say a prayer and light a candle.

ST PETER AND THE CONFESSIONAL
Before you go, look just to the left of the organ. Above the door there, you will see a rather dark picture of St Peter. Look carefully and you will see his keys, just as you can see them behind the altar and outside on the west wall of the Church. To the left of this door is another door that leads into the Confessional. You are welcome to go in and look at this place where people kneel or sit to share their lives in prayer and in complete confidence with the priest. You can see through to the place where the priest sits to listen, and eventually to offer the forgiveness of God to the person who has made their confession. The keys of St Peter are a reminder of the moment when Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom with the task of leading the church, with the power to forgive the sins of all those who are truly sorry.

We support CAFOD : The Catholic Fund for Overseas Development. This is the official overseas development and relief agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales with links to Caritas International. We raised almost £400 in our latest Fast day Collection. Use the link to get more details of their work

Rev Mr Chris Blackman was appointed to assist in the parish from September 2004. He also shares the RC Chaplaincy at the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals in Oxford with Fr Aldo Tapparo (St Anthony of Padua)

Click below for the hospital web site.

St Hugh's Catholic Nursery School is in Witney