Our Dear Sisters & Brothers in Christ, my Friends, Our Dear Parishioners and warmly welcomed visitors,

First, my sincere apologies, I know last week’s newsletter was difficult to read with the font far too small! Please bear with me; we are working to sort this out and I hope within just a few weeks everything will be perfectly clear and easy on the eyes. My heart is so full of things I long to share with You all, sometimes it feels like I have more love and news than I have room to print! Thank you for your patience and kindness. As I look back on this past week, my heart is overflowing with gratitude. Every meeting, every conversation, every cup of tea of coffee shared, each moment has been such a gift. I feel our relationships growing deeper and richer with every passing day. Thank you for welcoming me, for opening your hearts and for making this Parish feel like home, not just to me, but to all of us together. You have shown me that this Parish isn’t just a building, it truly is our family. Thank you for every minute spent in care and love for our beautiful community and especially now, as we celebrate this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. As we honour the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, that great lover of God’s creation, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for our beautiful Mass for the care of creation, previous week. It was truly an inspiring, uplifting, and deeply meaningful celebration from our reverent prayers to the thoughtfully chosen and beautiful hymns, to the warm fellowship we shared afterwards over coffee and tea. It filled my heart with joy to see so many gathered together, asking God to guide us, to show us how we can better cherish our common home and how we can walk more gently upon this earth.

A special word of deepest gratitude to our wonderful Laudato Si’ group, your dedication, your passion and your faithful work are such a gift to our Parish. You lead the way reminding us all that caring for creation is not just a good idea, it is our sacred duty, entrusted to us by God Himself. Thank you to all those who have written to me, thank uou so much for your kind words, your prayers and your thoughts. Please be patient with me just a little longer. I have set aside this coming Tuesday especially to go through every letter and message and I will reply to each one of you personally. Your words mean a great deal to me, thank you for waiting. Last Sunday, I was deeply honoured to join the Remembrance Service in the cemetery, commemorating the souls of HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne. Standing there among so many distinguished guests and especially alongside those brave survivors who are still with us, I felt such profound respect and gratitude. It was a solemn, moving and truly beautiful act of remembrance, one I will not forget. It was also a privilege to attend the beautiful and solemn installation of the new Anglican Dean of Guernsey, Reverend Matthew Trick. It was a truly dignified service and it filled me with hope, for very soon, I look forward to welcoming you to my own Installation as the Parish Priest and Catholic Dean of Guernsey. Further details will follow very soon, I look forward to celebrating this special day with all of you.

A heartfelt thank you to all of you who have so warmly welcomed our way of praying the Holy Rosary before every Mass throughout this beautiful month of October. It has been such a grace-filled beginning! I also want to gently reassure anyone who may feel uncertain or concerned: please do not feel pressured in any way. These are beautiful opportunities we are offering, never obligations. They represent extra time, extra preparation and extra commitment from us, your priests, not from you. You are very welcome to join us if you wish, or simply come to Mass at your usual time. Nothing is being taken away or changed, these are simply additional ways we hope to serve and nourish our Parish family. With this in mind, I am also pleased to offer another opportunity: beginning this month, the Sacrament of Confession will be available every Friday after morning Mass. I will be in the confessional, ready and waiting, whether you come regularly or haven’t been in a while. This will be especially helpful for those who honour the devotion to The Sacred Heat of Jesus of the First Fridays of the Month. Again, this is simply a gift we are happy to offer. You are welcome to come, or simply continue as you are. No pressure at all, only love and service.

Attached to this month’s newsletter, you will find a small but precious gift: a pocket guide to the Holy Rosary. It is small enough to slip into a pocket, a handbag, or keep in your car, so that wherever You are, on the bus, the ferry, sitting quietly in nature, or waiting for a moment, you can always have it close at hand. It is a gentle companion both for those who pray the Rosary every day and for those who are just beginning this beautiful journey. Please do not throw it away. If you are not yet ready to use it yourself, simply leave it in the church porch, I am certain someone else will be deeply grateful to receive it. Or perhaps pass it along to a friend or family member. Sometimes we do not need to fully understand something to appreciate its beauty or to share it with someone who needs it. I remember a story shared with me many years ago, during a pilgrimage to Lourdes. An English chaplain there told me that one day a priest came to him and said: “I don’t really like the Rosary. I find it difficult to pray. I don’t understand it.” And the chaplain asked him gently: “Do you love your mum?” “Oh yes, very much,” the priest replied. “I tell her I love her often, she is so precious to me.” The chaplain smiled and said: “Then imagine this, the Rosary is simply saying to our Mother Mary, fifty-three times and more each time we pray it: ‘Mother, I love you. Thank you for being our Mum.’ And she takes every word and places it in the heart of her beloved Son, Jesus.” That is all the Rosary is, a conversation of love with our Heavenly Mother. May this little leaflet help all of us speak those words a little more often.

It was such a privilege to meet with our First Communion Catechist Team, led so wonderfully by our dear Mrs Mary Robertshaw, Head Teacher of our Catholic Primary Schools. I cannot find words enough to thank you, your dedication, your sacrifice and your loving care for our children and their families is simply extraordinary. You walk with them, guide them and lead them ever closer to the heart of Christ. Thank you for giving of yourselves so generously and the beautiful fruits of that meeting are already visible. We are delighted to announce that applications are now open for this year’s programme of preparation for First Holy Confession and First Holy Communion. More details on how to apply will follow, do keep this beautiful journey of faith in your prayers. Now, I would like to start my thought with a wonderful old tale about a monastery where the abbot noticed that the brothers were always coming to him with concerns. One day he gathered them and said: “In our monastery, we have two boxes. One is called ‘HEAVEN’ and one is called ‘EARTH.’ If something troubles you, come to me face to face, speak it openly and honestly, that goes into the box called HEAVEN, for it is spoken with courage and love. But if you speak it behind someone’s back, that goes into the box called EARTH, for it bears no fruit.” The abbot smiled and added: “And you know what? After all these years, the HEAVEN box is almost always empty… but whenever it is full, wonderful changes happen in our community. The EARTH box is sometimes full too, but nothing good ever grows there.”

So, my Dear Friends, let me share something very honestly with You. Since arriving in Guernsey, I was told: “Oh, people here like to complain!” and I smiled, because I have learned one thing, people everywhere care deeply about the things they love and sometimes that caring comes out as a concern or a wish for something different. That is not unique to Guernsey, that is what it means to be part of a family! Here is how I see it: If You come to me, look at my eyes and speak honestly, that is NOT a complaint. That is a GIFT. It is advice from someone who cares enough to speak up. It shows you love our Parish and want the very best for it. I may not always be able to fulfil a request, but I will always treasure your honesty and your courage. That builds up our family. But when words are spoken behind my back and find their way to me through others, that is what I call a real complaint. I acknowledge it, I hear it, but I cannot truly respect it, because it lacks the honesty and courage that true love requires. It does not build bridges, it builds walls. So please, even if you think I look too serious sometimes, or perhaps you are not quite sure what to expect, come and find me. Knock on the door. Send a message. Speak to me face to face. I promise You: I am always delighted to listen, to learn and to walk this path together with you. That is how we grow, side by side, not at a distance.

With our love, our prayers, and our gratitude. Fr Marcin