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

The Holy Spirit Prayer Group will be meeting on Monday 5th October 7:30pm-8:30pm in St Josephs Parish Room.

Tea/Coffee available from 7:00pm.

Everyone is welcome! For more information contact Frank on 07781 108394.

Morning – 9:00am – St Joseph & St Mary’s Church – The Joyful Mysteries led by the children of Notre Dame du Rosaire Catholic School

Midday – 12:00pm – St Joseph & St Mary’s Church – The Luminous Mysteries led by the Legion of Mary

Afternoon – 3:00pm – St Joseph & St Mary’s Church – The Sorrowful Mysteries led by the Holy Spirit Prayer Group

Evening – 7:00pm – St Joseph & St Mary’s Church – The Glorious Mysteries during Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

All twenty mysteries of the Holy Rosary, prayed in one day. Come for one, come for all! Every Hail Mary brings us closer to Jesus through Mary.

Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist Meeting on Saturday 10th October at 2:00pm in St Josephs Church.

~oOo~

The Annual Parish Service of Healing and Blessing will be held on Saturday 24th October at 2:30pm at Our Lady Star of the Sea. Invitations will go out shortly.

Everyone is welcome. Simple refreshments afterwards in the Alzheimer’s Centre.

~oOo~

Parish Christmas Lunch on Sunday 6th December from 12:30pm at Les Roquettes Hotel. Menus to follow next weekend.

UCM Evening Rosary Reflection on Tuesday 13th October at 7:00pm in St Josephs Parish Room.

Deacon Mark will be leading an evening reflection on the 5th Joyful Mystery of the Rosary ‘The Finding of Jesus in the Temple’

Through praying the five decades of the rosary we will journey deeply into this mystery and how it affects our own spirituality.

All Ladies of the Parish Are Most Welcome.

Confirmation preparation starts in January for young people in Year 8 and above who would like to be confirmed in 2028, or don’t necessarily want to be confirmed but just want to explore more about their faith.

Contact Tom – Tel: 07781 129310 / E-mail: youth@catholic.org.gg

We are inviting applications from practising Catholics to join the Education Governance Board for St Mary & St Michael Catholic Primary School. This offers a great opportunity for any parishioner to contribute to the life of our Parish and especially to invest in its future through the children in our school. You will be required to attend one Governance Board meeting per term (usually held late afternoon), training provided by the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture and you will be invited to visit the school regularly to get to know the children, their families and the staff. If you are interested, please contact Elizabeth Dene, Chair of Governors for the Voluntary (Catholic) Schools Cluster (edene@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk). Further information about the role can be found on the Education Governance website.

Welcome, I invite you to complete a short, anonymous questionnaire about our Holy Habits and the diocesan plan. By sharing your experience, you will be actively contributing to the growth and development of the Diocese and helping me discern how the Lord is at work. It will take only a few minutes. Thank you in advance. We hope to repeat the survey in three years’ time to view the journey made.

Please scan the QR code or visit: eu.surveymonkey.com/r/QTBWYRP

St Mary & St Michael celebrated its school feast day on the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, the Archangels last Tuesday. The children led a wonderful Mass with Fr Marcin and spent time reflecting on their patron saint-St Michael. Each child received a prayer card to take home and as a feast day treat, a Fairtrade chocolate bar. This was a lovely way to bring together our celebrations and the children’s learning during Fairtrade Fortnight. October is the month of the Rosary, and at Notre Dame du Rosaire we are looking forward to celebrating the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, our patron, on 7th October. Children at both Notre Dame and St Mary & St Michael will be praying the Rosary throughout the month and taking time to reflect on Mary’s example. Every three years, Notre Dame pupils create a calendar featuring the children’s beautiful artwork of Our Lady, with every class creating one picture. We are delighted to share a few of their images with you here. This year’s calendar will be on sale by the end of October for everyone to buy. It will make a lovely Christmas gift and is a wonderful way to support the school. We will share details of how to order one in the coming weeks. There is much to celebrate in our two Catholic primary schools, and we are grateful for the parish’s continued prayers and support.

THINGS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE

Dear Friends of Christ,

Whenever we come to Sunday Mass, we profess our belief in the existence of a loving God, the Creator of heaven and earth, visibilium omnium et invisibilium: the Maker ‘of all things visible and invisible.’¹ God’s creation is magnificent! He made it out of nothing and He sustains it in being.² But as the Fourth Lateran Council affirmed, He made it two-fold, the visible creation and the invisible, with two orders of creatures, material and spiritual, humans being both.³ When we explore the visible world God has made, we cannot help being filled with awe and wonder. Yet this pales before the majestic invisible world of the angels and saints, gathered around God’s throne, exclaiming Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus!⁴ The world of God’s invisible creatures, the angels and archangels, the cherubim and seraphim, is brought out admirably for us this coming week by the Church’s liturgy, when on Tuesday we venerate the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael and on Friday our Guardian Angels.

Bear with me a moment. Angels are spiritual beings. They are immortal. They are personal, with intelligence and free will. Each, according to St. Thomas, is its own species.⁵ They are God’s servants and messengers, although we also know from scripture – and we might add, from experience too – that some of them are fallen. Nowadays, living in a society with so many advances in science and technology, some find it hard to believe in angels, yet ironically cutting-edge science is open to the existence of invisible, immaterial worlds. ⁶ Have you ever been in a room with an odd atmosphere? Or met a person struggling with an addiction? Or thought of a friend who then suddenly phones you? Many things in life are invisible. Even as you listen to this Letter, your church is filled with data links, mobile phone calls and other electronic signals, all invisible yet real. Some processes have their origins in the spiritual realm. It is from there that God sends His angels to help, serve and protect us, just as in scripture, when we read of Michael bringing God’s victory, Gabriel God’s messages and Raphael God’s healing. ⁷ This is why each day we should thank God for His love, whilst entrusting ourselves to Him and asking His protection.

Why do I mention this? For two reasons. First, this time of the year has been named ‘The Season of Creation. ’ The Season is an ecumenical period of prayer and action when we thank God for His creation, reflect on humanity’s impact on the natural world and commit ourselves to sustainable living and environmental protection.⁸ This year, Pope Leo has urged us to turn off the noise of daily life in order to “hear the melodious voice of creation.” It is not yet too late, he adds, to repair humanity’s relationship with the environment.⁹ So, in the words of the Mass for the Care of Creation, let us ask the angels to help us care lovingly for creation and to live in harmony with all creatures. ¹⁰

But secondly, this is also the time of the year when parishes take a Mass count and begin assembling their pastoral statistics. When I was a parish priest, I used to worry whether the figures were down! In the Diocese, for some communities, this will be the case, challenging them to renew their prayer, welcome and outreach. On the other hand, by God’s grace, we have a mission-plan, You Will be My Witnesses, with an exciting ten-year vision¹¹. It is a plan for expansion, for strengthening and deepening faith. The Church exists to evangelise,¹² but like breathing-in and breathing-out, evangelisation is about ourselves growing in faith, as much as about reaching out to others.¹³ Whilst progress cannot be measured simply by numbers, numbers do say something. The visible does in some way point to the invisible. So are we growing in love for Jesus in His Word and in the Holy Eucharist? And are we going out to serve Him in the poor?¹⁴ How are we deepening our faith and putting it into action?

The hardest change of all is changing ourselves. How can I become more holy, closer to Christ? How can I become better formed in my faith? How can our parish put Christ more evidently at the centre? How can we pass on the Faith to the young? What works of charity, justice and ecology might we undertake? How can we encourage real stewardship, responsibility and tithing? And how can our parish witness to the Gospel in this area? If this parish closed tomorrow, would anyone who is not a member notice the difference?¹⁵

“Son, go and work in the vineyard today.”¹⁶ In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of two sons, one who did the will of his father and one who did not. Which one are you? Over the next months, I want to encourage you to recommit yourself to keeping the Six Holy Habits:

• First, to keep Sunday special by attending Mass;¹⁷

• Secondly, to resolve to spend at least five minutes a day in prayer;¹⁸

• Thirdly to keep Friday as a day of penance and charity towards the poor;¹⁹

• Fourthly, regularly to pay a visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament;²⁰

• Fifthly, to go to Confession once a month or so;²¹ and

• Sixthly, to join a small group for formation, prayer and fellowship.

Imagine the revolution if everyone in the Diocese adopted all six!

Finally, to make more visible what might otherwise be invisible, I invite you to complete a short, anonymous questionnaire. By sharing your experience, you will contribute to the development of the Diocese and help me to discern how the Lord is at work. It will only take a few minutes: you can access it here. Thank you in advance. We hope to repeat the survey in three years’ time to view the journey made. Meanwhile, let me offer you the Lord’s blessing. “May the Lord send His holy angels to keep you safe. May they guard you in all your ways. One day, may they bring you safely to heaven.”²²

In Corde Iesu
+ Philip
Bishop of Portsmouth.

¹ The Symbol or Profession of Faith in The Roman Missal. English Translation according to the Third Typical Edition (London, CTS: 2010) 562

² See Gen 1:1, Job 12:10, Ps. 104:29-30, Acts 17:28, Col 1:15-17 and Heb 1:3.

³ In H. Denzinger ed. P. Hünermann Enchiridion symbolorum definitionum et declarationem de rebus fidei et morum 43rd Edition (San Francisco, Ignatius: 2012) – henceforth referred to as DH – DH 800, 3002.

⁴ Cf. Is 6:3 and Rev 4:8

⁵ See Catechism of the Catholic Church (London, CTS: 2016) – henceforth CCC – paragraphs 329-336 and St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae, I q 50 a 4 “Whether the angels differ in species?”

⁶ Vincenzo Tamma, Professor of Physics and Quantum Technology at the University of Portsmouth, notes how “one can ‘see’ the vestigia Trinitatis (‘traces of the Trinity’ according to St. Augustine) within the fundamental quantum states of matter, the signature of God’s creative act ex nihilo imprinting their ordering toward all the perfective forms existing in the cosmos, including our humanity created in the image and likeness of God. .. [The] lowest material order of creation already reflects in its quantum structure (and phenomena like entanglement) the Trinitarian relational ontology and points beyond itself towards the recognition of the traces of the same relational ontology in higher orders of reality, particularly within our humanity and in the overall spiritual world.” See E. Pentin ‘Quantum Physics and the Mystery of God’s Creation’ Edward Pentin’s Substack (6th August 2026): https://edwardpentin.substack.com/p/quantum-physics-and-the-mystery-of (September 2026)

⁷ See Rev 12:7-9, Lk 1: 26-38 and Tobit 3:17, 5:4 et passim,

⁸ In 2015, Pope Francis instituted the first World Day of Prayer for Creation to be kept annually on 1st September, coinciding with the ecumenical Season of Creation that runs until 4th October, the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi.

⁹ Pope Leo XIV Homily at Mass for the Care of Creation (1 September 2026): www.vatican.va (September 2026)

¹⁰ præsta, quǽsumus, ut, dociles Spíritus tui spiraculo vitæ, opera manuum tuarum in caritate custodiamus (collecta) and novos cælos et terram novam exspectantes, convenienter una cum omnibus creaturis vivere discamus (post communionem) ‘docile to the life-giving breath of the Spirit, we may lovingly care for the work of your hands’ and ‘as we await the new heavens and the new earth, we may learn to live in harmony with all creatures’ Dicastery Promoting Integral Human Development ‘Presentation of the Missa pro custodia creationis’ 3rd July 2025: www.humandevelopment.va/en/news/2025 (September 2026)

¹¹ Diocese of Portsmouth (2022): You will be My Witnesses. Ten-Year Mission Plan for the Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk (September 2026).

¹² Pope St. Paul VI (1975) Evangelii Nuntiandi 14 in DH 4573.

¹³ As Pope St. Paul VI put it: “The Church is an evangeliser, but she begins by being evangelised herself (Evangelii Nuntiandi 15) DH 4574

¹⁴ We see this in the life of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and many of the saints. Thus, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati once said: “Jesus pays me a visit in Holy Communion every morning, and I repay him in the miserable way I can by visiting Him in His poor.” See C Siccardi Pier Giorgio Frassati – A Hero for our Times (San Francisco, Ignatius Press: 2016), 153.

¹⁵ J. Mallon Divine Renovation Beyond the Parish (Frederick Me, The Word Among Us Press: 2020) 35. Each pastoral area has been given a rich resource from Caritas Diocese of Portsmouth setting out the needs of the local communities and about how they might reach out in a tangible way to those in need in their own localities. Have you taken this up or put yourself forward to be a Caritas Champion for your parish?

¹⁶ Mt 21:28

¹⁷ See CCC 1324.

¹⁸ “Let me ask you: Are there moments when you place yourself quietly in the Lord’s presence, when you calmly spend time with him, when you bask in his gaze? Do you let his fire inflame your heart? Unless you let him warm you more and more with his love and tenderness, you will not catch fire. How will you then be able to set the hearts of others on fire by your words and witness? If, gazing on the face of Christ, you feel unable to let yourself be healed and transformed, then enter into the Lord’s heart, into his wounds, for that is the abode of divine mercy” Pope Francis Gaudete et Exultate (London, CTS: 2018) 151

¹⁹ See ‘Re-establishing Friday Penance:’ https://rcdow.org.uk/news/re-establishing-friday-penance/ (September 2026)

²⁰ See CDW Redemptionis Sacramentum [London, CTS: 2004] 135

²¹ Regular confession is good even if we end up confessing the same sins. “It is true. Our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same; in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, for me myself: If I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I am always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must always work hard to improve, that I must make progress. And this cleansing of the soul which Jesus gives us in the sacrament of confession helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open, and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons” Pope Benedict XVI Catechetical Meeting of the Holy Father with Children who had received their First Communion during the Year 15th October 2005: www.vatican.va (September 2026)

²² Based on Psalm 91:11-12