Oblate News

Living the mission of St Eugene at Christmas time

Friends of St Eugene Tower Hill

The various Friends of St. Eugene groups have been quietly getting on with the building up of the Kingdom of God by supporting their communities through Friendship, Prayer and Service in their daily lives as they strive to be faithful to the charism and mission of St. Eugene and the Oblates. Here is a couple of ministries of service carried out recently by the Tower Hill Friends of  St. Eugene group.

Friends of St. Eugene organise a Christmas appeal to support families of prisoners

The Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) is a national charity that provides support to prisoners, people with convictions, and their families. The charity supports people to make a fresh start and to minimise the harm that can be caused by imprisonment to offenders, to their families and to their wider communities.

www.prisonadvice.org.uk

This year, the Friends of St Eugene decided to support PACT’s Christmas Appeal – Operation Christmas Elf. This annual project aims to provide a present at Christmas for children who have a parent in prison at that time.

Some of the gifts

We were provided with a list of ages and genders of children and the Friends quickly rose to the challenge. More than £450 was raised from 43 donors, meaning we were able to buy 34 presents. This was a fantastic result and many thanks to everyone who responded so generously.

In all, the charity, working with many Catholic Parishes across London, was able to arrange for more than 1,000 children, the “hidden victims” of the prison system, to receive a present from an imprisoned parent at Christmas 2018.

The picture shows a team member at PACT organising just some of the many presents received for Project Elf.

Christmas meal for parishioners who are on their own at Christmas time

In December 2018, we had the second annual Christmas Lunch for members of the parish who might otherwise have found themselves, because of work or being away from family or friends, without anyone else to down and enjoy a nice meal during this special time of the year. 

It turned out to be another great event with a lovely home-cooked, three-course meal. The food was good, the company was great, and there was even Karaoke!

In all, 21 parishioners came along to the event held in Mazenod House. The meal was prepared and served by fellow parishioners with the support of a number of local suppliers to whom we are most grateful. 

It was heaps of fun and there was great frivolity and it was a lovely start to the Christmas Season for everyone who was there. The event was eagerly anticipated and it also proved to be a great chance to meet our new Parish Priest, Fr Alex, and for him to meet members of his new parish too.

We can’t wait for Christmas 2019!