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 Newslink               June 1999

 From the Vicar

My brothers and sisters as we prepare to celebrate the presence of Christ in word and sacrament let us call to mind and confess our sins.

These are words which appear in Rite 1 of the Church of England’s new Eucharistic Liturgy.  They introduce the confession which, in this new rite, is placed at the start of the service (no longer an option after the intercessions).  (There will be four rites: the current Rite A± structure in contemporary and traditional language, and a prayer-book structure in traditional and contemporary language.)

Personally I value the confession coming at the start of the liturgy. So often the Liturgy of the Word has been seen as taking second place to the Liturgy of the Sacrament.  When we begin using the new lectionary this Advent, we will have a much fuller Liturgy of the Word with Old Testament Reading, Psalm, New Testament Reading and Gospel. There are some people who never hear the Old Testament read at all! We recognise the importance of preparing ourselves to receive the Sacrament, should we not prepare in the same way for receiving the Word?

Those of you who attend the weekday masses will have noticed one or two minor changes. A Psalm is now used between the First Reading and the Gospel. Very often the Psalm response provides an ideal thought for the day or a phrase to meditate upon after receiving Holy Communion. The Liturgy of the Word is now celebrated at the lectern to balance the Liturgy of the Sacrament  celebrated at the Altar.

On Thursday 3rd June we shall celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is an opportunity for us to give thanks for the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, remembering that the Eucharist is one of the chief ways in which the promise of  Jesus to be with us to the end of time (Matt 28) is fulfilled.   It is a day for us to thank all those who serve as Eucharistic Ministers, especially remembering their ministry to the sick and housebound. Corpus Christi is also a time for us to renew our commitment to the worshipping life of the Church. Are we at the Altar Sunday by Sunday? If not, why not? As Christians it is both our duty and our joy to meet together around the Lord’s table on the Lord’s day. And it extends beyond coming to St. Faith’s. So often people say that they don’t go to Church when they are on holiday. God doesn’t take holidays! It should be a privilege to gather with other Christians to share the Body and Blood of Christ wherever we find ourselves.

Let us have a good celebration of Corpus Christi and after the High Mass at 8pm the celebration will continue with a party in the Vicarage (please bring a bottle!). We give thanks for the gift of the Eucharist and for the Eucharistic life of our Christian Community. We give thanks too for the presence of Christ in the Word, remembering that Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

With my love and prayers,

Thank You!

Thank you to the many people who have given me such a warm welcome to St. Faith’s, and have assured me of their prayers and good wishes. Thank you very much to all who had any part in preparing the Church for the Induction Service and the Reception afterwards at Merchant Taylors` School and to all those who worked hard to organise the party after Festal Evensong.

And anyone else I have forgotten!  Thank you.
Fr. Neil

Back at St Faith’s!     Colin Oxenforth

Extracts and thoughts from a sermon preached during the Centenary Celebrations.

My sermon was about vocation  for all people. It began with my friend Sr. Gillian Ruth from Wantage. At her clothing she chose readings about baptism, believing that her vocation as a sister of CSMV was the fulfilment of her own baptism promises. We are all called to be sons and daughters of promise.

I looked at my own vocation, beginning with the importance of my childhood favourite  hushed was the evening hymn with wonderful tune and harmony by Sullivan. It was about the vocation of the boy Samuel in the Temple (probably one of a very small number of child-centred hymns at the time) and was later echoed with the prayer from Fr. Hassall when I became a choir boy, that like him, I would serve God in his Temple. I can remember that day with much emotion as I desired to be faithful and then struggled awkwardly into the over-starched surplice my mother had zealously prepared. I think it meant more to me than my confirmation, though I had enjoyed the classes very much. (The waiting from Lady Day to Easter for making my first communion was not a good idea!)

God’s call to us all is not necessarily logical. Looking at many vocations throughout scripture it is clear God has no favourites in terms of type! We are all very different and our own sense of calling may depend on the models available when we were children. Sometimes we have to wait a long time before we see any model that is really useful in our own journey! My own models from early on are still reflected in my continued love of elderly and eccentric people: Miss Mountfield (known as Bunny latterly), George Houldin,  and of course Fr Hassall himself. What a funny lot! How wonderful to have a Sunday School teacher who could tell about Charles de Foucauld, Nicholas Ferrar, Father Damien, Mary Slessor, and teaching about so many ways of being faithful.

I remember that Miss Mountfield was one of those whom my mother thought were too religious. Mabel Pickup was another, and they were both victims of gossip about their not talking to each other for some time.  As well as faithfulness the church also modelled gossip, small-mindedness and snobbery. When coffee mornings became popular  just a cup of Nescafe with a few biscuits and a Barbara Pym-like sale of work all in aid of UMCA or something similar  I recall my mother saying to Dorothy Scobie There is a time and a place for Reece`s biscuits, Dorothy, and this is not one of them!

Overall there was much learning and training to acquire a capacity to laugh, forgive, struggle and hope! This helps to deal with the complicated realities of the church and society of today. We cannot retreat into a fantasy past nor hope for a politically-correct future pushed forwards by good PR.  Millennium candles from the Archbishop are not the way forward, and neither was the Nine O’clock Service. (how embarrassing!) But not as embarrassing as the Lambeth Conference forgetting justice from the world banks in favour of the Third World, and having a good diversion by bashing a few gays instead. What did ordinary sensible people make of it all? Thank God for ordinary people in the pews being faithful in their own way. Priests and nuns are a necessary part of vocation, but we need even more the witness of the good neighbour.

I conclude with a story of Auntie Nuttall! Born E. Mercia Drawbridge, she was a real dowager type who lived opposite us in Grosvenor Avenue. She accosted my mother one day and told her it was about time I was sent to Sunday school. I was three at the time! So forceful was this Fabia Drake character that I went fairly quickly. I was quizzed the following week as to how it had been. Alleluias, alleluias and more alleluias was my reply! I took to it all like a duck to water and never looked back. When I was confirmed a few years later she gave me an old bible of hers, full of scholastic and archaeological articles, starting off my interest in biblical study, and a new prayer book with a text  Isaiah 41:13. (q.v.) She was largely responsible for my own Christian path. So when you think you can’t really do anything that might have any effect, remember, in a few years time someone may say Well, it all began with this rather strange old lady across the road!

My sermon was completed after the service when I had a big hug from Mona Turner, who reminded me, as if I needed it, that she was the one who taught me the Alleluias!

Images of Liverpool

On the evening of Wednesday June 23rd, Merchant Taylors` Schools Dramatic Society, directed by Head of Drama Dr John Gill, will bring, for one night only, Images of Liverpool to St Faith’s Hall. This show was first devised some years ago by John Gill and Chris Price, and has been performed previously at the school and also in the church halls of St Michael’s, Blundellsands and St Luke’s, Great Crosby.

It consists of a presentation of the history of Liverpool from its foundation through the days of Empire, slave trade and war, with extracts from writings about Liverpool. Linked by Chris Price’s narrative, it presents poetry, prose, drama and music performed by staff and pupils of the two Merchant Taylors` Schools, and mixes history with drama, pathos, and comedy.

Tickets for this extravaganza, one of the school’s contributions to our Centenary Celebrations, will be on sale at church soon. Please come along and see what Images of Liverpool has to offer.

What the Papers Say       Liberal clergy in for a rough ride

Most of us view the Embarrassing Trendy Vicar  with his out-of-tune guitar, unappealing facial hair and tactile manner  with a sort of amused toleration. Not so Irene Riding, a retired headmistress from Exmoor, who last summer sold her house to fund a personal campaign to purge the Church of liberals, sodomites and the Alternative Service Book.

She placed an advertisement wondering how Christians should respond to the Church’s terminal illness  Do we vote for an Appeal to our earthly Supreme Governor, HM Queen Elizabeth II to put our Father’s House in Order? Or what? All ideas welcome! Nearly 12,000 lost sheep responded. Now she has won a fresh triumph: being elected to the General Synod in the Bath and Wells by-election. Among her more intriguing boasts was the special insight that some years researching nematodes would give her into the ethical debate on genetics.

Shell get her first chance to have a word with the nematodes at the synod  the Stringfellows-prone Bishop of Liverpool and his ilk  when it meets in July. The people of Somerset have spoken, she informs me, adding: I am looking forward to addressing the bishops.
(To reassure our readers: nematodes are apparently worms. Ed.)

Here Beginneth ...    Chris Price

We seemed to have been waiting for ever (since February 1997, actually)  but Thursday April 29th came at last. Like most big events, it took weeks of planning by a host of people, with concerned folk constantly hoping it would be all right on the night. And it certainly was. The Induction of Fr Neil was one of St Faith’s great occasions. Too much happened at Merchant Taylors` afterwards, and again in church on the following Sunday evening, for a full account, but a few snapshot impressions may give the flavour ...

Huge processions in and out (one Bishop, two Archdeacons, a plethora of Priests, a representation of Readers, a king-sized Choir) ... 120+ processing in all, with a total of 50 robed priests: is this a record for St Faith’s? ... St Chad’s Principal in his doctoral dressing-gown ... civic representatives ... a whole pew-full to kneel with Neil and be blessed for service at St Faith’s and St Mary’s ... chairs filling both chapels and right to the back wall ... a massed congregation featuring large contingents from St Mary’s, from Kirkby (Anglican and Roman Catholic), as well as others from Chiswick, Warrington and many other places ... difficult to count but probably over 500 people in church (and most of them also at the Feeding of the Five Hundred afterwards!) ...

... Marvellous music ...  Ged and the Choir  splendidly  sounding forth Parry’s
I was Glad at the very beginning ... Olivia Blackburn singing Caccini`s Ave Maria to a hushed full house ... Taiz choruses, and hymns ancient and modern ... sounding brass from the Merchant Taylors` players and resounding organ music from David Houlder and Mike Foy ... Powerfully symbolic liturgy (the new experimental Diocesan order of service) ... movement to all corners of the church and the handing over of water, oil, holy books and vessels ... simple, heartfelt intercessions from the young people of both churches, with a plea to our new Vicar to stay for a very long time ... an abundance of rich ceremonial, causing more than one comment that it was more like a coronation ... the strong yet relaxed conducting of the service by Bishop John, aided by many others ... the power of moments of silence and the presence of so much prayerful devotion ...

... The walk on a balmy summer night to the fine and floodlit front of Merchant Taylors` ... food and wine in plenty, long and lovingly prepared and expertly dispensed ... a general air of bonhomie and euphoria, with a measure of entertainment from Archdeacon and Vicar ... people staying on long after most people do at post-Induction parties ... packs of guidebooks and the magazines of both churches given to all and sundry ...

Festal Evensong, Procession and Te Deum on the following Sunday evening ... a goodly number in the pews and another augmented choir ... the lovely Stanford setting ... more incense (lots more incense) ... possibly the greatest concentration of honourings of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St Faith’s since the Lord knows when ... a stirring maiden sermon and a call to service from Fr Neil ... the wearing of three birettas (surely another first) ... the legendary but well-attested transporting of one of these exotic articles of headgear alone in a taxi from St John’s, Tuebrook to grace the head of Fr George (yet another first) ... yet more junketings, this time in the church hall ... exhausted satisfaction all round ...

In brief, Rick and I have been touched and overwhelmed by all the compliments we have received on behalf of St Faith’s by so very many people, both from our churches and from elsewhere. We can only pass them on, with our heartfelt thanks, to all those who shared with us the preparation for this great event and who should now share our satisfaction and delight that it went off so well. St Faith’s, as always, owes much to the sustained and professional efforts of so many of its people, together with gallant assistance from many at St Mary’s (surely the best of omens for the future), which made this extravaganza the memorable event which it undoubtedly was. Everyone at St Faith’s gives thanks to God for sending us Fr Neil and looks forward to great things in the months and years ahead.

Some of us look forward to a quieter time as well, but we’re probably just kidding ourselves ...

 Through a Glass less Darkly?

A recent visitor to St Faith’s, intercepted by the Editor looking intently at our stained glass, turned out to have an interesting tale to tell. She is Mrs Elizabeth Harborne, of Camberley in Surrey, and she was able to inform us that her grandfather, John Winbolt, a Middlesex man, was responsible for the design of the St Faith’s window, the earliest and probably the best of the glass in our aisle windows.

He trained as an artist, and may have worked for the famous Kempe glass works, before moving at the turn of the century to the firm of Bryans. It was while working for them that he painted the design for our window, which bears his initials (J.W.) as well as the running dog logo of Bryans and Webb.

Thus another piece in the puzzle of our archive is filled in. It is good to be able to add that, at a recent meeting of the Diocesan Advisory Committee, the go-ahead was given for our new Centenary Window In Remembrance of Past Worshippers. The design will now move on to its final stages, in the hope that the finished window will be in place and dedicated later this year.

Furnishings of Faith

Regular readers will recall reading, over the last few years, a series of articles by various members of the congregation, in which they wrote about various aspects of the fixtures and fittings of St Faith’s. The idea from the outset was to ask those with some knowledge of, or interest in, various aspects of the church and its contents, to describe the artefacts in their area of interest, with a view to their eventual publication.

Thus over the months we have read about the basic architecture and design of St Faith’s, its woodwork, its stained glass, its brasswork, the organ, assorted memorials (especially the Titanic memorial) and objects, the reredos, and (still to come) the statuary of our church. It has been a fascinating and rewarding business trying to record and trace for posterity as much as possible of our heritage, and the editor is very grateful to all who have contributed: Chris Dawson, Ron Rankin, Frances Luft, George Gilford, Denis Griffiths and, especially, Eric Salisbury. We cannot pretend to have found all the answers, especially where the reredos is concerned, but the resulting booklet should be of interest to many, and may indeed prompt further revelations, additions and (doubtless) corrections.

It is hoped that the final product, illustrated with a few photographs and a lot of Eric’s fine drawings, will be on sale by the end of the summer. Furnishings of Faith is the working title for this rather special anthology, and we commend it to potential purchasers. More details in due course ...

The Colour Purple         Denis Griffiths

More mature readers will remember the days of steam railways, the clicking of wheels on rail joints, and railway carriages with first and third class compartments. The march of progress saw steam locomotives give way to diesel and then electric traction whilst third class, a throwback to the early days of the railways, was redefined as second class so that those of us without bulging wallets or company expense accounts might not feel inferior. By the 1980s the champions of the travelling underclass at British Rail, in a further move to remove our inferiority complex, decided we were no longer 2nd class passengers, but Standard Class. Such a pity the carriages remained very much second class.

Into the 1990s, with privatisation looming, we were further redefined and became customers and no longer passengers. Some people had long since ceased to consider themselves as passengers, for one needed to travel somewhere in order to be a passenger. As the century draws to its close the final indignity has arrived; is this a belated response to John Major’s classless society. Customers on Virgin Trains are no longer first or standard class: we have become colour-coded. Illuminated signs on platforms, stickers on carriage windows and even cards in the backs of seats announce that carriages are now Gold, Blue or Purple zones.

Gold is, naturally, expensive and you can sit in the former first class carriages if you hold a first class ticket, a Virgin Business ticket or a First Class TADA ticket, whatever that might be. Purple is for peasants and you can sit in the former standard class seats if you hold any one of a variety of standard tickets, savers, supersavers or APEX tickets. You may also inhabit the Purple Zone if you have a Virgin Value ticket or are a Virgin Groupie; yes, the leaflet actually does mention Virgin Groupies and the mind boggles at the thought of an assemblage of 1960 style hippies following one of the bearded one`s balloons. Qualifications for access to the Blue Zone are confusing, but this is the privatised railway industry we are considering. You may travel in the Blue Zone if you hold a Standard Open ticket or a Virgin Value First ticket and Blue Zone passengers, sorry customers, travel in a normal seat at peak times but in a wide seat at off-peak times; that means you are standard class normally but are elevated into first class at off-peak times! The Blue Zone is also for Virgin Groupies First, (perchance Richard’s better dressed hippie followers), Virgin First Upgrades and Virgin Value Business. Confused? Will it get better? Or are the railways heading for the Twilight Zone?

A Reflection for Corpus Christi         Fr Dennis

The Festival we celebrate on June 3rd has its historical origins in the early mediaeval period. Maundy Thursday, the actual day of the institution of the Holy Communion at the Last Supper, is inevitably shadowed by the solemn and bitterly sad events of Holy Week. The natural instinct of ordinary church-people who came to know and to love the Eucharist, and rejoice in its celebration of unity and Christian love, needed an occasion on which they could give thanks to God for the gift of his Son in the Holy Sacrament, without the sadness of the impending Crucifixion darkening their happiness over the gracious Gift.

And so this day was chosen  the first free Thursday after the great Festival season of Easter to Pentecost and Trinity. The name Maundy comes from the anthem sung in the services for the day: Mandatum novum  Anew commandment give I unto you, that you love one another (John 13: v 34)

It is true that this desire, this need, did take on eventually false ideas - that the Eucharist was a repetition of the Sacrifice of the Cross; that the actual receiving of the Communion was to be so carefully guarded that it could only be allowed once or twice in the year  effectively excommunicating the bulk of the ordinary people; that the Mass  always in Latin  became a mystic, not to say magic, rite, at which the chief point was the elevation of the host  God visibly brought down to the altar, not for the building up of the People of God, not for the strengthening of the souls of the faithful, but for adoration alone.

Again, the worship of the Church became professionalised. The Mass was performed on behalf of the people, by the professionals, the priests. The ordinary lay person had no real part in the service except to watch, and recite such private devotions as they might have learned by rote. The great original ideal of the Body of Christ, the worshipping community, coming together to make the Eucharistic commemoration, had slipped out of sight.

But the Reformers were so anxious to get back to what they believed to be the original and primitive patterns, that they went to opposite extremes. Ceremonial and beauty, colour and even music were distrusted and reduced or forbidden; and the new insistence on everyone taking Communion did not overcome the  centuries-old  habits and  ingrained  resistance  of  the ordinary people. More or less by default, Communion Services became increasingly rare, and were often regard as intended only for the especially pious devotee. Then, in the Church of England, came the Wesleys, with their insistence upon frequent, indeed daily, Communion; and the great Oxford Movement brought new life and new spirit, and a whole revival of faith and works.

In the Roman Church too, changes began and frequent, even daily, Communion came to be encouraged.

Next, like a great wind, the Liturgical Movement swept over the  churches and, today, much has happened in every denomination to bring back the emphasis upon participation of the whole People of God, the Body of Christ, week by week. We have begun to understand that we are all celebrants together, not watchers of something done for us. We all share in the Priesthood of God’s People, as we  proclaim the Lord’s death till he come, and all eat the Bread of Life and drink the Cup of the Lord.

In the Eucharist we share in the fullness of the gospel; we are there on Maundy Thursday with the sad and scared disciples; we are at Calvary with Mary the Mother of the Lord, we come to the Empty Tomb with Mary Magdalen, we are with the disciples in their locked room when the Lord appears to them and commissions them to take his words and life to the world; we know the Ascension and the Coming of the Holy Spirit. At this service we are sent forth filled with the Life and Strength of Christ, to spread the Master’s message and show his love.

It is above all in the Eucharist that we receive the power that is promised to his faithful people. And it is in the Eucharist that we indeed eat his Flesh and drink his Blood, in sacramental and sacrificial form, carrying his promise that we shall possess eternal life and be raised to new and eternal life, through the power of our Risen and Glorified Lord.

The first edition of Women`s Health magazine led  with the promise Get the body you want, fast!!
The front page went on:
Less paunch, more raunch - Turn your fat bloke into a sex god.
Seriously, there are so many sources of health advice around nowadaysthat you could be forgiven for not knowing which way to turn.We hope you will find the second in this series of articles by  Denis Whalley will help you to

Get Fit for Life     Denis Whalley

An architect friend once told me that the greatest theatre is to watch ordinary people going about their daily routines. I spend hours doing precisely that, especially when away on holiday. I have observed that overweight people often bolt their food. The explanation for this, I decided, was that they fooled themselves into thinking that they hadn’t consumed much because the process was over so quickly. The reminder for this observation was the Sunday Times recent review of Geneen Roth`s When You Eat At The Refrigerator, Pull Up A Chair which claims that the fourth law of the universe is that for every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge. Imagine that you invite a friend over for dinner: tell her that the two of you are going to eat the way you eat when you are alone. Explain that you are going to treat her the way that you treat yourself. Lead her to the refrigerator. Open the door. Stare. Begin picking from Tupperware containers. Use your fingers. Graze through yesterday’s Chinese takeaway, Sunday’s rice pudding. Make loud grunting noises of pleasure. Open the freezer. Try to chunk off a piece of frozen cake with your fingers. When that doesn’t work hack it off with a carving knife. The moral is clear. You would not dream of treating others the way you treat yourself. So, when you next eat from the fridge, pull up a chair. Sitting down allows you to concentrate and take pleasure from what you are doing. More importantly, it dispels the illusion that you are not really eating while you are standing. Finally, whenever eating (at the fridge or otherwise) do so slowly .... do you remember grandma telling you to chew every mouthful 20 times?

Last month’s article started by advising You are what you eat. But more importantly, what you eat is what you will become. So you must take steps to find out precisely what it is that you eat. This means, for example, that you must scrutinise the label of ingredients on every item that you chuck into your trolley. Packaging lies! What does Reduced Fat mean? Similarly, the description Suitable for Vegetarians can be wholly misleading - a thick cheesy sauce is likely to be full of fat.

A healthy diet must contain carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre in all the right quantities plus water  did you know that water is probably our body’s most constant and basic requirement? Your mental and physical performance will be reduced if your required level drops by even as little as 2%. Every adult should consume during the course of a day at the very least 2 litres of water. You should keep a bottle with you at all times and sip from it. If you wait until you feel thirsty (especially in the heat or when exercising) then you have left it too late and you are almost certainly partially dehydrated. A good test is to examine your urine  at least once per day it should be virtually clear in colour. A proper level of water intake will allow your vital organs to work efficiently, particularly the kidneys.

The next most basic requirement of our body is energy. Like machines, we need an outside source of energy and, of course, we are fuelled by what we eat and drink. That energy is measured in kilocalories (popularly just called calories). When you (say) exercise you burn up calories and when you eat you consume them. The amount of energy or calories that your body needs in a day depends on your sex, age, proportion of muscle to fat, activity levels and many other factors. You will have gathered that in order to maintain a reasonable and stable body weight, energy intake and energy expenditure need to be balanced. Too much intake and too little expenditure is likely to result in weight gain as surplus calories convert to fat. More about maintaining the correct balance appears later.

Fad diets were mentioned earlier. Each week a new gimmick is announced in The Sunday Times Style magazine. The 25th April edition reported on The Zen of Eating  Not by Glenn Hoddle and/or Eileen but by Ronna Kabatznick, who offers a chance to look at how principles established before Jesus can help us untangle the minefield of modern eating problems  free your mind from the tyranny of desire by following the middle way. The same article of the following week accuses the author of Food That Causes You to Lose Weight of reinventing the wheel  for þ3.87 he will identify the foods that melt down and drain the fat away on the basis that the more you eat the more you lose. The 30 miraculous foods are melon, carrots, celery etc.

Beware also The Hay Diet  don’t mix carbohydrates and proteins at the same meal: fasting  fairly obvious really, nothing but water but some versions allow fruit/vegetable juices: high-protein  protein is doubled and fats and carbos are restricted: meal replacement  1 or more meals a day are replaced with a calorie-counted meal/bar/powder to be added to milk. And so the list goes on. There are reputed to be over 300,000 methods of dieting, but, on their own they do not work in the medium/long term.

You will have gathered that much of what is written on the subject of diet/healthy eating, is to say the least, of dubious worth. Some common-sense tips now follow. To maintain a healthy diet no more than 33.3% of your daily intake should consist of fat. In terms of grams per day the experts opinions vary at between 80120 grams per day and this means that you need (by reference to stated ingredients) to keep a running total of your daily intake. I do not agree with diets and/or diet clubs for reasons already stated; however, one of their practices of which I do approve is that of religiously writing down everything that passes your lips  both liquid and solid, especially if the former is the dreaded drink!

A good balance of nutrients for adults is shown on the pie-chart. The figure for fat is the maximum whereas for carbohydrates (47-50%) it is the minimum. Don’t eat too much extrinsic sugar. Go easy on the snack foods. Favour unrefined or marginally refined foods such as brown rice, whole-grain bread, fresh fruit and vegetables (more below on this) and pulses, nuts and seeds. Refined carbos, such as white rice, white flour and white pasta are still well worth eating.

The goodies listed above are so important because they are among the best sources of dietary fibre. A word of caution: go easy on the beans, they are like people, they talk behind your back! Fibre passes undigested through the small intestine into the bowel where it is fermented by bacteria. The Dept. of Health recommends up to 24g daily intake for both men and women. If you overdo it then apart from the obvious problems there is the possible drawback of  malabsorption of minerals.

Fat comes in various forms and is too complicated a topic to go into in great detail here. However, in dietary terms, fat has been regarded as devil food in the latter years of the millennium. Saturated fat is usually solid at room temperature and is found in animal products such as meat, cheese, cream and manufactured goods such as pastries, cakes and biscuits. The largest amounts of Polyunsaturated fat are found in liquid form such as vegetable oils, corn or sunflower and also in nuts. Also included in this fat type are the Omega-3 oil found in fish  2 or three portions a week of oily fish (mackerel, herring, salmon, tuna (fresh) and trout) have been shown to be beneficial. Monounsaturated fat is also liquid at room temperature and is found in olive oil, many nuts and avocados; it is also present in most dairy produce, eggs, fish and meat. There is evidence that a diet rich in monounsaturates (the typical Mediterranean diet is rich in these oils) is linked with good health. Cholesterol is found in many foods of animal origin. About 75% of what we need is manufactured by our bodies and the rest comes from diet. It is wise to avoid too many cholesterol rich foods.

Even more next month  Editor permitting!

Readings at   Weekday Masses

Now that there is a daily celebration, we will follow the Daily Eucharistic Lectionary. This can be found towards the back of the ASB (Page 1071ff) but for convenience the readings will be read from the Weekday Missal. Those of you who come during the week and like to follow the readings may wish to purchase your own copy. This will be used on ordinary days.

For Holy Days, we will use the book Exciting Holiness , a new book providing collects and readings for the Saints Days and other Commemorations in the new Church of England Lectionary. Some of you may remember the slim green volume The Cloud of Witnesses. It is similar to that but with a richer variety of celebrations. Again, you may wish to purchase your own copy.

Both books can be ordered through St. Paul’s Bookshop (Bold Street) or from the Anglican Cathedral bookshop.