Donkeys'n'Drama covid-friendly school project
Webmaster • November 21, 2020
Dear Friends and Supporters,
THE BAD NEWS...
...Last year was our tenth year at Tabernacle on the Hayes... Fantastic - and such a tribute to all of you who have given, in so many different ways. (Especially Tab!)
However, I probably don't need to tell you that we can't be there as usual this year. ... And nor can our puppet Nativity project go ahead.
THE GOOD NEWS...
Instead, we are taking our project out to the schools....
DONKEYS'N'DRAMA is a Covid-friendly project which can happen in school halls or in the playgrounds -- much needed and very welcome.
We're taking Toby and Thomas, and their pen to primary schools for three weeks in December.
We'll also be taking a giant and very beautiful crib scene... using the puppets we have had made for the venture at Eglwys Dewi Sant.
There'll be a soundtrack with music and a simple retelling of the story.
We'll also be taking along some costumes to add to the school's own nativity hoard, so that each child can have a Christmas photo to take home.
We've been working like crazy to make sure it can happen. For a start we've made replicas of eight puppets so that we don't have to worry about them getting damaged as they get moved from school to school over three weeks. We've had music composed for the soundtrack, and a fresh re-telling of the story scripted and narrated - in both languages, of course. And we're videoing it (the puppets will perform limited movements of their heads and hands, to bring the scene to life.)
Skills have been given freely to enable all this to happen - and that's not all that's been given.
We'd love the entire project to be free to schools - as it has always been - but without a presence in the city centre to enable us to attract donations, that isn't possible. We will have to charge the schools for this (£175 for half a day) because our donkeys need proper transportation, insurance and supervision. This meant that schools serving the very poorest areas of our city would struggle - until a friend, who for many years had been a single parent, surviving on her wages as a shop assistant, heard about it and handed me £500 to help subsidise schools in deprived areas. Since then another £250 has been added to that pot by a variety of generous souls. Every pound given is a pound off the amount that these schools will have to pay. What a blessing...
Oh, and in addition, a church school has offered us the use of a large people-carrier to move our kit around!
Our video of the crib scene will be available for all churches to use this Christmas. Any church that would like to put display a crib - using existing figures or making their own - outside their own church building, can use our soundtrack to go with it.
We'll send you more details, and lots of pictures, as all this unfolds over the next couple of weeks.
And with the vaccine in sight, we can look forward to next year... This new project has re-energised us - demonstrated that there are all sorts of ways we can get this wonderful story out into our city at Christmas - even when ther are trillions of viruses rtying to stop us!
If you've got a sewing machine and you'd like to help sew costumes for the younger children in schools... get in touch. We're only doing Mary and Joseph costumes - and they'll be easy peasy - I promise.!!
God bless you all. This is a Christmas like no other... I cannot tell you how much your loyalty and support has meant over the past decade...
May God be with you all,
Love Sally
Thank You A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended the Parish Picnic and generously brought food to share. Your presence, cultures, and hospitality made the event truly special and reflected the beauty of our united parish family. May we continue to grow together in faith, love, and unity.
There will be a Second Collection for the Day for Life Fund next Sunday 21 June . The Fund provides financial assistance each year to organisations working to support the Church’s mission to protect human life from conception to natural death. Each year, the money donated by the faithful on the Day for Life is dispersed to these organisations to assist them in undertaking specific projects relating to life issues.
Saturday 27th June 10am - 1pm St Peter's Hall (at the back of St Peter's Church) Ticket: £1/Adult. Free for children. Ticket will include a cup of tea or coffee. If you are looking for hidden treasures, bargains or just time with friends, then come along. It is a great opportunity to support our Church building project. Do bring cash and carrier bags! Tables are now available for £10 each. Please book your table this Saturday/Sunday in the Church porch. We welcome all, individual Parishioners and St Peter's Church groups to take part. Stalls can be set up from 9am and pack up by 3pm. You can decide what to sell on your table. It is hoped that 20% OR MORE of the profit can contribute towards the Parish fundraising.
Sunday 28th June Beginning at 2:30pm with a procession, continues with Holy Mass at 3:00pm, followed by the veneration of the relic of St Winefride and the blessing of the sick. Visit: www.stwinefridesshrine.org
The Archdiocese is partnering with Catholic Christian Outreach for a 3-week Diocesan Mission - from 19 June to 5 July 2026 . Twelve missionaries will be joining us to help us learn a practical approach to evangelisation called Intentional Accompaniment, equipping us to walk with others on their journey of faith. Events are open to all, including Nightfever at Cardiff Cathedral ( 19 June ), a Day of Prayer across the whole Diocese ( 24 June ), a Learn to Pray day at Belmont Abbey ( 27 June ), and a Young Adults Day in Cardiff ( 5 July) . Visit: rcadc.org/a-mission-for-thewhole-diocese-cco-comes-to-cardiff-menevia
Third Revelation to St Margaret Mary: First Friday Devotion, 1674 On one occasion, during the Eucharistic Exposition…my sweet Master, presented Himself to me, all resplendent with glory, His Five Wounds shining like so many suns. From every part of His Sacred Humanity there issued flames but especially from His Adorable Bosom, which was like an open furnace. He disclosed to me His most loving and amiable Heart, which was the living source of those flames. At that point He made known to me the unspeakable marvels of His pure love, and showed me to what an excess He had loved everyone, from whom He received only ingratitude and contempt. Jesus: “I feel this more than all that I suffered in my Passion. If they would only give Me some return for My love, I should think little of all I have done for them, and would wish to suffer more if possible. But they only return Me with rejection and treat Me with coldness for all My eagerness to do them good. You, at least, can give Me the consolation to make up for their ingratitude, as much as you can…First, you are to receive me in Holy Communion as often as obedience will allow, no matter what mortification or humiliation it may cause you...Moreover, you are to receive the Eucharist on the First Friday of each month. Every night between Thursday and Friday I will make you share that sorrow unto death which I was pleased to feel in the Garden of Olives…To join with Me in the humble prayer which I then offered to My Father, in the midst of My agony, you should arise between eleven o’clock and midnight, and stay prostrate with Me for an hour, not only to appease the Divine anger by begging mercy for sinners, but also in some way to soothe the bitterness I felt when finding My apostles abandoned Me and I was constrained to reproach them that they could not watch one hour with Me…” (Excerpts from St Margaret Mary Alacoque’s autobiography)
“...My Divine Heart is so passionately in love with men that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity. It must pour them out by thy means, and manifest itself to them to enrich them with its precious treasures, which contain all the graces of which they have need to be saved from perdition…” (Jesus to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in the first vision) The central message of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the infinite and compassionate love exploding from the Heart of Jesus for all mankind. It emphasizes our Lord’s sacred Sacrifice for our salvation and invites us to respond to His love. The Sacred Heart also calls us to make reparation for sins, especially human indifference and ingratitude toward Him. The nature of our Lord’s love is that it cannot be contained within His Heart and necessarily bursts forth. When His love is received, He is consoled. When it is ignored, the love in His Heart expands and waits to gush forth in superabundance upon anyone who is willing to receive it. As we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ponder the fact that Jesus’ love must pour forth from His Heart. He needs willing recipients to receive that love. Console His heart by being one of those recipients and by loving Him in return. Doing so will win countless graces for you and for the whole world.
O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your commands we may please you by our resolve and our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
PLEASE NOTE: The procession has been cancelled due to the weather, there will however be a holy hour at St David's Cathedral, Cardiff with benediction at 3 o'clock. The Procession will start at 3:00pm from Nazareth House (please arrive by 2:30pm), moving along Colum Road and Park Place, past the Museum and City Hall, head down Park Place and along Queen Street before finishing at St David’s Cathedral. Refreshments will be available afterwards.
Bereavement Talk time/Cuppa Would you like a chance to talk about the loss of a family member or friend? Whether it was recent or historical, the bereavement group was set up for this. We meet on 10th May at 2.30pm in St David's Chapel. Please use the back gate in Bedford Street