Reflections
AN OCEAN OF GRATITUDE
Dear Parishioners,
God is Great and Wonderful and Let us sing His praises forever.
We in the Parish of St Francis of Assisi, Maida Vale, are delighted to see the nearing completion of our dream Project of Building a New Parish Centre to cater to the current needs of our Parish and particularly to help our Children and the Future generation to have the facility to gather for Catechetical Instruction, undertaken by our generous Catechists, and to offer modern facilities to our Parishioners when they gather for various celebrations and Social Gatherings. It is very heartening to think of the Extraordinary Generosity of our parishioners both in the past and at present towards this project. Thanks to the generosity of our Parishioners in the past many years; we were able to save up a great amount of about $600,000 plus and when we undertook the planning of the New Centre and the Spirit of Generosity of our Parishioners increased many times as we were able to gather up a further $300,000 for the completion of the New Parish Centre project, which will be completed soon and the New Building will be Blessed and Opened on the great Feast Day of Christ the King on 24th November 2024, by our beloved Archbishop Timothy Costello SDB, with the presence of priests and religious and all our Parishioners.
We are very grateful to all those who have contributed financially towards the New Building and especially grateful to a few leading Parishioners who have worked hard to cooperate with the builders, Aveling Builders, who have done a great job. We pray that all those involved be Blessed by God abundantly. We hope that this New Project will help increase the spirit of Unity and Love in our Parish and will stand as a longtime legacy in our parish.
As Parish Priest of our Parish from 2019 to 2024, I have had the privilege of enjoying the generous support of our people in all activities of the Parish. I am very grateful to all our people for their unstinted support. I will be retiring soon as I am entering into the age of 80 this September. I will cherish the memory of my ministry at Maida Vale Parish for years to come. Once again, I record my feelings of Gratitude to God, St Francis of Assisi, our Patron, and to all the past and present Parishioners of St Francis of Assisi Parish. I assure you all of my prayers and blessings.
May God be Blessed and Praised forever.
Fr. Joseph Rathnaraj
Parish Priest
11 September 2024