Parish News

All of us make mistakes in life. The longer we live the more mistakes we accumulate. Many are minor, some are serious, and some require an act of will on the part of another person to free us from the burden of guilt and responsibility, we term this "forgiveness". The act of forgiveness is a profound act of love and mercy; forgiveness and love are glimmers of the face of God that we can find in our hearts and souls. Perhaps this is why forgiveness has a fundamental attraction to us, something we like to see, and in particular experience in our lives. We will all have had the experience in the sacrament of confession, of those times when we have been forgiven when we feel like a drowning person breaking the surface and taking a gulp of beautiful clean air. Forgiveness is beautiful, it is something we instinctively desire, something that we know we need, something of the face and tenderness of God. The paradox is that despite this being so, though we like to receive it, there are times when we are more reluctant to offer it. The devil tempts us to hold onto hurt, real or imagined. We are somehow more comfortable in the pain of hurt rather than in the warm glow of forgiveness. Somehow for most of us forgiveness has limits, not for ourselves of course, but for the other person. This is reflected in Peter’s question to Jesus in Sunday's gospel about how many times to forgive. Peter thinks he is being generous, as some Rabbinic teaching suggested 3 times rather than Peter’s offer of 7. Jesus’ response is meant not to give a specific number of 70x7, but to be an exaggeration of the standard of perfection as 7 was considered to be a perfect even a holy number; God created the world in 7 days, there are 7 major feasts in Judaism, among other things. In essence Jesus is saying forgiveness is unlimited. As he so often does in the gospel Jesus uses extravagant language and vivid imagery in the parable that follows to engage us and to make his point. In ancient times kings and emperors would look at how much was coming in in taxes and revenues. The 10,000 talents in Sunday's gospel, based on the UK's average annual salary of roughly £35,000, would be worth a staggering £7 billion. The official had obviously fallen way short of the king’s tax and revenue assessment and asks for more time to bring the money in, which was not unknown at the time. The king does not only grant the request for extension but wipes the slate clean. In contrast one denarius was the equivalent of a days wage for a labourer. The 100 denarii owed by the other King's servant was 100 days labour. In cash terms from £50 to £110. The first servant is absolved from billions whilst cruelly extracting the small debt from the second servant. In a sense the numbers are not important, the scale of the generosity of the king and the contrasting vindictiveness of the bad servant in ruthlessly exploiting the other is the point being made. Who are you more likely to be in this story, I suspect at times everyone. Sometimes we are the generous king, sometimes the wicked servant, when we gratefully absorb the gift of the forgiveness of God or the other person, but keep it locked inside ourselves. Sometimes we are the terrified second servant seized by the throat for fear of our lives, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Where are you with your capacity to forgive? Remember that every time we pray the Our Father we directly invite God to forgive us as we forgive others. Do we really mean this when we say it? It’s something that somehow trips off the tongue but its implications for each and every one of us is enormous. Remember, forgiveness is part of the “God-ness” in us. It is planted in us at our baptism when the first sin, original sin, is literally washed away. Forgiveness is about offering new beginning a beginning that, along with love, God willing, ends in eternal life. As always, please accept an assurance of my daily prayers for your needs and intentions. God bless and keep you. Fr Chris

2026 IS THE JUBILLEE OF THE PARISH OF ST URBAN. This Sunday after the 10.30 Mass we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Parish of St Urban. The Diocesan archive shows that from 1902 to 1951 the parish was a chapel-of-ease to the Cathedral and the chapel was on Brookfield Road. In 1951 a presbytery was purchased on Monkbridge Road, and the first Parish Priest was appointed - Fr Eugene Tehan. The present St Urban’s opened in 1963 and the old chapel became the parish hall, unfortunately the hall was later demolished. To mark this special year , during the Holy Year of 2025, an icon of St Urban was commissioned from Aidan Hart. Aidan has an international reputation as a maker of icons, he also painted the fresco in St Urban’s sanctuary, also the cross above the sanctuary. The icon of St Urban is my personal gift to the parish to mark both the Holy Year and the church’s jubilee. The icon will be dedicated and blessed at the 10.30 Mass this Sunday, also silver medals of the Archconfraternity of St Stephen will be presented to Lewis Chang and Jaikaila Benjamin to mark over 10 years of faithful altar service. After Mass there is a “bring and share” lunch together to mark the special year for our parish (a huge “thank you” to those who have contributed to this) . There will be a display of old photos and photo albums showing how the church and community has developed over the years. Recently I also discovered several liturgical items bought by the people of the parish over the years that were damaged and broken and therefore unusable. I have some of these repaired and restored and I hope to have them on display too. On a more mundane level, subject to the approval of the Diocese, a new central heating boiler for St Urban’s will be going in soon. I am also exploring how to repair to the noticeable crack in the masonry above the sanctuary. Do come along to the meeting room after Mass. Let us pay a tribute to those who have built our parish over the years, perhaps share your memories with your brothers and sisters, and make it a day to remember for future generations after us. Fr Chris

Want to know more about the Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes? Then come along to Lourdes Quiz/information sharing night, plus Pie & Peas, from 7pm at Holy Rosary Church Community Room, Chapeltown Road on Saturday 12th September. More information and tickets are available from Phil Marshall (07766 148375). It should be a great evening.

Tuesday 13 October 2026, 10am1:30pm, Cathedral Hall, Leeds. This event, hosted by Growing Old Grace-fully will explore Catholic Social Teaching regarding the blessings of later life, led by theologian Dr Peter Kevern. To book a place, please email growing.old.gracefully@dioceseofleeds.org.uk

A sincere thank you to those who have expressed an interest in singing. I have discussed this with Jenny and Silvia. To get things moving, for those who have expressed an interest at St Urban’s, please come up to the choir loft for 10am on Sunday the 11th of October. Please be assured that information will be sent out in advance. It will be great to make a start and see where things go. Concerning volunteers for Our Lady of Lourdes, watch this space!

A warm welcome to Silvia Leung who is new to the parish and has kindly volunteered to work alongside Jenny Hobbins as an organist at the 10.30 Mass at St Urban’s. Silvia will be familiarising herself with the St Urban’s instrument and the hymn repertoire over the coming weeks. I am sure that both Jenny and Silvia would welcome any requests for hymn favourites! I also wish to thank Tara McStay, and the wonderful musicians working with her, for their fantastic contribution. Fr Chris

If you come to church in the parish but are not a Catholic, or if you know someone who wishes to explore becoming a Catholic, we will be commencing classes this autumn with the intention of people being received into the church at Easter. Also Catholics who would like a “refresher” on the faith are welcome to join too. Please speak to me or email me Christopher.butler@dioceseofleeds.org.uk Fr Chris

We live in a society where the emphasis is on personal responsibility. However in some quarters, for some people who call for this, it is the last thing that they want to personally experience. Not a day goes by when we hear the question who is to "blame" for something, it seems that we cannot rest without pinning something on someone, even in those situations driven by circumstances rather than malice or neglect. Have you been in this situation, have you been treated unfairly? Looking back in your life, at some time have you blamed others for something, perhaps unfairly? If we are honest with ourselves for most of us there are times when we have done this. I certainly have. Somehow we don’t mind seeing the distortions in others, but we can’t bear to see them in ourselves. We critique and blame others, but we are terrified us being on the receiving end ourselves. The capacity to blame and shame is a very great and damaging temptation we often fall into, a great seduction on the part of Satan, the enemy, the father of lies. A distinguishing feature of the God of the Jews was that of justice. Gods in other pagan religions were whimsical and unpredictable. They could be nice or nasty on a whim. The God of the Old Testament could be harsh, but ultimately God was faithful to his people, regardless of their behaviour and apostacy. Uniquely God was and still is associated with justice, mercy and compassion; the care for widow, the orphan and the stranger. The God in Old Testament called upon his people to be like Him, including when needed calling people to account, rather than to blame, and then behave justly with mercy. We are one family united in God. We are created in the image and likeness of God, and as God cares for us and God reasonably expects us to care for each other. All of us will have had times in our lives when this care involves trying to help someone when we believe that things are not right in their lives. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the other person will deny that there is a problem and see our concern as amounting to interference. At other times, despite the best of our intentions, our concern can come across as blaming, nagging, and sanctimonious. It is a difficult business, but the difficulty does not absolve us of the duty of love; love, expressed with care and attention; as St Paul tells us, that as love always seeks what is good it is the one thing that cannot harm our neighbour, and he is right. All of the commandments of the God of the Old Testament, and then the Lord Jesus, turn on the hinge of love. This Sunday the context for the gospel is not that of blame and accusation, but persistence telling the truth and seeking to bring reconciliation and doing everything possible to make this possible. Jesus, though basing the need for witnesses on the standards of Mosaic law, something very familiar to his listeners, is not talking about courts of law but the need for us to persist in ensuring that no one is lost to our us , our community and, ultimately, to Him and the Father. Of course this is bound up in how each person uses the God given gift of free will, which is a precious gift from God himself. A person may choose to go their own way, as we all will have done at some point in our lives, but there is always a way back, and it is for us to keep the door open for our brothers and sisters. Up to the very end point of our earthly lives God does this for us, and we need to this for our beloved brothers and sisters too in everyday life. God gives us so many chances in life and we must to the same. With God’s help we can help people to change their hearts, minds and, God willing, ultimately their souls for the better, but we need to start with ourselves. As always, please accept an assurance of my daily prayers for your needs and intentions. God bless and keep you. Fr Chris

A gentle reminder of the need to make a donation for votive candles, and to pay for Mass cards at both of our churches, also to pay for items from the repository cupboard at St Urbans (restocking of which cost £80 last time around). If you do not have cash on you payments can be made on our Dona machines. Thank you.