Taking place at Ampleforth College from Friday 22nd - Monday 25th August , the Youth 2000 Summer Festival provides young adults (aged 16-35) from across the UK the opportunity to come together and explore faith, build relationships and find hope. This four-day festival includes great speakers, social time, break-out sessions, Daily Mass, 24/7 Adoration and much more! Register at: youth2000.org/events/summerfestival2025. Tickets are also available for priests, religious, families and groups. For more information, email: events@youth2000.org .  If you would like to know more or fancy meeting up at Y2K (Saturday only), please contact Gill in the Parish Office or speak to Lauren Rayner (our flautist at Sunday morning Mass).

MARIAN GARDEN BLESSING THIS SUNDAY : Our new Marian Garden is starting to take shape and the statue of Mary is now firmly in place. You can see the garden adjacent to the car park and through the Parish Centre windows. We are looking for contributions of plants especially of the perennial variety. If you would like to contribute or offer help for the care of the garden please speak to or contact Andrea Nicholls via the Parish Office. The Marian Garden will be blessed by Father Steven THIS SUNDAY 20th July at the Parish Picnic.

OUR PARISH PICNIC – THIS WEEKEND! Sunday 20 th July, 12 to 3pm in the Parish Centre/Garden – Join friends (and make new ones), at our Parish Picnic. You can find sign-up sheets for our bring and share picnic food in the Narthex – We would especially like to encourage our parishioners from different continents to bring and share their traditional food for us all to sample. Please see poster in the Narthex for more details. All are welcome. The Parish Social Events Team would welcome any help with the set up and clear up of this event. (Saturday evening set up).  SUMMER RAFFLE: 🎟️ Tickets on sale at £1 per strip. GUESS THE NAME OF THE TEDDY : 🧸 Why not try your luck at guessing the teddy’s name – the winner gets to give teddy a new home. £1 per guess. HOW MANY SWEETS ARE IN THE JAR? : 🍬 Are you up for the challenge of guessing how many sweets you think the jar might contain? £1 per guess. All winners will be announced at the Parish Picnic. All proceeds go towards our Parish funds. Please contact Annette Allsop on 07717756770 for more details

The story of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary complements the story of the Good Samaritan, which immediately precedes it in Luke's Gospel. Both stories are unique to Luke. The story of the Samaritan opens with the words “a certain man.” Today's reading opens with the words “a certain woman.” The Samaritan is an example of how a disciple should see and act. Mary is an example of how a disciple should listen. Mary, a woman, is a marginalized person in society, like the Samaritan. Both do what is not expected of them. As a woman, Mary would be expected, like Martha, to prepare hospitality for a guest. Here again Jesus breaks with the social conventions of his time. Just as a Samaritan would not be a model for neighbourliness, so a woman would not sit with the men around the feet of a teacher. Both stories exemplify how a disciple is to fulfil the dual command which begins chapter 10, love of God (Mary) and love of neighbour (the Samaritan). These are the two essentials of life in the kingdom. By using the examples of a Samaritan and a woman, however, Jesus is saying something more. Social codes and boundaries were strict in Jesus' time. Yet to love God with all one's heart and one's neighbour requires breaking those rules. The Kingdom of God is a society without distinctions and boundaries between its members. It is a society that requires times for seeing and doing and times for listening and learning at the feet of a teacher.

To help sustain and nourish the faith of Christian seafarers; To encourage the Christian seafarer to witness to his faith; To dialogue with non-Christian religions; To promote justice for those seafarers who are being exploited.

OLK HEALING SERVICE: The next Healing Service will be on Tuesday 15th July at 7pm in St Mary’s Catholic Church, Horsforth. This is a beautiful opportunity to pray for healing for yourself or others, whether physical, psychological, or spiritual. Remember Jesus is alive, and miracles can and do happen! Everyone is welcome, including non-Catholics and those of no faith - all that is needed is an openness to Jesus.

Sunday 20th July 2-4pm You are invited to enter the beautiful house and grounds of The Briery for an afternoon of fun and entertainment. Receive a glass of fizz on arrival, browse and shop at the many stalls; craft cards, jewellery, Fairtrade, books, cakes, tombola…and then enjoy a delicious cream tea.

As Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem, he is confronted by a scholar of the law who wants to test him. The lawyer asks what we must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks the expert to answer this question, “What is written in the law?” The man is caught and responds with Deuteronomy 6:5. Love of God and love of neighbour are what is required for eternal life. Jesus' response is simple, “Do this and you will live.” The lawyer tries another question: Who is my neighbour whom I must love like myself? This was a trick question. Jesus responds with the parable, the Good Samaritan. The traveller in this parable is identified only as “a certain man.” Luke uses this phrase in many of his parables so that the audience, could identify with the man. After an attack from bandits, a man is left for dead, naked and bleeding on the side of the road. A priest comes along, instead of helping, he crosses the road. Another religious person comes along. His reaction is the same as the priest's. Both choose to not find out if the man is alive. A third comes along. Instead, he is a Samaritan, an Israelite's most hated neighbour. The Samaritan goes over to the injured man, cleans his wounds, puts him on his own animal, takes him to an inn to recover, and promises to pay all his expenses. The hated enemy is the compassionate neighbour in this parable. Jesus has demolished all boundary expectations. It is not social definitions such as class, religion, gender, or ethnicity that determines who is our neighbour. A neighbour is a person who acts with compassion toward another. The point becomes not who deserves to be loved as I love myself, but that I become a person who treats everyone with compassion. When Jesus asks the lawyer who was the neighbour in the story, he can't bring himself to say it was the Samaritan. All he says is that it was “the one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus' response was similar to that of the first discussion: “Go and do likewise.” The lawyer, and we, know what is right. The key is to do it.

This year our retreat at The Briery will take place over the weekend of 31 October to 2 November . The cost will be in the region of £190 -£200 which includes all meals from Friday teatime to Sunday Lunch. If you think you may be interested then please contact Christine Szczepanski via the Parish Office.