From the Rectory
FROM THE RECTOR
Dear Friends,
Diocesan Lent Appeal 2012
It is sometimes said, “that charity begins at home.” Given the current economic climate and the vulnerability of the poorest in our society, you might have some sympathy with such a view. Of course we need to look after those in our own country whose poverty and vulnerability are a result of social inequality in our society. But surely, we still have a responsibility to help others in our world who are also victims of a global inequality and injustice.
During this forthcoming Lent members of the Church are being invited to support the Diocesan link with the Church in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and help to empower women in society.
The Diocesan link goes back to the time when the Bishop of Norwich was Launcelot Fleming, and the Archbishop of PNG was David Hand who had grown up in Tatterford near Fakenham. David had been sent as a missionary to PNG in 1946. He later became its first Archbishop.
By 2007, there was a wholly indigenous priesthood, three religious orders and PNG missionaries working overseas. Today there are over 140 parishes, with hundreds of associated outstations and chapels, mostly in remote mountain, coastal or island areas. The Anglican Church, more often than not, provides the only education and health services for most of these communities.
This year's Lent Appeal will be used to fund care and support for some of the 54,000 people who live with HIV/AIDS resulting in 1,300 deaths per year. Help will be given in providing access to anti retro viral treatment, TB and STI treatment and to deliver appropriate and effective education.
Any funds raised will also be used to fund literacy projects across the country. Most women in PNG speak 2 or 3 languages yet half of them are illiterate . This is not due to a lack of intelligence but lack of opportunity. Poverty means they cannot afford school fees or reading/writing materials. Illiteracy and low status are wrongs that feed each other and make women more vulnerable to sexual abuse and HIV AIDS.
The appeal also seeks to provide women with sewing machines and the skills to use them. This will help them become independent and equal citizens. They can learn life skills as well as how to make clothes, bags and curtains. Once made, the women can then sell their own excess items to help support their families. The ability to earn their own living also gives them a voice in a male-dominated society.
Lent is regarded as time of preparation to celebrate Holy Week and Easter. Bishop Jonathan writes that, “Traditionally, we seek to enhance our mental and spiritual preparation with discipline: by giving up something that we value and enjoy but which is for us something of a luxury, and by doing something extra. Both of these can be focused in some extra charitable giving – often the value of the luxury we are doing without. “
Whether our charity begins at home or abroad the important thing is that we try and help the most poor and vulnerable and are mindful of the needs of others. And if we cannot give financially, then perhaps we can give of our time in service and in prayer for those whose needs are great than our own.
Every blessing,
Fr. Howard
Rector:
Father Howard Stoker SSC
The Rectory, Church Street, HOLT,
Norfolk NR25 6BB
Tel: 01263 712 048
Rest Day - Wednesdays
Rectors of the Church of
St Andrew the Apostle Holt
1306 Thomas de Schotisham
1338 William de Welyngham
1349 William de Rokham
1360 Richard atte Lane
1372 Richard de Trickingham
1375 William Goodwyn de Bergh
1383 William Woolward
1388 William de Sheringham
1422 William Walkelyn
1466 William Weston
1505 Richard Jekkell
1526 William Moore
1534 William Boleyn ( Uncle of Queen Anne Boleyn )
1543 Thomas Bury
1561 James Bilney
1583 George Leedes
1630 Hamond Claxton ( Ejected 1646 Restored 1660 )
John Bond ( Intruded 1647 - 1660 )
1663 Thomas Underwood
1688 Thomas Burlingham
1722 Henry Briggs D.D. ( Chaplain to King George II )
1743 William Smith ( Resigned )
1750 Joshua Smith
1804 Joshua Smith
1828 William Henry Parry
1837 Humphrey Jackson
1853 Edward Brumell
1902 Lewis Bostock Radford ( Afterwards Bishop of Goulburn N.S.W.)
1909 Herbert Alfred King ( Hon.Canon of Norwich, Proctor in Convocation )
1947 John Roy Southern
1962 Giles Butler Hunt
1968 Jeremy David Saville
1974 Stephen Simpson Gregory
1996 David Lawrence-March
1999 Howard Charles Stoker SSC
