 The
year end
Christmas was a joyful celebration. Mark and
Ton attended the carol service in the Church of England before the three of
us concelebrated with our own parish priest in the Catholic Church.
Christmas dinner- it has become a tradition!- took place once more in
Wappenbury, where six of us gathered to celebrate the joy of God-with-us.
After Christmas Con and Mark went to Dublin
and Belgium respectively to celebrate the New Year with their relatives and
friends. Ton stayed behind in Birmingham to hold the fort and do some work
on papers he was supposed to write. A bad cold disturbed his concentration
but he managed to do some work.
Carl
In the first week of January Carl stayed with
us for two nights. He had flown in from Rome to Bristol, visited his parents
in Devon and managed to spend one full day with us in Birmingham. It was
very pleasant to see him again and hear him share his experiences.
Afterwards Ton went for a few days to Cambridge to visit a friend and enjoy
the exquisite centre of that beautiful town.
 Interfaith
Week
Con and Ton took part in the Faith Walk
organised by the Broadway School, the biggest secondary school in Aston. Con
had arrived that morning from Dublin and was up and around again after only
a few hours sleep. We visited a mosque and a Christian church in Aston, a
Hindu temple in Handsworth and a Sikh temple in Lozells. Hindus and Sikhs
are few in Aston and they do not have their own places of worship. After a
simple lunch of sandwiches there was a panel discussion in the afternoon in
which Con took place.
The Aston Voice Residence Association (AVRA)
met again on the 22th of November. The important decisionwas made to ratify
the draft constitution and to postpone the election of officials until next
year. The committee that had prepared the meetings so far would continue to
do so. We also decided to have a fixed day for our monthly meetings,
starting in February 2012. It was hoped that this will improve the low
attendance.
In the meantime Mark as community champion of
Tesco kept himself busy with his fundraising activities for the Alzheimer
Society. There was another Motown in the Irish Centre on November 25 and
during the month of December various collections took place in the Tesco
store itself. At one such an occasion Mark dressed up as Aladdin to give the
fundraising campaign a more playful appearance.
 Christmas
As they do every year the Sacred Heart
Primary School performed a nativity play, which Ton attended. It is amazing
how the teachers get the infants to sing and perform so well. They also sang
Christmas carolls in our Catholic church and for fundraising purposes both
in Tesco and in the One-Stop Shopping Centre. The collection was for the
homeless in Birmingham.
We attended at least three Christmas dinners
before December 25 and were busy for days writing Christmas cards to family,
friends and fellow MSC. We hope we did not forget anyone as we tell
ourselves time and again that ours is a mission of inclusivity, not leaving
anyone out. So please feel included as we wish you a Merry Christmas, in
the spirit of joy of Christmas, and many blessings in the Year to come.
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