Christmas 2025 in St Patrick’s West Hendon
Induction of Fr Maciej Michalek as St Patrick’s Parish Priest – Friday 5th December 2025
Fr Bartosz’s last Mass – 27.09.2025
INTRODUCTION
This is not my last Holy Mass. It is a Mass in which I want to thank God for these past six years. I thank God for each and every one of you. I thank Him that after these six years I am a better man and a better priest. That is what I believe, and that is what I feel. And this is also your gift to me. Today I want to offer my gratitude to God for this.
And if I may add something from my heart: gratitude is always a little like love. It grows quietly, often unnoticed, but it changes everything around it. My gratitude to God for you is like that — it is tender, deep, and lasting. It is the memory of faces, words, smiles, and prayers that I will always carry with me.
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Homily – Thanksgiving and Farewell Mass
Parting. Saying goodbye. Separation. Even if we are not consciously afraid, deep inside we instinctively know that every meeting and every farewell could be the last one. Even if we do not think of parting as a loss, our hearts carry the awareness that it may be the last time we look into each other’s eyes. Every parting – even a temporary one – carries uneasiness. Will we return? Will things be as they were? Will everything be alright?
Perhaps we would like to live carelessly: without change, without sacrifice, without uncertainty, without farewells and journeys into the unknown. But the prophet Amos warns us today: “Woe [WĄ] to the complacent in Zion, and to the secure on the mountain of Samaria”. Complacency that does not care for others. Complacency that lulls the heart to sleep. Complacency that turns our eyes away from Lazarus lying at the gates of our lives. Complacency that, in the end, leaves us perishing in loneliness – like the rich man in the parable.
Maybe then it is better to accept parting. Better to embrace loss, farewell, separation, and longing – because they purify the heart and open it to what is essential. Those who could not accept parting, who could not let go, were defeated. Lot’s wife, who looked back. Orpheus, who turned to look at Eurydice. To part means to let go – but not alone.
Because we need a gesture of tenderness that helps us through separation. In Bali, families bless those departing with rice and holy water. In New Zealand, the Māori press their foreheads together in the hongi, sharing “the breath of life.” In Poland, one can still sometimes hear: “Go with God.”
I know how important such signs are – recently I asked the Missionaries of Charity Sisters to make the sign of the cross on my forehead before my journey. We need this tenderness in which God Himself is present. For only He gives the hope that separation is not the end, but a passage.
St. Paul, in the second reading, says to Timothy: “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith.” These are words for the road – not only for the young bishop of Ephesus, but also for each of us. Farewells have meaning if we take with us faith, love, and gentleness.
Today parting becomes my own experience. I bid farewell to you after six years. Six beautiful years. You accompanied me in silence, never imposing yourselves. And I tried to accompany you – especially with prayer. Our relationship has been like a piece of bread. Not too fresh, so that it burns the mouth. Not too stale, so that it breaks the teeth. Sometimes with holes in the dough, sometimes with a burnt crust – but always bread to be shared. Such, I believe, should be the relationship between pastor and parishioners: simple, ordinary, nourishing.
I thank you with all my heart for this piece of friendship we have shared. For your presence. For your prayer. For every Mass, for every hour we spent together on our knees before the Lord hidden in the Eucharist. Thank you for all you have done for the Church, for this parish, and for me.
Finally, let us return to the Gospel. The rich man is lost because he never noticed Lazarus. And Lazarus, though poor and helpless, was carried into the bosom of Abraham. That is the most beautiful farewell we can imagine: to be embraced. May our farewell – though difficult today – also carry such hope. That one day, after all our “Go with God’s,” we may meet again in the embrace of the Father.
Amen.
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THE END OF FAREWELL MASS
I don’t know if you remember, but six years ago I said something I would like to return to today. I spoke then about the gesture of kissing the altar at the beginning and at the end of the Holy Mass. In this gesture of kissing the altar, each time I place a symbolic kiss on each one of you. We need this form of tenderness that says: you matter to me, I want to remember you, you are not indifferent to me.
So let this kiss placed upon the altar be precisely such a gesture of tenderness: you matter to me, I want to remember you, and you will never be indifferent to me.
And let me add this: every kiss upon the altar will always carry your faces, your prayers, your presence. It is my way of telling you that you are written in my heart. Wherever God sends me, that kiss will remain a bridge between us – a silent promise that I carry you with me before Him.
The 40 Hours Adoration of Blessed Sacrament 2025
St Patrick’s Parish Pilgrimage to Aylesford 26 July 2025
First Holy Communion celebration
11th May 2025
St Patrick’s Parish Pilgrimage to Poland 17th June 2024
Day 1
A guided tour of Poznan. Drive to Miloslaw. Accommodation in the hotel resort ‘Bagatelka’. Evening BBQ.
Day 2, 11.06.2024 ( TUESDAY ) – GNIEZNO – LICHEŃ
Breakfast. Drive to Gniezno – the first capital of Poland. Meeting the guide – a tour of Gniezno Cathedral including The Gniezno Doors and the silver relic coffin of St Adalbert (Sw. Wojciech), and the Old Town Market Square. Next destination Lichen. Initially a visit to Grablin Forest where the apparitions of Our Lady occurred, followed by a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Lichen, located at the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows, Sorrowful Queen of Poland. We will also visit the Church of St. Dorothy, the tombs of Tomasz Klossowski and Mikolaj Sikatka (visionaries of the Holy Virgin), the Chapel of the Holy Cross, other significant chapels and monuments, the main nave of the basilica and chapels of the lower basilica. Individual free time. An opportunity to participate in the Holy Mass. Time for private prayer. Departure and return to Miloslaw. Evening meal. Retire for the night.
Day 3, 12.06.2024 ( WEDNESDAY ) – KALISZ – CZĘSTOCHOWA
Breakfast. Meeting with mayor of Miloslaw.
Travel to Kalisz. A visit to the Shrine of St. Joseph and an opportunity to participate in the Holy Mass. Next we travel to Czestochowa. Allocation of accomodation. Evening meal. Opportunity to participate in the Apel Jasnogorski (the Call of Jasna Gora.) Return to the hotel. Retire for the night.)
Day 4, 13.06.2024 ( THURSDAY ) – CZĘSTOCHOWA – WIELICZKA
Visit and witness the unveiling of the Miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Return to hotel. Breakfast and hotel check-out. Visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa on Jasna Gora. Holy Mass. Guided tour, including the Knights’ Hall, the museum commemorating the 600th anniversary of Jasna Gora, the Bastion of St Roch and the Basilica of Jasna Gora. A trip to Wieliczka and a guided tour of the Salt Mine. End of tour. Next destination Krakow. Evening meal – dining out. Allocation of hotel accomodation. Retire for the night.
Day 5, 14.06.2024 ( FRIDAY ) – KRAKÓW – ŁAGIEWNIKI
Breakfast. Meeting guide and a full day of sightseeing, including Wawel Hill (Wzgórze Wawelskie): notably Wawel Cathedral, the royal crypts and tombs of Polish saints, rulers and eminent national heroes, the crypt of the presidential couple, the Sigismund Bell (Dzwon Zygmunta) which hangs in the Sigismund Bell Tower, Wawel Castle (viewed from outside) and its arcaded courtyard, ruins of castle fortifications and a narration of the legend of the Wawel Dragon. A walking tour of Kanoniczna and Grodzka Streets, including the churches of St. Andrew, St. Peter and St. Paul, the Basilica and Monastery of St. Francis, the Bishop’s Palace, Collegium Maius, the Main Market Square and Town Hall Tower, the Krakow Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), St. Mary’s Basilica and the Main Altar by Wit Stwosz, Florianska Street and St. Florian’s Gate (Brama Florianska), Barbican (Barbakan), Matejki Square (Plac Matejki) and the Grunwaldzki Monument (Pomnik Grunwaldzki). We will also visit Kazimierz, the historical Jewish and Christian district of Krakow. A walking tour through the Christian quarter of Kazimierz, including the Church on the Rock (Kosciol na Skalce) – the National Pantheon and crypts of distinguished Poles and a walk through the Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz, visiting the Old Synagogue. Next item on the agenda will be Lagiewniki, where we will visit the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy and St. Faustyna, also the Shrine of St. John Paul II – an opportunity to participate in the Holy Mass followed by sightseeing. Evening meal – dining out. Return to hotel. Retire for the night.
Day 6, 15.06.2024 ( SATURDAY)
Private meeting with Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, secretary and best friend of St John Paul II.
Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop emeritus of Krakow. He began his pastoral ministry as parochial vicar, and in October 1966 Archbishop Wojtyła appointed him as his chaplain and secretary. When Cardinal Wojtyła of Krakow was elected Pope, he appointed Mons. Dziwisz as his personal secretary; he held this office until the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005.
On 7 February 1998 he was appointed titular Bishop of San Leone and Adjunct Prefect of the Pontifical Household. He was ordained Bishop by John Paul II on 19 March 1998. On 29 September 2003 he was raised to the dignity of Archbishop.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed the new Cardinal as Archbishop of Krakow on 3 June 2005.
Easter of St Patrick’s 2024
Celebrate 100th Birthday Anniversary – Mary Kenny
Fr Bartosz met with the Pope last Wednesday and asked him for a benediction and prayer for all our friends and St Wojciech’s, St Cuthbert’s and St Patrick’s parishes co-workers. 🙏🙏🙏
Pilgrimage to Aylesford – 19th August 2023
St Patrick’s Day 2023
St Patrick’s Day 2022
Altar Servers (both St Patrick and St Wojciech) trip to Laxton Hall
17th September 2022
There was the Eucharist, catechesis, “liturgical training”, a campfire and a lot of running (Laxton Hall is endless pastures full of sheep and stretching to the horizon). Altar servers are an important part of our community.
