Noticeboard

NOTICES
for SUNDAY 9 AUGUST 2026

Welcome to Visitors
We extend a warm welcome to those visiting us over the summer. We hope you have a wonderful stay in Edinburgh and invite you to make Edinburgh Jesuit Church your spiritual home while you are here.

Sunday Ministries
We are currently preparing the new Sunday ministries rota which runs from September to December. If you would like to be a Welcomer, Reader or Eucharistic Minister, please let us know. Training is offering. ejc@jesuit.org.uk

Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
As this major feast day (a “solemnity” and holyday of obligation) falls on a Saturday this year, it is transferred to the Sunday – 16th August. Masses are at the usual Sunday times.

Sunday Ministries
We are currently preparing the new Sunday ministries rota which runs from September to December. If you would like to be a Welcomer, Reader or Eucharistic Minister, please let us know. Training is offered. ejc@jesuit.org.uk

Organ Music at 10.30am Mass Today
Before Mass: J S Bach (1685-1750) Adagio from Toccata and Fugue in C major BWV 564  
Communion: Flor Peeters (1903-86) Nun ruhen alle Wälder
Recessional: Louis Marchand (1669-1732) Fond d’Orgue     

Choral Scholarships
With funding from a generous bequest, four years ago we set up eight choral scholarships to sing at the Sunday 10.30am Mass during University term time. Auditions for next year’s scholarships will be held on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 September and are open to anyone in full-time education from age 16+. Most of our recent scholars have been undergraduates or Masters students at Edinburgh University. If there are any young singers who might be interested, please pass on this information. There is a flyer available in the narthex.

Pope Leo – First Encyclical Letter
Pope Leo’s first teaching letter (Magnifica humanitas) on Catholic Social Doctrine, human dignity and building a civilization of love, is on sale in the bookshop at £6.95

Songs of Unity Workshop & Concert
Saturday 29th August
Bring your voice to a day of hope, harmony, and connection. On Saturday 29th August, our Choral Director, Kim Edgar, leads Songs of Unity at Stockbridge Parish Church. During the workshop (11.30am to 5pm, bring your own lunch) you’ll learn uplifting, accessible songs. You will then form a special "scratch choir" to perform a few pieces live at the evening concert (7 to 9 pm). No singing experience or sheet-music reading is required – all are welcome, and everything will be taught by ear, though lyric sheets will be provided (and music for some pieces, in case this would be helpful). Tickets are offered on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale from the Edinburgh Fringe Box Office 0131 226 0026 or at edfringe.com (search Kim Edgar). Reserve your space with an exclusive 25% discount by emailing kimtedgar@hotmail.com before 15 August.

Transfiguration Bas-Relief
Edinburgh University has been helping with some investigative work on the large bas-relief of the Transfiguration in the narthex. It seems to be a Mechelen alabaster altarpiece dating from around 1550. Does anyone know where this came from or when it was installed?

New Pews
The first batch of new benches has been delivered. Note has been taken of the feedback received after parishioners had the opportunity to try out the prototype bench – so the angle of the backrest has been increased and the height of the bench has been reduced. People come in different shapes and sizes so the benches will not completely suit everyone but it is to be hoped that most will find them suitably comfortable for Mass and prayer. The benches are made of American White Oak – a hardwood which will last many decades. The design is simple and reflects the style of wall panelling (in contrasting Australian Red Oak) and the French three-centred arches of the St Joseph and Lady Chapels.

Special Collection
Next Sunday, 16 August, we are invited to support the Care Fund & Holy Places annual collection. Half of each donation will support charitable projects through the Archdiocesan Care Fund, while the other half will support Christian holy places and communities in the Holy Land. Donate online at bit.ly/carefundholyplaces

The Runciman Murals
On Wednesday 12 August at 6.30pm, there will be an evening of short talks at St Patrick's Church, Cowgate, about the remarkable eighteenth-century murals in the apse of the church by Scottish painter Alexander Runciman with Professor Viccy Coltman, Dr Rory Lamb and Teresa Keenan (art historian and project manager). Followed by tea and coffee. All welcome.

Help bring the Children to the Good Shepherd!
Are you interested in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and want to learn more? Enquire about our training day for assistants: a day to prepare volunteers to be involved prior to undertaking the full training course. Register your interest at forms.cloud.microsoft/e/8RU6YraThh

Music for the Homeless Jesus on Monday 17 August with the Schola Cantorum of St Mary’s Cathedral. This concert is inspired by Timothy Schmlaz’s Homeless Jesus sculpture, located outside St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral. Part of the Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts, the evening will contemplate homelessness and marginalisation through a programme of choral music that speaks of mercy, compassion, and hope. Tickets £15 (£10 child). Book at bit.ly/4wttcCd

National Pilgrimage to Whithorn
Mass will be celebrated on the beach at 4.00pm on Sunday 30 August by Bishop Frank Dougan (Galloway). For those unable to walk to the beach, there will be Mass at 4.45pm in St Martin and St Ninian's Church, Whithorn, celebrated by Bishop Joseph Toal (Motherwell).

National Pilgrimage to Carfin
Sunday 6 September at 3.00pm. Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop William Nolan (Glasgow), joined by bishops, priests, religious and faithful from across the country. Together we will gather in prayer before Our Lady, asking her intercession for our families, our communities, our nation, and for peace throughout the world.

National Youth Pilgrimage
The National Youth Pilgrimage (ages 18–35) will take place on Saturday 26 September at Pluscarden Abbey. This year’s focus is on religious and monastic life and will include a tour of the Abbey, Q&A with the monks, talks on vocation, and a Vigil Mass with Archbishop Leo Cushley. Young people are invited to travel with the archdiocese. To register contact youth.office@staned.org.uk

Walking the Way
Walk in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims by experiencing the Fife Pilgrim Way. The “mini-caminos” take place each Saturday, beginning on Saturday 22 August. To find out times, meeting points and more details, contact Deacon Pat at columbasway@gmail.com

Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts
Part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Festival of the Sacred Arts is a collaboration of Christian churches and individuals to celebrate Christian culture and tradition in music, visual arts, poetry and performance. It opens at St Giles Cathedral at 11am next Sunday, 16 August.

·       On Monday 17 August there will be a concert of the winning entries in this year’s Young Composers’ Competition, adjudicated by composer Cecilia McDowall – at Canongate Kirk at 1.15pm.

·       A Hymn on Divine Musick: Britten’s Baroque Songs will be performed at St Vincent’s Chapel Stockbridge on Tuesday 18 August at 1.15pm.

·       Young Religious Poets’ Competition Final is on Wednesday 19 August 2026 at 1.15pm at Canongate Kirk with poets Christine De Luca and Robert Crawford.

·       For a Thousand Tongues: Celebrating ‘The Musical Wesleys’ – a concert marking the 150th anniversary of the death of English sacred music composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley with the Sacred Arts Festival Singers, director Calum Robertson, organist Max Carsley and a brass ensemble from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is on Wednesday 19 August at 7.30pm here at Sacred Heart Church.

·       Sir James MacMillan introduces a performance of Ninian: a concerto at St Giles Cathedral on Thursday 20 August at 7.30pm.

·       The creator of our new stained glass windows of local saints, Sarah Galloway, will be in conversation with Fr Adrian Porter sj, on Friday 21 August at 10.30am and repeated at 3.00pm.

·       To be a Pilgrim - Words and Music in Search of God is performed on Friday 21 August at 7.30pm at Old Saint Paul's Scottish Episcopal Church.

These are just some highlights of Copies of the Festival of the Sacred Arts. Programmes are available in the narthex and online at edinburghsacredartsfestival.org

Vocations Weekend at Nunraw Abbey
An invitation for single males (upper age limit 55) to come and share in the life of Cistercian monks at Sancta Maria Abbey, Nunraw – Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August. Prayer, reading, meditation, lectures, and walks. Contact whitecastle200@yahoo.co.uk for more information.

Universalis
The readings for Sunday and weekday Masses are available free online at the Universalis website. For a one-off payment of £9.99, you can access all the Mass texts and readings for the entire year and also daily prayer, the Divine Office of the Church. universalis.com

Bookshop
Our bookshop sells Mass cards, Sunday and weekday Missals, ESV Bibles (the translation now used at Mass), a wide range of books and booklets, as well as devotional objects such as rosaries, crucifixes and statues. It is open after Sunday Masses. We also have a second-hand book section with books on theology, church history and spirituality and more. Contactless payment is accepted. We still need volunteers to staff the bookshop for about 15 minutes after Mass on Sundays. If you can help, please get in touch at ejc@jesuit.org.uk

Financial Support for Sacred Heart Church
We rely on the generous financial support of those who worship in this church to keep the building and our mission in Edinburgh afloat. There are four ways you can contribute your Sunday Collection or donation:
1 By setting up a standing order with your bank (this can be done online if you have a banking app or online banking). Standing order forms are available in the narthex – just hand this to your bank.
2 By making a contactless donation on the new machine in the narthex.
3 By making an online donation.
4 By making a cash donation in the collection.
If you are a UK taxpayer, please also sign a Gift Aid form – this enables us to claim from the government an additional 25p for every £1 you donate at no extra expense to yourself. Gift Aid forms are available in the narthex. The new contactless machine also allows you to Gift Aid.

Please remember in your prayers those of our parish who are sick or housebound including Mary Cherry, Patrick Conboy, Sandra Fleming, Benedicte Gasparde, Ion Luncanu, John McManus, and Betty Saria.

Edinburgh Jesuit Centre Mailing List
Each Friday afternoon, we send out a short email reminder of concerts, talks, retreats and other events at Sacred Heart Church.  Join the mailing list by emailing ejcpastoral@jesuit.org.uk  You can unsubscribe at any time.

Events in the Archdiocese
Click here for a full list of forthcoming events in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.