MARCH 7TH, 2021
THIRD
SUNDAY OF LENT
MASS (OLHoC): 6.00pm (Saturday)
(40th wedding anniversary of John
and Jackie Devine)
MASS (St Joseph’s): 9.00am (People of the Parish)
MASS (OLHoC): 11.00am (Samuel, Yvette, Yves and Michael Sinnott)
• MONDAY, March 8th
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Thanksgiving birthday of Vicky & Charmaine)
Followed by Exposition & Confessions 9.30am
– 10.00am
RCIA Zoom meeting: 7.30pm
•TUESDAY, March
9th - Feria
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Andrew Thomas Meers RIP)
Followed by Exposition & Confessions 9.30am
– 10.00am
• WEDNESDAY, March 10th - Feria
MASS
(OLHoC): 10.00am (Tomas Horvath RIP)
STATIONS OF THE CROSS (St Joseph’s): 12 noon
• THURSDAY, March 11th – Feria
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Gwen Farrelly
RIP)
Followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions 9.30am – 10.00am
REQUIEM MASS of Sister Bridget Patricia Milligan
(OLHoC): 12 noon
Followed by the Burial at Hawkinge
Cemetery
• FRIDAY, March 12th – Feria
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am
(The intentions of Ursula and Paul
Cross)
STATIONS OF THE CROSS (OLHoC): 12 noon
• SATURDAY, March 13th – Feria
Holy Communion Class (OLHoC): 9.00am
MASS (St Joseph’s): 10.00am (Brian Bucktrout RIP)
Followed by Confessions
10.30 – 11.00am
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Next Sunday: March 14th
FOURTH
SUNDAY OF LENT (Laetare Sunday)
MASS
(OLHoC): 6.00pm (Saturday) (Mary Heath RIP)
MASS
(OLHoC): 9.00am (Carmel Reynolds RIP)
MASS
(OLHoC): 11.00am (People of the Parish)
LENT - Lent is a 40-day
fast — a reference to the time Jesus spent being tempted in the desert. It’s a
time when we can prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Christ’s death. Our
observance of Lent culminates in the solemn celebrations of Holy Week when on
Palm Sunday we follow Christ from his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem to the
foot of the Cross as sorrowful bystanders to His Passion, before rolling back
the stone of the empty tomb and the joy of the Resurrection. The six-week period,
excluding Sundays, is dedicated to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in
preparation for this great celebration of Christ’s Paschal Mystery in the
Easter Triduum.
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STATIONS OF THE CROSS – during Lent our parish can follow the Stations
of the Cross - at 12 noon on Wednesday at St Joseph’s and at 12 noon on Friday
at Our Lady, help of Christians. A “station” is a place on a journey where one
makes a stop – and we follow Jesus along the path of sorrow – the Via Dolorosa - from Pilate’s Court to
the tomb, and we make a stop at fourteen places to be with Jesus on this way of
suffering. The Stations of the Cross is a devotion that can reach deep into our
hearts and prepares us to enter into the heart of the Paschal Mystery at
Easter.
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PRAYERS – please pray for those unwell in hospital at this time including Louisa Schetter. Good news this week for Michael Lyons, who is has been moved to Whitstable Hospital from the William Harvey as part of his recovery.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sr Bridget Milligan, Martha Bennett-Blowes, Fr Richard Diala and Fr Paul Sanders.
Also for Frank
McSwiggan, who died on Tuesday morning at the William Harvey Hospital. Frank is
fondly remembered by many in our community especially for his cooking at the
many fetes and fairs held here in the parish and at Glendale, where he lived.
Frank, and his wife, Else, who died in 2019, are now together at peace with all
the angels and saints.
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PARISH FINANCE COUNCIL – Applications for Finance Council are now closed. All applicants will be contacted this week about arrangements for the next meeting.
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OFFETORY AND
FINANCE – last
week’s collection (excluding standing orders) was £476.30 and the collection
for the Cafod Lent Family Fast Day will be announced next week as there are
still some late envelopes coming in. Please
place them in the collection basket or put your offering through the door of
the presbytery at 41 Guildhall Street.
THANK YOU to everyone who continues to send
in their Mass donations, weekly collections and other very generous payments to
the parish funds and who give to all our collections or boxes for the Poor,
Holy Souls, Church Maintenance, Candles, Flowers, SVP, World Hunger and the Renovation
Fund.
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GIFT AID – George Pound, our Gift Aid co-ordinator, is in the
process of delivering the new Gift Aid envelopes to parishioners. If you have
not yet received yours, please contact the parish office on folkestone@rcaos.org.uk or see
George. If you would like to join the Parish Gift Aid scheme, whereby we get an
additional 25% of your donations from the Government, then please contact the
parish office so we can get you set up.
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OUR LADY AND ST JOSEPH’S RENOVATION APPEAL
UPDATE
Thank you to all who have donated to the Renovation
Appeal. To date, we have received £10,053 in donations.
All donations received will only be used for the
renovation and maintenance of Our Lady and St Joseph’s churches.
You can donate via cheque payable to “The Parish of
Our Lady and St Joseph, Folkestone” and placed in the Collection Basket at
Sunday Mass in an envelope marked ‘Renovation Appeal’ or posted through the
Parish Office door at the Presbytery at 41 Guildhall Street on any day or via
bank transfer to The Parish of Our Lady and St Joseph Folkestone, Sort Code
52-41-42 and Account Number 08605556.
Alternatively, you can use our Just
Giving page online, a link is on our parish website, which allows for payments
to be made by credit and debit card or by PayPal with no fees at
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/olsj-folkestone
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ONLINE ‘BUILDING A BETTER MARRIAGE’
Dear husband and
wife!
During the
restrictions due to the Covid pandemic, an online ‘Building a Better
Marriage’ opportunity is being held from 10am -1pm on Saturday March 13th
2021.
The course offered means that you can attend the course from your own living room and there is no group sharing! Recent Building a Better Marriage courses held in 2020 received the following comments from married couples who logged on …
‘The topics were chosen well and we could really relate to them. The personal stories you shared were very insightful and helped us to reflect on our own relationships more deeply… It was relaxed and you put us at ease, being friendly and personable...’
‘We thoroughly enjoyed attending the course and have certainly been practicing a few of the things we learnt already. It puts a smile on our faces when we do because we know that we are certainly richer from participating in the course.’
For further information contact: Carole - Tel: 07983524727 - email: mflkent@rcaos.org.uk
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BAPTISMS – the guidance has now changed and the rule of six will no
longer apply. The number of people attending a Baptism may be equal to the
Covid safe capacity of the building. If you would like to arrange a Baptism
after Lent, then please contact the Parish Office to make an appointment at the
earliest opportunity.
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PARISH OFFICE – please remember the Parish Office is only staffed occasionally as our Secretary is on flexi-furlough, so be patient with any requests made or email folkestone@rcaos.org.uk
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ST JOSEPH NOVENA 11-19th MARCH
This week on Thursday, 11th March, we begin a Novena to St Joseph. Join us in praying the novena to the humble head of the Holy Family, foster father of Jesus, patron saint of workers, and the patron of the universal church.
Novena to St. Joseph
Glorious
St. Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to you do we raise our hearts
and hands, to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the heart of
Jesus all the help and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare,
particularly the grace of a happy death and the special favour we now implore.
(Mention your petition.)
Glorious St. Joseph, through the
love you had for Jesus and for the glory of His Name, hear our prayers and
obtain our petitions. Jesus, Mary and Joseph assist us in our need. Amen.
Remember,
O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone
who implored your help and sought your intercession was left unassisted. Full
of confidence in your power I fly unto you and beg your protection. Despise
not, O Guardian of the Redeemer, my humble supplication, but in your bounty,
hear and answer me. Amen.
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PATHWAYS TO CHRIST’S PASSION – Father Victor Vella, Parish Priest at Holy Innocents’ Church Orpington,
has organised a series of webinars on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of
Christ, in order to prepare his parish for Holy Week. The opportunity to
participate is now open to anyone who wishes to attend, especially Southwark
parishioners, through the joy of modern technology.
The webinars will take place on three consecutive Wednesdays in March and be
led by the renowned biblical scholar, Father Henry Wansbrough, a Benedictine
monk from Ampleforth Abbey:
· The Passion & Death of Jesus according to the Synoptic Gospels on Wednesday 10 March 2021 at 7.45pm - 9.15pm
· The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus according to John on Wednesday 17 March 2021 at 7.45pm - 9.15pm
· The Death and Resurrection of Jesus according to the writings of Paul on Wednesday 24th March 2021 at 7.45pm - 9.15pm
These free
webinars offer an opportunity to increase personal insights into the historical
context and theology expressed in the different accounts, with a view to
understanding what the Resurrection means for the mission of the Church and for
our spirituality. After each lecture there will be an opportunity for
those attending to ask the speaker questions.
Father Henry Wansbrough has written over twenty books. He edited the New
Jerusalem Bible (1985) and recently single-handedly the Revised New Jerusalem
Bible (2019). He has lectured in Africa, Australia and North America. He was
for twelve years Master of St Benet’s Hall in Oxford also Chair of the Oxford
University Faculty of Theology and more ecently Professor of Biblical Studies
at Liverpool Hope University. He has served on several Vatican Commissions,
including the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the Anglican Roman Catholic
international Commission.
Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments, described Father Henry Wansbrough
as “one of the most erudite, well known Scripture scholars in the
world”.
In order to bring these events to fruition, Holy Innocents parish is working
together with the Archdiocese of Southwark through the Agency for
Evangelisation and Catechesis. Dr Mark Nash, the Director of the agency said, "Archbishop
John Wilson has called on us all to help make Southwark become a ‘missionary
diocese’. This is made possible with each person playing their part and where
good work already undertaken, like the Holy Innocents’ webinar series, is
highlighted and shared. The role of the Agency, therefore, is to help and
encourage all parishes to greater fruitfulness.”
To register and obtain confirmation each webinar
needs to be booked individually. A separate link will be sent to
registered email addresses in good time to access the webinars.
