FEBRUARY 7TH, 2021
FIFTH SUNDAY IN
ORDINARY TIME
MASS (OLHoC): 6.00pm (Saturday) (People of the Parish)
MASS (St Joseph’s): 9.00am (Dick Gaul RIP)
MASS (OLHoC): 11.00am (David Stapley RIP)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
• MONDAY, February 8th – Feria
DAY FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Myra
Pound RIP)
•TUESDAY, February 9th - Feria
DUE TO THE WEATHER, MASS IS CANCELLED TODAY
• WEDNESDAY, February 10th – St Scholastica
MASS (OLHoC): 10.00am (Deceased
members of the Rossi Family)
• THURSDAY, February 11th – Our Lady of Lourdes
WORLD DAY FOR THE SICK
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Mary Mahon RIP)
• FUNERAL MASS of Kitty Hart (OLHoC): 11.00am
• FRIDAY, February 12th – Feria
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Shaun Kelly RIP)
• SATURDAY, February 13th – Votive of the Blessed Virgin Mary
MASS (St Joseph’s): 10.00am (Fr Ed Hartley RIP)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Next Sunday: February
14th
SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Second collection: Poor Parishes
MASS (OLHoC): 6.00pm (Saturday) (Sinead Wallis RIP)
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Kitty Hart
RIP)
MASS (OLHoC): 11.00am (People of the Parish)
ATTENDANCE AT MASS – We continue to have Mass every day in our Parish and you are all very welcome to attend.
·
Covid-19 may be spread most easily in enclosed
spaces. We would ask that you respect social distancing at all times and wear a
mask that covers the nose and mouth.
·
Please leave the church as soon as possible after
Mass has finished.
·
Please do not sit next to, or mix, with anyone
outside of your household or support bubble.
·
If you are in a vulnerable category, please think
very carefully before coming to Mass. The Sunday obligation is still suspended.
· The use of public transport is not recommended at present, so please consider alternative ways of getting home if at all possible.
We appreciate that these requests are contrary to our usual instincts and desires, but you will have witnessed the local news and the current strain ion the NHS. We have a duty to keep ourselves and others safe. Thank you.
All Masses held at Our Lady, Help of Christians are broadcast live at https://www.churchservices.tv/folkestone
_______________________
CENSUS 2021 The National Census is taking place in March 2021.
Information from the Census is used to determine how local authorities,
charities and many other organisations spend on services. We encourage everyone
to take part. For more information, visit: www.census.gov.uk
_______________________
ADVANCE NOTICE - Wednesday 17th February is Ash Wednesday and the
beginning of the season of Lent. There will be Masses at Our Lady, Help of
Christians at 10.00am and 7.00pm and at St Joseph’s at noon. This year there
will be a different distribution of ashes because of Covid-19. More details
will be in next week’s newsletter.
_______________________
OFFETORY – last week’s collection (excluding standing orders) was £289.08. The
retiring collection for the Catholic Association for Racial Justice was £44.00.
Thank you for your
generosity.
DON’T FORGET NEXT SATURDAY, THE 10.00AM MORNING MASS IS AT ST JOSEPH’S
_______________________
PLEASE NOTE - The list of
candidates for First Holy Communion and Reconciliation is now closed for 2021.
_______________________
If you do not
currently receive the Parish newsletter by email and would like to do so,
please contact folkestone@rcaos.org.uk
with your details.
_______________________
STOP DIY ABORTIONS – Please respond to Department of Health consultation to
stop home abortions:
The Department of Health is holding a consultation on whether to continue the practice of sending dangerous abortion pills to women to undergo abortions at home. We need as many pro-life people as possible to complete the Department of Health's questionnaire in order to stop dangerous DIY abortions becoming permanent. SPUC has prepared a briefing which gives a step-by-step guide to completing the questionnaire.
The consultation ends on 26th of February Please go to https://www.spuc.org.uk/GetInvolved/Campaigns/England-DIY-AbortionConsultation
If you would like to make a submission but don’t have access to
the internet, you can now send a paper submission to the consultation directly
to:
Abortion Consultation,
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries Unit,
Department of Health and Social Care,
39 Victoria Street,
London
SW1H 0EU
Packs for responding
have also been placed at the back of the church at Our Lady along with
postcards, which will be delivered to the Prime Minister as part of the
campaign. Please fill yours in and either post it directly or put it through
the Parish Office door at the Presbytery at Our Lady, and we will ensure that
it is delivered for you.
SAFEGUARDING MESSAGE - The government
have launched the “Ask for ANI” codeword scheme in partnership with Boots and
independent pharmacies across the country for those who are victim to or at
risk of domestic abuse. For more information on the government website:
_______________________
WORLD DAY OF
THE SICK – THURSDAY 11TH FEBRUARY -
The theme for the 29th World Day of the Sick is: 'You have but one teacher
and you are all brothers'. (Mt 23:8).
The theme calls for a trust-based relationship of personal encounter to guide care for the sick. The Holy Father not only calls for closeness between those suffering from illness and those that care for them, but also highlights the fact that humanity cannot expect to be well in a world that is sick. For example, the pandemic has shown that inequalities exist across the world: those in poor countries are unlikely to have swift access to COVID-19 vaccines or relief of poverty. However, the outbreak of the Coronavirus has also highlighted the generosity and kindness of healthcare professionals, priests, religious and volunteers.
Pope Francis’ message for World Day of the Sick is available at https://www.youtube.com/embed/3YuHkkTGmIw
_______________________
CONFIRMATION – is now open to all
children aged 13 and over who have not been confirmed. You are invited to apply
in writing to Fr Alex Saba and the deadline for applications is Friday 12th
February, 2021. Application forms,
one for the candidate and one for the Sponsor, are available at the back of the
two Parish churches or you can email folkestone@rcaos.org.uk
for further information.
FROM THE PARISH PRIEST’S DESK
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM FR ALEX SABA
Let me begin by saying Thank you to all those who rang the
presbytery after the 11am Mass to ask if I was okay after the incident which
occurred during that Mass.
Sadly,
the Mass converted into something like a session from BBC’s QUESTION TIME.
However, I did not have the courage of David Dimbleby, or Fiona Bruce, to stop
the people in the pew or ask them to leave and I had decided to leave my
remarks and warning until the end of Mass, hoping that by ignoring them they
would stop eventually. Sadly, as you experienced it or heard about it,
unfortunately the noise at the end of Mass was louder than that during the Mass
itself. To be fair, the man was passionate about his view, and he wasn’t trying
to be violent, however, Mass is not the place and time for such behaviour as it
takes the sacredness of the celebration away.
This is
the first time, after working in six parishes, that I have experienced such a
thing. The conversation between the main person and myself led me to conclude
that I have a lot of teaching to give, and I am happy to do so, if you are open
and humble to learn from me. I do not claim to know everything about the
Church- not even Pope Francis, nor Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the great
scholar, or even St John Paul the Great, would dare to make such a claim
either, so who I am to claim that I know everything? Despite this truth, it is
important for each one of us to know the basic things about the Catholic Faith.
There
is a need to learn about our Mass, its various parts, who the celebrant
represents when we gather for Mass; the holy orders, the place of the homily in
the Mass, the assent of faith, our religious submission of our intellect and
will to a doctrine and, the use of sacramentals.
The Eucharistic
celebration is not a place for arguments, confrontation or point-scoring, no
matter how correct and knowledgeable we are, or no matter what enmity there may
be between us and some members of the Eucharistic community. Once we cross the
Church’s door, we become one body, and no gender or class, no liberal or
conservative, no-one highly knowledgeable in Theology, Scripture and Canon Law,
is allowed to intervene at his or her own accord. The only person who matters
is Our Lord Jesus Christ who gathers us in the person of the priest presiding
over the celebration.
Therefore,
with the entrance procession the Real Presence moves from the Tabernacle to the
gathered assembly, and the presiding priest becomes the real presence par
excellence because Our Lord Jesus Christ will do everything with us, and for
us, through him. This explains why the presiding priest has the power and
authority to decide who does what during our Eucharistic celebration. He will
call some people to take care of the first reading, psalm and second reading;
the care of the Gospel is reserved for him- or given to a deacon. The gathered
assembly speaks only when invited to do so; this is the liturgical dialogue
which takes place in the form of the response the assembly gives to the various
dialogues that happen with and within the celebration. At Mass, the priest acts
in the person of Christ, and when the priest blesses the deacon to proclaim the
Gospel, and at times allows the deacon to preach- as in the case that
brought the protest in question- the deacon, in that particular ministry, is
also acting in the person of Christ.
Ordination
in the Catholic Church is a moment of the conferral of the Holy Spirit in
the form of an epiclesis, for instance, in the petition of the Church that, in
faith, is certain of being
heard. The Church believes that the person ordained
will be granted the charism of the Holy Spirit which enables him to make
present in the Church, and in the world, the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
indeed is present in this person and he remains the one who is really acting,
in his Spirit, to the glory of the Father; the ordained person is the
representative of the Jesus Christ.[1]
From
the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which marked the birth
of the Church, to the present day, the Holy Spirit abides with the Church, the
body of Christ; leads it, unites it and organises it into a society bestowing
on her the charism of governance- one of the many charisms the Church receives
from the Holy Spirit. Through the prayer of ordination and the laying on of
hands, the ordained person is incorporated into a community within the Church-
made up of bishops, priests, and deacons.
Canon
1008 teaches that the Sacraments of orders by institution, establishes some
among the Christian Faithful as ministers-each according to his grade- to
nourish the people of God, fulfilling in the person of Christ the Head, the
functions of teaching, sanctifying, and governing. Canon 1009 names the three
grades of orders as the episcopate, the presbyterate, and diaconate.
The
liturgical theology of the Church teaches that the role and ministry of a
deacon has varied throughout history, but it has always been a service, at
times of the Word, at times to the praying assembly, at times to the bishop.
Currently in the Roman Catholic Church, the deacon belongs to the order of
deacons after his ordination, and he is assigned to assist the bishop and the
presbyter in the ministry of Word and Sacrament. In other Church orders, and
especially in the Eastern churches, the deacon is always an auxiliary
liturgical minister- there, they assist, they do not preside. However, in the
Roman Catholic Church order, deacons both preach and preside at the liturgies
of Baptism, Matrimony, and at times, Christian Funerals. In the ministry of
preaching and proclaiming the gospel, they make Christ present in his Word
according to Sacrosanctum Concilium n.7,
and in the ministry of presiding, they present and represent both the episcope
(the pastoral office of the bishop) and Christ (prophet, priest, and ruler).
The deacon at his ordination in the Roman Rite, is presented with the Book of
the Gospel as the primary instrument and sign of the diaconal office in these
terms: “Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you
are; believe what you read, preach what you believe, and put into practice what
you preach.” So, as recipients of the sacrament of orders, they are clerics,
even if married like permanent deacons, they are not lay deacons, but clerics.[2]
It is
worth noting that deacons are not priests, therefore the full care of souls are
not entrusted to deacons, they cannot be parish priest, meaning deacons cannot
be appointed validly to the office of parish priest, this belongs to priests or
bishops.
Through
his priestly ordination, the priest is established in a new, distinctive, and
permanent relationship to Christ. The priest becomes the person-symbol of
Christ in the Church, he is to act in the name of Christ
the Head, the priest is empowered to act in the person of Christ. The priest is
called to serve, to be a servant-leader by proclaiming the Word of God, by
presiding at worship, by the pastoral care of the people of God and, by
facilitating different charisms within the Church. The priest exists in this
new, distinctive, and permanent relationship to Christ, to the Church and to
society. The priests live their relationship with Christ by being poor,
celibate, and obedient. Their relationship with society is possible through the
Holy Spirit enabling them to be effective witnesses of Christ in promoting
justice in the world, especially in serving the poor both personally and in
their leadership of the body of Christ. The prayer of priestly consecration
states clearly a priest’s relationship with a bishop: “…He is the co-worker
with the order of bishops, and he is called to be faithful to the ministry he
received from God.”
The
bishop’s office is primarily pastoral, he is the sign and minister of unity
within the local Church and of the local Church. The ordination rite in the
Roman Catholic Church for bishops reminds the bishop elect that “the title
bishop is not one of an honour but of function, and
therefore, a bishop should strive to serve rather than to rule”. The bishop is
named as steward of the mysteries of Christ, as father and brother to all in
his care, guardian of the faith, builder of the Church, and servant of the
Gospel. The bishop is the personification of the Father in the Church, a
fulfilment of Christ’s role as teacher, priest, and shepherd; an agent of the
Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church.
Now, I
am focusing on the teachings that stem from the situation last Sunday. First,
we were celebrating the Eucharist. This liturgy of thanksgiving is divided into
four: the Introductory Rite, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the
Eucharist, and the Concluding Rite. In the Introductory and Concluding Rites,
the focus is on us, and in the Liturgy of the Word the focus is on God and
Jesus, while in the Liturgy of the Eucharist the focus is on Jesus, through him,
and with him and in him, we give all glory to God the Almighty Father. In both
parts two and three, our Lord Jesus Christ uses human faces and voices to bring
himself close to us by first feeding us with his Word; second, offering our
prayers to the Father as we pray through him; third, feeding us with his body a
perfect sign of our union with him and with one another.
During
the Eucharistic celebration, the parish priest/presiding priest exercises the
three functions of teaching, governing, and sanctifying.
The
teaching function takes place during the Liturgy of the Word- the readings
found in the Lectionary and the various prayers in the Missal, are the
translations of the Liturgical Texts from the Latin, Greek and Hebrew by ICELS,
proposed by each bishops Conference such as our own, known as CBCEW (Catholic
Bishops Conference of England and Wales) to the Holy See for approval and
granted permission for them to be used in our Eucharistic celebrations. After
this process, no one has the right or authority to alter the translation,
unless a new one has been proposed for use in a particular Bishops Conference
area.
The
Mass we attend every day is structured in such a way to highlight the presence
of Christ teaching, feeding, and praying with the people and presenting their
prayers to the Father. Therefore, the only person who has a right to make
comments during Mass is the presiding priest- the faithful and any
concelebrating priest can only do so if the presiding priest gives them
permission to do so, by way of an invitation- and shouting out from our seat
clearly does not show either the correct attitude or polite manners. Mass is
not a time and place for such behaviour as it is disrespectful to the person
reading or talking, and worse, it is ignoring the authority of the presiding
priest, who, as head and minister, is leading the gathered in prayer. Taking
the law into one’s own hands is alien to such structure. A Mass is not a
conference or a seminar, a lecture, or a talk- even on those occasions, people’s
intervention is censured/vetted by the chairperson and the participants cannot
just give themselves the freedom to talk when and how they want to. The
parishioners have come to Mass to pray, any remark they may have will be
reported to the parish priest in a polite, constructive, and
non-confrontational manner after Mass. Better still, in writing and in a spirit
of building, bearing in mind the highest interest of the community as a whole.
I am
saddened also to see that there are people queuing to do my work. Please, leave
these things to me to deal with. Here, I want to make it clear to us all, I let
what happened take place because I assume that the people concerned did not
fully know what they were doing. I have given them the benefit of the doubt.
The explanation
I was given in the sacristy confirmed it. I was not surprised, as the people in
question had the understanding that during the homily, people have the right to
challenge the presiding priest or deacon if they disagree with what they were
hearing or think what is being said is wrong. I am afraid the only person who
can intervene is the presiding priest, no one else is allowed to do so. From
now on in our Parish of Our Lady and St Joseph, any matter regarding Liturgy is
my sole responsibility as a parish priest, so send all your complaints to me.
Anyone who will shout out from the pew for whatever reason will be asked
politely to leave the Church, there and then, so please, save yourselves from
such humiliation. Hold your disagreement quietly to yourself and voice it
appropriately in the form of a complaint and using the proper procedures.
I wish
to express my sincere apologies to all who were negatively affected by what
happened. I hope this is the first and last time it happens.
The
document below is the statement from the CDF on the matter of vaccines. This
material is from the Magisterium Office of the Church- we can disagree with it,
but for unity’s sake, we use our own conscience to decide which way we wish to
handle it. It is wrong for us to make our brothers and sisters- both those who
have used their conscience and decided to have the vaccine, or those not aware
of what we claim to know, who have made the decision to be inoculated- feel
guilty that a choice they have made may be between two evils: accepting
martyrdom and dying from Covid 19 with the danger of infecting more people who
will also die from it, or protecting themselves and thus protecting other
lives. The balance between personal health and public health encouraged by “the note on the
Covid 19 Vaccines” is something to take seriously. Remember that all the
vaccines are not produced in the same manner as the document explains it
clearly. You are to make your moral decision when there are no other options
for you to consider.
In the Church,
the organ that authoritatively expresses the mind of the Church is the
Ecclesiastical Magisterium and the ordinary bearers of the Magisterium are the
pope and the bishops. When the pope and bishops teach something as Catholic
Doctrine, this is not uttering a mere opinion that Catholics are free to
disregard. The teaching is a real, though not unconditional, claim on the
assent of the faithful. This is what Lumen Gentium 25 and canon 752 call
“Religious submission of the will and intellect,”
This
means that while enjoying the freedom that the Law of the Church grants us, we
can disagree with the teaching the Church is proposing, such as the
encouragement to use one’s own conscience to decide on Covid19 vaccine, but
we cannot act against, or encourage people to oppose it or incite people to
rebel, and so forth.
Our
Catholic Faith provides symbols that express, in vivid and concrete ways, the
permanent and general situation of our human life before the transcendent
otherness of God. Gestures such as bowing, kneeling, the use of candles,
incense, water and oil, the consecration of bread and wine, wedding rings that
are blessed, parents invoking God’s blessing on their children, and other
usages, put us in contact with realities that foster authentic religious
experience. They enable us to participate in the saving events that lie behind
them. These are Sacramentals, they are sacred signs by which spiritual effects
are signified and are obtained by the intercession of the Church (canon 1166).
A Sacramental relates to a Sacrament. It is not itself a Sacrament but it does
bring with it the possibility of our being graced as a consequence either of
the church’s prayers, or of private prayers approved by the Church. In a wider
sense, Sacramentals can be any object or prayer or action that can put us in
touch with God’s grace in Christ, who is the primary Sacrament of our encounter
with God, an encounter which renders the whole of creation new and redeemed.
Using
holy water, or a blessed olive oil for instance, is not a bad thing to do, it
is when we give to them a miraculous meaning and use them to the point of
rejecting other things through which God will grant us His healing and
protection, this is where we need to pay attention and be careful. We believe
that God is our Creator and He has also granted us the gift of intelligence and
science. God is not a magician, so let us not reduce him to the status of
magician. He can bring us healing and protection, directly or indirectly, by
using medicine and science. Both are complementary, they are the place where
Faith and Science come together with sole purpose of looking after life and
promoting it.
I
conclude by inviting us all to strike the correct balance between individual
health and public health. Let us give a good example by observing the Covid19
restrictions, bearing in mind the common good.
When we
come to Mass, we need to help each other to bring the world to God, by showing
first of all, the respect and reverence due to the Church building, and to the
people who have gathered there and have come with their stories of the week,
the day, or the hour. We consider their need to be nourished and fed, their
need to be one-to-one with the Lord there present in the Blessed Sacrament,
their need to listen to the Lord or to be listened to. We need to create the
atmosphere which facilitates and enables prayer.
Second
and last, we need to have in place, a team of two or three men per Mass, who
can put a stop to disturbances when they are occurring by calling the person to
order or asking the person to leave the Church. Anyone willing to do so, please
contact me and let me know.
Let us
thank the Lord for the example the English Martyrs left us about the Mass, some
of them condemned to death because they have attended or celebrated Mass, that
through their intercession we might learn to love our Eucharistic celebrations
and use them as moments of deepening and strengthening our relationship with
Christ and with one another.
Following
the inspiration that the first reading offers us, let us entrust our life and
future in the hands of the Lord our God who grants us healing and protection
through his Son our lord Jesus Christ.
Fr Alex Saba
No comments:
Post a Comment