PALM SUNDAY OF
THE PASSION OF THE LORD
MASS (St Joseph’s): 9.00am (People of the Parish)
MASS (OLHoC): 11.00am (Deceased relatives of Vladimir Cisar)
• MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK, March 29th
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Marek Adam RIP)
Followed by Exposition & Confessions 9.30am
– 10.00am
RCIA Zoom meeting: 7.30pm
•TUESDAY OF
HOLY WEEK, March 30th
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Kitty Hart
RIP)
Followed by Exposition & Confessions 9.30am
– 10.00am
• WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK, March 31st
MASS
(OLHoC): 10.00am (Marion Dillon RIP)
Chrism Mass (St George’s
Cathedral): 11.30am
X
FIRST
HOLY COMMUNION CLASS ONLY:
CELEBRATION OF FIRST RECONCILIATION (OLHoC): 5.30pm
THE EASTER TRIDUUM
MAUNDY THURSDAY, April1st
MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER 8.00pm (OLHoC)
X
GOOD FRIDAY, April 2nd
FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD
(Annual
collection for the Holy Places)
The
Celebration of the Passion of the Lord: 12.00 noon (OLHoC)
The
Celebration of the Passion of the Lord: 3.00pm (OLHoC)
The
Celebration of the Passion of the Lord: (OLHoC) 7:00pm
X
HOLY SATURDAY April 3rd
THE EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT
8.00pm (OLHoC)
The New Fire; the Vigil; Renewal of Baptismal Promises;
and First Mass of Easter
X
EASTER DAY, April 4th
EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD
MASS & Renewal of Baptismal Promises
9.00am (OLHoC) (Giovanni Strinati RIP)
MASS & Renewal of Baptismal Promises
9.00am (St Joseph’s) (People of the Parish)
MASS & Renewal of Baptismal Promises
11.00am
(OLHoC)
(Pauline Wood RIP)
PRAYERS
- Let us pray for the recently departed including
Paulene Wood and Frank McSwiggan and all whose anniversaries
fall at this time including John Wanstall, John Moran, James Martin and
Patricia Reeves.
EASTER ALMOST HERE! - With the Palm Sunday Liturgy, we mark the beginning of the Holy Week.
Today palms will be blessed and then distributed at the end of Mass. I wish to draw our attention on the celebration to acknowledge our oneness as a Parish, and our belonging to the Diocese of Southwark.
The Chrism Mass will
take place as St George’s Cathedral at 11.30am on Wednesday and I am
encouraging people, who are able to, to watch it directly at
https://www.youtube.com/c/RCSouthwark1
On Thursday we begin the Triduum with the Mass of the Last Supper, it will be at 8pm and encourages us who do not go to bed early to try to join us by being here physically.
Good Friday to ease the number of people who like to attend and ensure all can make it to the church this year, we will have the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord first at 12.00 noon, secondly at 3.00pm and then in the evening for those unable to attend during the day at 7.00pm.
The Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday at 8.00pm will mark the end of our one celebration divided into three days. – let us use these celebrations to strengthen our bond as one Parish.
I wish you all a prayerful, peaceful and joyful Holy Week.
Fr Alex Saba
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SECOND COLLECTION ON GOOD FRIDAY: Good Friday, 2nd April: Holy Places - the places connected with Our Lord’s Passion have always been centres of veneration and pilgrimage.
This Good Friday
collection is sent for their upkeep, and to help maintain Christian schools in
the area.
_______________________
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION - there are no classes during the Easter school holidays.
Please
continue to pray for our candidates and we look forward with them to their big
day on 18th July.
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OFFETORY AND FINANCE – last week’s collection (excluding standing orders) was £683.53. The running total of the collection for the Easter Flowers raised £219.02.
THANK YOU for your continued generosity.
DAN BROOK AND ANN BERRY DONATIONS RECEIVED – a huge THANK
YOU
to local Folkestone and Hythe District Councillors Dan Brook and Ann Berry who have very kindly each given a donation of £1000 from their council ward
grants. This is for work urgently needed to improve signs and access to the
Parish Hall at Guildhall Street.
_______________________
NEXT WEEKEND - EASTER OFFERING: Please note that ALL
COLLECTIONS at the Easter Vigil and at Easter Sunday Masses, are for the direct
benefit of the priest of our parish as a personal gift from you. There are
Easter Offering envelopes at the back of the church for your convenience if you
would rather put them through the letterbox of the Catholic Presbytery at 41
Guildhall Street.
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SEEKING MARRIAGE & FAMILY LIFE BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT TRAINERS: The Marriage and Family Life team are seeking volunteers who would be interested in being trained to train others in Bereavement support ministry at parish and deanery level. An introductory meeting will take place remotely, via zoom from 10am to 11am, on Saturday 8th May. Please email Elizabeth Partridge at: mflbereavement@rcaos.org.uk to register and receive the zoom meeting joining details. Subsequent online training meetings are planned with further details at the introductory meeting.
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PLEASE LIGHT A CANDLE ON TUESDAY 30TH MARCH to commemorate the first anniversary of DIY abortion in Britain. Join pro-lifers across the country remembering the unborn lives lost and the women hurt.
Did you know that:
- 23,061 DIY
abortions took place between APRIL and JUNE.
- Ambulance calls
for abortion complications rose by 54% during 2020
- Each month 250 women using abortion
pills at home will require hospital treatment to surgically to complete
the abortion.
- 86% of GPs in
the UK are concerned about women being coerced into a DIY home abortion.
- Official statistics show women from poorer backgrounds are three times more likely to have an abortion.
Please light a candle and say a prayer for all those affected.
TODAY
IS PALM SUNDAY - Passion
Sunday, or Palm Sunday as many people commonly know it, marks the beginning of
Holy Week, the final Sunday of Lent – a day we commemorate the triumphant
arrival of Christ into Jerusalem, just days before the crucifixion.
“[The disciples] brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’
“And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.'”
The palms blessed on Palm Sunday are used in the procession of the day, then taken home by the faithful and used for personal devotion. They must not be thrown away as they are blessed. From the blessed palms the ashes are procured for the following year’s Ash Wednesday observance. This year the palm branches blessed during the celebration of the liturgy will be given out as you leave the church after Mass.
The Liturgical colours of the Palm Sunday Mass are red, symbolising the redemption in blood that Christ paid for the world.
A week later, Christ will rise from the dead on the first day of Easter.
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DON’T
FORGET HOLY LAND AND MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIANS OVER EASTER, SAYS BISHOP
Ahead
of Holy Week, Bishop Declan Lang, chair of the Bishops’ International Affairs
department, has issued a reminder that the Christians living in the lands of
Christ should be held in prayer.
Starved of pilgrim visitors to the Holy sites, and facing the daily realities of conflict and occupation, the Christians, as Pope Francis puts it, are suffering “the economic inequalities and regional tensions that threaten the stability of these lands.”
Bishop Lang is asking Christians to reaffirm their commitment to justice and peace in Middle East.
He also calls on our leaders to “increase their support for peacebuilding, humanitarian relief, and the protection of human dignity, while forsaking narrow political or economic interests, including the sale of arms which only fuel conflict.”
Statement
“As
we approach Easter, it is important to remember our sisters and brothers in the
Holy Land, who continue to face the daily realities of conflict and occupation.
This is a particularly important moment to extend our assistance to the
Christian community, which has been deprived of the encounter and support of
pilgrimages for more than a year.
“Pope Francis has said that such challenges ‘call for cooperation on a global scale in order to address, among other things, the economic inequalities and regional tensions that threaten the stability of these lands.’
“We call upon our own leaders to increase their support for peacebuilding, humanitarian relief, and the protection of human dignity, while forsaking narrow political or economic interests, including the sale of arms which only fuel conflict.
“As Christians let us reaffirm our own commitment to justice and peace in Middle East, the birthplace of our faith.”
Bishop Declan Lang Chair, Catholic Bishops’ Conference Department of International Affairs
