FIFTH
SUNDAY OF LENT
MASS (OLHoC): 6.00pm (Saturday) (People of the Parish)
MASS (St Joseph’s): 9.00am (Well-being of Joan Pike)
MASS (OLHoC): 11.00am (Frank McSwiggan RIP)
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• MONDAY, March 22nd - Feria
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Tibor Mota RIP)
Followed by Exposition & Confessions 9.30am
– 10.00am
RCIA Zoom meeting: 7.30pm
•TUESDAY, March
23rd – Feria
National Day of Reflection
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Carmel Reynolds
RIP)
Followed by Exposition & Confessions 9.30am
– 10.00am
• WEDNESDAY, March 24th - Feria
MASS
(OLHoC): 10.00am (Patrick & Teresa Pender RIP)
STATIONS OF THE CROSS (St Joseph’s): 12 noon
• THURSDAY, March 25th
THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Ajith
Ranasinghe RIP)
Followed by Exposition
& Confessions 9.30am – 10.00am
• FRIDAY, March 26th – Feria
Day of Fasting and Abstinence
MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (In Thanksgiving – Lilian Orfila)
STATIONS OF THE CROSS (OLHoC): 12 noon
• SATURDAY, March 27th – Feria
MASS (OLHoC): 10.00am (Cyril Hardy
RIP)
Followed by Confessions
10.30am – 11.00am
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Next Sunday: March 28th
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)
NATIONAL DAY OF REFLECTION ON TUESDAY 23RD MARCH - The Prime Minister has asked for a National Day of Reflection on the first anniversary of the first lockdown this coming 23rd March. The President and Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have developed this theme asking all Catholics to hold this day not only as one of Reflection but of Prayer, with an encouragement for all our people to pay a visit to churches and pray for the many needs, hopes and sorrows that have emerged over the last year. The statement is attached in full at the end of the Bulletin.
VEILING OF THE CROSS AND THE STATUES - Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, and the statues and crosses are VEILED. Why? The Church has veiled her colourful images and bright crosses at Passiontide for over 1,000 years - precisely because they are splendid and beautiful. We do it to deepen the Lenten plain-ness of the church; we do it to echo Christ’s veiling of his own splendour during his passion; we do it in order to give ourselves a jolt, a vivid reminder of that we’re about something serious during this time of getting ready for the Paschal mystery; and we do it in order to focus – to keep ourselves from being distracted before the proper time by what are, in fact, celebrations and expressions of Christ’s victory.
The crosses will be unveiled after the Liturgy of Good Friday; the statues just before the Vigil.
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 and St Aloysius. 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.
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
HOLY WEEK & EASTER SERVICES – details will be published next week. Plans are currently in place for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper to be at 8.00pm at OLHoC; Good Friday Liturgy to be on Good Friday at 3.00pm at OLHoC, the Easter Vigil to be at 8.00pm on Easter Saturday at OLHoC; and Mass on Easter Sunday to be at St Joseph’s at 9.00am and OLHoC at 9.00am and 11.00am.
Singing is restricted to only a maximum of three people. Please if you are not asked to sing, refrain from doing so.
PRAYERS - Let us pray for Frank McSwiggan and all whose anniversaries fall at this time including Bella Boughton, Anne Brewerton, David Bryce, Cornelius Buckley, Marie-Theresa Christie, Molly Clayton, Stephen Cole, Jessie Davey, Ethel Finch, Ellen Garside, Martin Hruska, Shaun Kelly, Stephen Hixon, Christopher Madigan, Mildred Martin, Paddy Jacqueline Miller, Jean Ortoli, Julian Perez-Tejedor, Brenda Plumpton, Patricia Reeves, Salvatore Sechi, Norah Slevin, Jean Stokes, Florence Watts, Gladys Williams, Elsie Wilson and Ivy Willoughby.
OFFETORY AND FINANCE – last week’s collection (excluding standing orders) was £522.20. The retiring collection for the Easter Flowers raised £74.92 although donations are still coming in.
If you missed the second collection, please put your donation in an envelope marked “Easter Flowers” through the Presbytery letterbox.
THANK YOU for your continued generosity.
GIFT AID – 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 or speak to George Pound, our Gift Aid co-ordinator, so we can get you set up.
PALM SUNDAY – There will be no procession and the palm crosses will be given out at the end of Mass.
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.
EASTER OFFERING – Easter Offering envelopes will be placed at the back of the church from this weekend for you to put into the collection baskets or to put through the Presbytery door at 41 Guildhall Street.
POPE FRANCIS’ PRAYER INTENTION FOR MARCH:
Sacrament of Reconciliation. ‘Let us pray that we may experience the sacrament
of reconciliation with renewed depth, to
taste the infinite mercy of God’.
EASTER OFFERING – Easter Offering envelopes will be placed at the back of the church from this weekend for you to put into the collection baskets or to put through the Presbytery door at 41 Guildhall Street.
REMINDER: ARCHDIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK
SURVEY:
The Archbishop would like to ask all parishioners to complete a survey, being
done in conjunction with the Dioceses of Southwark, Clifton, Northampton and
Brimingham, about their experience of faith during the Coronavirus period,
particularly at a time when church opening was limited. You can complete the
survey at
https://forms.rcaos.org.uk/covid-19-survey-form/
(please select ‘Southwark’ from the drop down menu for our Diocese)
CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES
Statement from the
Presidency of the Bishops’ Conference
on the National Day of
Reflection for COVID-19
Tuesday 23rd March 2021
We welcome the designation of Tuesday 23rd March as a National Day of Reflection to mark the anniversary of the first national lockdown with a minute’s silence at midday and doorstep vigils of light at 8pm.
We ask you all to make this not only a Day of Reflection but also a Day of Prayer. In reflection we ponder on all that has taken place; in prayer we bring this to our Heavenly Father. For all who live by faith in God, reflection and prayer always go hand in hand.
Prayer completes reflection. Reflection informs prayer. Prayer opens our life to its true horizon. Without prayer we live in a foreshortened world and are more easily swamped by its clamour and tragedy. Throughout this difficult year, so many have been inspired by prayer, so much effort sustained in prayer, in every place. So let us make the 23rd March truly a day of prayer.
March 2020 was the first time our churches had to be closed. It is our hope that on this day, every one of our churches will be open. We invite everyone to enter a church on this day, to reflect and pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We know this will involve an extra effort, but this can be part of our important contribution to a significant moment in the life of our country. Indeed, we ask that you might invite a friend, neighbour or colleague to come to church with you as you make this visit. There is so much on which to reflect and include in our prayer.
We reflect in sorrow on all those who have died, whether family members, friends or those unknown to us personally. We pray for them, asking our Father to welcome them into their heavenly home, the destiny for which God first gave us the gift of life.
We reflect with compassion on all those who have suffered during this last year, whether through illness, stress, financial disaster or family tensions. We pray for their ongoing resilience, courage and capacity to forgive.
We reflect with thanksgiving for the generosity, inventiveness, self-sacrifice and determination shown by so many in this most difficult of times. We pray for them, thanking God for their gifts and dedication, whether they are scientists, politicians, health workers, public servants of every kind, community leaders or steadfast family members and friends who continue to show such love and compassion.
We reflect in hope that, as the pandemic is controlled and we open up our lives again, we will gather in the lessons we have learned and build our society into a better shape, more compassionate, less marked by inequalities, more responsive to needs and deprivation. We ask for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us in this endeavour, whether we are focussing on overcoming family breakdowns, economic recovery, or building political consensus.
Christian prayer is, of course, centred on Jesus Christ, the one who is “lifted up” before us “so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3.13). We pray with Jesus, in him and through him, for he is the one who carries us, and our prayers, into the embracing presence of his Father. He is our comfort in sorrow, our strength in the face of need, our rejoicing in the gifts we celebrate and our hope in the face of the weighty darkness of death.
May Tuesday 23rd March be a great day of prayer that this pandemic comes to an end and that the gift of God’s Holy Spirit will carry us all forward to a new and better life, both here and in the world to come.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop
Malcolm McMahon OP
President Vice-President
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