SUNDAY 10TH APRIL 2022

 

Sunday: April 10th

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

Second Collection: Easter Flowers

 

MASS (OLHoC): 6.00pm (Sat. 9th Apr.) (Pope Gregory XIII RIP)

 

MASS (St Joseph’s): 9.00am (Pro Populo)

  X Tea/Coffee in the hall after Mass

 

Palm Sunday procession from Hall at 10.30am before

MASS (OLHoC): 11.00am (Giovanni Strinati RIP)

X Tea/Coffee in the hall after Mass

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• MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK, April 11th

 MASS (OLHoC): 9.00am (Brother Laurence Frost O.Carm. RIP)

 

• TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK, April 12th

NO MASS TODAY

 

• WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK, April 13th

HOLY ROSARY (OLHoC): 9.30am followed by MASS (OLHoC): 10.00am (Billy Ronan RIP)

X Tea/Coffee in the hall after Mass

Chrism Mass (St George’s Cathedral): 11.30am

Stations of the Cross (St Joseph’s): 12.00 noon

THE EASTER TRIDUUM

 MAUNDY THURSDAY, April14th

 MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER 

8.00pm (OLHoC)

Followed by the Watch until Midnight

X

 GOOD FRIDAY, April 15th

 Stations of the Cross (OLHoC): 12.00 noon

 

FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

(Annual papal collection for the Holy Places)

 The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord: 3.00pm (OLHoC)

 X

 

HOLY SATURDAY April 16th

 Święconka [Blessing Of The Easter Baskets] (OLHoC): 1.00pm

 

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 17th

 

EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD

 

MASS & Renewal of Baptismal Promises 9.00am (St Joseph’s) (People of the Parish)

 

MASS & Renewal of Baptismal Promises 11.00am (OLHoC) (Shaun Kelly RIP)

X EASTER OFFERING – Easter Offering envelopes are available 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. A Parish priest has no income other than a small monthly stipend set by the Diocese of £133 per month, the voluntary Mass offering given with Mass intention and the Christmas and Easter Offering from parishioners. 

X CATECHISM AND CATHOLIC STUDY CLASS has now broken up for the Easter holidays and will resume on 9th May.

X PARISH CENSUS 2022 – This weekend we will be starting our Parish Census to update our records held by Our Lady and St Joseph, Folkestone with forms given out to all for completion. Your data will only be used by the Parish and to inform the Diocese and Catholic Church with overall aggregated numbers for headings. Please complete your forms and hand them in or post them through the presbytery letterbox at 41 Guildhall Street. 

X SECOND COLLECTION THIS WEEKEND will again be for the Easter flowers at both of our churches in the parish. Thank you for all those who have donated so far and if you miss the opportunity to make a donation, simply put your money in an envelope marked ‘Flowers’ through the door of the Presbytery at 41 Guildhall Street. 

X 100 CLUB – Huge congratulations to our February and March winners of the 100 Club. They were Helen Barker with number and Philippa Forsdike with number Both winners receive a cheque for £50.00. The next draw for the 100 Club will take place after the 11.00am Mass on Sunday 24th April. 

X MASS ATTENDANCE - last weekend there were 283 people who came to Sunday Masses. 

X HOLY WEEK

We start this week with Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. This Sunday is unique because two Gospel readings are proclaimed, following the examples from the fourth century Christians in Jerusalem bearing branches of palms and olives.  We will sing ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’ – but we will not start on top of the Mount of Olives and from there go through the entire city, as they used to do, but we will either do it in a symbolic way in the confines of our church buildings, or in a more elaborate way just before 11.00am with a short procession from the hall to the church along the road. From there we will continue the practice which was used from the sixth century by the Christian community in Rome who mark this sixth Sunday in Lent not with palms but with the reading of the Passion as found in the Gospel of Matthew – these two practices brought into one and gave us the name of this Sunday known as Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. 

This Sunday is both an ending and a beginning: the completion of the five weeks when we celebrate the Chrism Mass during which priests, deacons and the people of the Archdiocese join the Archbishop for the Mass during which the Archbishop blesses the Oils of the Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick and he also consecrates the Sacred Chrism. 

This is year is scheduled to be celebrated in the Cathedral at 11:30am on Wednesday, 13th April, 2022. It will be broadcast live on YouTube at https://youtu.be/0YvstNP8kOo 

The Holy Chrism is a mixture of olive oil and perfume/balsam (an aromatic resin) and the Archbishop breathes over the oil recalling the Holy Spirit, which God breathed over the formless void at the dawn of creation. The prayer used calls down the Holy Spirit upon the oil that is then used in Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination, and the Dedication of Churches and Altars. At this Chrism Mass, the Priesthood: the High Priest, Jesus Christ, the Royal Priesthood of the Baptised, the Priestly Ministry of the Ordained is recalled and the Renewal of Priestly Commitment to Service takes place – they express their resolve to unite themselves closely to Christ. The Bishop also expresses his resolve to become more and more ‘a genuine sign of Christ’s loving presence’. 

X THE PASCHAL TRIDUUM

On Thursday we begin the Triduum: one liturgy divided into three days. We remember and commemorate the institution of the Eucharist, and the Priesthood, on Thursday. We then answer to Jesus’ call to service, his invitation to stay here and keep watch with me. Therefore, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be followed by a time of watch up until midnight. You are all encouraged to find a way to answer this call and to join the prayers led each hour by the Parish Committees. 

Please remember that the Triduum begins with the Mass at 8.00pm on Thursday and we leave in silence at the end, returning on Friday to continue with the celebration of the Passion of the Lord during which we will venerate the Cross. It will be brought in at the Good Friday Liturgy, venerated, and left leaning against the bare altar, stripped after the celebration. 

We return on Saturday for the Easter Vigil at 8.00pm. We start with the Service of Light gathering outside the church in darkness by the fire before making our way inside to be followed by seven readings, and the Alleluia is sung for the first time since Ash Wednesday and the bells are rung (so please bring your bells to the church for incessant ringing), Blessing of Water, Renewal of Baptismal Promises, the sending out after Mass that stops after Maundy Thursday resumes and brings our Triduum to a conclusion and we enter the Easter season which will last fifty days.

PARISH INFORMATION

 

Presbytery and Parish Office:

41 Guildhall Street, Folkestone, Kent CT20 1EF

Tel: 01303 252823  e-mail: folkestone@rcaos.org.uk

 

Parish Secretary: Mr Dylan Jeffrey BA, PGCE, MSc

 

Clergy

Parish Priest: Fr Alex Saba MA, MSLR, MCL, JCL

 

Priest: Fr Francis Capener MA