14th April 2019

Holy Week is the most important week of the Church’s year. Please do your best to attend as many services as you can.
Tuesday Mass here at 9am
Holy Thursday Mass of the Lords Supper here at 7pm followed by watching until 10pm
Good Friday 9:30am Walk of witness from St Paul’s shop to the Well Church for Churches Together Service at 10am. Solemn commemoration of the Lords Passion here at 3pm
Holy Saturday Easter Vigil and first Mass of Easter here at 8:30pm
Easter Sunday 7am United Sunrise Service on Granny’s Bay
Family Mass here at 10am and Mass at 5:05pm

Thank You:
We are grateful to Fr. Philip Newbold who will celebrate all our Holy Week services to allow Fr David to cover all the services at Lytham.

Tea And Coffee:
There will not be any tea/coffee after Mass on Easter Sunday morning.

Pizza & Quiz Night:
After our long Lenten Journey, come and relax and enjoy a Pizza and Quiz night on Saturday 11th May in the church Hall starting at 7pm. Adults £5, children £2 (under 14). Nibbles and glasses provided, bring your own drinks. Come on your own, with your partner and children or in a team of six or less. It will be a fun night for all the family. All profits made will go to the Fleetwood Trust, an ecumenical initiative to provide a one stop help facility for those in need, which uses the Fleetwood hospital building recently purchased from the NHS.

Easter Treats:
St. Joseph’s Care has supplied 20 food hampers and 50 Easter Eggs to St Cuthbert’s Primary School Blackpool for distribution to struggling young families. We have been able to do this thanks to your kind offerings to our after-Mass collections.

Foodbank:
Thank you for your very generous support of our monthly collection last week which went to St Cuthbert’s SVP helping needy people in South Shore.

Lenten Lunches:
Very many thanks to all those who supported our Lenten Lunch & Reflection for the last six weeks of Lent. Thank you as well to the soup-makers (yum! yum!) and all who gave assistance every Friday. Most of all our gratitude to Fr David who led us in our Lenten reflections. As a result of the generosity of those who attended we raised £306.70. We gave £75 to CAFOD, and the remaining £231.70 to St Joseph’s Care to help those in need in our local area.

St. Joseph’s Care:
Here to help when you most need it! Helpline open each day from 9am until 7pm Tel: 07840 112 265. Thank you for your continued generosity via the Crib collection and after Mass collections which are enabling us to support local needs as well as reach out into the wider community and provide help to those who find themselves in desperate circumstances. If you would like to volunteer and help out from time to time please complete the volunteer form at the back of church.

Youth Core:
Meeting on alternate Thursdays from 6 to 7.30pm. If you are in Years 6 or 7 we will be pleased to see you. You don’t need to be in St Joseph’s Parish to attend. So far we have…Pool, Table Tennis, Retro Games consoles, Tuck Shop, Board Games, and much more. Entrance fee is £1. The next meeting is on 18th April. More volunteer helpers are needed! Please contact Simon on the number in this weeks bulletin if you would like to help as a volunteer and for all other enquiries.

Gift Aid Envelopes:
The new boxes are available at the back of church. Please make sure that you take the box with your name on it’. If you pay tax and would like to start using Gift Aid envelopes, please see Fr David or David Barker. A Gift Aid tax reclaim will be submitted to HMRC from the diocese. Please notify us if you are no longer a taxpayer or you paid insufficient tax during 2018/19 to cover the tax that will be reclaimed on all your donations given under Gift Aid to all charities during the tax year, at the present standard tax rate of 20%, 25p is reclaimed for every £1 donated. If you have moved house during the tax year please ensure that you notify us. As always, thank you for your generosity.

Lourdes 2019:
If you are thinking of joining the diocesan pilgrimage, 26 July – 2 August, this year whether as a Youth helper, sick person, medic or simply as a pilgrim full details can be found at the back of church. It is only by the support of volunteer groups that we can take sick pilgrims from our diocese on pilgrimage. The pilgrimage will be led by Bishop Paul Swarbrick and has as its theme ‘Blessed are the poor, for the kingdom of God is yours’. One or two parishioners have already booked – why not join them!

It is only by the support of volunteer groups that we can take sick pilgrims from our diocese on pilgrimage. Bursaries are available from The Catenians for young helpers as well as young pilgrims.

The Catenian Bursary Fund is open to Catholics aged 16 to 24. Click on Bursary to find full details and an application form To find out more go to www.thecatenians.com or email LSAcatenians2@gmail.com

Piety Stall:
Easter Cards now in stock as well as a range of cards including First Communion and Confirmation. We also have a varied selection of prayer cards, rosary beads and small gifts.

Pray The Rosary:
Why not join us in praying the rosary on Thursdays at noon in church? Bishop Robert Barron reminds us that the soul needs to be fed as surely as the body needs to be fed, and if not properly fed it atrophies. The soul is hungry for grace and the Divine life. The soul wants God. How do we nourish the soul? Firstly, by prayer. The rosary is a great form of prayer. It’s contemplative. it slows you down. It forces you to dwell on spiritual things. The soul likes to go slow. It’s one of the marks of the soul, it likes to savour. Well, the rosary is a savouring prayer, compelling you to spend time with the great mysteries. Bishop Barron then mentions the ‘Jesus’ prayer and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Next, he proposes good spiritual reading coupled with the concrete practice of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and finally the Eucharist. He concludes, ‘If people wonder why they are starving spiritually, they are not eating right. 80 read John Chapter 6 and learn to eat right spiritually.’

Property:
Re pointing of the stained-glass window behind the high altar has been completed

Bellringing:
Are you are interested in learning to ring? Age no barrier. Contact Richard on the number in this weeks bulletin or just come along to a practice session held each Thursday at 7 pm. This is a really social group who enjoy the art of bellringing in a relaxed and friendly environment. Why not give a try!

Hymn Books:
Our stock of hymn books is slowly diminishing and we would be grateful, if you have inadvertently taken one home, if you could return it as soon as possible.

Walk With Me Booklets:
‘A journey of Prayer for Lent’, cost £1. available at back of Church.

Good Neighbours:
Please keep a watchful eye on those on their own in your street. On these cold dark days of winter, it is important that we keep a watchful eye and provide support if needed.

Hospital:
Please don’t forget to let Fr. David know if you are admitted to hospital so that a hospital Chaplaincy visit can be arranged.

Suggestion Box:
We welcome any ideas or suggestions especially for the type of social events you would like to see, just drop a note in the box on the windowsill at the back of church.

CCTV:
We now have coverage externally covering the Hall and the rear of the church as well internally within the Narthex (behind the screen) and the main body of the church. Images are being recorded but viewing of coverage is limited to investigating any misdemeanour.

Castlerigg Manor:
Bookings are now open for young people to go on the Lancaster Diocese Lourdes Pilgrimage in the summer, 25th July to 3rd August. Please look at the back of church for information and details.

Hospital:
Please don‘t forget to let Fr. David know if you are admitted to hospital so that a hospital Chaplaincy visit can be arranged. Also don’t forget to let the Catholic Chaplaincy team know if you or a member of your family is admitted to hospital, whether it be Blackpool Vic, Clifton, or the Hospice, or any other hospital. Often, the faith of the person is not recorded when they are admitted, especially at times like these when nurses are overstretched. This makes the chaplains role very difficult when visiting wards. The best approach is to inform your parish priest of the details so that these can be passed on to the chaplain of the hospital where your family member is staying.

Little Joes:
Little Joes club meets every Sunday after Mass at 10am until 11am in the church hall, for children in preschool to Year 6. Little Joes is a great place to make new friends, have fun and make all sorts of crafts to take home with you. We have regular social events for everyone to get together too. Little Joes reaches out to our community with the message of God’s love for people and through this, positive relationships are built with families. If you have any questions please contact Emma Cox via the number in this weeks bulletin (front page).

St. Joseph’s Care:
We are very thankful and fortunate to have a team of telephone operators who ‘man’ our helpline 10 hrs a day and a team of volunteers who give up their time to provide assistance in all sorts of ways when needed. We are also now making outbound calls to our housebound parishioners just to say hello and ensure that they have everything they need. Your generous after Mass offerings are continuing to help us provide direct and practical assistance to those in need within our local community Please continue to support St Joseph’s Care as we strive to allow Christ to work through us so that we can make a real difference. Through St Joseph’s Care we are fulfilling our mission of evangelisation in the local community.

Taking An Active Part In The Parish:
Remember your talent is God’s gift to you and what you do with it is your gift to God. Please consider in what way you might be able to help the parish, practically, administratively or spiritually. Just drop your details in the Suggestion Box and someone will get in touch with you.

Lost Property:
Our lost property box is located in the Sacristry. Please note that items will be retained for 3 months before being disposed of.

St Joseph’s Facebook Page:
We now have over 300 people regularly following us on Facebook which is allowing us to reach out to those in the wider community and fulfil our parish commitment to evangelisation. In the last couple of months we have been able to help a number of people who have sought assistance through this medium.

Used Postage Stamps And Supermarket Vouchers:
Thank you for your continued donations of used postage stamps. St. Peter’s school are very grateful for all your support. The school will be collecting stamps for many years to come. The stamps provide a good source of revenue which is used to further enhance learning for the whole school. Thank you.