2nd of August 2020

Church Re-opening

St Joseph’s is now open for public Mass for Sundays. The 6 pm Vigil Mass and the 9.15 am morning Mass are now celebrated publicly. The Sunday afternoon Mass will continue to be celebrated privately,
and will be the only Mass for Sunday recorded and posted online. We are also open for Mass on Wednesday a 12 noon. Because of necessary restrictions for social distancing, seating capacity is limited in church. We must also keep a register of people who attend Mass. This is kept securely, with the contact details retained for 21 days for the purposes of possible track and trace enquiries. We thank those parishioners who help steward at each Mass and make it possible for us to have public Mass on Sunday in the week.

Face masks & coverings:
The government has announced that from next Saturday, 8th August, the wearing of face masks will be mandatory in most public indoor venues – this includes places of worship. (See the government document here).  Please ensure that when you come from Saturday the 8th of August evening onwards you have a mask or face covering with you. This, like all the other aspects of living with the pandemic, is unfortunate, but we must follow instructions intended to protect everyone’s safety.

CAFOD Appeal:
CAFOD has joined with the UK Disasters Emergencies Committee to help millions of people whose lives are at risk, as coronavirus spreads across refugee camps and countries suffering conflict. You can donate at cafod.org.uk/coronavirus to help CAFOD scale up its coronavirus response through our global Church family. Or use CAFOD’s Summer of Hope fundraising ideas with your family and friends to transform lockdown and raise money for the appeal: cafod.org.uk/summerofhope

St Joseph’s Care:
If you, or someone you know is in need, St Joseph’s Care has a helpline and we have volunteers who will be in a position to provide basic support such as shopping. The number is: 07840 112 265 (9am – 7pm daily). We thank those extra volunteers who have given their names and are prepared to provide help for those who need it.

Our Lady is back!
For some time now, Our Lady’s statue has been missing from St Joseph’s memorial garden. She was damaged when a strong wind blew her over in the winter time. The damage consisted of quite a large
hole in the front of her gown. She has been kept in the piety stall since before the lockdown. Adrian Denye from St Peter’s took her to his workshop this week, and kindly an excellent repair. Adrian is a boat builder, and applied his considerable skills to restoring Our Lady’s statue to its former condition. She is now returned to watch over the garden – now, securely bonded in position on the flag stones. We thank Adrian for his effort and generosity. It is good to have Our Lady back watching over our parish!

From Bishop Paul Swarbrick – on a virtual Pilgrimage to Lourdes…
The Diocese of Lancaster Lourdes Pilgrimage Committee will present a virtual pilgrimage during the week of 24th July – 1st August 2020, when we would have been in Lourdes. The attached itinerary shows the Masses and Services planned for the week. The virtual pilgrimage will primarily be accessed through the pilgrimage facebook page with prompts and reminders being posted before events: https://www.facebook.com/LancastersLourdesPilgrimage. Links will be posted on the pilgrimage website at www.lancasterlourdes.co.uk and the Diocesan website. Our Lady of Lourdes is the Patroness of our Diocese. This is an opportunity for us to honour her.

Church Collection:
During this time of locked churches, the most serious impact is that of not being able to go to church for Mass or for prayer. The latter we hope to alleviate in a few weeks, the former will be some time longer. Even though we are closed, there are still expenses that have to be met. We are very grateful for those who have put envelopes through the letter box or have sent cheques, etc. If anyone wishes to set up a standing order arrangement, or just make payments via online banking, please contact Fr David.

Mass Intentions:
may be posted through the door at St Joseph’s Presbytery

The Voice for July:
The June edition of our diocesan newspaper is now available online.

Online Masses:
Here, for recordings of Mass here at St Joseph’s..

A Prayer to your Guardian Angel:
Dear Guardian Angel, go for me to the church, there kneel down at Mass for me. At the Offertory, take me to God, and offer Him my service: What I am, what I have, offer as my gift. At the Consecration, with your seraphic strength, adore my Saviour truly present, praying for those who have loved me, for those who have offended me, and for those now deceased, that the blood of Jesus may purify them all. During Holy Communion, bring to me the Body and Blood of Jesus uniting Him with me in spirit, so that my heart may become His dwelling place. Plead with Him, that through His sacrifice all people throughout the world may be saved. When the Mass ends, bring home to me and to every home, the Lord’s blessing. Amen.

An Act of Perfect Contrition:
This requires us to be contrite of heart for what we have done, know and be overwhelmed by the love and mercy of God for his children, and to approach this grace with humility and resolution not to sin again. The following or similar formula should be used:

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Saviour Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God have mercy.

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.