The Parish Website will continue to be updated as regularly as possible.
If you would like to make a donation to the Parish during this difficult time, please do so below:
The Parish Website will continue to be updated as regularly as possible.
If you would like to make a donation to the Parish during this difficult time, please do so below:
We look forward the the public celebration of mass which will resume from Sunday 7th March at 9.00am. Thereafter, mass will be celebrated as usual on Tuesday and Thursday at 9.30am unless otherwise noted in the weekly newsletter. Please be mindful that all the safety measures we had in place before the closing are still in place. Remember that during this time there is still no Sunday obligation so you can attend Mass at any of the time in the week. Please only attend mass if you are well and free of Covid-19 symptoms.
This initiative aims to offer a sign of communion
and hope for the entire continent.
On Tuesday 2nd March, Cardinal
Vincent will celebrate a special Mass at 5.30pm in Westminster Cathedral as
part of this Eucharistic chain, and invites us all to join him via livestream
at www.westminstercathedral.org.uk
Father Denis McBride will be leading a FREE online retreat this Lent, based on his two books Reflecting with Paintings Vol 1 and Vol 2 from Wednesday 24th February 2021
Each video will be uploaded on the dates
given below. You can choose to watch each video at a day/time
that suits you. You can access the retreat from the
Redemptorist Publications website by clicking on this link Reflecting with Paintings | Retreat with Denis McBride |
RP Books
Reflecting with paintings
One
of the things that has always intrigued me about Jesus is how so much of his
teaching he chose to do through the medium of fiction. All his parables
are fiction: each could begin ‘Once upon a time.’ Jesus asked his hearers to
leave their own world and come with him into an imaginary world, and then
return to their world to have an inner conversation of how they see things in
the light of the parable. Jesus’ parable world is a world of great
variety. You meet all sorts of people: difficult judges, committed
burglars, broken families, wounded beggars, awkward neighbours, selfish
priests, eccentric employers, desperate hosts, surprised guests, wise and
foolish virgins.
Paintings,
too, have their own language, from pictorial to representative, to coded, to
abstract, to you-name-it – communicating another world to the onlooker, another
slant on looking at people and things, or simply to provoke unspoken
communication between the artist’s emotions and the viewer’s. For this Lenten
retreat I invite you to look at selected paintings, to imagine another world,
and then to return to your own story in the hope that some inner conversation
might be provoked through the strange encounters.
- Denis McBride, CSsR -
Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage 2021
It is with regret that we announce that the Diocesan and Catholic Association Pilgrimage to Lourdes this year has been cancelled. The Pilgrimage, which was scheduled for 21-27 August 2021 has been cancelled in light of the on-going effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a schedule for special virtual events throughout 2021 and the virtual Pilgrimage programme will be announced very soon.
World
Day of Prayer 2021 (formerly Women’s World Day of Prayer).
This year this ecumenically
run, women-led service is going ahead in some places, but the decision has been
taken that it will not this year be held in the southern half of our parish,
I.e. the area including Oldland Common, North Common etc. It is organised
by the women of Vanuatu, details available online at WDP 2021 |
World Day Of Prayer (wwdp.org.uk) and donations, normally made at the service,
may also be made via this website to support this organization, an important one for
worldwide prayer.
All are invited to join Caritas Plymouth and Caritas Clifton for an online event on the Feast of St Bakhita on 8th February 2021 from 5-6.30pm to reflect on the challenges facing refugees and migrants and the threat of modern slavery. Pope Francis’ Encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’ shared a vision of a more welcoming world. This joint event, which will be attended by Bishop Mark O’Keefe and Bishop Declan Lang, will share prayers and reflections as well as offering some practical suggestions about how we can take steps to Welcome the Stranger into our Communities. Guest speakers include Nick Hanrahan fom the Jesuit Refugee Services and Caroline Virgo from Clewer initiative. This event will take place via zoom and you can register to attend by following clicking on this link or emailing caritas@prcdtr.org.uk.
How
much do we know of the story of St Josephine Bakhita?
She was born in Darfur, now western Sudan and was the niece of the village chief. In 1877 when just 7 yrs old, she was seized by Arab slave traders who had abducted her elder 2 sisters earlier. She was forced to walk barefoot 960kms, that’s over 600m and was sold and bought twice en route and subsequently over the next 12 yrs, 3 more times before being given away.
The story is that the trauma of her abduction caused her to forget her birth name and so she took the name given to her by abductors, Bakhita, which is Arabic for lucky or fortunate. She was also forcibly converted to Islam.
During her time as a slave she endured many injuries, the worst of which as for many other slaves, left permanent scarring. Only following the threat of attack from revolutionaries did her captors sell her to the Italian vice consul who when he had to return to Italy, Bakhita begged him to take her there too and she lived in Venice and worked as nanny.
She was inspired by the Canossian Sisters in Venice and 1888 the family with whom she lived wanted to move back to Sudan where they had a hotel. Bakhita refused and finally an Italian court ruled that because Italian law didn’t recognise slavery as legal, she had never legally been so. For the first time in her life she had control of her destiny and chose to remain with the Canossians. In January 1890 she was baptised Josephine Margaret and the same day she was confirmed and received Holy Communion from Arch-bishop Giuseppe Sarto, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice and the future Pius X.
When asked what would she do if she met her captors, replied she would kneel and kiss their hands for if these things hadn’t happened to her she would not be a Christian and religious.
She was in much pain in her last years but alway cheerful. She passed away in 1947 and the petitions for her canonisation began immediately. Canonisation was begun by John XXIII in 1959 and in October 2000 she was made St Josephine Bakhita. Her legacy is that transformation is possible through suffering. Her story of deliverance from physical slavery also symbolises all those who find meaning in delivery from mental slavery which Martin Luther King spoke about.*
John Paul II visited Khartoum in 1992 when only 9 months earlier news of her beatification was banned. He said of her ‘rejoice all of Africa! Bakhita has come back to you. The daughter of Sudan sold into slavery as a living piece of merchandise and yet still free. Free with the freedom of the saints!’ Her feast day is the 8th February.
What does her story speak to you about? What can we do to help stop modern slavery?
Pope Francis encourages us ‘so that in every part of the world, men and women may no longer be used as a means to an end and that their inviolable dignity may always be respected.’
If you need support following baby loss; been affected by miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, pregnancy loss of any kind; Baby Loss Matters have three services to help those affected by baby loss to access free and confidential support:
Ring the National Helpline on 0808 8025433
Text the Text-to-Talk service 07860 077339 or Send a message to our email support
Services are person-centred, confidential
and 100% free. Trained staff,
volunteers, and BACP-accredited counsellors are on hand 9am to 6pm to provide
you with a safe space to explore your emotions.
If you’re unable to reach us during these times, please leave a message
and we’ll get back in touch Baby Loss
Matters operate through Life’s Pregnancy Matters™ service. This includes
emotional support and online resources. For more information on Pregnancy
Matters™ click here.
For the past 50 years, Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been offering marriage enrichment programs all around the world. Focused on couples who want to enrich their relationship and gain a deeper understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage, it offers a unique experience to explore your relationship at a deeper, more intimate level, regardless of how long you have been together. The next Marriage Encounter Online Experience is scheduled on 30 & 31 January 2021 and there are many other dates over the year – you can find out more and book your place at www.wwme.org.uk or contact them on 0845 260 2016.
When?
Six Thursdays from 18th February – 25th March 2021, 7.30pm – 8.30pm
What?
The Global Healing film sessions with reflection, guest speakers &
discussion.
How to join?
To register click HERE or email jane@catholicclimatemovement.global
David McLoughlin invites us to join him on a journey through the
whole bible in a seven-week course.
The aim of this series is to help us get a sense of the Scriptures as a whole. To see the unfolding of God’s liberating and creative love in the history of Israel and in the Church.
Download the course here The God Who Speaks
David McLoughlin is the Emeritus Fellow of Christian Theology at Newman University, Birmingham. He has helped to train Christian activists, priests, deacons, ministers and teachers for 40 years.
Could you be a School Governor? Clifton Diocese is seeking to recruit people to serve on school governing bodies. If you believe in Catholic education, have enthusiasm and commitment, then you can make a valuable contribution to the governing body of a Catholic school. It also provides the opportunity to use your life/work skills and experience, for the benefit of the children in our schools. Please visit https://cliftondiocese.com/news/could-you-be-a-school-governor/ for more information and to complete an online nomination form or contact bill.mcentee@cliftondiocese.com or 07710094976 – he would be delighted to hear from you. Your support for our schools would be much appreciated.
The period of consultation lasts six weeks, after which the Governing Bodies will vote on whether to proceed with Federation. You can make your views known by completing the response form (Document 2). The response form for the proposal to establish a Federation is attached to this document. The consultation will close at midday on Wednesday 24th February 2021
In light of the current rise in cases of Covid-19, in order to keep each other safe, save lives and support the NHS, all public worship has been suspended until further notice.
Please call the parish office if there is an emergency and we will try to work out how we can help.We are happy to announce that we have been allowed to stay open for communal worship with the latest lockdown restrictions that have come into force as of 5th January 2020,
We realise that not everyone will be able to continue coming to mass - those who are extremely vulnerable and required to shield again or those who are unwell and need to isolate. You can still attend daily mass being streamed daily from the Cathedral or through churchservices.tv for online streaming of mass throughout the day from all over the UK and Ireland.
If you are struggling with worries or loneliness, please reach out and we will do our best to offer practical support.
We must continue be extremely careful and adhere to all safety measures in place in church - social distancing, wearing masks, sanitising hands, etc. and following the instructions our the stewards who are there to guide you. This is a difficult time and our main aim is to keep everyone safe.
We pray for an end to Covid-19 and a return to a safer world.
The full guidance of the national lockdown can be found here National lockdown: Stay at Home - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)