Weekend message Nov 28

Dear friends,

 

THE SEASON OF ADVENT begins on Sunday 29th November.  This is the time of spiritual preparation for celebrating the great Feast of Christmas. Because of the difficulties we will all face in making such preparations together, the Diocese has made some arrangements which we are all invited to share.

 

Praying with Our Lady through Advent – We invite you to pray one extra Hail Mary each day in Advent, asking for Our Lady’s prayers to help all of us as a diocese, open our hearts and minds to welcome Jesus afresh this Christmas. She was the first person to welcome Him into her life and her intercession can help us to draw closer to Him and feel His presence with us anew this Christmas. Every other day you will be able to watch people from our diocese pray the Hail Mary in different languages on the diocesan social media sites, search for Diocese of Nottingham or Bishop Patrick McKinney on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

 

Living Advent Podcast – Living Advent is a weekly podcast series throughout Advent exploring the virtues of Hope, Love, Joy & Peace with  people from across the diocese and how we can live them out. We speak to a young husband and father, a musician, a retired social worker and a police officer. Visit

www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/podcasts for links on how to stream or download it, or you can find it on your usual podcast service by searching ‘Living Advent Podcast’.

 

Diocesan Carol Service – Carol services are a wonderful family tradition of our Advent and Christmas celebrations, and often are a great opportunity to invite those who are not regular Churchgoers to connect with our parish or chaplaincy community. This can be quite challenging to do this year so we are offering a virtual diocesan carol service. We will celebrate a short online carol service on Friday 18th December at 6pm on Bishop Patrick’s YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/BishopPatrickMckinney) with readings, music, prayers and reflections. Please join us as a family and invite others to join us too. After the service grab a mince pie, something warm to drink and join us on zoom for our family Christmas Quiz (6:45pm-7:15pm). The link and access code will be given out during the service.

 

The corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry (and thirsty), clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, give shelter to the homeless, bury the dead.

 

The spiritual works of mercy: counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear wrongs patiently, and pray for the living and for the dead.

 

Prayers for the living and the dead: please pray for Michael Garvey, Peggy Ward, Nicholas Coote, Father Michael Horrax, Sharron Norton, Michael Maloney, and all who have died recently; and for Joseph Armeni, Dave Knapper, Teresa Maugham, Debbie Bourke, Elizabeth Fullerton, Mary Dunne, Ranjit Mann, and Juanita Zaman (all parishioners or relatives of parishioners) who are seriously ill. Please let me know of any others who have died, or anyone who is ill and asks for prayers.

 

Thank You! from CAFOD for the Family Fast Day contributions to their work among the very poor in other countries. Between the two parishes we sent them £700.

 

Churches open again for the public celebration of Mass: St. Pius X, Narborough, and Our Lady of Victories & St. Alphonsus, Lutterworth, will open for the public celebration of Mass from Saturday 5th December. Arrangements will be the same as before the recent lockdown began three weeks ago. Masks or face coverings will still be required for those attending Mass (except for those exempted from wearing them); it will still be necessary for those attending to sanitize their hands on entering; and all will still need to keep social distance from each other (unless they are members of the same household or family). We will still depend on the generosity and commitment of our volunteer stewards and cleaners.

 

The schedule will be the same as previously: Mass will be celebrated in public at St. Pius X, Narborough, at 10am on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; and at Our Lady of Victories & St. Alphonsus, Lutterworth, at 11am on Sunday and at 10.30am on Tuesday (but not 8th December). It will be necessary to book a place if you wish to attend Mass; booking arrangements are given below.

 

The funeral of Peggy Ward who died on 16th November will be at Our Lady of Victories & St. Alphonsus on Tuesday 8th December. Government restrictions limit the total attending to 30 family and friends, who have already been invited, so it will not be possible for parishioners to attend Mass that day.

 

Booking Arrangements for next weekend:

 

Please remember that it will be essential to book a place at Mass on every occasion that you wish to attend. It is not permitted to book for every Sunday, or even for a number of weeks. Please also remember to bring a mask to wear when coming to Mass. 

 

At Our Lady of Victories & St. Alphonsus:

 

Please ring 079 0113 4564 on the following days, and at these times. It is not possible to leave a message outside these times:

 

Monday 30th November between 9.30am and 10.30am or between 6pm and 7pm

Wednesday 2nd December between 9.30am and 10.30am or between 6pm and 7pm

Friday 5th December between 9.30am and 10.30am or between 6pm and 7pm

 

Times of Mass next weekend:

  • 11am on Sunday 6th December

 

At St. Pius X, Narborough:

You may book by email: johnhadley1971@gmail.com  or by phone: (0116) – 2863676

at the following times on the following days:

 

  • between 6pm and 7pm on Tuesday 1st December;
  • between 5pm and 6pm on Thursday 3rd December.
  • between 5pm and 6pm on Friday 4th December.

 

Times of Mass next weekend:

  • 10am on Saturday 5th December;
  • 10am on Sunday 6th December;
  • 10am on Monday 7th December.

 

At Narborough the intentions for Mass this week will be: Saturday (28th November) Deceased friends & relations of P&A Ramoutar; Sunday (29th November) Peggy Ward RIP; Monday (30th November) Christopher Doyle RIP. Tuesday Mass in time of pandemic, for the people of the Parishes; Wednesday Deceased members of the Dale family; Thursday Fred and Joan Callus RIP; Friday Ethel Jones RIP. Next weekend Saturday (5th December) Deceased friends & relations of J&R Rampton; Sunday (6th December) the welfare of our young parishioners; Monday (7th December) Joan & Sid Simpkin RIP.

 

Holy Communion at Home for the Housebound: During these four weeks, due to the risk of transmitting the coronavirus, we are no longer permitted to take Holy Communion to the housebound. Hopefully these restrictions will be lifted in early December. Please note that if anyone requires the anointing of the sick, that is still permitted, though without Holy Communion.

 

First Confession and Holy Communion: Candidates must be in Year 3 at school (or above). Confirmation: Candidates must be in secondary school (or later). Please let me know as soon as possible, and certainly before the start of December, of any candidates for these sacraments. So far I have received four applications for First Confession and Holy Communion, and five applications for Confirmation.

 

Recycling Textiles: At the moment the firm are no longer collecting in the Leicester area and have no plans to restart collections. If anyone knows of any other organization willing to collect clothes and other textiles in our area, please let me know.

 

Reminders from previous weeks:

 

MARRIAGE CARE: Our marriage preparation and support service enable couples to nurture faithful and fruitful marriages that last, as we draw on Catholic teaching and contemporary research to help couples focus on the quality of their relationship with each other.

 

Our latest resource, Preparing Together Anywhere, is facilitated by two trained volunteers via webcam. Groups of up to 7 engaged couples attend three 90-minute sessions over a period of 3 weeks, with additional resources to enable couples to reflect more deeply in between sessions on the commitment being entered into. Wedding plans may be on hold for some time, but couples need not put their preparation for marriage on hold.

 

Through our relationship counselling service (now available via webcam), we accompany, with compassion and practical wisdom, couples who find themselves in need of support on their journey. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we know that increases in family stress and impending threat of relationship breakdown will plunge many more into financial difficulties. We are unique in asking couples who come to us for counselling only to pay what they can afford, reflecting our commitment to support those most in need. Please encourage couples to connect with us today at: www.marriagecare.org.uk.

 

Contributions to the parish funds: The boxes of Planned Giving envelopes are available. If you would like your box of envelopes, please let me know and I can provide it for you.

 

Standing Orders: I will provide the parish Bank details to anyone who would like to donate by Standing Order or similar electronic means – many of you already do so (and I am very grateful indeed). I can provide standing order mandates for anyone who wishes – please just ask.

 

Gift Aid: I have copies of the form to complete, so if you are a taxpayer and would like the tax paid on your contributions to be given to the parish, please ask me for a form.

 

With best wishes to you all, and assuring you all of my prayers, Father John

CALENDAR

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