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This week's bulletin is now ready, please go to the "Mass Times and Bulletin" page to download a copy.
As you will have seen at the top of the Home Page we have had trouble with people receiving emails from me making strange requests about money. Please do not respond to these emails and ring me at once. It is always important to check the actual address from where the email comes. My own email address is now one of the new diocesan addresses, so it ends rcaob.ork.uk. Eventually all the parish email addresses will end in this way. We had to wait for a parish name before we could sign up to the new parish system. As we now have a name for the parish, we will be moving over to new email addresses very soon.
The live-streaming at SS Peter & Paul's is now working. The latest camera is now reliable, in that it always comes on when we switch the system on. (The previous one seemed to have a mind of its own!) The new one does not show the whole of the sanctuary and we will look into improving this eventually. For the moment, however, it is a relief that we have picture that is reliable. Once again, thanks so much to all the generous people who provided for the live-streaming fund. Your donations were not just towards the camera, but for the computer, all the wiring that connects it back to the house and all the work that was done to ensure a strong enough internet connection to the property.  We have been celebrating Public Mass now at SS Peter & Paul for the last two weeks at 10.15am on Sunday Mornings. There is no need to book in advance this Sunday, just come along and join us! God Bless, Fr Mark
DON’T FORGET, YOU NEED TO BOOK FOR A PLACE AT MASS. FOR ST MICHAEL please ring Sr Lydwin on 01902 341343 between 10.00 am to 5.00 pm on Monday to Friday. FOR SS PETER & PAUL please ring Val on 07934905283 between 6.00pm and 7.00pm on Monday to Friday. If you cannot print off your ticket, you can collect it from a steward outside the church when you arrive for Mass. LIVE STREAMING APPEAL. This was to provide a decent Internet signal by 5G to SS Peter and Paul’s, which has no cable connection from the road, and to cover the cost of all the equipment for live streaming. An amazing £4,012.98 was raised! THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU WHO GENEROUSLY CONTRIBUTED. We are using the new equipment this Sunday, Please bear with us if there needs to be any tweaking to get the best results. We still need to work on the antenna for the 5G so the reception might still be variable at times. THERE IS STILL NO OBLIGATION FOR PEOPLE TO ATTEND MASS ON SUNDAYS. You can choose any day of the week to go to Mass and the Bishops fully encourage you to continue praying the Mass by watching it online. DEC Coronavirus Appeal In the UK our struggle against coronavirus has entered the next phase, but in many of the world’s poorest countries the fight has only just begun. CAFOD has joined forces with the Disasters Emergency Committee to help millions of vulnerable people whose lives are at risk as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across refugee camps and countries suffering conflict. You can contribute at cafod.org.uk/coronavirus or 55 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7JB or 0303 303 3030 FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS This is a difficult time for many people but if you are able to continue giving an offering, please consider paying directly into the parish account. Please follow the directions on our website. It is now possible to make donations to any of our three churches directly through our Website. Click the ‘ MY CHURCH OFFERING’ the button on the Home page for more details. SVP support - if you or anyone you know is in need of support particularly during this pandemic please contact Sr Lydwin or David Spinks at 07544960402. 'Free School Meal' (FSM) Children A car with its boot open will be parked outside St Michael's Church for one hour EVERY Tuesday 1-2, Thursday 10-11 and Saturday 10-11. All donations will be gratefully received by The Well (Wolverhampton Food Bank). Alternatively, much-needed supplies can still be taken to the Good Shepherd Ministry via 2, Richmond Rd WV3 9HY or Food Bank via The Vicarage 21A, St Jude's Rd WV6 0EB. For further information please phone 340479. This week 70kg of food/ toiletries and £30 cash have been given to The Well. Thank you so much! If anyone needs a food parcel please phone 07932 609625 between 1pm -5pm and speak in confidence to a member of the Catholic Women's League to make arrangements. FOR THOSE WHO ARE SICK: Cliff Whittall, David Souberry, Ben Sherry, Holly Burke, Mason Kavanagh, Paula Box, June Abbiss, Peter Holmes, Alice Stevens, George Brown, Chris Starkey, M Mary, Thomas Mackin, Stephen Briggs, Hilary Elsden, Katherine Poole, Teresa Mitchell, Ann Bayley, Helen O’Brien-Coleman, Mary Abbiss, Peggy McHale, Patrick Quinn, Fred & Celia Norton, Jean Hollingshead, Margaret Stokes, Leah Nixon, Pat Pool, John Dolan, Liam Dolan, Marie Looker, Lorna Ciraulo, Pat Eades, Helen Porter, Mary Kirby, Sheila O’Toole, Tony McGinn, Brendan Bleakley.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED RECENTLY: Marie Therese Lennox, Taofik Sekoni, Jenner Martin, John Barratt, John Stanley, Dorothy Stephenson May they rest in peace. A primary teacher, children's liturgy catechist and mother of four children from the Dunkeld Diocese has, since the lockdown started, been creating children's liturgy videos so that children can still have access to some form of children's liturgy sessions. The Facebook page she has created to share resources on is called 'Children's Liturgy during Lockdown' and has weekly videos for each Sunday as well as craft ideas for children to have a go at which link to that Sunday's Gospel. The videos are just 10 minutes long, with a children's version of the Gospel, short explanation as well as little song, prayer and something for the children to make to help remind them of each week's Gospel message. She will carry on creating these videos for sometime after the re-opening of churches. YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtC6kaDVVVg
Now that I am doing more public masses and funerals, it means that there is not always a Mass available to be heard by telephone. On the days when there is not an online Mass, the Knights of St Columba have set up a Dial-a-Mass for those who are unable to participate in the celebration of the Mass via TV or Livestreaming.
The Mass will be available on such days from 12 noon each day and will last about 45 minutes, being available until midnight the same day. It will cost as little as a local call and the phone number is: 01642 130120. Please tell your friends who do not have access to the internet. Many thanks, Fr Mark For all the Mass times, see the parish diary. MASSES BEGINNING AT SS PETER & PAUL From next weekend, there will now be Public Mass Every Sunday at 10.15am. This will also be Online. DON’T FORGET, YOU NEED TO BOOK FOR A PLACE AT MASS. FOR ST MICHAEL please ring Sr Lydwyn on 01902 341343 between 10.00 am to 5.00 pm on Monday to Friday. FOR SS PETER & PAUL please ring Val on 07934905283 on Tuesdays and Fridays If you cannot print off your ticket, you can collect it from a steward outside the church when you arrive for Mass. Please read the instructions on page 4 of this bulletin before you attend Mass. THERE IS STILL NO OBLIGATION FOR PEOPLE TO ATTEND MASS ON SUNDAYS. You can choose any day of the week to go to Mass and the Bishops fully encourage you to continue praying the Mass by watching it online. SUMMARY OF VIRTUAL PPC MEETINGS DURING THE COVID 19 LOCKDOWN 01/08/2020 The council has met on 4 occasions during Covid 19 lockdown using the virtual Zoom meeting platform The main purpose of these meetings is to assist and discuss with Fr. Mark where possible the re-opening our Churches Online Masses have been a great success and progress is being made to improve the quality of the broadcasts from SS Peter & Paul’s Many parishioners have volunteered to work as stewards and cleaners making it possible (following Government and Diocesan guidelines) to open St. Michael’s firstly for private prayer and now for live Masses. More volunteers are needed to enable the opening of all three Churches The council are extremely grateful for the amazing volunteers who have come forward to enable our Parish to restart The guidelines to follow are both complex and thorough and risk assessments have to submitted in advance of reintroducing new services With a degree of easing of regulations, it will now be possible to hold, Funerals, Weddings and Baptisms (following strict guidelines) The parish are looking into the purchase of a Sanitising sprayer and equipment, this will make cleaning much easier and efficient and should allow the opening of toilets and the church halls We will having a new Priest very soon to work alongside Fr. Mark and Fr. Gary , he is currently a Seminarian and will be Ordained during September 2020 A proposed name for our combined Parish was discussed, further detail can be found later in this bulletin. DEC Coronavirus Appeal In the UK our struggle against coronavirus has entered the next phase, but in many of the world’s poorest countries the fight has only just begun. CAFOD has joined forces with the Disasters Emergency Committee to help millions of vulnerable people whose lives are at risk as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across refugee camps and countries suffering conflict. You can contribute at cafod.org.uk/coronavirus or 55 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7JB or 0303 303 3030 FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS This is a difficult time for many people but if you are able to continue giving an offering, please consider paying directly into the parish account. Please follow the directions on our website. It is now possible to make donations to any of our three churches directly through our Website. Click the ‘ MY CHURCH OFFERING’ the button on the Home page for more details. SVP support - if you or anyone you know is in need of support particularly during this pandemic please contact Sr Lydwin or David Spinks at 07544960402. 'Free School Meal' (FSM) Children A car with its boot open will be parked outside St Michael's Church for one hour EVERY Tuesday 1-2, Thursday 10-11 and Saturday 10-11. All donations will be gratefully received by The Well (Wolverhampton Food Bank). Alternatively, much-needed supplies can still be taken to the Good Shepherd Ministry via 2, Richmond Rd WV3 9HY or Food Bank via The Vicarage 21A, St Jude's Rd WV6 0EB. For further information please phone 340479. This week we have given 99.5kg of food/toiletries and £40 to The Well. Thank you so much! If anyone needs a food parcel please phone 07932 609625 between 1pm -5pm and speak in confidence to a member of the Catholic Women's League to make arrangements. New Parish Name for our Combined Three Parishes... I was grateful for the many suggestions I received over the winter for a new name for the parish. Although they were all suitable suggestions I felt that they were all very much the same as other parish names and wanted something new and relevant to the situation of the Church in the world today. Obviously St John Henry Newman, as a new saint in the diocese, would have been suitable, but that has already been taken by the cluster of parishes in the south of the deanery. Once lockdown started and we discovered that the only way we could stay connected as a parish community, or indeed celebrate Mass was through the Internet, I became increasingly interested in a new saint who is already being referred to as the “saint of the internet”. When I say ‘saint’, he has not been canonised yet but is being beatified on October 10th in Assisi. His name is Carlo Acutis. He was born in England in 1991 of Italian parents and he died at the young age of 15 in Milan. He had a great devotion to the Eucharist and was also known as a computer ‘geek’ because of his use of computer programming to promote the gospel’. He is an excellent role model for young people so I have already put the idea to our schools and they are very interested. I have also consulted the Parish Pastoral Council who are very supportive and the Archbishop has written to me expressing his excitement with this proposal. Given that each of our three churches will continue to be known by their present dedications, I think the idea of having a brand new saint in the making, will bring new life to our parish. I suspect he is not known to many of you but there is a great deal of information about him on the internet and I intend to print out more material for those who do not have access to computers. Here is a brief summary of his life: Carlo Acutis died at a tender age of 15 of leukaemia, leaving in the memory of all those who had known him a great feeling of emptiness and a profound admiration for what was his brief but intense testimony of an authentic Christian life. After Carlo received his First Communion at the age of 7, he never failed to attend Holy Mass daily. He always tried to spend time in adoration before the Tabernacle in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament before and after the Eucharistic celebration. Our Lady was his trusted friend and he always honoured her by reciting the Rosary every day. Carlo’s modern way of life was in harmony with his deep Eucharistic and Marian devotion which made him admired and loved by everyone. He spent his short life finding time to teach catechism to children who are preparing for First Communion and Confirmation; to volunteer at the soup kitchen for the poor of the Capuchins and the Sisters of Mother Teresa; to help the poor who lived in his neighborhood; to help other children with homework and to use the internet to proclaim the gospel. Meanwhile, he loved playing the saxophone; playing football; designing computer programs; having fun with video games; watching crime movies and making little films with his dogs and cats. To quote Carlo’s words: "Our aim has to be the infinite and not the finite. The Infinite is our homeland. We have always been expected in Heaven." His famous quote is: "All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies." In order to move towards this destination and not “die as photocopies” Carlo said that our compass has to be the Word of God, and the way to such a lofty destination is through the sacraments and prayer. In particular Carlo put the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the centre of his life and he called it "my highway to heaven". In October 2006 he was taken ill and diagnosed with acute promyelócytic leukemia. He died just a few days later. At his funeral his Parish Priest was astounded because so many of the poor in the city came to pay their respects. At such a young age, he had touched the lives of so many people. Immediately devotion to him began to spread. Pope Francis quoted him at the Synod of the Youth in 2018 and then, after a Brazilian child was healed of a congenital disease of the pancreas through his intercession, the Vatican approved for him to be Beatified this October 10th. Please look at these videos about his life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuWYgXnfk0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSi3qtmbfNw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC_oZIY_f5w https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/date-set-for-beatification-of-catholic-computer-programming-teen-carlo-acutis-22071 WE PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE SICK: Cliff Whittall, David Souberry, Ben Sherry, Holly Burke, Mason Kavanagh, Paula Box, June Abbiss, Peter Holmes, Alice Stevens, George Brown, Chris Starkey, M Mary, Thomas Mackin, Stephen Briggs, Hilary Elsden, Katherine Poole, Teresa Mitchell, Ann Bayley, Helen O’Brien-Coleman, Mary Abbiss, Peggy McHale, Patrick Quinn, Fred & Celia Norton, Jean Hollingshead, Margaret Stokes, Leah Nixon, Pat Pool, John Dolan, Liam Dolan, Marie Looker, Lorna Ciraulo, Pat Eades, Helen Porter, Mary Kirby, Sheila O’Toole, Tony McGinn, Brendan Bleakley.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED RECENTLY: Marie Therese Lennox, Jenner Martin, John Barratt, John Stanley, Dorothy Stephenson May they rest in peace. |
